Free The Devil's Concubine by Jaide Fox Page B
Authors: Jaide Fox
it. If you knew anything about my people,
you know that. The lesson was a painful one, not a death sentence. We feel pain, just as you do, but we heal quickly--most of the time.”
THE DEVIL’S CONCUBINE
Jaide Fox
37
Aliya nodded jerkily, finding that she was relieved. She’d meant it. As furious as
she was to be treated in such a way, she would not have liked to think the man lost his life only because he had, apparently, misunderstood what he’d been told to do. She
wasn’t completely certain she believed he’d even been whipped. She had heard that the unnaturals were demons, and that was why it was nigh impossible to kill one, but that seemed less likely to be the truth to her now that she had met Talin. For how could they be so very like them and not be the same?
She hesitated when he turned to go once more, but she realized she would rather
know than merely wait to learn her fate and worry over it. “What will happen to me?”
He had already opened the door, but at that he closed it once more and turned to
face her again. “I will take you as my concubine.”
Aliya felt a mixture of anger and fear. “Why? Why would you dishonor me?”
“I have not. I have not threatened to. You will be my concubine. That is a
position of honor, second only to the queen.”
Aliya swallowed against the knot of emotion in her throat. “I am a princess.
Taking me without benefit of marriage would be to dishonor me.”
“You will be my wife--my mate. It is all that I can offer to make things right. I
could not make you my queen if I wanted to. My heir must be pure of blood. The
council would never accept the offspring of a man child.”
“Then take me back! Take me to my father, to live among my own kind--where I
can wed one of my own kind and my children will be accepted.”
“No.”
She stamped her foot angrily. “Why? Why would you do this to me? I have
done nothing to you! Is it to assuage your anger over the insult you think my father gave you?”
His brows dropped ominously over his eyes and his lips tightened. “Because I
want you.”
THE DEVIL’S CONCUBINE
Jaide Fox
38
Chapter Eight
Aliya gaped at him in stunned dismay. Finally, her anger asserted itself once
more. “This face? This body? What will become of me when I am no longer young and
desirable to you? Will I be cast aside? Shamed? At least if I was allowed to marry among my own people I would always have the respect of my position!”
“You will have the respect of my people! It could not be otherwise, for I would
not have it otherwise!”
Aliya stared at him dully, fighting the urge to shame herself by yielding to tears.
He either didn’t understand, or he was willfully ignoring the truth. She would not be looked upon by his people as his ‘second’ wife, but a glorified whore, and her own
people wouldn’t even consider her a king’s whore--which at least had some status, for they loathed and feared the unnaturals and would only think of her as tainted beyond
redemption, the cast off unworthy of even the creatures of the underworld.
When she said nothing else, he left her to her solitude, but there was little comfort in it. The barely acknowledged hope that she’d nurtured that he had not come to her the night before because he had reconsidered was quashed. She didn’t know why he just
didn’t go ahead and take his pleasure and be done with it.
Was it some sort of diabolical torture? To allow her hour upon hour, perhaps
days, to dread and wait for the inevitable?
She did dread it, but she discovered that boredom was a very effective remedy for
fear. Cooped up in Talin’s suite all day, she had nothing at all to keep her company beyond her own thoughts and nothing to look forward to except the maids who brought
her food.
They didn’t bring her gown. Each time she asked, they gave her an excuse
instead of producing it. When it grew dark, one came and lit the candles, replacing those that
you know that. The lesson was a painful one, not a death sentence. We feel pain, just as you do, but we heal quickly--most of the time.”
THE DEVIL’S CONCUBINE
Jaide Fox
37
Aliya nodded jerkily, finding that she was relieved. She’d meant it. As furious as
she was to be treated in such a way, she would not have liked to think the man lost his life only because he had, apparently, misunderstood what he’d been told to do. She
wasn’t completely certain she believed he’d even been whipped. She had heard that the unnaturals were demons, and that was why it was nigh impossible to kill one, but that seemed less likely to be the truth to her now that she had met Talin. For how could they be so very like them and not be the same?
She hesitated when he turned to go once more, but she realized she would rather
know than merely wait to learn her fate and worry over it. “What will happen to me?”
He had already opened the door, but at that he closed it once more and turned to
face her again. “I will take you as my concubine.”
Aliya felt a mixture of anger and fear. “Why? Why would you dishonor me?”
“I have not. I have not threatened to. You will be my concubine. That is a
position of honor, second only to the queen.”
Aliya swallowed against the knot of emotion in her throat. “I am a princess.
Taking me without benefit of marriage would be to dishonor me.”
“You will be my wife--my mate. It is all that I can offer to make things right. I
could not make you my queen if I wanted to. My heir must be pure of blood. The
council would never accept the offspring of a man child.”
“Then take me back! Take me to my father, to live among my own kind--where I
can wed one of my own kind and my children will be accepted.”
“No.”
She stamped her foot angrily. “Why? Why would you do this to me? I have
done nothing to you! Is it to assuage your anger over the insult you think my father gave you?”
His brows dropped ominously over his eyes and his lips tightened. “Because I
want you.”
THE DEVIL’S CONCUBINE
Jaide Fox
38
Chapter Eight
Aliya gaped at him in stunned dismay. Finally, her anger asserted itself once
more. “This face? This body? What will become of me when I am no longer young and
desirable to you? Will I be cast aside? Shamed? At least if I was allowed to marry among my own people I would always have the respect of my position!”
“You will have the respect of my people! It could not be otherwise, for I would
not have it otherwise!”
Aliya stared at him dully, fighting the urge to shame herself by yielding to tears.
He either didn’t understand, or he was willfully ignoring the truth. She would not be looked upon by his people as his ‘second’ wife, but a glorified whore, and her own
people wouldn’t even consider her a king’s whore--which at least had some status, for they loathed and feared the unnaturals and would only think of her as tainted beyond
redemption, the cast off unworthy of even the creatures of the underworld.
When she said nothing else, he left her to her solitude, but there was little comfort in it. The barely acknowledged hope that she’d nurtured that he had not come to her the night before because he had reconsidered was quashed. She didn’t know why he just
didn’t go ahead and take his pleasure and be done with it.
Was it some sort of diabolical torture? To allow her hour upon hour, perhaps
days, to dread and wait for the inevitable?
She did dread it, but she discovered that boredom was a very effective remedy for
fear. Cooped up in Talin’s suite all day, she had nothing at all to keep her company beyond her own thoughts and nothing to look forward to except the maids who brought
her food.
They didn’t bring her gown. Each time she asked, they gave her an excuse
instead of producing it. When it grew dark, one came and lit the candles, replacing those that
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