She could keep her heart from him.

Lovers but strangers. Forever.

All she had to do was put her mind to it, walling off her emotions. It was rare, but not unheard of. In those rare cases, it led to a perverse kind of insanity, a fate worse than death. Especially if one partner fell in love and the other one did not.

Kestra felt his fingers encircling her arm, dragging her up to her feet roughly and spinning her into his body as if they'd never stepped away from each other in the first place. The reflexive sensation of coming home as she settled against him made her angry, frustrated over her body's misbehavior when she'd spent all of her life fine-tuning it as a weapon under her complete control. She reacted by bracing her hands against his chest and pushing hard away from him.

Noah didn't let her go this time, using his significant strength against her. What was more, he was able to do it with a single arm around her waist, allowing his free hand to come up and push back her hair, baring her ear to his close, heated whisper.

"I do not know what you think to accomplish, but I can assure you that you will never be able to escape me just by leaving my home. I have been inside you, Kikilia. Not only today, but for months. Our hearts have thrummed to the beat of this chemistry between us for so long now. Do you really think distance will work any better now than it did all the while you were an ocean away?"

Kestra opened her mouth, but his audacity left her speechless. Worse, the potential truths of his suppositions were terrifying. However, he didn't know her quite so well as he thought he did, she thought as a familiar flush of very explicit excitement coursed through her. It was a reaction that she recognized all too well.

He had just given her a challenge. What was more, it was a deadly one. She knew it as sure as she knew how to wire listening devices for sound. He was dangerous, she admitted to herself. She had probably known this from the outset, and it was probably why she had felt such an overwhelming attraction toward him.

Let him build his better mousetrap, she thought to herself with almost wicked confidence and satisfaction. There isn't a cage made by man that can hold me.

Kestra lowered her chin, flicking up her snow-white lashes until he could very clearly see the danger in her eyes and the gentle tilt of her suddenly smiling lips.

"Would you like to make book on that?" she murmured, flicking her blue diamond gaze down the length of his entire body, clearly taking his measure and just as obviously finding herself unthreatened.

She wasn't expecting the feral smile he sent her in return, though.

"I have all the money and time in the world to make good on that bet, Kikilia," he whispered. "Whether you know it or not, you need me now. You will always need me."

Kestra laughed, hard and harsh, a derisive sound that would have cowed any normal man. She was already beginning to realize that he was no normal man, so she didn't underestimate him in that way.

"Listen," she said quietly, "you can threaten and cajole all you like, you can even seduce me until the cows come home and we are both exhausted from it, but you will never, ever own me. Unless you have something better than idle threats, my mind will always remain my own, and so will my life. There is nothing you can do to change that. Now let go of me or I swear-"

"I already have changed it, although I would never want to change the honest essence of who you are. I am not who you think I am, Kestra."

"I don't think anything. I don't care who you are. You're as much a stranger to me as you ever were! You're rich? Well, so am I. You're strong and clearly have power? You haven't even scratched the surface of my strength and my power. I don't care how many little tarts come traipsing in here calling you my lord or whatever it is that gets you off, because I don't impress that easily. Don't challenge me. You'll regret it. Now let me go!"

Noah finally did so, clearly more suddenly than she expected because she stumbled backward in her abrupt freedom.

"Kestra, you have no idea what you are going to do to yourself if you leave."

She laughed, a snorting sound of disbelief.

"My God, you are on a trip, aren't you? I survived just fine without you all these years, and I will damn well do it again. You were an itch, Noah, and you have just been scratched. So, it's been swell, but I really must be going."

Her haughty sarcasm was a practiced art, and she used it too well. His fingers curled into tight fists as she turned surely on her heel and marched out of the parlor with a hearty slam of the door. It took everything within him to control the surge of his temper, to keep his feet planted firmly on the floor and not tag after her like a schoolboy with a sick crush on the head cheerleader. He could have shown her the meaning of the word power, could have sucked her into his world with a heartbeat and a whirlwind of smoke and ashes. Hell, he could have blown up an entire country just to show her what she was enmeshed in whether she liked it or not.

