Free The Ring Bearer by Felicia Jedlicka Page B

else fails.”
    “I should have gone to you,” she mumbled at the realization of an unused ace in her hand.
    “You should have told me about the key,” Belus corrected. “You should have told me that Efrat made you doubt Danato.” He sighed and looked around the cell. “Danato told me about his…threat.” He paused looking her over. “I really don’t want to see you demoted. You have more to offer than that.”
    “I don’t want that either.”
    “Ultimately, it might be his decision, but I can fight it if it comes to that.” He put his finger back up in her face. “But if I do, I need to know you are with me, and not off on your own. I’m not like Danato, kid. I won’t take you back. I might forgive, but I never forget.” Cori nodded. “No more secrets involving prisoners or anything that sounds remotely suspicious to you.”
    “Yes, sir.” Cori looked to the door to see if the guards were close by. They were perched by the door within ear shot. When she looked back Belus was tipping his head with confusion. He could already sense her unrest with her secret.
      “What is it?”
    “Nothing, I just…” Cori wanted to tell him everything, but she wasn’t sure yet. She needed to hear his news first. She wanted to know the plan before she showed all her cards. “I’m sorry, Belus.” After a moment of tentative pawing on his shirt, she reached her arms around his waist and hugged him. She heard him sigh in exasperation, but he didn’t push her away.
    “Damn you kid,” he grumbled. “Of all the women Danato could have brought here, why did he have to pick such an affectionate one?”
    “I’m not that affectionate,” she muttered into his side. “I just have to make up for your hostility.”
    He grumbled an acknowledgement and after a second or two of pause, he put his hand on the back of her head, almost petting her. “Hey,” he whispered and she looked up at him, “what was that about you getting pregnant?”
    She pulled away from him with a sigh. “Ethan wants to have a baby,” she said in equally hushed tones. “I told him I would have to check with you first.”
    Belus glanced toward the door. “Why?”
    She shrugged. “Hell if I know, it might turn my hair to snakes, it might cause a plague, or turn everyone’s left shoe inside out. I just figured I should consult with you before I did.”
    He grunted another wordless response and moved his papers so he could sit beside her. “So, releasing prisoners not a phone call, but the private lives of you and your husband you need help with.” Cori furrowed her brow. “Are you sure you weren’t just using me as an excuse?” She shrugged. “Do you want to have a baby?”
    She crossed her arms. “You’re the second man to ask me that this week, and you’re the second man I don’t have an answer for.”
    Belus smiled. “That’s okay, we have less difficult issues to attack right now, but in case it makes a difference, I have no objections to a child. A few precautions spring to mind, but don’t let that stop you.” Cori nodded. She wasn’t sure Belus’s approval was going to make the decision any easier, and in fact knowing that everyone else was on board without her, might have just scared her farther from the idea, but it was nice to know the option was there is she decided to go through with it.
     
     
     
    11
    Daniel thought he had benefited from not passing out after healing Callin, but the heat wave that had him undressing in the elevator, was enough to make him wish he had. “Feck it’s hot in here,” he said pulling off his shirt.
    “We’ll get you outside in just a minute.” Heaton grabbed his hands before he could undo his trousers.
    Daniel panted and pressed his face against the cool metal of the elevator. He thought the metal might melt from the heat he was casting off, but instead the metal maintained its cool feel.  If he hadn’t been too delirious to judge he would have sworn it felt colder the longer he