Prologue

We stopped in the clearing for the night; we dared not light a fire as close to my father's lands as we were. I dreaded stepping foot into my father's castle once again. I had fought so long for my freedom, but once it was gained I found it sat bitterly in my mouth. I looked to the man on my right who diligently went about laying out the bed rolls for this evening slumber.

His dark hair curled around his face, a face that would stop the heart of any woman. His smile was sweet I had reason to know. His eyes usually a rich topaz filled with an arrogant command. He was the king of his people, and a prince among men, if only I hadn't been so stubborn. If only I had accepted him as his people wished. During the travel back to my lands I had begun to realize, I did not want to leave the man I had fought so hard to free myself from.

"Darian." I said softly twirling a lock of my own hair around my finger. He looked to me as he sat on his bedroll facing me a defeat in his features that I did not understand. "Forgive me for what I have done; I know I only defied you for that is what my father taught me I was to do. I did not think for myself and now I have rejected the one man I want."

I was grateful for the darkness that hid my blushes at speaking so boldly. If my father had heard my words he would have cut my tongue from my mouth at my betrayal. Darian only stared at me for a moment before standing and pacing the clearing the moonlight haloing him with a silver light.

"You denounced me Elaine." He cried. "You were determined to leave me. I offered you everything."

"Love me, obey me, accept my people and my heart." He whispered after I had denied him only days before in front of his people. "In return I would be your slave. I would give you everything you've desired. Everything you need and want."

"I want only my freedom." I responded stiffly and coldly.

I had seen the shattering of him in his eyes, and my heart had ached. In that moment I wondered if I had made a mistake. In the days traveling back to my father I had become certain of it. He had been abrupt with me and angry, but I could not fault him for it. Now, as we sat on the border of my father's lands I could only pray that I was not too late.

"Darian, I love you, I will obey all that you ask, I will accept your people as my own and I will be your slave if only you will forgive me." I cried staring at him, willing him to stop his pacing, willing him to respond as I wished him to. "Do not take me to my father's house, do not take me back."

"Is this for fear of your father, or because you truly wish to be mine." He demanded stopping his pacing finally, and facing me. I looked up at his face, to find it twisted with longing and denial. Fear glittered in his eyes at the prospect I might be less than serious. Or worse seeking to betray him.

"I wish to be yours." I replied my voice softened by the shame of my words. In those words I had betrayed my people and my family, but I could no longer betray my heart. "Even if you will not take me to wife any longer."

"Prove to me you wish to be mine." He ordered. I watched him carefully, but he still stood before me, his arms crossing his chest as he waited.

I searched my mind for a way to prove my loyalty, my want to belong to him. There was only one way, a way that I knew very little about, for what went on between a man and a maid was not to be spoken to me. Bawdy jokes had little place in my father's house for I was only to know what went on in a marriage bed on the night of my bedding. It frightened me that perhaps had been half of my longing to leave Darian. Fear of what he would do to me if I had agreed to his demands. Now there could be no fear. Just as I had put on a brave front since Darian had kidnapped me from my father's lands, I now had to pretend bravery for a different battle.

I stood slowly and reached for him, my arms wrapping around his neck as I leaned up, and placed a kiss upon his lips as I had once seen a kitchen maid do to a stable boy outside my window. They had seen me looking and had disappeared into the woods near the castle. I had seen no more than that.

"What would you give me Elaine?" He whispered pulling away from my clumsy embrace.

"Anything." I responded, my heart beating rapidly in my chest as I trembled with the fear of what would happen.

"It is too much too late my dear." He said brushing me away, and moving back to the packs we had been carrying to rummage about for something to eat. His hand brought forth a wheel of cheese. "My people might have once rejoiced to have you for a queen, but now they might very well rip you limb from limb for rejecting their King."

"Then do not make me your queen. Surely they will rejoice at their King having their enemy's daughter for his concubine."

The last word was distasteful as it left my mouth. Such things were so foreign to me, but I could not leave this man. All the fear and distaste for him slowly given way to a love that wouldn't be denied, and from the moment we left his lands I had regretted my childish arrogance.

He descended on me so quickly I could not prepare myself, nor hide my fear. His arm wrapped around my waist, his hand in my hair tugging my face toward his, his kiss brutal. I tried not to whimper in fear, but I could not still it. In disgust he pushed me away and I fell to my knees in the soft grass.

"I will not rape you so that you might stay among my people. I will not go to war over you as my concubine. That would be reserved for my wife. I could not ask my people to risk their lives for less. I will take you this night, only if you want it Elaine. Truly want it, and you will return to my people as my wife. I will bind you to me for the rest of your life and should you leave me, you will wither away and die. Should you be the cause of my death, you will wither and die. Such is my power, such is my promise. Do you willingly allow this geas to be placed upon you? Will you willingly allow me to claim you, for if I do the magicks of my people will forever bind you to me? This is not a choice to make lightly."

