Seared by Desire (33 page)

Chapter Seventeen - The Fall of a Lord and
The Rise of a King

It came as a shock to Lucian when he rose, he didn’t remember
falling asleep in the first place. The last thing he remembered was
pulling Sara’s unconscious body close to him, trying to reassure
himself that the warmth returning to her body was a sure sign that
she would soon be returning to his life. It had been three days
since the events of New Malden, three days since he had seen Sara’s
warm smile; three days since he’d seen her blue eyes twinkle with
mischief; three days since she’d wrapped her arms tightly around
him as though she never wanted to let him go but each day felt like
an eternity. He hadn’t slept, intent on being with her when she
first woke but his eyes had felt so heavy, his limbs exhausted from
a combination of overwork and lack of feeding and when he had
crawled into bed beside her the world had gradually faded away and
he must have succumbed to his fatigue.

He shifted slightly, pulling Sara’s limp body into a sitting
position before caressing her cheek. His blood ran cold when he
found that the skin against his fingers was colder than it had been
yesterday. His hands roamed her body in search of exposed skin as
he tried to reassure himself that the skin on her face was cool
from simple exposure to the air but everywhere he touched was
chilled.

“
Sara, you told me you were just going to sleep for a little
while. You lied to me. I won’t let you leave me Sara, I
won’t.”

He lay her back down, rising from the bed and dressing
quickly, there were things he had to do and if the lack of heat
emanating from Sara’s body was any indication, he was running out
of time.

“
Damn you William. You did this to her and I swear even if it
kills me, I will make you pay for this.”

He swept out of his room, sparing a final glance at Sara’s
sleeping form before forcing himself to close the door. He turned
to the guard waiting outside of the door, his red-rimmed dark eyes
glowing from within the shadows of the corridor. “Guard her well.
If anything happens come for me.”

“
Yes my Lord,” the guard responded, his voice trembling
slightly.

Lucian walked down the halls to the first stop on what had
become his nightly routine since the start of Sara’s long slumber.
The usually boisterous halls were quiet now, the sombre atmosphere
reflecting the mood of the estate’s master. He was no longer
bombarded with questions the instant he rose, most were now
reluctant to even speak to him, diverting their eyes as he passed
them by. Under different circumstances he would have cared, would
have tried to reassure his people that all was well but the fact
was the circumstances were what they were and nothing could change
that. Only when Sara woke would he concern himself with the lack of
laughter in the air.

His feet stopped in front of the room where a donor awaited
him but his hand was reluctant to open it. A slight shiver of
revulsion filled him at the thought of drinking the unknown
person’s blood. He didn’t want someone else’s blood; he wanted
Sara’s. His fangs ached with the desire to sink into her soft flesh
as he pulled her close, taking her heat into him in the most
intimate way possible. He sighed, gripping the handle tightly.
There was no alternative. He needed to feed. William was still out
there, his very existence a threat to Sara’s life and to protect
her he needed to be strong. His free hand gripped the hilt of the
sword she had made for him for reassurance. He had wielded
Quicksilver’s before but this one felt different. Each time he held
it he swore he could feel Sara’s presence, her warmth and her love
for him, flowing though his body like a calming breeze. Though she
had never said she loved him, Lucian was sure that she felt the
same way he did and if she didn’t he would force her to see reason.
Calmer now, he pushed the door open, his lips curling back in a
snarl the instant he saw the woman standing before him.

“
I’m sorry my Lord there are no males available
tonight.”

At least she understands that she isn’t meant to be
here.
“If there aren’t any males then I
won’t feed tonight.”

He turned to leave but her hand against his arm prevented him
from leaving. “Please my Lord,” she implored, “you must feed. You
aren’t taking care of yourself. This isn’t what Lady Sara would
want. I’m sure she would understand if you took from me. Feeding is
natural for you.”

“
Do not,” he hissed, “presume to know what Sara would
want.”
Not even I understand how her mind
works.

“
I’m sorry my Lord but you are unwell. I only wish to serve
you.”

Sara,
he groaned, trying to decide
what he should do. The donor was right; Sara understood his needs.
She hadn’t been disgusted when she’d witnessed him feeding before
and always encouraged him to take from her whenever he seemed weak.
William's face floated through his mind followed by Sara’s screams
and the decision was taken out of his hands. He had to be strong
enough to protect her. He pulled the donor close and forced his
unwilling fangs to lengthen and sink into her flesh. The donor
gasped in shock at the suddenness of his action but didn’t murmur a
word of complaint. Lucian pushed her away quickly; her blood left a
foul taste in his mouth. He hadn’t taken much and wouldn’t force
himself to take more.

“
Thank you for your assistance,” he murmured as he pulled
away.

Her hand lifted to her neck in surprise. “My Lord, you
haven’t taken enough.”

“
I’ve taken all that I am going to take from you.”
Sara what do you do to me?
“Again, thank you for your assistance.”

Shaking off her misgivings, the donor bowed in respect. “It
is a pleasure to serve my Lord.”

Somewhat fed, Lucian walked out of the room and began moving
towards the second stop on his nightly tour. The library was filled
almost to bursting with scholars all of whom were so engrossed in
their reading that they didn’t notice his arrival. After Sara’s
collapse, he had summoned all his scholars to this one place and
demanded that they find out everything they could about Sara’s
curse. To the oracle Seraphina might have been just another vision
but to him and Sara she was a curse. It made no sense. It was
supposedly because of Seraphina’s presence that Sara would live
into eternity with him but it was obvious to anyone with eyes that
the vengeful spirit was slowly but surely killing her. He was meant
to prevent the spirit from taking her life but had no idea how he
was meant to do it. They couldn’t continue as they were, it clearly
wasn’t working, the time it took for Sara to recover from one of
Seraphina’s episodes was getting worse not better.

