**DAPHNE**
*All this time that I have been falling for him... he has been planning to take my life.*
*Suddenly, I want to die.*
“I am not going to sacrifice you,” he whispers, and I raise my eyes to his. “I cannot.”
*And just like that, I am filled with hope again.*
“Do *they* know that?” I pant out, in an attempt to control my emotions. “Your Elite Council? Did you tell them that?”
He chuckles darkly, shaking his head in anger. “They do not matter, Daphne. I would kill them all if only to save you. You have bewitched me.”
“But you were going to,” I choke out, my hands going to my mouth to stifle any sob that might emerge. "Y-you w-were going to *k-k-kill me!"*
“I was going to sacrifice a mortal, yes. But not anymore,” he hisses. “From the moment I saw you, I have been under a spell. I couldn’t help but touch you, couldn’t help but taste you. You changed everything. Please, falling for you is the one thing I didn’t plan on.”
*Falling for me?*
*Does all of this have anything to do with that damn curse Petra mentioned?*
Relief floods over me at his admission and I let out a long breath. Tears that I didn’t know I was holding back, trickle from my eyes like rain. “I trust you, Ash. I have told you this. But you cannot leave me alone here! Please! Not after learning this!”
“I will not leave you unprotected," he sighs. “You will remain here, when I fetch your sister. I don’t care if I have to lock you in a dungeon to keep you safe - I will do as I need to.”
“Lock me in a dungeon? You wouldn’t,” I snap, glaring up at him.
His gaze is steady when he smiles at me coldly. “Try me.”
I am shaking with anger.
*Who does he think he is?*
*A prince, that's who.*
*Are all royals as blastedly entitled as this?*
“You will not leave me here with people who expected to kill me. People who hate my very *existence!”* Standing slowly, I walk toward him, ignoring the blaze of heat I feel coming from his form. His gaze brightens with a sparkling fury of red as his magic groans with shuddering force, causing my hair to swirl around me and my cheeks to heat. But I do not back down. Instead, I reach into it and place a hand over his heart. “I am not afraid of you, Ash. Perhaps I should be, but I am not.”
Just like that, the swirling stops and he pulls my body against his, eyes calming and melting into liquid pools of silver. Swooping me into his arms, he carries me toward the door bridal style. “That makes one of us,” he says, resting his forehead upon mine for a long moment while exiting the study and heading for the staircase leading up to his chamber. "For I am *terrified* of you, my little peasant."
Once we are inside, he drops me gently onto his dark velvet bed. “I thought I was to stay in the Lavender Chamber,” I whisper as he throws off his shirt and locks the door.
“Is that what you want?” He asks, eyeing the bare flesh of my legs exposed by the split in the skirt, trousers thickening as his pleasure comes to life. “To be alone, and away from me?”
I shake my head no and he exhales in relief, causing me to blush. Biting my lip, I study him, gathering my bravery for what I want to say next. “I want to sleep in your arms and wake with you inside of me.”
His eyes go wide, and his jaw falls open. Muscles flex as his body shudders, his shaft visibly straining against his pants. Reaching for his ties, he steps toward me.
*Knock, knock, knock!*
I jolt up against the stone headrest, wondering in the back of my mind at the strange hours his entire kingdom seems to keep.
*Bloody faeries.*
“Who is it?” His hisses in annoyance, pausing in the act of undoing his trousers.
Klyesque’s voice sounds behind the doors, “Ash. we have a problem.”
He opens the door. “What is it now?”
Klyesque stares past him for a brief moment, a wry smile gracing her lips upon her notice of me on his bed. Turning her attention back to her prince, she says, “Jacar and Thedro.”
Glancing back at me, Ash’s gaze is filled with worry. Clamping his eyes shut he curses then reaches for his shirt, throwing it back on. “Damn it. They have returned?”
Klyesque shakes her head no as Ash clutches the doorknob, gripping it hard enough to cause it to squeak. “They have and they haven’t.”
Ash rolls his eyes heavenward before realization strikes him and a buzzing of lightning passes over his form. “Tell me.”
“Their heads were gift wrapped and brought to the castle gates. But that is not all,” she says, her mouth going tight. “Their heads are not the only things that are here.”
Suddenly fear consumes me as I think for the barest moment that *Diana’s* head lies with theirs. “What?” I cry out, unable to stop myself.
Ash jerks his chin toward Klyesque in warning of what she has yet to say. “We shall talk privately.”
“No!” I snap. “Is it my sister? Is it her head with-” But I cannot complete my sentence. The image of Diana, lifeless and frightened burns its way into my mind and I crumble forward.
“No, no!” Klyesque states quickly, seeing that I am on the verge of madness. “Not your sister.”
“Then what?” Ash hisses. “Who is with them?”
“She claims she only carried them here. She claims she found them at the River Gate.”
“Who claims?” Ash sputters.
Klyesque swallows, her eyes narrowing. “She who was once banished from the realms. The Woodland Witch. She is here...and... she says that she must speak... to Daphne.”