"Yes." I whispered still kneeling before him. "For I fear I would wither away and die whether you claim me or not. I can not leave you Darian, no matter how much my heart screams against the betrayal of my father and my people."

"So be it." He said and as he said them I felt a warming within me as I had felt before when he had worked magick. I knew that whatever else happened I would forever be with this man and that was all that mattered.

"You will make me a promise as well." I whispered as his arms slipped around me, and his lips paused just a hairs breath away from mine. There had been one other fear that kept me from this man. One I meant to forever put to rest. "You will never again know the touch of another woman. I shall be the only one and all others will leave you dissatisfied."

He paused only a moment before giving me a brief nod and his lips met mine causing another spurt of warmth that I knew was the sealing of our bargain. His hands slipped into my hair, his body was warm against my own. The shock of his tongue slipping into my mouth faded and slipped into a warmth that seemed to be a fire burning me from the inside out. His lips slid from my mouth to my jaw, my neck, my collar bone. I heard a moan that slipped through the darkness and was surprised to find it came from me.

The love that I felt for him burned brightly in my chest blocking out everything else. My fear, my sense of betrayal, my shame at forsaking my people and my father slipped into the night. Everything came down to one person and he stood before me. My allegiance had changed and I would accept the consequences of my actions.

In the darkness where there was only our heart beats, and the gasps of our breath, all doubts faded away leaving just the two of us. Darkness cloaked the truth allowing us to forget it if only for a this brief moment. The linen of my shift slipped off my shoulder and in the moonlight his lips followed it, his hands caressing me as they slid the shift from my body leaving me only cloaked in starlight.

"Do you wish me to stop Elaine?" He whispered his lips feathering against my breast as he spoke. My body burning for him in a way that made stopping impossible. "Tell me to stop now, tell me before it is too late."

"I can't. I would have this if it led to my death." I whispered back even as he lowered me to the bed of leaves that littered the forest floor. It was May Day, the thought whispered into my mind. I need not worry that my father's people would come across the borders of the land. They would be far too taken with the bonfire festivities. Though they might venture into the forest they feared for a night of passion, they would never venture into my beloved's lands for there was a magick there that was all the stronger on the solstice and other such holidays. My heart beat faster as I thought of their passion, something I was about to partake in without the bonds of matrimony. They were peasants and such a thing was not uncommon, but I was not. I was to hold myself above them and what was about to happen would ruin my chances of the allegiance my father sought, but I could not have cared less.

I brushed those thoughts from my mind seeking to forever emblazon this moment in my memories. I shivered at the cool spring breeze swept past us. Quickly his cloak was wrapped around us cushioning us and enveloping us. His lips found mine as his knee slid between my thighs.

"Darian." I cried softly, fear at what was to come filling me. My fear at what I did not know, and fear at the aching that was filling me.

"It will hurt Elaine, but only for a moment." He promised as he stilled, his forehead touching mine as he fought to control himself. His muscles were quivering telling me what it cost him to stop. "I promise I will do what I can to ease the pain. Do you wish me to stop Elaine, tell me to and I will. Tell me now and save us both from the ruin we could create."

"I love you Darian." I told him placing my finger against his lips. "I never wished to love my enemy, but it has come to that. I am a silly woman, my father would say, ruled forever by my emotions rather than the logic blessed to men."

"Your father is a fool not to know what a jewel he has in you." Darian told me his lips dipping to mine. "What he would call witchcraft is indeed a great gift you have been given. You would be revered for what you are."

"I can not live without you Darian." I whispered tearfully. "I would do all you ask and more."

"You know what you do." Darian warned me. "If we finish this you will be forever bound to me. You will be marked; branded, such is my nature. Our souls will be entwined."

"Do you fear such a thing?" I asked my hand pushing a dark curl from his face so that I might see his expression in the moonlight. "I would give my life that you live. I would not take your life from you Darian. I do not fear my death, but I fear yours."

"I made my choice." He responded as he settled himself, his hands running along my thighs, lifting my legs until my knees were bent, my feet resting upon the ground. "I made it the morning we took you from your father's lands. We had intended to ransom you, to negotiate our freedom for yours, but I could not give you back. It would have pained me greatly to do as you asked, but I could not cage you. Now I would take what you give whether for fear of your father, or because you truly choose me, such is my need for you. Never did I imagine when I took you that I would need you as much as I do. That I would go to the furthest of lengths to possess you, or that I would risk my very soul to have you at my side. I feared when you rejected me what it would do to me. Now I fear of what will happen to both of us. Still, I would die a thousand deaths rather than parted from you."

