"Do not forget," Amlet said as she hefted herself onto Daniore's steed, "if their dalliance has borne fruit, destroy the babe. Just like our child of dark, their child could be the one to destroy shadows."

"I won't forget," Darth lied. The only reason Ash still lived was to make certain Violet already had hisseed so that Violet would bear a girl child for Darth to torment after Violet's death. The wee la.s.s wouldnever have a chance to toy with her powers. He'd see to it.

Pleased by the day's events, Darth willed himself to the manor. He vanished in vapor and appeared the same way next to the Well of Misery. With an unusual smile plastered to his lips, he prepared for his guests.

Ash woke in a dimly lit chamber, no longer bound by the double spell. Instead, a force had been placed around him, imprisoning him in a chair before a web-covered portrait. The gag, though, was still in place and he couldn't speak out a spell. Even if he could, shadows devoured what little light the room provided. A mage's power came from the light. Without it, he was helpless.

Only, he wasn't alone for long. Lord Darth appeared dressed in layers of ecru, eyes once again a startling, almost transparent blue. He looked the part of a sun lord, but how could Violet be fooled by this manor? Surely, she would see him draw his power from the shadows that crawled and slithered like lucid ent.i.ties.

"She sees what I allow her to see," Darth said in that uncanny way he had of knowing a person's mind. He couldn't read anyone's thoughts, but always had a feel for what they might be thinking. "Everything is fashioned in the way she remembers her childhood home to be-- sunlight spilling into the rooms during the day, with star-shine and moonbeams at night."

Darth waved his hand and Ash's gag fell free.

He worked his mouth back and forth several times before being able to speak. "How long have I been here?"

"A full day. It is all I needed to convince Violet that you are a dark lord, whereas, she is totally convinced I am of the sun. To insure her trust, I haven't even taken her as yet. I want her secure in her new home. I want her to feel totally safe."

"And then you'll let her see the truth."

Darth offered his lurid smile. "Aye, it will make the moment all the more enjoyable."

"Why?"

He laughed a self-a.s.sured laugh of total evil. "Because it is how I serve the Dark Master. It is how I exist.

It is my way."

"You were once of the sun."

"Aye, and the One did not hear my prayers. So, I turned to the Master who

'd at least fulfill my desires."

Darth placed his hands on either side of Ash's chair and stared into his eyes; his own momentarily flashed ebony, dark, deep, empty. "So, no pleading to let Violet go? No attempts at escape your self? No spells to battle the shadows?"

"I'm sure none of it would do any good. You made certain there wouldn't be enough light to draw power."

"Violet will see it ablaze with candlelight," he said, flaunting his hands to take in their surroundings. "As for the portrait, she will see a beautiful woman she doesn't recognize. That is until I'm ready for her to see her mother."

"And what will you do with me?"

"Once Violet isn't so enthralled by you, I'll leave you to the portrait. It has a strange effect on men. One you will find very interesting."

Almost instantly Darth's demeanor changed, softened. His smile turned warm. "See, I told you I am treating him well," he said, waving Violet into the chamber. "Although, I cannot release him as you wish, my sweet. He might try to take you again, and I will not allow history to repeat itself."

Dressed in a shape-hugging white satin frock embroidered with violets, the la.s.s entered the room seemingly composed. Her hair had been swept up into a fall of perfectly formed ringlets. Her wild mane had been tamed just like her spirit. The battle between good and evil had trampled down what the Seraglio hadn't even touched. A singular beam of light spilled through the open doors, but it wasn't enough to break the power of the shadows.

Ash wanted to beg the la.s.s to see the truth, beg her to know he loved her, beg her to side with him and destroy Darth's evil for good. Darth, though, had every path covered, every path but one. Lowering his

eyes, Ash mouthed a prayer to the One.

"Please set him free," she said quietly. "I will not desert you as my mother deserted my father. I will be faithful. All I ask is that you let him go without harm. I will do my duty."

"But you left me once.""I was abducted. I told you that.""But you didn't deny him your body," Darth said with a harsh edge to his tone."I told you of the dreams.""You knew him to be a dark lord.""I wasn't certain, but..." She lowered her head, tears spilled between mink-colored lashes. "I would have given myself to him even if I had been certain."

"You love him that much?"

"Aye," she responded without hesitation.

Hearing the affirmation tugged at Ash's heart.

"Yet, you will deny that love and stay with me."

"I am a child of the sun. I need to serve the One."

"And to raise your child in the light as well," Darth added. "It will be the only way to keep the babe from

ever being a conjurer like its father."

"Child?" Ash echoed.

Closing his ma.s.sive hand around Violet's delicate wrist, he escorted her to Ash. Their eyes met for an

instant, and then, for their own reasons looked away. Darth lifted Ash's paralyzed hand and placed it onViolet's womb. Even through the deadening spell, Ash could feel the life within Violet. The knowledgethat his child would be in Darth's control sp.a.w.ned a mixture of rage and despair. Only years of trainingwith the best mages allowed him to remain silent as he ravaged his mind for a way out of this, begging theOne to come to their aid.

