The next time she was able to open her eyes, she found that she had been bound to the bed using the gold chain Epharis had found to be effective at containing her, the man himself sitting in the corner of the room with a book in his lap, a curtain pulled open just enough to let in light for him to read, but not to disturb her sleep.
"What?" she croaked, pulling weakly at the chains.
Epharis looked up, the snapping of the book as he closed it making her jump and she squinted, the brightness of the sun making her eyes sting.
"Welcome back to the world of the living, my love," he said grimly as he stood and placed the book down on the chair.
Making his way to the table, he filled a mug of water and moved to her side. Gently lifting her head with one hand, he tipped the cup to her lips and she drank slowly, her throat feeling raw and angry.
"Your sister is quite the trouble maker," he said and she choked on the water, spluttering. He didn't do anything to help her, merely watching as she coughed up whatever she had inhaled, her eyes watering.
"Yes, I didn't think it would be a surprise. I told you not to keep secrets from me." He sounded livid and she looked up at him through swimming eyes.
"What are you talking about?" she said warily.
The blow came out of nowhere, one second she was looking up and the next she had strained her shoulder under the force of the slap, her cheek on fire.
"Lie to me again and I'll do worse," he said in a low, lethal voice.
Tasting blood, she nodded and lowered her eyes to the bedspread.
"Good. Now how is it your sister is still alive?" he asked and sat down on the edge of her bed.
"When she died, I asked Aelen to kill me, I wanted to be with her. I forgot you're not supposed to touch the dead, not ever. But I wanted to comfort her, she was so sad and small… when I did, we rebounded and when we came back, we were both in my head."
He lifted the cup to her lips again and she drank, washing away the blood taste.
"And she comes out when you fall unconscious. Why did you take off your bandage? You bled everywhere."
His words took a good ten seconds to go from her ears to her brain and finally she looked at him.
"I don't understand. She comes out? How?" That was the real question and the giggling in the back of her mind wasn't helping.
"I had hoped you would know. But it would appear that only one consciousness can be active and in control. Your weakness was her weakness, but with her manic energy and total disregard for self-preservation, she is strong, dangerous and doesn't much care for the damage she causes," he said dryly, watching her as she sipped more of the water.
"Well, that's inconvenient," she said after a pause.
"Why did you take off the bandage? You were almost dead."
"I don't remember taking it off..." she said, frowning as she tried to remember what had happened. She had a terribly vivid dream of waking up to the vampire in her room and then feeding from her but she couldn't recall taking off the bandage.
"For the time being we are going to keep you restrained, for the sake of the guards and everyone within a ten mile radius," he was watching her very carefully, hunting for lies or half-truths. "I brought more of the elixir I made for you, the one you tried at dinner. It will help you gain energy faster. You are too weak to feed."
Standing, he left her side and collected a small silver bowl from the end table beside the door, a little silver lid on it keeping in the smell but when it hit her nose, she wanted to recoil.
"That isn't the same thing," she said warily, eyeing it and him. She hadn't forgotten his drugging her to make her submissive and obedient.
"Yes, it is," he snapped and when she turned her head away from the offering, he growled.
"Guard!" he bellowed and a guard came in, looking nervous. "Come hold her mouth open."
The guard hesitated but then approached, willing to face her rather than the Lich.
She clenched her teeth, but the pain of his digging his fingers into the join of her jawbone forced her mouth open and Epharis spooned the mixture into her mouth.
Clamping her mouth shut, she glared up at the guard with as much malice as a kitten in her current state, but the paling of his face made her think he got the point.
"Swallow," Epharis ordered and her glare turned on him, recalling their wedding night and his order for her to swallow the drug that had resulted in their passionate love making on the church floor.
She shook her head, grunting when he slapped the guard's hand away and gripped her jaw with his long, sharp fingers. Forcing her head back, the mixture slid to the back of her throat and she choked, finally swallowing to keep from drowning in it.
The taste of it repulsed her and her stomach heaved, but she managed to keep it down.
"I will not allow your stubbornness to harm my child, Etani," the lich snapped. The guard jerked at the words and his eyes went to the swelling he hadn't noticed before. It was not common knowledge that the princess was pregnant to the lich.
Slowly, with the help of the guard's strong grip, they force fed her and while the zing of energy filled her and sped up the production of her blood, it also caused the holes in her neck to start bleeding faster.
***
She had started to feel almost back to normal after a few days, at least until Epharis left and Versalis slipped into the room and locked the door behind him.
He smiled at her, taking in the fullness of her figure as she lay atop the blankets.
She looked to him and first a flood of desire and happiness filled her, followed by a sudden wariness of her situation, unable to escape with her arms bound.
He crossed the room and crawled up onto the bed, not pausing until he was on top of her.
"Versalis you can't…" He cut her off with a hard, hungry kiss and she shuddered as pheromones flooded her system at the first taste of him.
"I've missed you... but the lich wouldn't leave," he said, sounding angry at the interruption.
Her eyes were heavy as he kissed her again and again, his fingers light over her jaw and down to her throat to untie the bandage that was only an hour old.
He kissed her feverishly, his lips overly hot and needy on hers.
As soon as the bandage was out of his way, his mouth found her throat and he began to drink greedily, his hands heavy on her sides and back as he clutched her to him.
Gasping in pain, she realised he had bitten her again, not getting his fill fast enough and opening the healed holes first once, then twice to add a third bite.
The door rattled and there was a low growl, but Versalis hadn't heard, too engrossed in his pleasure to care about what was happening in the rest of the world.
He drank deeply, not caring about the pain or damage he caused her and in turn, he pumped her system with saliva and pheromones to leave her craving more.
When the door burst open, Versalis had already lifted his head, meeting her hooded eyes and smiling as he bit his lip. Kissing her hard, she tasted his blood and her entire body sung with the taste.
Sucking on his lip, he drew back and turned to see Epharis looking as though ripping the vampire to shreds was entirely possible.
Epharis was too enraged to move, his eyes alight with a green fire but Versalis turned and flung open the window, leaping out and vanishing into the night.
"No..." she whispered, reaching for the window but she couldn't move her arm more than a few inches.
Groaning, she strained against the chains, her head spinning and her teeth beginning to ache.
"Versalis…" she pleaded, feeling his loss more keenly than she had felt anything, even the loss of her sisters.
Epharis had come to her side, grabbing her face and turning her to look at him.
"How many times, Etani?" he snarled and she looked at him, not understanding.
Licking the smear of blood from her lip, she tried to turn her head back in the direction of the window, hoping Versalis would be there, but it was empty and the sight had her starting to cry, devastated by his not being there with her.
Epharis swore and unhooked the chains that kept her bound to the bed, bundling her up in his arms and carrying her from the room.
"No... he will come back!" she gasped, squirming weakly in his arms.
"Don't worry, he'll find you," Epharis said through clenched teeth. The news calmed her and she panted gently, exhausted at the feeble attempt to free herself form his grip.
Resting her head against his chest, she felt her eyes growing heavy.
"His blood tastes like the sun," she breathed, Epharis going stiff under her as she fell into a deep sleep.