But that was purely his infamous temper talking. He could no more harm an innocent than...

Noah shook out his fisted hands and exhaled harshly. He had already harmed innocents in his quest for her. The memory of Bella's outrage bit as sharply as the recollection of her slap against his face did. Would Kestra ever know the price he had been willing to pay just to save her life? Did he have the cold heart it would take to throw that knowledge up in her face?

Patience, he told himself, using the word like a mantra to soothe his sparking temper. Patience. Time was on his side. He hadn't been lying about that. However, if he were to take advantage of it, she would pay a heavy price. All he had to do was wait, give it three, maybe four days. Then she would understand what it would mean to be without him. She would only grow weaker, sicker, eventually facing no future but her own death, unless she returned to him.

And he couldn't bear the idea of it.

He had to find a better way.

The Miserable Princess A Demon Fairy Tale Cont'd...

Ariel made good his promise.

Sarah sat watching contemptuously as he defeated one opponent after another in the exhausting games. She was convinced he was somehow cheating, especially when he was able to best the Warrior Captain himself, the most skilled of all fighter Demons. Maybe it was because he was an Enforcer. He cast a cloak of dread in front of himself just by entering the area. He probably had every last one of them shaking in their boots and they were letting him win in some hope that if he caught up with them on a Hallowed night transgressing, he might be kinder to them. But there was no kindness in him. Sarah did not care if he was only doing his job, a job appointed and respected by her very own father. Even her father would blanch at the idea of having the Enforcer for a son-in-law.

He was going to win, and she could see it coming. Sarah refused to simply sit there like a lamb to the slaughter. She did not care that she was required to spend supper feast with the winner as the reward for the night's games. She did not care that her absence would embarrass her father and the Enforcer, perhaps even infuriating them both. She stood up and walked away at the first opportunity of her father's distracted attention.

She ran to the stables.

She was mounted and fleeing on her fastest and favorite steed within heartbeats. She did not even change or use a lady's saddle, yanking up her skirts and sitting astride like a man so she could get the speed she wanted and that the beast beneath her deserved. She was like a wraith in the night, her slim, beautiful body and fair hair catching the glow of the moonlight, the silk and chiffon of her gown streaming colors behind her like a standard. Mile after mile peeled away beneath the horse's hooves, and the thunderous cadence pounded joyfully through her body. She no longer belonged to the Demon world and all of its traditions, all of its expectations. She was free. She could breathe. There was no future looming with suffocating imprisonment to a man everyone despised.

And then, as if summoned by the thought, the Enforcer materialized out of the nighttime mists, becoming solid right in the path of the racing horse. The animal lurched to a halt with all of its power, its intention to rear back in terror, but before that happened, Sarah was thrown forward over the animal's head, reins falling helplessly from her hands as she became airborne. She would have plowed into the Enforcer, something she would have at least found momentarily satisfying, but the coward dematerialized. But then she was being caught by a heavy cushion of thickening fog and moisture, the sensation soft and gentle as she slowed to a stop.

In a heartbeat, she found herself cradled in the arms of the Enforcer, her heart pounding as though it would burst her chest. Half of the feeling was from fear of her fall, but half was from fear of how flushed with excitement she became when those cool eyes fell on her. His need of her was naked within them. It was an incredible feeling to know that she was what the man who was most feared, most powerful in their world, now wanted. It did not matter that she was a Princess. She had been born to that, had not earned any merit that might come with it. But he was born to be the Enforcer, and had also proven himself for centuries as the one rightfully deserving of the role, although there were other choices from amongst his line who could have vied for the duty.

She struggled to be free of his hold, and Ariel let her go, placing her feet on the ground and letting her try again to put a great distance between them, though in fact it was only a few steps.

"Come, come," he taunted her softly, "all is fair here. You must maintain your part of this bargain."

"I made no bargain!" she cried out in defiance. "I was put up like a mare to be bred, and no one asked me my permission!"

