me by the hair to throw me face down onto the bed, forcing my hands behind my back. This couldn’t be happening. I was numbed, not believing he was doing this to me, oddly detached from it all, as if I watched the proceedings from afar. He threw his body over me. I attempted to drag myself forward only to find myself pinned by his greater strength. He laughed. I never hated anyone as much as I hated Ethan at that moment.

He whispered in my ear, “Rape is child’s play compared to what I have in mind for you.”

His mouth closed on my throat and punctured the carotid. I tried to wriggle away, as his arm closed tighter around me. I burned all over. Veins alternately exploded and collapsed as my head threatened to crack open. My thirst grew as my body rushed to stave off death, saliva flowing freely down my chin. Throbbing pain pulsated through my flesh. I begged for mercy as so many of my victims had. My fingernails raked his skin, but he didn’t budge. The mouth that had given pleasure in the past brought only pain.

Consciousness grew misty as I slipped into a shadow realm. His face swam around me in a circle as he crouched beside me, studying. The look of contempt was gone, now he simply observed my ordeal, detached until he dissolved into millions of black specks. “Tell me what he asked of you!”

The dark prince materialized before me, dragging me toward a dark pool in center of a garden. He grabbed my head, pushing it down under. I flailed, drowning.

Suddenly, I was pulled out into the arms of another. “You’ll never take, what she won’t give, you fool! She’ll die first.” Brovik’s voice blended with the fair demon’s, thundering through the mist, “Mia, drink! Now! Do you hear me? Drink or you’ll die!’

My mouth was forced open.

I regained consciousness to find Brovik standing over me, my mouth fastened to his bleeding wrist, and Ethan, looking miserable.

A wave of revulsion swept over me. “Monster!”

Brovik chided him, “Who’s the barbarian now? Are you proud of your handiwork?

A strangled sob came from Ethan, “What have I done?” He threw himself protectively over me. “I’ll see you rot in hell, Brovik!”

I pushed Ethan away. “I hate you!”

Ethan clambered to his feet, grabbing Brovik by the shoulders. “You did this!”

“You did this, not me,” Brovik said, extracting himself from Ethan’s grasp.

“You can’t bear for me to have something of my own!”

“She’s no more yours, than you are mine!”

Ethan stared at him dazed. “What did you promise her?”

Brovik stared Ethan down. “She sees visions in the blood, did you know? Imagine what she’s seen inside you?” He turned away and left us all alone.

I gathered my robe around me. “Don’t ever touch me again!”

Ethan stood heaving. “I told you he could bend minds like stalks of wheat, but you couldn’t resist him… ”

“Can you?”

“Everything about him is a lie.”

“You’re ridiculous, clinging to your past. Go back to Virginia and haunt your stupid house, you malevolent ghost!”

“You’re a mere child. You know nothing. You will see, Mia. In time, you will see.”

TWELVE

* * * *

Convinced he was no longer the center of my universe, Ethan retreated ever farther into shadow, while Brovik welcomed me into both his arms and bed on a regular basis. It took a great deal of persuasion on Brovik’s part to place me there, but Ethan eventually succumbed. Who could resist Brovik? It was folly, and I a mere pawn in the game between them, but I didn’t care.

On the final night of our visit, as we three lay bathed in the glow of the aurora one long night, I questioned Brovik about Kurt. He opened a drawer and showed me a picture from an old newspaper clipping, twelve year-old Kurt, whose impossibly large eyes looked even larger.

“Ethan and I had seen this brilliant, young musician’s concert, not imagining one day our paths would cross. Kurt struggled so valiantly to live… I couldn’t turn away.” Ethan scowled as Brovik looked on the clipping fondly. “Such beauty must be cherished and protected.”

“Why don’t you call him home?”

“Put that thought out of your head,” Ethan growled. “I won’t stay under the same roof.”

“He speaks.” Brovik took the clipping and replacing it in the drawer he had taken it from.

Ethan lay back with his eyes closed. “Filling her head with tales of your imaginary Viking exploits is one thing, but spinning romantic fancies about your paramour is