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“You are now Countess Dracula of Wallachia. Your exploits should not be so shocking considering your station, your family name and who your husband is. ”

“I keep your name only to advance myself,” I snapped. I attempted to escape the dream carriage, but found that I was paralyzed in this world as well.

Vlad Dracula chuckled with amusement. “I shall reclaim you. ”

“Never!”

“I shall. I swear it. ”

In my dream, his form was dark and his features hidden. But I saw when he gazed at me for his eyes were coals of fire in the darkness.

“I shall never relent!”

I gasped as I woke fully. I threw off the coat and Adem lunged forward to cover me as another guard closed the door on the bright sunlight outside.

“Countess!” he gripped me tightly with his hands, breathing hard with fright.

“He was here!” I gasped.

“No one was here. We just stopped a few minutes ago. The others just now departed. ”

“Vlad was here,” I insisted, my mind unreasonable. I could feel his gaze upon me still.

Adem’s rough hand pressed against my cheek as he gazed into my eyes. “Countess, look upon me. If he was here, he would be burning in the sun. I would not let him hurt you. ”

Tears in my eyes, I nodded briefly, then clutched his hand. “Thank you, Adem. ”

“We are only stopped for a short while, then we will continue. Lord Astir has arranged lodging for tonight so you may freshen up, feed, and relax. ” Adem withdrew his hands and sat across from me.

Within, I felt ravaged by Vlad’s words. Perhaps it had merely been a dream, but I knew if he were in any way able to form thoughts, he would be planning his recapture of me.

“When you saw him,” I said in a tremulous voice, “in the castle, how did he appear?”

What if the Brides had fed him? What if they were restoring him?

“A shriveled husk. I would not have known it was him save for the crest above his head and where he was laid to rest. I could faintly feel his presence, but it was like that of a wraith. ” Adem hesitated, then continued. “If you are asking me if he could reach out and attack you from afar even in that condition, I do not know. But his power was barely discernible. ”

I swallowed words of fear that were filling my mouth and forced myself to be silent.

“May I ask you a question, Countess?”

“Why did I do it?”

“Lord Astir told me why you did it. Vlad was attempting to kill the other Brides. I suppose my question is how could you? Do you not love him?” Adem spoke gently, but his words wounded me.

“Yes, but, I hate him as well,” I confessed. My words were harsh with emotion. The nightmare was still fresh in my mind. “I hate him, and I love him. ” I shook my head. “I hate him more than I can bear. It burns like a fire inside of me. At times, I dream of slashing his head from his shoulders. And yet. . . ” I shrugged. “I love him. But I do not think it is a pure love. It’s twisted, painful, and cruel. It hurts me to not be near him, yet. . . ” I was rambling on, spilling out my heart to a stranger, yet I could not stop. I felt tears spring into my eyes and my rage returned. “I do not want him in my life though it is like a dagger inside of me twisting away to not be with him. ”

“It is his blood in you. A bond between the Master and the fledgling. ” Adem nodded his head, not surprised at my outburst. Perhaps Astir had told him more than I suspected.

“Do you know much about vampires?”

“As much as can be learned in the time I have spent around them. And I have known Vlad for a very, very long time. ”

This surprised me, yet I quickly realized that any knowledge Adem might possess about Vlad could indeed be valuable in my quest to be completely free of him, both body and soul. “Did you know him well?”

“Yes. I perhaps know him better than any other vampire that Astir entertains. ” Adem smirked. “And there is no love lost between us. I am a Turk and was once a devout follower of Islam. I am everything that your husband and Master hated when he was a mortal prince fighting the Ottoman invasion of his lands. ”

“He impaled the Turks. On stakes. Thousands,” I whispered. The horrible opera created in Vlad’s honor had depicted such a scene, but I had also witnessed the atrocities in Vlad’s memories. I had seen the dead and dying impaled on stakes in a terrible forest of blood while Vlad drank and ate at a grand table laid out beneath them.