His hand dropped. Violet moved away as if she couldn't stand the proximity. Darth grinned. The

spider-veil draped over the portrait began to split. Ash felt compelled to look.

"The time is here, Violet. If you tell him you have made your choice, that you will no longer allow him into your dreams, then I will let him go."

Violet pressed her fingers into her womb. As long as she had Ash's child, she would always have a partof him. Yet, everything within her urged her to defy Lord Darth, to give herself to Ash and d.a.m.n whetherthey lived in the sun or the shadows. For she did not know if she could exist without him. He wouldn'teven be part of her dreams. No matter what Darth and Daniore said, she didn't really believe that Ashwas that far gone into the shadows. She couldn't believe he had fooled her so completely.

"Let me have a moment alone with him."

"Nay!"

"Please. I beg you ... please?"

"It is too dangerous," Darth bit out.

She sighed and nodded. Tears refused to heed any control. She knelt before Ash's chair, placed her palms on either side of his lean face. "I love you. I will always love you, but it is best for our child for us both to be part of the sun world. Please, try to understand. Please."

He didn't respond. His gaze lingered on the portrait behind her. It was as if she didn't exist.

She closed her eyes. A small sob escaped her lips. She pressed her lips against his for such long minutes that Darth, finally, had to drag her away.

"This is a good thing you've done, Violet. You made the right choice. Now, let us leave and let the servants show him out."

She looked up into Darth's open gaze. "You are truly letting him go?"

"I don't wish to, but I know it would grieve you too much to imprison him or have him killed." Darth touched her hair, ran a finger over her bottom lip.

"You trust me now?"

"Aye," she whispered.

"Then you are finally mine with no regrets?"

"Aye," she said again, stilling her tears.

A slow, eager grin spread over Darth's countenance. His eyes deepened to a shade as dark and impregnable as obsidian. Even his garments turned from the soft ecru shades to midnight black.

Violet gasped. Horror invaded every crevice of her soul as the brightly-lit chamber filled with shadows, as spider webbing appeared on furniture and walls, as Darth's cruel laugh echoed with unrelenting delight.

"Aye, that is it! That is the look I've waited for, sweet. That is the look I've yearned to see. That is the look I will feed upon for years, just as I will feed upon your soul, your fear, your misery. And you brought it all about yourself. You chose me over Ash. You made the fatal mistake of not listening to your heart. Your mother did and she at least had a few years with the man she loved before I bartered my soul for her love."

Gripping her shoulders with both palms, Darth spun her around to see the portrait of her mother. "Many say I killed her, tormented her until she died. Oh, I did torture her, endlessly, but she didn't die by my hand. She died by her own. Her love for your father broke the spell I cast, and she ended up hating me. No one ever knew that. It was I who began the rumors that said she willingly came to me. It was I who fostered the misconception that she wanted to hate me and couldn't. But I won't let you kill yourself. I will savor you and after you, your child!"

Violet yanked away from him as everything inside her collapsed into a smoldering heap of rage. The rage only made Darth laugh harder. "That's it, give into it, fight me. It will nourish my soul almost as much as watching your lover die under the portrait's spell."

"Nay!" she shouted.

"It is too late, Violet. Your joint powers could have defeated me. You really don't know how powerful you are. You could have been a great sorceress if you had chosen that path."

"But my powers didn't work against you in the cave."

"Mostly because Daniore had been possessed by a sorceress and aided in my spell, partly because you had given up. Now, watch your lover wither away. Give in to your defeat."

She shook her head, trying to summon powers to fight him.

He brushed her meager attempts away as if she weren't anything more than a pesky gnat.

She tried again and again, feeding off the rage, using the paltry amount of light from outside the chamber to a.s.sist her.

Darth continued to laugh.

The shadows circled around him.

Ash groaned.

Despair filled the chamber.

Violet's eyes met those of her mother's in the portrait, seeing herself there. Would her face too stamp acanvas and destroy a man's heart and soul? Would her child be forced to submit to Darth as substancefor a perverted being? She couldn't allow this. She didn't know how to stop it.

She pressed against her womb, spun away from the horror and suddenly saw the Well of Misery. Having seen it enough times in her studies, she recognized it immediately. Perhaps it was time for her to deprive Darth of his treasure. At the thought, the seed within her stirred and pulsated. A bright light shimmered through her fingers. Suddenly, words from long ago came back to her. The words her father spoke on his deathbed. The words that Ash had said the night he rescued her from the pub.

She spoke them aloud. "You have a light within that none will quench. In that light, your soul will speak.

In that light, your spirit will thrive. In that light, you will learn control and the true nature of being of the sun caste."

She repeated one phrase. "The true nature of being of the sun caste."