Bound By Blood (38 page)

             
Once inside
the blackened halls
, the sisters
disappear
ed
.
Samanthŕa
thought,
how
lovely. The point of them coming here with me was to make sure
Daŕ
ēus
didn’t have any tricks up his sleeve. How would they know it if he did
, i
f something happene
d, w
hen they are running amuck like mindless wenches swallowed up by their
foolish lust
?
She was growing bitter now but knew it
must be
because of the herbs
--
or maybe it was everything leading up to this point.

             
She sat alone in a room that appeared to be for greeting guests.
Fur and fabric of d
ark masculine colors stretched across couches and chairs. A fire burned in a huge fireplace
, big enough to hold an entire tree,
while tapestries
were
hung to hold back the
frostiness
of the mountains outside.

             
Samanthŕa
, not sure what she should be doing,
looked at one of the tapestries. A woman with dark hair faced a man with similar features. Their hands barely touched
; only
the flat
s
of their palms extended towards each other. His li
ght was dark but hers was a mixture of
colors.
             
Representing the lights,
she thought, wh
er
e a crimson luminosity
was depicted coming
from its friction.

             
A dragon held the two of them, or seemed to,
wrapping its tail around their bodies
while
it's
upper bod
y and wings stretched above
. The
faces of many animal spirits were beneath them. Each animal had
a sur
name of a family and
an
ancient glyph embroidered on it.
Samanthŕa
approached
, taking a closer look. Her eyes grew wide
with astonishment
.

             
S
he heard voices outside in the hall approaching the doorway
and s
he turned to look
.
N
early a dozen figures hidden
by
cloaks paid her no mind as they left.
Daŕ
ēus
then appeared in the doorway. His presence caused her cheeks to flush. That energy which he always brought with him made her feel slightly drugged again
,
like some sort of elixir for the nerves. It was comforting until the potion rose up and bit her. The same sickness and dizziness
engulf
ed her. She forced it back down
with one hard swallow
.

             
He smiled brightly but she gave him no chance to greet her. She drew his attention to the tapestry. “I gather these are
our
bloodlines
,
”
s
he said. “Yet I do not see the
Mãrquis
ŕa
name. I see
Morãe
,
not
Mãrquis
ŕa
.” She then remembered the night
before when
she was introduced to the
B
rothers.
Maŕ
ēus
Morãe
, her mind repeated. She
hadn’t
realized that the
Mãrquis
ŕa
name was n
ot
spoken.

             
“That’s because the
Mãrquis
ŕa
is not one of ours. It
should be
Morãe
.” He went to pour her some
brandy,
as any decent host would do.

             
“I do not understand
,
”
s
he said
wondering how he could break this news to her so calmly
. “If they are not part of our-”

             
“You
,
my Priestess
,
have discovered just one of many things I have asked myself since I returned.” He laughed as he handed her the brandy. He sat down facing the tapestry. He kicked his legs up on a nearby table and
made himself
comfortable. “Maybe we should ask
Dĩas
. I wonder what he has to say about that.”

             
Nothing pleased her more than to know that the
Mãrquis
ŕa
w
ere
not of
t
he
i
r bloodline
,
especially since
Monéaklá
was
one
. Still, how was such a thing possible? Where were the
Morães
then?

             
He read her thoughts. She wasn’t trying to hide them. “The
Morães
, or those who are left, believe themselves to be
Mãrquis
ŕa
. Seems someone removed their memories as well as their identities. There seems to be a lot of that going on.” He raised a brow, sipping his brandy.
“For their safety however and until we discover more about this, I would ask that you keep this between
us
.”

             
“Well
,
aren’t you going to do something about it?”
To her own ears s
he s
ound
ed a bit gruff. How could he just sit there?

             
“You haven’t heard?” He grinned in that devilish way which caused chills to run down her back. Everything he did, every gesture or movement seemed to draw her to him. She hated this and made sure to fight it. If she could only control her hunger, keep
herself
from sensing his blood
.
She was sure this was the reason
for the chills
.

