The Demon Master's Wife (Fantasy, Space Opera, Science Fiction Romance) (FORCED TO SERVE) (18 page)

Warriors need muscles,
Malachi responded.

Ania gave up trying to get the demon to appreciate the trauma she was feeling about getting bigger as she opened her door to leave. She went exploring, surprised to find herself walking lightly and taking in everything as if seeing it for the first time.

Her senses were sharpened, Ania decided, after realizing she could hear the smallest conversations if she listened with intent. She could also feel the true emotions of others just by studying them for a few moments, which meant the profound empathy the creators had given her was back as well.

She walked along until she found herself near the captain’s quarters. Ania walked up to it and felt herself staring at the door without exactly knowing why.

Yes. Yes. Synar is in there. Trust your new senses. I swear they all work,
Malachi told her.

Ania felt Malachi’s irritation with her, but chose to ignore his wounded pride about her doubts.
Give me a break. I’m getting used to these new abilities. It’s not like the change comes with a guide. I distinctly remember reading that the outcome was contingent upon the host,
she sent back
.

You’re just stalling. Knock on the door and let’s get this argument over with
, Malachi sent.
You know you have to confront Synar with what we have done.

Having no way to deny that particular fact, Ania took a deep breath and raised her hand to knock. When no one answered, she knocked again, hearing someone moving around inside.

“Synar—it’s Ania. We need to talk,” she said, feeling silly for addressing the closed door.

Ania felt him standing on the other side, felt his hesitation to open the door, and could sense the exact moment he finally made the decision to do it anyway.

He swung it wide, staring at her in shock.

“What happened to you?” he demanded.

Synar’s anger hit her in a wave, and it was more painful than taking a blow from a fighting stick on the mat. Sighing with resignation, Ania pushed by him to walk inside. She wasn’t going to discuss her change standing in the hall.

“I changed my hair and went back to my natural color, Synar. This is what I looked like before I had the fairness enhancements done,” Ania said, trying for a teasing tone, hoping to give him time to adjust to the fact she was still the same in the ways that mattered. “It was seven hundred years ago. A female needs a change now and again.”

Synar walked around her.

“More than your appearance has changed,” he said, his whole being cringing. It was like Malachi had come to life in front of him. “Tell me now, Ania. What exactly have you done?”

“I told you I had choices to make. I chose healing over dying,” Ania said, looking at him defiantly. “I thought you would be pleased I did not choose my death.”

“You and the demon are now one,” Synar said, recoiling from her and stepping back. “How did you do this without my knowledge? I am the demon’s master.”

“This arrangement has nothing to do with the master. It is between the demon and his host,” Ania said, resentful that Synar cared more about losing control of her fate than what she had done and why.

“Malachi, I command you to come out and do no harm,” Synar said firmly, determined not to let Ania stop him from learning the truth for himself this time.

Ania felt Malachi leaving her. After he did, she walked calmly over to the desk chair, pulled it out, and sat down. “Fine. Ask Malachi. It won’t change the truth of what you are seeing. This was my decision—mine and Malachi’s. And yes, I knew it was going to be permanent when I agreed.”

Synar watched Ania walking and talking. Her body did not fall. Her eyes did not close in death. The female he knew was gone and in her place was now some stranger sitting in his chair looking bored and irritated.

Yet under it all, she was also still familiar, still his willful, strong-minded mate.

Synar wasn’t sure which fact bothered him most.

“Malachi, I command you to tell me what has occurred,” Synar ordered.

“You want me to repeat what Ania told you or just confirm everything she says is true?” Malachi asked snidely. “Ania Looren is healed. She will carry some of my essence for the rest of her life even if you put the rest of me into another host. It’s all in the training books, Liam, and I know you’ve read that far in your studies. Why are you choosing not to believe?”

“Ania, what have you done? Instead of carrying the demon, you have
become
him. Your very presence announces his life is tied to yours. As a Pleiadian, you may live a thousand more years with Malachi as a part of you,” Synar said.

“What were my other choices, Liam? Let you drop my nearly dead body to the floor whenever you chose to call Malachi out of me without my blessing—
like you just did
. Or choose a complete death for myself like I sought for weeks? I learned several methods to ensure that outcome, but I thought you didn’t want me to do that,” Ania said bitterly.

“
I didn’t
—I still don’t. But you chose a type of death for yourself anyway. You chose to become what most call the
walking dead
,” Synar said, looking at her in disgust.

“I don’t know why I thought I could make you understand,” Ania said, irritated and angry as much as she was sad. “Your listening skills are pathetic and you lack true compassion for me.”

“That is not true,” Synar denied, frowning.

“That is exactly true which is why this discussion is now over,” she said.

Ania looked at Malachi. “Can I command you back inside me when Synar calls you out?”

“Yes—but do not think to make me a battle in your contest of wills with Liam. I will assert my own in that case and the creators of all will allow it,” Malachi said, looking at her.

“Fine. Stay with your
master
until he sends you back, but don’t be surprised if he ends up putting what’s left of you into the amulet instead. I see it in his mind already,” Ania said, making sure Synar knew that she once again had the ability to intuit the truth.

“I see what Liam considers as well,” Malachi said softly with great disappointment. “Fine—I’m going with you. We will have enough to deal with shortly. I have a sense of foreboding that’s even stronger than Dorian Zade’s. The ship and its crew are at risk, which means you are at risk. My first duty is to preserve my host.”