"I am not here for a mare, although breeding has its place somewhere in the things I would like. I want you, Sarah, and all your possibilities. I knew for decades that you were waiting to be claimed by me, but I forced myself to give you time to live, to grow, and to become whatever it was you wished to become. I watched you flourish with beauty and a personality of such light and kindness that it awes me when I think you will shine upon me."

"No! I never saw you!"

"I never touched you, either," he said, his voice like soft clouds in a summer sky. "Until today. Your father was torturing you with his efforts to push you onto others, and I could not let it continue. Though I must say, it brought out that fire in your temper I find so intriguing."

Sarah's hand went to her throat in an age-old feminine gesture of defense, broadcasting her fear and vulnerability. She saw the truth in all he said. Ariel had stood by and left her to grow, given her space that even her own father had refused to give her. How must it have been for him to let her be free, knowing all along that she was destined to be in his arms? She had lived in blissful ignorance, but Ariel had known for a long time-decades, he had said-and he had waited. Stood by and watched. So many days, so many years in such close service to the King, there in the Council rooms every day, rooms she walked through. Feasts and celebrations.

Samhain and Beltane.

Sarah's eyes widened with horror, as she suddenly realized what torment he must have suffered every single Hallowed moon, forced to do his duty, forced to hang on to his sanity, temptation just a breath away, satisfaction just a touch away.

His sacrifice touched her like nothing else in the world could have.

By the time Noah had composed himself, both physically and mentally, he knew Kestra had long since exited his household. He could still feel the powerful trail of her energy as he followed it out of the parlor and into the Great Hall, in search of another woman who seemed to have it stamped on her to-do list to give him grief. He was beginning to lose count of how many women he had rubbed the wrong way in just the past twenty-four hours. The Demon King figured taking Jasmine to task would probably add her to that growing list.

He stepped into the Great Hall and stopped short with justifiable surprise. Jasmine was holding court with about a half dozen Demon males, their hands and attention on various parts of her slim body as she flirted shamelessly with them. She was thriving on the attention the Demons were giving her in abundance, a generosity fueled by the conditions of the night and the ripening moon.

Since she was a Nightwalker, Jasmine was considered more than fair game nowadays. He could not possibly voice any form of complaint, even if he could form a logical reason for one. It was better that their attention was falling onto her. It would at least keep one or two of them out of the Enforcers' paths, should she decide to fulfill any of the flirtatious promises she was clearly making with every inch of her highly sensual body.

The trouble was, he was pretty sure that Jasmine was an extremely prejudiced creature and that she would consider playing outside of her species to be beneath her.

"Jasmine!"

Jasmine turned her head, looking unconcerned as she faced the very obvious disapproval of the Demon King. She gave him a disarming smile, standing up from her chair as he walked toward her. If he were a thundercloud, she mused as she watched his approach, he could have belched a bolt of lightning right at her head. He certainly was able to clear the room with merely his approach and expression, the other Demons leaving them alone with all speed.

"Good evening, Noah. It is good to see you. I have a message from Damien," she said, as if nothing at all was due her by way of reprimand. She was cordial and matter-of-fact, returning to sit with casual ease before his hearth and looking completely at home.

"In the future, Jasmine, I expect you to restrict yourself to the common areas of the castle. I would not wish you to make the mistake of crossing the wrong threshold and finding yourself perceived as...an open invitation for trouble."

Now, that was a threat, Jasmine mused. Either that, or it was an enticement. Either way, it delighted the female Vampire no end. Noah was as clever as a cat, and he had just perched himself outside her mouse hole, just waiting for her to make that one extra misstep while stealing the wrong piece of cheese.

"I will keep that in mind," she promised him, the expression on her face and the obvious shift of her sensual body broadcasting her intent to play the tease. Noah closed his eyes briefly, shaking his head once in an attempt to cool his dangerously seething temper before finally glaring at her.

"Enough, Jasmine." He exhaled, managing to calm down enough so he didn't do something rash. Something along the lines of throttling her with his bare hands. That would start a war with the Vampires, and he had enough trouble in his life already. "Do you turn Damien's household upside down regularly as well, or have you spared the honor for me alone?"

