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"Because I instructed her not to." Castor's twisted visage came into view through the glass slit in the coffin, his lips curling into a cruel smile. "Do you like the surprise I left for you?"
Chapter 8 - Castor
"Let me out of here at once!" Ianora demanded, banging on the bottom of the lid from inside. "You craven monster! H-how dare you do this to me?"
Castor laughed and came closer, bracing his hands against the solid structure to stare at her through the glass slit. The crazy man who made the coffin in the first place had been a piece of work, but he had the genius idea of making it so he could gloat at Castor from outside when Castor had fallen for a similar trick.
"I didn't do anything to you at all," he said. "If you recall, you went into the coffin because you thought it was the only way you could escape me."
"Mitron," Ianora cried out, ignoring Castor altogether. "Mitron! Why did you do this to me? I thought you were on my side?"
Castor glanced up, finding that the ghost was gone. He smiled. The spirit was embarrassed by her role in the game? No matter. "Foolish princess. You thought that this ghost would help you? She belongs to me, just like everything else in this castle. You've played right into my hands."
Ianora seethed with rage, struggling to hold back her tears. "Then you tricked me into trapping myself! She told me it was the only way out!"
"And it is," Castor replied, his voice cold and calculating. "The underground lake is too deep for even a vampire to swim to the bottom and make it out alive, at least without magic assistance."
"You drove me to this, you monster. I had to get away from you at any cost—"
"Oh, Ianora, my dear, and this is the cost, isn't it? There are far worse monsters out there than I could ever be, but you only have yourself to blame for this. You could have endured me of your own accord, and perhaps you would not suffer by my hand at all. Instead, you chose ... this." He gestured to the coffin and made a sound of disgust. "If anything, you could say that I saved you from a worse fate by locking you in there. You were truly contemplating running away and facing the negative effects of backing out of our arrangement? I don't see you as the type to crave mortality. Or did you forget what would happen to you when you missed our wedding day? A slow death as a human is far worse than a long sleep in here."
"My father will never let you get away with this. They have instructions to storm Pheazar if there is no word from me," Ianora said. "A code you won't be able to replicate. You have no choice but to let me out. Unless you want war at your doorstep."
"Impossible, and a pointless lie, my dear. Did you forget that I was prepared to wage war with all the kingdoms at once? I would be more than prepared to deal with your father and his men if it came to that." He smiled gleefully, watching the despair leak onto her features. "But it won't. What was it that your father said to me? Ah, yes. 'She's yours to do with what you please, regardless of a wedding.' What an adoring, loving father."
"He would ... he would never."
"Would he? You're here after all."
"You had something on him. You forced his hand as much as you forced me!"
"That's what you think?" Castor chuckled and leaned away from the window. He caressed the clamps on the coffin, but it was too soon to loosen them yet. "You have far too large a sense of self-importance, my love."
Ianora went quiet for a long moment, and when he looked at her again, her expression had softened a little. "Then what did he trade me for?"
"Peace," Castor said simply. "The promise that I could have you, and do whatever I want with you, under the expectation that I will never go to war against him, unprovoked. Indeed, that I might also consider fightingwithhim in the future."
The tears in Ianora's eyes finally fell. "He ... he did that?"
"One life to protect many, as he is so fond of saying, isn't that right?"
Ianora pressed her lips together, trembling as they were, as if she was trying to restrain a sob. Everything he told her was the truth, as painful as it was for Ianora. Castor had simply waltzed into Rainada one evening, unannounced, and declared that if Kel did not give his only daughter to him, Castor would raze cities and villages and conquer Rainada for himself. Kel had resisted at first, but deciding that Castor was serious, and that the resolution was so simple, Kel had agreed, despite the complaints and cries of his wife.
Part of Castor wished it had been harder. At least harder than the years it had taken to build the threat and the relationship with Kel so that the king knew he was serious. In fact, part of the reason Kel agreed was that he thought Ianora still favored Castor. But as she had never explained to Kel what had happened between her and Castor, a deal that her father thought was for the greater good turned terrifying and horrible.
For her, at least. And that worked in Castor's favor.
Panting with newfound rage, Ianora glared at him through the glass. "You're enjoying this, aren't you? You're getting off having me locked away in darkness like a beast."
Castor merely smiled wider and stood up straight, towering over the coffin. "Maybe I am," he said. "But it's only fitting that you should be trapped in such a way. After all, you are nothing but an animal to me."
With a snarl, Ianora thrashed against the wall of the coffin once more, but she was too weak to break free. By now, the magic would be beginning to take effect, and soon, Castor could have his fun with her, and she could do nothing to stop him.
Already his cock was hard, straining against the seam of his pants. The big guy was impatient for some action, and Castor was compelled to give it some.
"What's happening to me?" she whined.
"As Mitron must have told you, the coffin will put you into a coma-like state until the magic on the coffin is lifted. While it takes a while to put a vampire completely to sleep, the paralytic effects begin to take hold within an hour, and they are hastened by panic."
