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Why forty years had elapsed before a second attempt, he didn’t know, but he had a strong sense that this day had been developing for decades, waiting for the arrival of Samantha to give Ry sufficient power to take the prize he sought, with the help of course of the dark fae force.
Samantha.
His thoughts turned to her, as Ry once more smiled down at him, holding her close. What he waited for, Ethan didn’t know, but he felt sure some timing was at work, maybe an Invictus force that needed to be moved into place.
But Samantha, Andrea’s very own daughter, had been the biggest surprise of all. He’d spent barely three nights with her, yet somehow his life had been transformed completely into something he hadn’t even realized until this moment. At long last love had pierced the hard shell of his guilt and opened up a hope that he could have a better life, one in which a woman slept in his bed, listened to his thoughts as he listened to hers, worked through difficult issues, and in the end became something more together than each would have been separately.
How changed Samantha was as well, though maybe she didn’t see realize it. But from the first, he’d caught a glimpse of her solitary life, not much different from his, though each enjoyed their labors. She’d been alone and now she had a new heritage, new gifts, even a new family if she could embrace it.
He didn’t want this to be the end, for Samantha to be bound and enslaved to Ry for what would amount to centuries and he didn’t want to die, but here he was caught in a kind of netting that cut at him if he so much as half-flexed his pinkie-muscle.
New images rushed through his mind, of meeting Samantha for the first time, of making love to her in his bed and feeding from her vein -- Sweet Goddess, all the times he’d fed from her! -- then of anchoring her while she gathered strength from the crystals whether at the fae Guildhall or within his conservatory. He recalled how he’d experienced such a pure, healing energy flow through him as she accessed her faeness in a beautiful stream of violet-silver light. And she’d healed him of five decades of blood-starvation, of a curse he’d accepted when his mastyr-power had arrived all those years ago. Suffering, pain, and the weight of realm-responsibility had all been eased by Samantha.
Now Ry had her.
She’d slipped through Ethan’s grasp like water pouring through his fingers.
And as his ranks struggled beneath the mind-control of the dark fae presence.
But to add to the present horrors, suddenly Invictus wraith-pairs moved in from behind, hundreds of them, surrounding his men.
And Ethan couldn’t lift a finger to do anything about it.
He tried to reach either Finn or Samantha telepathically, but somehow Ry blocked these communications.
There seemed to be no way out.
And Ry threw his head back and laughed, a hateful victorious sound that forged a fire of revenge in Ethan’s veins.
*** *** ***
Samantha knew Ry would begin the bonding process soon and that he would do whatever it took to bind her to him right now, on the ridge of Sweet Gorge, with Ethan trapped below beside two of his men in some kind of strange netting. The stench of the dark fae presence reeked now, all along the ridge and down into the gorge.
She was here, that which had the power right now to end Samantha’s freedom forever, to take Ethan’s life, to destroy the Bergisson Guard and to control Ry and therefore the future of the realm, maybe even of all Nine Realms.
How foolish she’d been to think that only her choice between Shreveport and Bergisson was at stake, when right now her freedom for what would become centuries would soon be lost as well as Ethan’s life.
Ry had wanted him dead for a long, long time. She could smell that stench on him as well, that he intended Ethan’s death, hopefully executing both her bondage and Ethan’s demise at the same time.
He’d drink from her while he bound her and because the fae entity still muddled Samantha’s mind, it seemed an impossible situation to her, that there was no way out. She would succumb to Ry, he would grow in sufficient power, and he’d slay Ethan.
Ethan.
A calmness came over her when she thought about him, all that they’d been through. Unless something miraculous happened, the life as she’d known it and the extraordinary experiences she’d shared with Ethan would end in the next few minutes.
Despair ran through her as a deep awareness rose that what had arrived in Club Prave in Shreveport wasn’t just a mastyr vampire looking to uphold the law of his realm, but a man she could love. How surprising, sudden, unexpected and unbelievable, but yes, love had come to her in the form of a vampire.
Yes, she was part-realm, that much was true, but somehow her heritage didn’t factor in at all. She loved Ethan, that he made her laugh, that he made love to her like a god, that he was kind and considerate, that he loved Bergisson, something Ry would never understand and never be able to do.
Ry wanted power and he wanted to rule, as a dictator would, with full control.
Ethan wanted his realm-folk safe. That was all. He wanted his people safe to make their livings, to fall in love, to create families and to build future generations for centuries to come.
Ry didn’t care if he brought all Nine Realms down to nothing, just so long as he was Mastyr of Bergisson.
In that moment, she made her decision, the one that had seemed so impossible a few hours ago, whether to remain in Bergisson or not, whether to take up a life as Ethan’s blood rose, or not, whether to engage with the powerful fae community or not.
She wanted to stay, in part because she now understood that the dark fae presence had ruined her mother’s life, had so troubled her mind, forcing images through her, that she’d been unable to cope with the visions, the blood and gore, the pain and anguish, so she had left her world behind and made a new life in Shreveport.
Now Samantha had come home, to take up what was rightfully hers if she wanted it.
And yet what stood in her way right now seemed unconquerable: A vampire without a conscience who had complete physical power over her.
But was there a way out, a way to possibly connect with Ethan?
After all they’d been through, surely, she could establish a connection and break the control that the dark fae entity had over Sweet Gorge.
But how?
One thing she did understand, the calmer she remained, the less muddled her mind was. If she struggled or tried to break free, it was as though these actions alone brought the dark force once more invading her mind and removing her ability to reason.
She therefore took deep breaths and waited.
She wouldn’t be able to do this alone. As calmly as she could, she opened her telepathic frequency to Ethan, but Ry entered her mind. Can’t let you do that, sweetheart. You’re mine now.