"I promise you," she responded easily, "I make my best effort to cause trouble wherever I go."

She reached out to take the hand he held out to her, and he pulled her to his side as he began to walk back toward the gardens where they would have the best privacy. After all, business was business, and she had come for a reason.

"So tell me what I can do for the Vampire Prince."

"Actually, it is more a matter of what he can do for you. I come with a warning."

Noah stopped, turning to look at her as his expression became grave.

"Explain."

"Just that what Damien has been anticipating has actually happened. A small faction of Vampires has taken the recent wedding of their Prince as an excuse to break away from the laws that govern them. I know you have enough to worry about, with Ruth and the Vampire Nicodemous unaccounted for after our battle with them last winter, but until they turn up, Damien begs you turn your attention to this dangerous group of Vampires. Now that Vampires know that drinking the blood of Nightwalkers can imbue them with the foreign Nightwalkers' powers, no one is safe from a group like this who is publicly flouting the law and Damien's rule.

"Of course, Damien is doing everything in his power to call them to justice," she continued. "However, since your people are most at risk due to the variety you have in your elemental powers, he felt you should be put on alert immediately. He has also asked that I remain close to you until they are caught. Between me and Horatio, we will best be able to sense if a Vampire comes close to the court. If they do, we will be in a position to track and deal with them."

"I appreciate the warning. However, I am capable of protecting my own court. While you are always welcome, I am sure Damien needs you more than I."

"I do not mean to insult you, Noah," she said firmly, "but I think you are wrong. There are only three Fire Demons in existence, two of whom are from your family. Since you are the only male and by far the most powerful, you will be the proverbial brass ring. You and I know it is insanity to gun for the Demon King, of course, but greed makes for ridiculous bravery. And who knows how much power these rogues will have acquired before they come after you? Because that is exactly what they will do, you know. They will hunt down as much power as they can, gathering it within themselves like a wicked posy. Then, when you are outpowered and outnumbered, they will come for you."

"Which is exactly why Vampires were forbidden to drink the blood of Nightwalkers all this time," he said bitterly. "I am sorry. I do not mean to begrudge Damien his happiness with Syreena. I also publicly allowed a few changes in our laws to suit the introduction of human hybrids into our race, but when Demon and Druids become matched, it has no opportunity to hurt outsiders."

"Hmm. I see," she mused. "So creating a bucketful of Druids who can rob Nightwalkers their power does not affect us outsiders? Better yet, that one Druid in specific, Isabella, who takes on the power she steals...she is no danger to us?"

"Point taken," he agreed grimly. "I suppose, as always, it is the character of each individual that tells the tale, no matter how many laws we make."

"Do not get me wrong," Jasmine added. "Far be it from me to defend Damien's current lack of sanity. Frankly, the more time goes by, the more I am convinced this entire marriage of his was ill thought and worse timed. Things were much better settled and peaceful before that Lycanthrope crossed his path." Jasmine countered the causticity of the statement with a brilliant faux smile. "But we are sure to get along famously given enough time."

"Enough time for what?" he countered knowingly.

"For Damien to get bored of her. Or a mishap in childbirth, perhaps. Who knows?" She waved off his expression of disapproval for what could be construed as a treasonous remark. "For now I prefer to deal with one problem at a time. This week, my problem is keeping you and yours protected. You will not begrudge Damien this favor, I hope. If something were to happen even remotely close to you, he would take it very ill."

The way she constructed the observation gave Noah pause where it might not have otherwise.

"Very well," he said softly. "If you insist, I will welcome your assistance. Just remember, while you are here, I expect you to adhere to our laws just as I do your brother and any other visiting dignitary."

"I'll be sure to brush up," she said dryly.

"Jasmine..."

"I promise, I will stay within the letter of the law. I do know how to control myself."

"Despite evidence otherwise?"

"Hey, you have your culture, I have mine. Besides, what fun is life if it doesn't keep you on your toes?"

