by Amber Flora
Damon entered the living area seeing Ashtyn reading her book. The bright sun shined on her beautiful chestnut hair and her cheeks were flushed from the heat. He looked into her mesmerizing eyes. He wasn’t sure what had caused it, he had never seen anything like that in all his life, but ever since they arrived at his estate in Finland her eyes had turned a bright teal. They were stunning. He wanted to ask her if she even noticed the change, but oddly he didn’t want to alarm her. When she presented him with the option to get to know her before they got intimate it had taken him off-guard. No one had ever cared to know him. His father had chosen Ser'ie and his plan of eradicating the races over his own son, and his mother, who only cared about her own hide, had left him for dead when he was just a child. Damon had been alone since he could remember. Scrounging for scraps on the street like a dog. When he learned Ser'ie had murdered his father in cold blood for failing to obtain Deandra on their first attempt, Damon did not weep for the loss of his father. He was actually grateful to Ser'ie for doing what he could not. He had thought after Ser'ie had disappeared that he would be free. Damon could live in whatever realm he chose without retaliation, but once again the world had laughed in his face. When he attempted to seek refuge with the dreamwalkers he had stumbled upon Bonnie. He begged her to let him to stay, but she knew exactly who he was and his relation to Ser’ie. She spat in his face and told him he was banned from their realm. Humiliated and once again alone he wandered through the rubble and that’s when he found the tiny piece of paper that would change his life forever.
He was no longer alone, now he had her, and he would do whatever was necessary to fulfill his dream. She had no idea how valuable she was, not just to him but to every realm. He thought about the day he met her, how she faced him head on without an ounce of fear for herself. Something about her warmed his cold distant heart and made him feel somewhat protective over her. He knew she wasn’t using magic; he had blocked any abilities she had that might aid her in an escape, but he still couldn’t shake the feeling of calm whenever she was near. That was somewhat of a concern considering she was his prisoner. Did she know how long he waited for her, how important she was to him? Ashtyn would give him everything he desired and everyone would be forced to accept an impure as their leader. He would make them beg for mercy and he would start with Bonnie. Cody managed to escape this time, but his luck will run out and when it does, Damon will be there, to cut him down in front of his own mother and make her watch as the life left his body. He will take down everyone who discarded him and thought him unworthy.
Ashtyn believed them to care for her, that the council protected her and wanted her among them, but he knew the truth. The dirty little council member had sold her out at the first opportunity. They were all about self-preservation. What is the loss of an impure to save their own hides? Whether she knew it or not they had no intentions of making her the High Priestess. They would never let a half blood rule their realm, but he would. He wanted her to join willingly and be by his side when their son overthrew the realms and knocked the pedigreed snobs off their thrones, but that was her choice alone to make. She could accept her fate and be the most powerful and feared Priestess the realms had ever seen, or she could continue to deny the inevitable. Either way the outcome would be the same. Ashtyn Lane would bare his child.
