Her breath was so shallow, he almost thought she was dead. But the faint beat of her heart had called to him, summoning him as powerfully as any verbal command she might have uttered.

He stroked her hair, straightening the tangled locks to cover the maw in the top of her head. Why she covered herself like that, he never understood, but he knew she liked it better when no one could see what she really was.

“I can’t save you,” he said.

Her eyes opened slightly, but that was the only sign she gave that she’d heard him.

“But your blood will live on.” He cut open her gown with a knife, baring her abdomen. It was smooth and flat, but he could still sense the life that pulsed within her, struggling for survival.

The Slayer’s seed had taken root, just as Treszka had hoped.

“It should have been my child,” he told her. “And now it will be.”

There was a flicker of terror in her black eyes, as if she realized what he intended to do. He hated her fear, but he wasn’t going to let it stop him. Not when he knew this was the right thing to do. How else could she live on?

Vazel summoned every bit of power he possessed and used it to speed the flow of time within her body. Her abdomen grew with the child, but there was no pain. His mistress couldn’t feel anything below her broken neck now.

By the time he was done and felt the first contraction ripple through his queen’s belly, he was exhausted. Sweat rolled from his skin. His body shook from the strain of wielding more power than he ever had before.

With trembling hands, he carefully cut into Treszka’s body to retrieve its fruit.

The child was perfect. Beautiful.

“You should be proud,” he told his queen, but she didn’t hear him. She’d bled out from what he’d done and was gone from his reach forever.

Vazel cut the cord and wrapped the child in a strip of velvet from Treszka’s gown. A sense of pride filled him as he cradled in his arms the thing he’d dreamed about most since he’d first laid eyes on his queen.

He looked down at the remains of the woman he’d loved and smiled. “We have a son.”

Chapter 48

Lyka woke up in her suite at Dabyr as if nothing had happened. She was whole and safe. All her wounds were healed. She was clean and naked in her own bed.

Completely naked.

She reached for the luceria, already knowing that it was gone.

A deep sense of loss consumed her, driving her from her bed. She slipped into a bathrobe and made it as far as her living room before coming to a dead stop.

Joseph sat at the desk in the corner of her living room, working.

He stood up as she came out of her room but didn’t come toward her. Instead, he gripped the back of the chair like an anchor. “You shouldn’t be out of bed yet. Ronan said you’d sleep for another day.”

“Guess he was wrong.”

The luceria was back around Joseph’s neck again. It looked like it always had, like it had never graced her throat.

His hand rose to touch the band. “You’re free.”

“How? I didn’t leave any room for a way out of our bond.”

“Except death,” he said. “I died for a minute or two before Ronan brought me back.”

That’s why she hadn’t been able to reach his power, why she hadn’t been able to reach him.

That moment had been the loneliest of her life. Truth be told, that feeling wasn’t much better now. The only consolation was that Joseph no longer had any way of knowing what she was thinking. She couldn’t be ashamed of her weakness.

“So, what does that mean?” she asked him.

“It means you’re off the hook. Eric and the kids are safe. Andreas and the rest of the Slayers are staying here until they can rebuild and reinforce the settlement. I told him that you’re free to go with him when they leave.”

He didn’t want her to be here anymore? Had she done something to upset him? Or was it just that he’d seen the person she really was and wanted nothing more to do with her?

No one else had ever connected with her like he had. If he didn’t like what he saw, then maybe there was something wrong with her.

“What about you? What about your pain?”

“You funneled so much power from me that I’ll be fine for a while.”

“Your lifemark?”

“Still has three leaves. The others fell when we separated.”

“So, you’re fine without me, huh? What about me? What about us?” she asked, her tone a little sharper than she’d intended.

His gaze dropped to the floor. “I can’t put you in danger like that ever again. I have no clue how the other men do it.”

That pissed her off.

She marched up to him and got in his face. “Really?” she asked. “We have one little bump in the road and you call it quits?”

“Little bump? I fucking died, Lyka. If we’d been together much longer—if the colors in the luceria had stopped moving—you could have died right along with me.”

“You only died a little. And Ronan patched you up. You can’t let that get in the way of doing what you were meant to do—and I don’t mean sitting behind a desk.”

“I’m needed here. Someone has to sit behind the desk.”

“Then take turns. You deserve to get out there and fight just as much as the next guy. And so do I.”

He frowned at her. “You want to fight?”

“Honey, I was born for this. I may still need some practice at the magic part, but I’ve never in my life felt as whole and satisfied as I did when I was working side by side with you.”

“You don’t have to do this,” he said. “Or you could take your time and see if you’re compatible with any of the other men.”

“Screw that. I’ve found my partner. You’re the man I want. You’re the man I love.”

His smile was slow to form, but once it did, it stretched all the way to his eyes. “Damn, I love hearing that. Say it again.”

“You first.”

“I love you, Lyka. I have for longer than I’m willing to admit.”

“I love you, too, Joseph, but it’s still pretty new, so don’t push it.” She grinned and reached up to pull the luceria off his neck. It opened easily, wrapping around her hand as if needing to get closer to her. “This is mine. And so are you.”