“Even Vlad,” I asked.
“I will kill him for you,” he said at last.
“You cannot. You said so yourself. ”
“I am strong enough,” he answered me, kissing my neck lovingly.
“But there is a reason you are not telling me as to why you cannot, should not, kill him,” I said to him.
“Yes. ” He buried his face in my neck and whispered. “Yes. Because my Mistress, who also created him, has forbidden it. ”
“I thought Erzsébet created him,” I said with a gasp.
“No, Erzsébet is also a creation of my Mistress. She brought Vlad to us and it was my Mistress who created him. It is her power, you see, that keeps him subdued within his own country. That is why he seeks to go to England. To escape her influence and her strength. ”
“Then he is as trapped as I?”
Ignatius pressed his lips to my cheek, and said against my skin, “We are all trapped by intrigues beyond our control. ”
My fingers played against his skin as I looked deeply into his dark blue eyes. All I saw there was a mirror my own love and need. I realized then that we could never part willingly from one another.
I felt the cold tendril of Vlad’s power trace down my back and I gasped.
“What is it?”
“Vlad,” I whispered.
Ignatius snarled and drew back from me reluctantly. “Now is too soon to confront him. ”
“We shall speak of this later,” I said firmly.
“Glynis, I will not lose you even though deep within myself I feel you are already lost,” Ignatius said in a voice vibrant with emotion.
I cupped his face in my hands and kissed him deeply. “I love you and that is all that matters in this moment. ”
Grabbing me about the waist, he kissed me once more then suddenly was gone from my grasp.
In an almost eerie imitation of Astir’s haven, Magda rushed into the room with buckets of hot scented water.
“Hurry, my mistress, hurry,” she said in a frightened voice.
“You feel his approach,” I asked.
“All who have tasted his blood can,” she answered.
Helping me into the bath, she noted the bruises and scratches on my flesh where Ignatius had gripped me. “You must heal. ”
“I need blood,” I answered.
“Then drink,” she said, offering me her wrist.
Oh, dearest Magda, I did not realize until that moment what a great ally she was to me. But I did drink and I did heal. She scrubbed my skin nearly raw and tried to make sure all signs of Ignatius were erased from my room.
By the time Vlad appeared in my doorway, flushed and fierce, I sat calmly at m
y desk finishing my letter to my brother.
“Come here,” Vlad ordered in a dark voice.