Page 8

Sylvanna

S o my brave Paladin is a virgin. It’s not surprising, considering the untamed Light magic coursing through his big body. I’ll have to see to that quickly and luckily I have just the thing—a Collar of Control.

It’s one of the few benign magical artifacts in my collection with no chance of magical addiction or adverse side effects.

It simply collects the magic of the wearer and allows either them or the one who holds the collar’s key to channel it in a controlled way.

Naturally, I will be holding the key, which means I’ll have access to Alaric’s power.

That’s a good thing, especially if I decide to take him to the City. If things work as I hope they will, he can help me collect The Heart of the Eclipse, right under Kraven’s nose.

Naturally, this plan is not without hurdles.

Before I can travel to the City of Night, I’ll have to train my Paladin to act like a proper Blood-servant.

I wouldn’t even try this with a normal barbarian from Solaris.

But having seen into Alaric’s memories, I know that he craves submission, even if he won’t admit it to himself.

I can use that part of him to train him properly and it works well for me as I quite enjoy being a Mistress.

I’ll also enjoy raising power with him. Magic may be raised by blood, pain, or pleasure—I intend to use all three as I train my new Paladin.

I’m tired of using my magical Pleasure Wand all the time to build power, though I acknowledge to myself that I’ll need to use it at least a little longer, until he’s properly trained.

I can’t start out by riding him—no matter how intriguing I find the massive shaft between his legs. Even with a collar on, that much lust and pleasure would cause an explosion. No, I must take things slowly.

Of course, there’s also the problem of what to do once we get The Heart of the Eclipse and return it to my tower.

Alaric is determined to bring it back to his GodKing, which I cannot allow.

But by then, I’m sure I’ll think of something.

The main thing is to get it away from Kraven, who’s a much more dangerous foe.

He has High Born blood in his veins—The Heart will react to his touch, much as it reacts to mine. I cannot risk him having it.

Which means I must, for a time at least, entrust myself to the hands of a DayBorn barbarian. Well, at least I know that Kraven hasn’t been tampering with him. And with a little discipline, hopefully everything will fall into place.

I’m already planning my next moves as I mount my horse and lead Alaric towards my tower.