Daughter of Stars and Nightmares (The Eternal Bond Saga book 1)

Cat and mouse

Thorsen sat back down on the bed. "Being half dark faerie half witch and the blood lines you carry inside of you makes you very special and unique." Thorsen pointed to the empty decanter. "Now that you have consumed the last of Beatrix's blood everything is complete."

The colour drained from Julia's face hearing this and her stomach churned. "What kind of monster are you?" Was all she could get out before throwing up over the side of the bed. She looked down at the mess afraid he would make her lick up any blood she had expelled. To her astonished relief there was only a puddle of yellow bile on the floor.

"A monster that will do anything to get what I want. Never forget that, Julia. You are mine; I went through great lengths to create you. We fed your mother Beatrix's heart and brain when she and your father got together and supposedly fell in love. Ásgeirr was a master manipulator; he even tricked your mother into completing the ceremony to draw Beatrix's spirit into her before they conceived you. Of course Rosa thought it was the marriage ritual to magically join her and Ásgeirr's souls together. He was a cunning and cruel man who I admired to the bitter end."

Hearing how they used and violated her mother made Julia throw up more bile. She couldn't understand how her mom could stand to look at her let alone raise her after what they did to Rosalie.

"You were meant to ingest Beatrix's blood when you were a baby. But we all know how that plan turned out."

As Thorsen said this, a rush of images flooded Julia's head all at once like a great wave drowning her. She clapped her hands over her ears ̶ as a cacophony of voices and images assaulted her head ̶ and rocked back and forth. The visions griped Julia harder causing her eyes to roll into the back of her head as the world dropped away.

Beatrix opened her eyes and started struggling against her captors. Darkness enveloped her. The silk bag covering her head obscured everything, and she had no idea where she was.

"Please let me go," her voice trembled as she pleaded, "and I will make sure no retaliation comes to you."

A wall of silence was her only responses. The only noise her captors made was the hard clacking of their boots slapping against the stone floor. The person who was carrying Beatrix halted. She heard the creaky hinges of a door opening and seconds later was hurled to the ground. The door slammed shut as her body slammed against the stone flooring the force causing her to slide across it. Bound and blindfolded, the weight of what she knew was to come descended upon her and she let her body lay limp on the cold floor.

A sob escaped her lips when her thoughts turned to Alex. She had no idea what happened to him after they were dragged away. If they hurt him it would crush her, mind, body and soul. She said a quiet prayer to all the gods begging them to keep Alex safe.

The door was thrust open with such force it bang against the wall and brought her out of her thoughts. Beatrix listened to the stiff arrogant footsteps of a solitary person approach her. The silk hood was yanked off, and she was greeted with Thorsen's cold sneer. His long fingers wrapped around her face and squeezed so hard it made her bite back a whimper.

She glared at him trying to wrench her face out of his iron grip with no success. His smile only grew more vicious as he dug his nails into her flesh causing pain to cut through her cheek, yanking her to her feet with a laugh.

"I should have guessed you were behind this, you smarmy bastard," she spat at him.

His smile grew even bigger. "At least I am true to my nature, unlike you. We are the nightmares that lurk in the night and steal the lives of the pathetic humans."

"Are you trying to teach me a lesson? Is that what this is all about, uncle?"

"Dear child, you are beyond educating," a different voice, as cold as ice and as hard as steel, spoke from the shadows.

Beatrix watched as Lord Dumah walked into the light. The penny dropped seeing him. She laughed bitterly realising she had the wool, well and truly, pulled over her eyes.

"I should have known you did not come up with this plan yourself," she addressed Thorsen. "Something this devious is beyond your capabilities."

She was goading him and it worked. He threw her across the room. She slid along the stone floor once more, the sound of her dress tearing echoed through the room. The friction caused her to slow down but not enough. The impact of her slamming against the wall made her ears ring.

Beatrix tried to scramble to her feet but Thorsen descended on her in a flash yanking her up by her hair.

"I have hated you as much as I have loved you, my dear niece. The same way I have felt about your father," Thorsen said with gentle eyes. "It was my hope for many years that you would come to your senses and give up your silly obsession with the humans. However, I can see you changing your nature would be like asking the sun to rise in the west."

"It is not a silly obsession, Thorsen," Beatrix ground out. "If we do not adapt, our kind will eventually be decimated. Dark fae, light fae even the other supernatural populations are all diminishing. It is in all of our best interests to make peace with the humans so we can extend our borders and add new blood into our fold."

"My sentiments exactly," Lord Dumah said. "Yet, you have got it all wrong. We need not make peace with the humans. The only things we need to do are cull and subject them like the cattle they are."

"That is monstrous and the senate won't let you," Beatrix snapped.

"We are monsters," Thorsen said with a laugh. "Our kind has allowed human blood to pollute our blood lines for far too long. We have lived in the shadows too long. Our time to grab the human species by the throat and rip it out is coming. And it starts with you my dear niece. As for the senate goes, you helped us weed out the rot with that helpful list of human sympathisers you gave to Lord Dumah, thank you for that."

"You spew madness at me about murdering, not only the senate but the genocide and enslavement of the humans, and expect me to take part. I would rather die."

Lord Dumah chuckled. "Precisely our thoughts, child. Thorsen , tie her up for the time being. We have a lot of work to finish and not a lot of time."

Thorsen dragged Beatrix to a chair and tied her to it so tight that she could only move her head. "We shall leave you to your thoughts, petitoiseau. I suggest you make your peace with the gods."

Anger welled up and she spit in Thorsen's face. This earned her a ferocious slap across the face that knocked the chair over and they left her on her side slamming the door shut.

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