High Demon 3 - Demon's King Read Free Page A

stay calm, all right? Gods, you're so beautiful." I felt a tugging around my torso—second voice was cleaning the area around the tube and placing a fresh dressing. I wanted to weep. I wanted him to take off the fucking blindfold. I wanted to be anywhere except where I was.
    Could I send mindspeech? How could I tell Tory, Lendill or Aurelius where I was? Auri? I sent. Tory? Lendill? Only silence met my weakened sendings and I failed to get any response. The effort, too, was taking its toll. Second voice continued his ministrations—he was bathing me now, his hands expertly wiping my body with a warm, soapy cloth. My ribs and the surrounding area were so tender I wanted to scream when I was washed there. "It'll be over soon—over soon," the voice crooned. Could I trust that voice? He'd left me blindfolded—I couldn't. I didn't even try to speak to him. He might ask questions and I was in no shape to keep him from getting what he wanted—all he had to do was exert a little pressure against my aching ribs. My breathing became ragged as he worked; pain was waking all over my body. The singsong "It'll be over soon," came again. I whimpered and endured it.
    * * *
    "How soon can she be moved?"
    "Tomorrow, if you do it your usual way. Make sure you have a secured place for her—she's staying awake longer."
    "You think I haven't already thought of that?" A snort followed that statement. First voice was speaking. Something worried me about the voice, but they'd given me painkill earlier. Drugs were second voice's choice if he didn't want me to be awake while he did whatever he was going to do. I imagined he had to give a lot of it—a normal dose wouldn't do. He probably had to experiment at first, just to get the amounts right. Now I wanted more than anything to allow the drug-induced sleep to come, but fought it to learn whatever I could.
    "You're not going to hurt her, are you?" Second voice sounded worried. Another snort but no answer this time. I had no idea what that meant and it frightened me. I hadn't carried any ID other than the false one Lendill had sent with me. They couldn't know I was ASD. What did they want with me? That thought raced around a track in my brain with no way to stop it or turn it aside. And they hadn't said where they were moving me. I hadn't felt this helpless since I was small and Edan had beaten me, breaking a wrist and cracking ribs.
    "You should be asleep," first voice said; the fingers against my forehead followed.
    * * *
    "Make sure it's secured—we don't want anything happening. The boss will be pissed if she manages to dislodge the mattress." That's what I woke to—another place. I was sure of it—it smelled different. They'd moved me while I slept. Since I had no concept of time or where I'd been before, I knew even less now. The blindfold was still in place and I was still restrained. At least three were working around my bed—I could hear them moving, cursing softly and breathing.
    "Careful," the one who'd mentioned the boss said from my left. That statement was followed by the sounds of a buckle fastening and more soft cursing. I tried sending mindspeech to Lendill and the others but there was still no reply. Could I skip? Was I strong enough? It took full concentration to do it. A healthy body would be a plus, but that might not come for a while, if ever.
    I still had no idea why my captors had kept me alive or what they wanted from me. I gathered my wits about me and made the attempt to skip. Nothing. I was still right where I was with my attendants securing me to a bed somehow. "Watch the bag." The voice came again. It sounded vaguely familiar, but I still couldn't place it. With my wits addled as they were, I wasn't surprised. My mind could be playing tricks on me, too—I knew that.
    "All done," one of my attendants heaved a relieved sigh. I heard them walking out and then the sounds of an iron-barred door closing. I knew something of where I was then; I'd heard that sound many