He left her chamber sighing. Heading down the long corridor to the chamber at the end. Once inside he went to the balcony and stepped outside. Knowing the balconies only wrapped this corner of the castle. Safe from the wind and rushing waters.He stood shirtless, feeling the occasional spray from around the corner carried in on the breeze. Despite his bare chest, he hardly perceived the cold. His breeches were molded tight to his skin against the wind as he surveyed the bailey. My dominion.To the untrained eye it may have looked empty, but Sebastian heard and saw everything. He heard his friend Dimitrius, the fey bridge guard, in the tower greasing gears and moving the handle. Ensuring everything worked smoothly.He caught the sounds of the man’s son Mandrake, the stable boy, playing in the straw with a puppy which yipped excitedly. Making the boy laugh.He heard the two cooks in the kitchens below adding logs to the fire for dinner.A door closed down the hall and he knew one of the

Libby strode to Radix, the Demon Master, beaming with pride at what she’d discovered.He sat on a wooden chair and patted his bony thigh beneath the gray cloaks. Libby approached nearly skipping and took a seat where he’d indicated. Resting on his lap.He pressed a hand to the side of her head. Filling her with his darkness and evil.When she looked over her shoulder at him, he was no longer withered and gray. Instead, he was dark and beautiful. His skin seeming almost ebony and his eyes just as dark, but the irises were laced in fire which seemed to be burning in those bleak eyes.She moaned and fell backward against his other arm. Breathing raggedly. Small breasts heaving under the brown aproned dress she wore. Her mousy brown hair fell over his lean arm, and she was writhing lustfully against his body as she took in the power, he offered her. A moan escaped her, and she shifted to rub her pale thighs together against the ache forming in her. A response to the deep sense of powerful

WaterRose, Meadow Mountain, Grier CountryElsabet struggled to move, but she could eventually, sit.An hour later she stood.Another hour, and she paced.I can feel you up there moving around. Bast’s book lowered to his lap as his eyes narrowed on the ceiling above him.She was using magic to touch the pulsing gold flow along the walls. Now and again, glimpsing the lines crisscrossing. Resulting in flakes fragmenting and plummeting to the chamber floor.Testing my barriers.She used her energy to cloak herself. Tossing it against the window slits, checking their strength.Not that way either. He smirked. Keep trying Harpie.She did. Finding them all impenetrable.Walking the room, she sent her magic lifting tapestries and moving coverings. Inspecting every corner.He felt every brush against his magic, blocking all those directions.Not any of those. So, where to now? He waited.Finding no break in the wall, no hidden doors, and no weaknesses in the magic, she turned toward the only o

They met in the darkness of the storm.Sebastian could easily imagine how they’d look to someone watching.The valkyrie in the shape of a beautiful white woman standing her ground. Still as a statue and contrasting with the bat wings which seemed black in the faded light. Her tunic nearly glowing in the bleak darkness. Vivid blue eyes now red with the blood filling them.Her enemy was equally as motionless on the back of the white beast, dusky black cape billowing over the mount’s rear and the dogs a single silken mass twining around its legs.Strange toothy black beasts whose fur looked dense and rough. More like tree bark then hair. The most fearsome dogs she’d ever laid eyes on.Demon Dogs.Neither of them broke contact nor made a move.I suppose we’re two foes facing down in the storm. At least in her mind.For now, both of us are willing to see whose will shatters first.It won’t be mine... Sebastian was fighting the twitching of his lips again. Watching her so brave and bold was

Elsabet’s eyes were huge. Aghast at his comment. Her jaw tightened but she said nothing.Oh, please. He thought. Accuse me of bluffing… He hoped.Because I’m not. And he’d be willing to prove that she was in the early stages of arousal already. Despite her hatred of men, her body was reacting to her nearness.“How about this then, My Girl. I’ll have you bound in that chamber and make damn certain it’s my hand that feeds you, you’re every meal. And my hands that tend your needs. Until your duly tamed.” His words a soft vow, he took a step toward her.And that’s no bluff.She backed up to keep the distance he was trying to close.But he descended on her just the same. Backing her against the castle wall.Where to now, Lovely? He watched her face. Waiting for her to react. His arms at his side and his head cocking with interest as though she were some fascinating new species.In truth, she is. I’ve never heard of her kind afore.He watched her gaze flick across the ground, to the horse a