Read Online The Princess Who Tamed Demons by J. Kirsch - Free Book Online

even a queen
had to tame her own demons, and this was mine. Who really wanted me
dead and why—that was the mystery I'd expose because if I didn't it
would only consume me.
    ~***~
    My eyes opened with languid ease. Motes of dust
drifted in the waning sunlight. I had no sense of time until I
realized that I was back in our guest suite's bed chamber, and the
massive arched window showed an almost blood-red orb succumbing on
the horizon. Drake's scent still clung to me, and I stretched as I
thought back to our lovemaking. What had started in the Queen's
bathing chamber had progressed to something even more intense when
Drake had taken me back to our suite. I bit my lip, remembering….I
shook my head, dislodging the decadent memories. If a servant had
come in now, my face would have blushed ruby red, never mind that
my thoughts were safely my own.
    The nearby whispering of voices spurred me out
of my languor. I slipped out of bed, resolving to dress
appropriately. It was time to look the part of a Queen instead of
the wounded dove people expected me to be. I fitted on my black
silk vest and leggings embroidered with silver and crimson
threadwork. I arranged an amethyst in place around my neck, its
purplish winks giving off a seductive light in the last throes of
day. Getting my hair under control took more effort. Tragic battles
had been fought with less frustration, and the disheveled clumps of
hair refused to yield to the comb which I wielded like a weapon,
more obstinate than a pack of blood-crazed demons. Finally, my hair
properly enshrined in braided strands spiraling around a central
bun in the Tajmari style, I found myself looking presentable in the
crystal clarity of the bedroom mirror.
    I looked alluring and, with mixed feelings
about it, every bit the proper lady despite the sheathed
dagger tucked away above my left ankle. Its weight felt reassuring,
and yet.... Don't get cocky, Najika. Remember how little good
the dagger did when you drank wine in Queen Caerra's sitting
room. From now on I would have to be extremely careful about
whatever I drank or ate, not to mention who I accepted food or
drink from .
    Feeling semi-presentable and refreshed for the
first time in three days, I strode purposely to the bed chamber
door. I almost opened it, but something stopped me. The urgent
tones of the hushed voices pricked something across my skin and I
froze, turning my head. Just listening.
    "Drake, this is not a problem that will go
away by itself."
    "You think I don't know that?" The first voice
was definitely Bronwyn's. She had grown close not just to me, but
to Drake as well. He treated her with a certain level of
familiarity now, and most times that made me glad. Right now
though, part of me felt almost…jealous. On edge.
    "How could you have spoken not a word with her
about the succession when you know she can't give you an heir? Do
you even now how she truly feels, with the knowledge that she will
never bear a child of her own?" The pity in her voice made me want
to vomit. It also made me seethe.
    "Whether we have spoken of such things or not
is not your concern, and certainly not your place to meddle
in." The heat in Drake's voice gave me fierce satisfaction, but it
wasn't long before my grin turned upside down.
    "Fine and noble words, Black Knight, but this does complicate the stability of your Kingdom." Good old
Bronwyn, ever the pragmatist, and one not tempered by the
tenderness that Lady Vaela, Drake's mother, sometimes showed.
Bronwyn was a peasant's daughter, and in her practicality there was
no mistaking it.
    Drake sighed. "What would you have me do,
woman?"
    "You take a woman discreetly to your bed,
someone who resembles Najika if possible. Have the baby carried to
term in secret, and then when the baby's born it can be Najika's
and yours, as far as the world knows. I can take the real mother
far, far to another land and ensure that even if she does utter a
word of it, no one will dare believe her."
    Drake's