Tatiana shivered. This is what she secretly desired. Someone who would take over and let her calm. Allow her not to struggle with decisions. She champed at the bit when her mother or anyone else did it. Somehow Sabre felt different. The work ruling the empire didn’t bother her. What bothered her were other people forcing limits on her. Sabre didn’t limit her. They opened up new possibilities and strengths Tatiana didn’t know about. Even now, in the back of her mind, a little voice reminded her that Sabre made her question her intelligence mere moments ago. That Tatiana wouldn’t look at. “What? What are you going to do with that?” She stared at the flexible rod in Sabre’s hand. “All in due time. Drop the cloak, now Tatiana.” Sabre’s voice hardened, and she knew that meant business. Her hand went to the clasps and the heavy cloak fell to the dusty floor. “Good girl. Pick up the blindfold and put i
“George, I really hate to say this. But could there be a car following us?” Adriana looked in the mirror again to double check. “That car behind us looks familiar, and so does the driver. I swear it’s the same licence plate number.” George gave an aggravated sigh and looked in the mirror. “Great, that’s the last thing we need. I don’t know how this could have happened. Who would know to follow us and where did we pick him up?” “There’s one person in the car and I think it’s the man from the corridor of the boat. How would he have found us? I mean, he had to get that car and keep an eye on us at the same time. He’d have to have known something of your plan. Wouldn’t he?” George now appreciate Ana’s sharp mind all the more. He didn’t need to tell her what he’d been thinking, because she knew already. That made him happy, even though the car behind them didn’t. It concerned him to no end. George thought they’d escape
They were finally approaching the road into the city, and Ana continued to insist that the same car drove directly behind us. They never changed direction or allowed another car to stay between them for more than a few miles. “If they are going to do anything, Ana, it will be soon. That’s the first turn up ahead. So brace yourself I’ll slow down, but if they try anything, I’ll be forced to speed up.” George hated this part of the road, even when he rode a horse, but this would be the first time he’d taken this part of the journey driving a car. He’d been warned that it could be dicey here if one drove too fast around the curves. The guards he’d spoken to about the road during a casual conversation. All mentioned driving in this spot as a place where several accidents like the one he’d walked away from had already occurred. However, in their cases, no one walked away from these accidents.George was surprised with Ana because she’d climbed into the c
George didn’t know who drove the other cars. He would accept any help gratefully, but this would be the end of him if anything like this happened again. What if whoever they were wasn’t there to block that other car from getting to theirs? Would they now be at the bottom of the ravine in a twisted metal heap? Either way, he needed to ditch this car. He’d leave it as agreed in a bar’s parking lot next door to the hotel. The keys were to be left with a bartender inside the bar. Once that was done, he’d return to Ana and not leave her side again for a good long while. The problem he would have is that the bar closed three hours ago. So unless someone was there cleaning up, he could abandon the car in the parking lot, but the keys were his until the bar opened for business the next evening. All good, he’d planned it this way, because he feared if he tried to give the schedule less wiggle room, they’d end up missing an important connect
The hotel appeared busy and looked amazing. Where everything splendid within the palace always turned out to be an antique. Here the impressive structure’s details were all new and beautiful appointed. A huge fish tank sat in the centre of the lobby and acted like a moat to keep visitors away from a handsome statue of a naked vampire feeding on a hapless soul. It wasn’t pretty and then Ana realized the statue was supposed to depict the emperor conquering the empire. George interrupted her thoughts when he finally returned with the key and explained the problem he’d encountered. What would she say? What could she say to him about this? Edger pulled one of his weird games with their plans and probably based them on something the emperor spoke about. Ana mention her sisters and mother, then regretted it. Thank goodness George didn’t remind her that two out of three were dead. It slowly sank into her mind, and she cou
It didn’t take long for George to drive the vehicle over to the bar. He needed to be fast about this because the sun would rise soon. He hated being caught in the sun’s rays. They burned and made seeing very difficult. With the advent of sunglasses though, his eyed didn’t water as badly. Which made seeing easier and he could move faster. There weren’t many cars in the parking lot at this time of day. He found someone stalking toward him from the bar. Which he’d not expected. “You’re the driver?” He demanded to know. When George nodded, the old, balding barkeeper went on. “You’re early. Good on you. The boss will give you a bonus when I tell him about this. I’ll take the keys so you can be on your way. The sun will be up soon. Nobody wants to get caught in that.” George tossed him the keys and waved the man off before he returned to the hotel. He didn’t get into the hotel any time too soon. George could feel the b
“You’re saying this person is not necessarily of the guardian caste, but in fact an undocumented member of the Van Der Naught lineage.” Franco sat on an elaborate chair within his private audience chamber. Eva rested in his chamber at this point with guards watching her. He’d heard that Tatiana’s people were stretching their legs and testing the waters at court to see how much power they actually possessed. Franco could feel the climate going from bad to worse. “We know at the time of their presumed deaths, the patriarch and matriarch were about to be parents within weeks. The age you gave us, and the likeness all point to this male, being the next patriarch of that lineage. It may not have died out as we thought. She may have survived long enough to have her child, or someone could save her child. There’s been some strides into surgically removing a child from a mother without the need to have the mother go into labour. Or even remove the child fro
Having finally fled the old tavern, Tatiana experienced genuine fear for the first time with Sabre. Sabre passed a hard line by bringing a man into the punishment. Tatiana hated men in general because they ignored her needs for their own. She spent her days forced to deal with fools and blowhards because they wanted one thing or another. They believed her to be a pushover. The few times she’d had sex with men she felt weren’t a threat to her, only to come away unsatisfied. Now she felt fear and yet felt he met all her kinky needs. Whoever he was, he’d left her spent and fearful that no one would unbind her. Sabre also went too far. She was supposed to ask her permission before tying her down. Tatiana never heard the vitriol that spewed from Sabre’s mouth. How could she say those things? There was no way at the time Tatiana could register Sabre’s unspoken message. Sabre wanted her to hurt for some reason. Now, after that encounter,