He disappeared back into Ania while Synar watched their easy communication with growing shock.

Ania looked at the male she had mated with both loathing and pity.

“Why are you so surprised that I rescued my destiny from your hands? I told you many times I intended to do so. I’ve been talking to Malachi almost since the day you told me about him. I asked him how to have control of my life again and he told me about demon host healing. If you would let go of your anger that I did this without your knowledge, it would be a lot easier to explain why I made this decision,” Ania said, calmly.

“Fine—I’m listening. Enlighten me,” Synar said stiffly.

“Malachi doesn’t frighten me. I was just like him once in my life. I think my relationship to him is the reason you were so driven to save my life,” Ania said.

“No. I
did not
save you to give you to the cursed demon my family has inflicted on me. You are entranced with his power, Ania,” Synar said. “Malachi has created this illusion of who you were. None of it is true. He constructs your mental reality to serve his ends.”

“No, Liam—it is true. It was always true. Ask Dorian. He will confirm what I say is truth. I just never told you because it was hundreds of years before I knew you. And for a very long time I wanted to forget that I had ever been that kind of person,” Ania said, trying to be calm while she answered.

“You merely believe what Malachi wants you to believe. Ania, you must undo this,” Synar said. “This is a punishment I cannot bear. How can I look at you every day and always see the demon’s power in your eyes? This cannot be your fate.”

His words were hurtful, but not unexpected. Ania realized she had felt Synar’s disapproval and rejection before she’d even crossed the threshold into his room. Her intuition had given the answer, but she hadn’t been listening because she wanted to believe his feelings for her would override his disgust.

Ania stood at the door preparing to leave Synar, waiting for it to feel wrong to her like it always did, but no sense of wrongness came this time. That meant she could probably walk out and never look back. Evidently even the creators of all wouldn’t guilt a female into staying with a mate who kept rejecting her.

Perhaps her time as Liam Synar’s mate was truly done.

Ania closed her eyes and gripped the door handle as she prayed.
Solra Kokum Ynati, hear me—I have become even more an instrument of your will
.

Malachi fluttered inside her in response to hearing the sacred names. She already knew they both felt forced to serve the will of creators, but only one of them was not forced to serve the demon master.

Ania turned back to look fully into the face of the only male she had ever let into her life, grateful that he might also be the only one she likely ever would. “It is regrettable that for all your wonderful speeches about fidelity and support, you are once again turning away from me instead of trying to understand.”

“Understand?” Synar demanded, running a restless hand over his hair. “I try not to even think about the demon until there is no other choice. You speak of him as if he was your savior, but Malachi only serves himself.”

“Malachi healed me because I asked him to. What I have done was my choice and I accept the consequences willingly,” Ania said firmly, shaking her head. “Until you can view this more logically, stay away from me, Synar.”

Ania closed the door on his rejection and made herself think of other things as she walked back towards her room.
Malachi, something is wrong with Gwen. I feel it now. What can we do to find out?

Zade cringes at the idea of me reading him. Wait and be ready is the best thing we can do without his cooperation
, Malachi sent in return.
Do not fear being a warrior again. I will help.

I fear nothing but the pain Liam Synar causes my spirit, but thank you,
Ania replied.

Give Liam time to adjust to the news. He’s never been good at accepting change.

“I’ve given Liam Synar too much time to accept me already. I’m tired of waiting for him to grow up,” Ania answered out loud, bypassing her room and walking with purpose to the training room.

Her body ached from the change still, but it was Synar’s disapproval that hurt most. It was going to be a rough night. Maybe it would help if she spent the time testing the limits of her new body.

Locking the training room behind her, Ania stripped off her clothing, leaving it in a heap by the bench. Before she had to face more crew members tomorrow, she needed to find herself some bigger clothes.

***

In the captain’s quarters, Synar paced after Ania left, flapping the edges of the training book pages as he flipped through them. Though not as fully trained as Conor, he had been taught the basics in case his brother had not lived. It had never even occurred to him that his brother would not be the one who inherited Malachi until his father had closed and locked the doors of his private study. Once he’d started performing the transference ritual, it had been punctuated with the broken story of Conor’s dark transgressions.

Setting the book on the table, Synar opened it to the list of contents, scanning until he saw where “demon healing” was written. It was still a shock to him that Ania had done a merging, on her own, without the sacred constraints, without a guide. Malachi could have done any number of horrendous things to her. Yet he had not.

Why had the demon spared her?

Synar leaned back in the chair, looking at the sacred books, the amulet, and the chest containing the “reminders” as his father had called the evidence of the early uses of Malachi’s enormous power. The worst of which was a square container with the micro dust of over a thousand soldiers inside it.

How could he not be disturbed that Ania had aligned herself permanently with the being responsible for those deaths?

Synar leaned his head forward in his hand, feeling again the weight of his burden, of the responsibility he carried as the demon’s current master.

Did he now share that with the angry female who had just left him?

The intercom lit up and someone called his name. Sighing, Synar walked over to it.

“Captain, Ensign Whun just checked in. He said Commander Jet drank something at dinner that evidently made her almost pass out. Whun said he saw her to her room and she was sleeping now. He was returning to the dinner to avoid being rude to his host. They are still scheduled to complete the mission tomorrow morning.”

“Thank you for letting me know,” Synar said, his mind easing on at least one matter. “Leave word to wake me when the next report comes in.”