             
“Hear what?”

             
“Just last night, a truce was called between
Dĩas
and Evil.”

             
Samanthŕa
was
floored
. Was this the thing which drove
St
a
phãyn
over the edge? “You jest.”

             
“Never would I.” He sounded so convincing. “Because of this truce,
I
cannot touch the
Mãrquis
ŕa
even if I wanted to and I assure you,
I want to
. I loathe that family. Always have.
Still, I must admit that
Evil is wise
,
I think,
Dĩas
even wiser.”

             
“Are you saying that
Dĩas
is protecting the
Mã
rquisŕa
?”

             
“Nay, he is protecting himself. Evil is protecting the
Mãrquis
ŕa
;
after all it is their bloodline. This is their little way of protecting themselves.”

             
“This is so confusing. I mean
,
I would have never believed it,
Dĩas
agreeing to a truce with Evil
.
What is Evil protecting themselves from?”

             
“
Me
,
Samanthŕa
,” he said plainly. “I am the one person who has power enough to destroy Evil
, t
o put them back into their prison
realm
.
"

             
"Then why is Dĩas protecting Evil?"

             
"Ah, that would be me again, my Priestess.
Dĩas
did it because they promised him
t
hey would protect him
. They also
promised him he could keep the T
hrone, I am sure.
Fool. I remember
Dĩas
joining with Evil once before.” He growled low but said nothing more about that.

             
“Why would…I do not understand.” She fumbled
for
words. “What power does
Evil
have over my father
’s T
hrone?”

             
“Because the throne itself was and is Evil.
"

             
"I must be dreaming." She rubbed her skull. First the way her sisters were acting and now this. What is Hadãe was going on?

             
"Here is a bit of knowledge for you . . .
just
as I promised. The one who sits on that Throne
controls how powerful
Evil
become
s
. The T
hrone is nothing more than a collection of dark secrets
,
kept from you as well as everyone else, including the fact that it is
my
T
hrone.”

             
“Your T
hrone?” She became nervous. Was he
E
vil? She backed away.

             
“The T
hrone is a tool of sorts
,
Samanthŕa
. It channels the Dark Matter into the essence of
E
vil. It makes them powerful since they have no real strength of their own. During the ancient world
and its wars
, I defeated
E
vil. I i
mprisoned them and claimed the T
hrone. I absorbed the Dark Matter within myself, recycled it to something of more light
,
and then gave it to our families.
It’s m
uch like
what
a
Strygĩ
male does for his woman when she is with child or
what
our bodies do when we feed and destroy one of
E
vil. Much like
what
a male would do before he fed his woman what he stole from
E
vil.
What our males do for one, I do for all of you."

             
"I never knew this." She was simply amazed.

             
"
When I was betrayed and imprisoned,
Dĩas
took the T
hrone so
E
vil could not reclaim it. Since then you have seen
E
vil rise and become strong.
You
have seen our family become weaker.
And why have you been able to see what little you have while others have been so blinded?"

             
"Because I am Priestess and because of what little bit of link I had to you through dream."

             
"Yes, you were able to see some of what I saw. But now I must prepare you for the worst.
Dĩas
will soon go mad
,
if he hasn’t already.”

             
“Why would he go mad?”

             
“Because
,
Samanthŕa
, only
I
can control the T
hrone. Only
I
have the strength to overcome it. But not even I can do it by myself. I need my Priestess, the keeper of the lights. You see
,
there is
something special about you after all. You think you earned your title? I say you were destined to have it.” He pointed to the woman in the tapestry.

             
It made s
ens
e now
,
she thought. He held the
darkness that
could absorb Evil’s power and change it. She held the lights to keep him dark so that he did not turn
E
vil. Suddenly she became aware of what the dragon
was truly embracing. It was a T
hrone
and the bloodlines
.