Page 47

I could see the warning in her eyes, but I could not restrain myself. “If you see him in the city, please let me know immediately. ”

“I was not aware that he is a friend of yours considering his past with Vlad,” Adem responded.

“He is dear to me,” I confessed.

Adem’s eyes searched my face and he slightly nodded. “I understand. Should I see him, I shall inform you immediately. ”

“You may go now,” I said softly.

“Until tomorrow night,” he said with a bow and left.

“Do not chide me!” I said defensively before Magda could open her mouth.

“All your secrets will be laid out before the entire city of Buda if you do not tread carefully,” Magda chastised me anyway.

“Adem will not betray me,” I said stubbornly.

“Probably not, but you must be careful. Astir is protecting you, but one day someone will uncover the truth of what you have done. ”

“And I shall be far from here with Ignatius at my side,” I retorted as I crawled onto the bed. I pushed Magda’s hand away as she attempted to tend to my hair. I was feeling surly and lonely.

“I should brush your hair and curl it. Tomorrow you will have visitors,” she said in a firm tone.

“They will not be Ignatius so why bother,” I groused.

Magda sighed.

“Very well!”

I darted from the bed and sat before the vanity. There was no mirror and I was slightly impressed by the Baroness’ forethought. I sat in grumpy silence as Magda tended to my hair and slowly relaxed as her fingers expertly tidied up my long locks.

At last I said, “Magda, why do you think Vlad gave me his power?”

It was a question that haunted me. I suspected it was to tie me to him, but perhaps I was wrong. I was torn as I reflected on my last night with him. Though in my heart I knew he had manipulated me, a part of me, that dark specter he had infused into my soul, wanted to believe he had truly considered me to be the worthy heir of his power.

“I believe he expects to return,” Magda said at last. “Perhaps when the blow that struck him down was not a killing one, he believed he would one day be freed from the coffin. By you, or another servant. ”

“He said he loved me,” I confessed. “I believed him. ”

“And now?”

I shook my head, tears suddenly threatening. “No. Not now. ”

“I believe you are wrong. In my time with him he has loved other women. He brought ruin on all of them,” Magda said, laying her hands lightly on my shoulders. “His love is like fire. It consumes. It destroys. It is not born of a pure heart, but out of evil need. ”

“He has done something to me,” I whispered. “I dream of him and it is terrible. I never want to feel him touch me again, yet a dark aspect within me yearns for him. ”

“Do you want to go to him?”

“Never! Never again! I will choose whom I love! Whom I take to my bed! Where I go! When I go! I will not allow him to destroy me. I will have my freedom. I will have my life! My love! My Ignatius!”

Magda sat beside me and took my hand. “May I tell you a story?”

“Yes, please,” I answered.

“Vlad fell in love with a young woman who was betrothed to another. Zsofia was very young and afraid of him. But he seduced her using his power. He drank from her, lay with her, forced her to drink his blood. The young man she loved and was to marry grew suspicious of her growing malaise and ill temper. So he hid away in Zsofia’s room and saw Vlad come to her in the dark of night. He confronted Vlad. Vlad twisted his neck and flung him out the window. All believed that the young man had tried to seduce his love before their marriage and fell to his death when she spurned him. Zsofia. . . she was so lovely. . . mourned deeply as Vlad continued to drink her life away. He summoned her out of her house while her family slept and took her to Astir’s haven. He exposed her to debauchery like she had never imagined. Slowly, Zsofia went mad as he stole away her life and soul. ”

“What happened to her?”