"My toes are appropriately exercised without your help, Jasmine."

She smiled and turned to leave him to his privacy, now that it was no longer important.

"And, Jasmine?"

"Mmm?" She turned back and arched a curving dark brow at him.

"Do be so kind as to refrain from teasing the bloody hell out of my men. I know you have no intention of making good, even if they do not, and I will be seriously displeased if your actions stir one of them up enough to behave lawlessly." He made certain he was locked to her gaze so she would see the seriousness of his. "You know what Samhain is like for us, and it is cruel of you to tempt without relief. You are a Vampire, and as such you bear a sensuality that is markedly powerful and impressionable. Destiny help you if it turns on you. Or worse, on an innocent."

The Vampire sobered considerably under the warning, all signs of amusement leaving her dark chocolate eyes. Still, it was not in her to apologize, so he had to be content with the purposeful bow of her head in acknowledgment.

Damien entered the citadel by way of the turret that led into their private rooms. They used the small tower as a private sitting room, the circular exposure of windows making for an excellent view of the Romanian mountains in the night. Although, consequently, it had to be locked up and sealed off in the day to prevent even the slightest touch of the sun from disturbing their rest.

He was flushed from a fresh hunt, windblown from the circuit he had made around the leading edge of his property, scanning for any lurking problems or outright threats. Once a threat breached the property itself, he would instantly know it. Since the holdings were so large, he needed to physically run the borders if he wanted to scan even farther than that. True, there was security everywhere in the form of loyal Vampires, but it was new to him to think about trusting others with his safety, and definitely impossible to accept trusting others with the safety of his mate.

Just as the thought of her entered his head, she entered the door to the sitting room. She had sensed his impending arrival, even though he had no made telepathic contact with her. It always impressed him how she was able to do that. What awed him more was the outfit she was almost wearing. Damien felt an instant fire light inside him, his midnight blue eyes devouring her beautiful little body.

Whatever the garment was, it looked like a robe. It swept the floor and had long sleeves rather like the wings of an angel. It was buttoned across her body with two lone buttons, was made of a very fine white netting of silk that was completely transparent, and she wore absolutely nothing beneath it. As she moved toward him, the robe dragged back behind her, parting all the way up to the insignificant buttons that held it closed between her breasts.

Damien felt as though he had been cemented to the spot. It was the only way to describe the hard, heavy sensation that poured through him as his sexy little wife approached him with such clear intent. If he had forgotten what it was like during her last heat cycle, Damien was thoroughly reminded as Syreena pressed her heated body against his and began to fish past his clothing for contact with his skin. Her dark charcoal eyes, with their multicolored flecks, were hungry and avaricious. She wanted. She needed. She made sure he could see it, and now she would make very sure he could feel it.

"Damien," she whispered, her breath quick and hot against his sensitivite neck.

Oh, how well she knows me. She knew every reactive place on his body and how to use them. Her tongue flicked against his throat, taunting him as she laughed low in her throat, the sound so sexy and stimulating that it sent a shock wave of desire flooding through him. It was intensified by the swift seeking of her hands over his skin.

"Is this your idea of a hello?" he asked, his teasing tone destroyed by the obvious sound of pleasure that interrupted him as her hands swept low and sure against him.

"Would you prefer a handshake?" she asked coyly, her fingers circling him in a silky grip that was nowhere near his hand.

"Syreena!"

She shrugged, all innocence as she worked quickly to free him from his clothes, though she did not release her hold on him.

"All right, then," she relented. "I see you prefer oral greetings."

Damien's hand slammed out to brace against a window frame as his wife slid down his body.

Kestra didn't utilize the nearby airport as Noah had suggested. She couldn't go through Heathrow, even though her identification had arrived on schedule one morning later. Even after a week, her face would be far too hot for such public places of travel. So she decided the safest thing to do would be to spend another week in Europe, although it really burned her to be anywhere on the same side of the ocean as Noah...Noah...

Oh God, I don't even know his last name.