"Please send her away..." I muttered to Vlad some time later, my head resting on his chest, while his fingers played with my hair. "I was perfectly fine without a maid during our journey here, I don't see why Rareş insists..."

However, it wasn't a maid's voice that followed my sleep-slurred words when we did not reply immediately, but Lucas'.

"Your Majesty, I have a message for you." he called through the closed door.

"I'm sorry, Samara," Vlad sighed, kissed me on the forehead then stood up, groping for his clothes in the candle-lit semi-darkness of the room. The moment he was half-dressed he let the canopy of the bed drop around me, hiding me from view, and called, "Come in, Lucas."

Lucas entered, and stood by the door where I could see him through the narrow gap where the curtains did not meet perfectly. He looked nervous for some reason, and his voice confirmed it.

"I have a message from your... hmm... from Lady Jusztyna. She wants to talk to you now, in her chambers."

I did not realize I gasped but the men did; Vlad was seated next to me on the bed, holding my hands in his, even before I noticed he left Lucas' side.

"I'm sorry," he repeated. "I need to talk to her and I'm sure that if I refuse to meet her now she won't give me another opportunity. Do you want to come with me?"

I laughed nervously, then pulled him in for a kiss. "I really don't think that's a good idea. You go, do what you have to. I'll wait for you here."

He nodded, kissed me again, then snatched his jacket off the chair placed next to the bed and left the room.

"Are you all right, Samara?" Lucas called before he followed Vlad out of the room. "I'll be outside should you need anything..."

"Thanks, Lucas," I mumbled as I buried my head under the pillows, in a vain attempt to muffle my unpleasant, exceedingly loud thoughts.

What does Jusztyna want with Vlad? What will they talk about? Why does she not understand that Vlad belongs to me... You don't own him, silly. He loves you, but he must have some feelings towards her too. They've been trapped in this place, living close to each other, for longer than your mind can fathom... My subconscious hissed.

Sighing, I sat up, pulled my shirt on and got out of the bed, forcing myself to think about anything else but Jusztyna.

As I paced up and down the large chamber, from the door to the window, then back again, my bare feet touching the cool stones of the floor noiselessly, I let my mind slip to Katerina, her magic keeping this place and its inhabitants suspended in time. I tried to imagine my mother who was just like her, wishing I could remember her... Suddenly I realized that I had never asked my old nurse if she chose to look so old on purpose... Surely someone as powerful as she could choose to look young... Shaking the silly, unimportant thought off I mused about the traces of magic coursing through my own blood instead, wondering how much of it I passed on Aurora...

I had forbidden myself to think about Andrei but it was pointless-- now that Vlad was not here, my mind started to stroll back to him. I wanted to know what exactly he told Vlad before, while I danced with Rareş. He had no right... I wanted to forget about my time in Poenari, I didn't want Vlad to suffer because of what had happened to me there, I didn't want Andrei to talk to him at all...

I didn't know how much time had passed but when Vlad returned I was still pacing across the room, my worries growing, my thoughts getting gloomier by the minute.

Making a beeline for me Vlad wrapped me in an embrace and held me silently, making me feel better immediately. Everything looked so much brighter when he was close.

"She doesn't agree." He said as he picked me up, and shaking his head at my bare feet disapprovingly, carried me back to bed.

"About me walking shoeless?" I asked, trying to lighten his mood. It didn't work.

"About the coronation. Rareş got her on his side."

"But Young Vlad is her son, why does she not want him to become the prince... " It hit me even as I pronounced those words. "She doesn't want you to leave... she suspects that that's the reason why we are doing all this, the weddings, the coronation..."

"Maybe." Vlad admitted as he laid down and I snuggled next to him, as close as I could. "She did not say this exactly, but she knows that Vlad married Clara, she even knows that the girl is human, and pregnant..."

Everything looked... pointless suddenly. It felt as if for every single step forward, towards Katerina's time passage, we were forced to take two back... We resolved nothing yet, the country seemed even more divided than before, and we only had a little more than three months left...

I had to force myself to focus on Vlad's words when he spoke again.

"Don't worry. Her disapproval changes nothing. We will do as we planned."