Tired and hungry but determined, Lucian strode straight into
the library in search of the man he’d put in charge. It didn’t take
him long to find Edward, his superior senses easily leading him to
the man.

“
Edward,” he called softly.

Edward spun from his task to face Lucian. “My Lord,” he
stuttered, clearly worried about incurring his Lord’s wrath once
more. They had made no more progress than they had yesterday
despite working almost around the clock and Lord Lucian was not
going to be pleased.

“
What have you found out?”

“
Well,” he began nervously. “There is definitely a way to save
Lady Sara from the spirit but the time to do so is
short.”

“
What do I have to do?”
I’ll do
anything.

“
Well that is the problem my Lord.”

“
What is the problem Edward?” His words were softly spoken but
the promise of retribution was clear.

His face flushed red as his pulse raced, his heart hammering
wildly within his chest. He had been hoping to avoid this
confrontation. “We don’t know what exactly it is that you must
do.”

“
You are telling me that there is only a small window of
opportunity to save my bride, your future queen, but you don’t know
how to do it. How is that possible?”

“
The texts that we have here do not go into great detail on
how exactly it is possible to save the child of flame. They seem to
be more focused on how to avoid her wrath, how to avoid the fallout
that will come when she destroys the enemies of the fire
elementals. Lady Sara’s people are not well loved by anyone except
the human kings that occasionally hire them to defeat their
enemies, no author seems to
want
to save her.”

He snarled angrily, “Well I want to save her and you are
going to tell me how to do it Edward.”

“
Of course my Lord.”

“
I don’t care what you have to do or who I have to kill, we
are going to save her.”

“
We all want to save her my Lord. The Lady of Light is already
loved by all vampires and we humans who serve you want nothing but
your happiness. I have requested another shipment of books,
hopefully they will prove more helpful.”

“
Do not request anything Edward. Order it on pain of
death.”

He gulped. “Yes my Lord.”

“
If you find out anything then come and tell me immediately. I
will be on the training grounds.”

“
Of course my Lord.”

It was on a dejected sigh that Lucian left the library for
the third and final stop on his nightly routine. He had quickly
concluded after William's attack that he had grown complacent in
regards to the war. It had been going on for far too long and now
that there was a risk to Sara, it had to end quickly. He had been
too compassionate towards William and his ilk, it was time to
exterminate them like the vermin they were.

The training ground lay at the centre of the Whitechapel
estate, the large space fenced in on four sides by the walls of the
estate. Though there were no markings to delineate the different
areas, the grounds were broken into four different sections. At the
far end of the grounds were the archers, the soft twang of their
bows and arrows drowned out by those who trained in heavy armour at
their side. While the archers practised taking aim at targets from
afar, sometimes stationary and sometimes moving, those training in
heavy armour practised one on one in close combat. Clubs and maces
were wielded with ease as they tried to bludgeon each other and
inflict damage that could be felt through the heavy metal they each
wore. Lucian’s eyes wandered next to the swordsmen assessing the
accuracy of their swings and the power they were putting behind the
blade before they finally landed on those training in hand-to-hand
combat for use if they were ever caught unawares and without a
weapon.

Satisfied that the training was well under way he strolled
towards the swordsmen, unsheathing his sword as he walked. His
skill with a blade was second to none and if he wanted these men to
protect Sara from both their enemies they would need to work
towards his level of skill.

“
Gareth,” he called.

He bowed in deference when he saw Lucian and those around him
quickly followed suit. “Lord Lucian. How is Lady Sara?”

The training grounds were momentarily silent, all within it
waiting with baited breath for news regarding the Lady of Light.
Her display of power had earned her the instant loyalty of all that
had seen it and those who hadn’t were anxious for her to recover so
that they too could witness what the sun looked like.

“
She is still sleeping. The scholars have no word on how to
help her recover either.”

“
I’m sorry Lucian.”

“
It isn’t your fault Gareth, no, the blame can be laid
squarely at Russell’s feet. If he hadn’t called me away to meet
with his brother I would have been there when her flames first
started to get out of control, I would have been able to help her
rein them in.”

Gareth shifted uncomfortably for a moment before he asked the
question he had wanted to ask since they had arrived at the
Whitechapel estate and Russell had been imprisoned. “My Lord have
you decided what Russell’s fate is to be?”

“
I haven’t had much time to think of him and when I do my mind
becomes so clouded with anger because of Sara’s continued sleep
that I know any decision I make will be rash. I will let Sara
decide what to do with him when she wakes up.”

“
But my Lord, no one knows how long she will be asleep.
Russell’s actions weren’t wise but he was only doing what he
thought was best for you. He would never try to have you killed,
you yourself have said that he fought to defend you when William
–”

“
Enough,” he interrupted. “I don’t want to hear anymore of
this. I have told you what is going to happen. When Sara wakes up
she will decide. Until then we have work to do.” He clasped his
sword tightly. “You three, come at me.”

The three men in question trembled, silently cursing their
commander’s actions, Gareth had made Lucian angry but it was they
who were going to suffer. Taking a deep breath, they approached
their leader, swords in hand and attacked. He moved so quickly that
he was a blur to their eyes and without much of an effort they had
been disarmed.

“
Pathetic,” Lucian hissed. “How do you intend to protect Lady
Sara with such appalling skill? I should have you flogged or better
yet I should use my own blade to show you why exactly you need to
improve.” He lifted his sword, as though he were going to slice
cleanly through their flesh when a familiar voice stopped him in
his tracks.