Seraphina looked around at the faces watching her expectantly. She felt a bead of sweat begin to from on her brow. “You want me to shift…now? Here?” she asked. “Yes! Of course, we do!” Aurelia shouted at her, her excitement brimming over. “Whilst it would be an honour to witness your dragon, only do so if you feel comfortable to.” Ethena told her sweetly. “Thank you, mother,” said Achilles, “Seraphina is not a show pony, you can just demand tricks from her!” Achilles shouted at his siblings and father who were all jumping up and down in their seats waiting to see the dragon. “It’s okay.” Seraphina said tentatively. “I do not mind however, it made me feel quite…trapped to shift indoors. Do you mind if we go to the gardens?” Seraphina hadn’t even finished her sentence before everyone started to rise from their seats.
Seraphina realised what was happening, she looked back down at Achilles who looking at her as though she was the only woman in the world. “Seraphina, from the moment of your birth, I have loved you. I was only a boy, just 9 years old yet, I loved you so fiercely. I didn’t think it was possible to love anyone or anything more but, you proved me wrong. In the 6 months I got to spend with you, I loved you more each day. I would do anything and be anything for you. When you were taken from me, I never thought I would recover from that, a part of my heart died. Everyday for the last 18 years, I have thought about you, about what you would look like, how you would have grown. I was so so wrong. I never in my wildest dreams could’ve imagined you be to as beautiful and simply perfect as you are,” Achilles paused to take a breath.Serap
After the proposal and their love making, Achilles and Seraphina felt on top of the world. Achilles picked out Seraphina’s dress; a cream coloured silk dress, decorated with gold floral embroideries, that sat off the shoulder showing off all of her markings. She twisted her hair back into a loose chignon and fixed it into place with amber coloured pins. She opted against wearing any jewellery except for her engagement ring.During the proposal, Achilles had been so swept up in emotion, he forgot to open the ring box and give Seraphina her ring. He was silently thankful though, as this gave him to opportunity to explain her rings origin in private, more specifically so, the diamond. Seraphina had cried when she learnt that, not only had her mother given Achilles the large pear shape diamond, when Seraphina was a baby, to give to her, he had desig
Seraphina thought she may be the most beautiful woman she had ever seen. Seraphina saw all the colour drain from Achilles face. “What are we celebrating?” the stranger spoke, her voice sounded like a song. Seraphina felt a pit form in her stomach, she gulped. “It seems my invitation didn’t quite reach me?” she spoke again as no one had answered her previous question. There were scowls all around. “Who are you?” Seraphina asked softly. The stranger glared at Seraphina, the newcomer didn’t recognise her as a noble girl and her anger immediately rose. “Who am I? Who the hell are you? How dare you speak directly to me; do you know who I am? I will have you lashed 1000 times for your insolence!” the stranger screamed at Seraphina. “Hold your tongue you slut, you are speaking to your future Queen!” Aurelia roared, slamming her hands down on the table. The stranger paled for a moment befo
Achilles ran after Seraphina in his snow leopard form. “Seraphina, please stop running away from me,” Achilles asked her through their mind connection. “I’m not running, I am flying,” Seraphina responded coldly. Achilles rolled his eyes. “I felt you roll your eyes!” Seraphina snapped at him. “Seraphina, my love, my sweet flower, please just talk to me,” Achilles pleaded with her. “This is just as much of a shock to me as it is to you, we need to talk about this, please.” Achilles begged her.Seraphina could feel her heart aching for him. Achilles was starting to catch up with her, he could tell Seraphina was slowing down, he watched as she started to descend into a small wooded area. As Achilles reached where Seraphina had landed, he saw she had shifted back to he Dhampir form. Achilles
He could feel his hard member twitching up against Seraphina’s sweet flower, hitting her bud gently making her moan in delight. He let out a groan of his own as she titled her head to the side and bit into his neck, drinking from him deeply and savo
“This can’t be,” Shouted Achilles making everyone in the room flinch. “I assure you, you highness, the results are positive, I am sorry. We can conduct the test again if you wish,” the alchemist offered. “That is not necessary,” Seraphina said, she tried to hold back the tremors in her voice. “the spell was performed correctly, the results haven’t been tampered with, Achilles we will just have to accept the truth.” The Alchemist offered Seraphina a sad smile.Lady Briseis was grinning ear to ear, “Well, now that that is dealt with, we should discuss living arrangements. I will have my belongings brought to your quarters today,” She said to Achilles. A look of disgust came across Achilles’s face, “You will do no such thing! You will stay where you are and when the child
Lady Briseis stormed into the house De-Buccleuch. “You, you there, where is my father?” Lady Briseis addressed the servant with disgust. “Lord Stevano is in his study my Lady, he is awaiting your return,” the servant told her with his head down. Without another word, Lady Briseis stomped away to her fathers study.As Lady Briseis entered, her father was sat waiting expectantly, “Well, when is the wedding my daughter?” Lord Stevano asked. “There will be no wedding father,” Lady Briseis spat back, “All of this has been for nothing, the Prince is already engaged, he will accept this child as his bastard and nothing else.” Lady Briseis dropped down onto the seat opposite her father in a dramatic fashion and let out a long sigh. “No, he can’t do that, he impregnated you, he must
Aurelia’s face turned a bright shade of red as she looked down and began to fidget her hands. Seraphina had never seen Aurelia flustered before. “Well…” Aurelia looked at Seraphina hesitantly, “There is a man with whom I have been…intimate with.” Aurelia tried to compose herself but, Seraphina could see she was both excited and embarrassed to talk about it. Seraphina gave her a small nod of encouragement. “We have had an intimate relationship for 2 years now but, I met him 4 years ago in my first battle,” She told Seraphina. “Is he a warrior?” Seraphina asked.Aurelia paled. “He is now, he was a prisoner of war when I met him… he was our prisoner of war…” There was a heavy silence that followed. Seraphina quickly composed herself after the shock revelation. &
“Do you think it will work?” Seraphina’s eyes followed Isobella as she paced back and forth.