I nodded and closed my eyes but the sleep refused to take me. There were too many problems in my mind that needed to be solved.

"Tell me. What is it?" Vlad asked after a while, as if he could read my thoughts.

"I... What did Andrei tell you?" I asked finally.

It took him a while to reply and I knew that he was choosing his words carefully. He won't tell you everything...

"He said that Jusztyna wants to marry Rareş... And he also said that our marriage is only valid as long as Rareş decides to deem it as such, that too much time had passed since I married you, and..."

"They are awful. Can't they think about something else but us?" I asked, feeling mad at Rareş and his way of adapting the laws to his will. "Did Andrei say anything else?" I added, sure that this wasn't what had made Vlad so angry before.

"I think we should really get married again..." he whispered, ignoring my question, "in our chapel, just like before..."

I smiled, forgetting what I wanted to know momentarily, distracted by his lips finding mine.

"If you really want to..." I agreed finally, letting him take my mind off the unpleasant thoughts by his talk about the other weddings that were planned, and the coronation...

The following morning I woke up to Vlad, already dressed for the journey, sitting next to me on the bed, his hands on my shoulders.

"Hush, it was just a dream..." he said, wiping away my tears with a corner of a sheet, while I tried to calm my frantic heart and recall what I had seen in my nightmare. 

There was Vlad lying motionless on the ground again, and Andrei, standing above him. I could not see myself but I heard my scream and Andrei did too, he turned to me, his face hovering mere inches above mine as his leering lips revealed his fangs reaching for my throat...

Vlad kissed me, bringing me back to reality. "Will you tell me what you dreamed about?" He asked.

I shook my head, shivering, "Not now."

"All right. Then let me help you get dressed, if you don't want to call a maid. Let us go home. I hate this place."

I couldn't agree more.

We decided to travel back to Bran at vampire speed, choosing the most direct route possible.

Leaving most Guards to lead the horses back at human pace, it was only me, Vlad, Lucas and two Guards setting off running, followed by my wolves in the distance.

We reached Bran in less than three days. I had never felt so exhausted in my life before, but I would never admit it to Vlad or Lucas.

I left them both to fill in Junior and Radu about what had passed in Hunedoara and dragged myself up the staircases behind Katerina, who forced me to eat and take a bath, complaining about how unladylike I looked in my dusty gown, my hair tangled by the wind, before she finally let me collapse in the bed.

I slept the rest of the day and the whole night, before I woke up to my old nurse's mumbling again.

"You and your husband... I don't know who is the less responsible one... tiring you out like this. You both know that you, Lady Samara, will never be just like the other vampires, you must not push yourself to the limits..."

"I'm fine, Katerina, just a little tired, why do you worry so much?"

"What if you were with child, hmm? You mustn't do something like this anymore..."

Her casually pronounced words made me choke on the mulled wine she had brought me to bed.

"What... what are you talking about? I'm a vampire... I can't... " I protested, trying to catch my breath after I stopped coughing.

"How many times do I have to tell you, and him, that you are not a... regular vampire. You may be the only of your kind now, and as far as I know, there is no reason why you could not have another child. I think it's just a question of time..."

Passing my still half full cup to her I let myself fall back into the pillows.

"Katerina..." I groaned. Will she ever stop announcing to me her surprising, shocking revelations as if she was talking about the weather?

"And I reproved your husband too, if you want to know, he must look after you better..."

"Katerina... He looks after me even too well," I mumbled grumpily. Bye bye, freedom, my subconscious whispered, he won't let you out of his sight now, just like before...

"How are you feeling my lady?"

"I'm good. I really have no reason to think that I'm with child..."

"However, we must be more careful." Vlad's voice reaching us from the door leading to the library made me jump.

He appeared at the foot of the bed even as Katerina, having forced me to finish my wine, stood up to leave.

"Her breakfast is ready. Make her eat something before she gets up, my lord..."

"I will, thank you Katerina." He replied, a huge, happy smile playing on his lips.

She curtsied and the moment she left the room, Vlad laid down next to me.

"Isn't that the best piece of news we've heard lately?" he asked, enveloping me in his arms.

"It is..." I smiled, feeling elated.