Grief. Bone chilling, stomach turning, blood curdling grief. That’s all Seraphina could feel. She collapsed and let out a wail that sounded almost demonic. She clawed at her naked skin and screamed into the night. Her screeches loud enough to disturb the heavens. Raging fires encircled her like a protective wall.She wrapped her arms around her stomach, feeling empty, hollow, lost. She could hear the sound of laughter, a cruel, demented laugh. Turning her head towards the sound, her eyes reflecting the flames dancing as they were slick with tears. Stepping through the flames, she stalked towards the person laughing at her, her hands partially shifted into the claws of her dragon. Ready to tear out the throats of whoever had dared to mock her.
It felt as though a lifetime had passed by the time they arrived back at the manor. All the while, Seraphina had been calling out to Achilles in her mind, hoping and praying she would hear from him. A response, a whisper, a cough, anything…but nothing came.As the courtyard came into sights, she came to a halt as she hovered in the air, gently allowing herself to descend onto the ground.Cheers erupted as soon as they landed and she was immediately surrounded by anxious and tearful faces.As the mages dismounted with the children, Matteo came rushing over to Seraphina holding a robe open in his arms. Nodding her head at him, she shifted back and shrugged her arms into the robe before tying it in place.
The two older girls looked at each other before settling the babies down and stepping forward, careful to keep the younger girls behind them. Crouching down, they dug their hands into the dirt before looking up at the crowd before them, their eyes glazed over as roots and vines shot out from the ground and began to wrap around the legs of the soldiers, winding their way up around their torso and arms.The vampires among the soldiers made effort to free themselves though, the humans for the most part were completely stuck in place fighting against their little cages.Freeing herself from the vines, Seraphina bent down to get onto their level and opened her palm out skyward. Whispering words in the air, a small handmade doll appeared in her hand as she
A wave of nausea passed over Seraphina as she approached the circle of mages. Swaying on her feet, her hand shot out to grab Aurelia’s arm, steadying herself.“Is everything okay Seraphina?” Aurelia whispered under her breath.She gulped audibly before nodding and gesturing for them to continue forward.The circle of mages parted as Seraphina, Achilles and Aurelia came to meet them. Isobella opened her arms out to embrace Seraphina, as they parted she paused momentarily and cast her eyes over Seraphina’s body. An unsettling look came across her face before she shook it away and gave a solemn smile.“Are you sure it is wi
“Violence will be avoided if possible, our main priority is to get in, get the children and get them out. The mages along with Princess Seraphina will be entrusted with bringing the children back to the manor. Magnus?” Aurelia addressed the solider.“Yes Princess,” the aforementioned stepped forward with a salute.“You will stay here with your men to await their return in case anyone tries to follow. The children will stay the night here with their families, they will be seen to by the palace doctors, Helga and Bethel to see if they require any treatment. You are to guard them at all times. I want 2 soldiers stationed inside each of their rooms and an additional 2 guarding the doors.”
An electric buzz coursed through Thea as the mages chanted their syphoning spell. Seamus had warned her that she would feel the absorption of the magic but, she had no idea it would feel so…thrilling. Butterflies, more akin to flying rocks, danced around in her stomach, a radiant sensation passed through her body, warming her from head to toe.The notion that she was absorbing her father’s magic suddenly occurred to her. She had never felt connected to her parents, having no memories of them whatsoever. Moving to the DeBeaux Angelo manor, she thought she would’ve felt a connection, a spark, something but, she didn’t. It just felt like a house.Now, for the first time, she felt connected, she felt the love her father had for h
“I should have known your father would’ve kept an alter hidden somewhere,” Isobella grinned as she walked into the secret room.
*A light breeze drifted through the hallway twirling Seraphina’s sk