"I want to be yours." I assured him kissing him softly. "I want be consumed by you. To be owned by you."

So desperate was our love in that moment that we forgot the needs of our people. We forgot our war; we forgot everything, but the darkness and the smell of the earth, and each other. The bonfires were raging, the night of fertility at its peak and my cry as he broke through the barrier of my virginity smothered by his mouth. I would forever be his. As I shuddered beneath him with my first glimpse of paradise, his teeth bit into my shoulder as he followed me, a branding as he promised. For even as he loosened his teeth a burning fire cauterized the wound and left behind two red crescents. Gently he kissed that spot, soothing the burning with his mouth.

"You're mine Elaine." He whispered. "Now and forever, through eternity you will bear this mark that brands you as mine."

"I wear it with pride." I responded, just before my eyes were blinded by the light of a lantern. Guards surrounded us and my father stood only feet away, his eyes burning with hatred.

"You betrayed your people Elaine." He cried as the guards ripped Darian from my embrace. "You bewitched her did you not?"

His eyes fell on Darian who stood proudly despite his nakedness. His face went red with rage as he saw the red that stained Darian and my thighs.

"No father. Leave him be." I cried throwing myself in front of my lover. "He has done nothing wrong."

"The filth has defiled you Elaine." My father growled. "You are no longer pure for your marriage."

"Marry me to him Father." I cried ignoring the stares of my father's men at my own nakedness. "Marry me to him and forge an alliance that will forever still this war."

"I'd die before I'd marry you to the leader of the rabble that opposes me." My father said with a finality that crushed all my dreams. "Take this man away. He will be put to death, and the rabble that follows him will be left leaderless. You my daughter will be married within a fortnight. On the morrow your lover will be burned at the stake for his witchery. If any of you men allows a breath of this to reach her betrothed's ears I will kill all of you."

"No!" I howled fighting as they led him away, tearing as they sought to cover me with my lover's cloak. "Let him go, you can not touch him while he is on his own lands father. He and his people were given this land and you have no power here."

"You're right." My father replied, his anger at my words apparent as he moved closer to me. He jerked me across the rough ground until we stood on his lands. Glancing back I watched as my father's men released their prisoner. I wondered why he did not use his power to save us. "You will defy me no longer."

Never had my father struck me, never had I given him reason. When his hand connected with my check I cried out in shock as I fell, Darian's cloak pooled around me. Naked, and nearly as feral as the barbarians my father denounced his people as, Darian raced across the border and my heart sank.

"You are on our lands now." My father growled as his men once again took hold of Darian. Iron was clamped onto his wrists and I knew he had wasted his chance to use his magick. Iron would quiet his powers and leave him relatively helpless, and my father knew it. "Take him away, on the morrow we will burn him for bewitching my daughter and she shall marry as planned."

"Please father, I will do as you say, just let him go. Do not start this war afresh; you could end it all here." I begged still on my knees, my pride ground to dust with the fear of what would happen to Darian.

"The war will end with his death." He responded, his mind made up and no mere slip of a girl could give him better judgment. They beat him before me, my father relishing the pain in my eyes. The ride back to the castle was filled with pain and darkness. I had given my heart to the man they had beaten until he had to be tied to a horse for our return. They allowed me to dress, but they left him naked, still he had the body of a god and while they sought to defile him, he took it with bravery and remained proud.

Once I was finally deposited back into my rooms at my father's homes, I submitted to my nursemaid's ministrations, and pretended placation. The moment she had dimmed the lights and left me to my dreams, I slipped through the secret passage in my room. I had played with my mother in these passages from childhood, and when she was gone I continued to play. I knew everyone of them well enough to navigate in the blackest pitch. I had only one passage I was looking for this night and that was the one that lead to the dungeons.

I slipped past the guards who sat drinking and playing dice. They were so certain their prisoner was powerless in his iron bonds that they were deep into their revelry. Moonlight lit the cells that would have been black holes, despite the torches that lit the hallway. Silent as a shadow I slipped among my father's prisoners until I found him. The moonlight haloed his head just as it had in the clearing hours previous. He sat in a bed of moldy straw, his head resting in his hands; finally they had allowed him clothing.

"Darian." I called softly curling my hands around the bars of his prison. He looked up swiftly. "Darian, I'll get you out of here I promise."

"No Elaine." He said as he slowly stood, I winced knowing it was stiffness from the beating. My heart ached for him. "No, he will kill us both. If you have the chance slip away to my lands." With pain he took the signet ring from his finger. "I name you the new queen Elaine. Tell my advisor Rogan that I have given you power. My people can not have their sovereign ripped from them. They must be led, or your father will take control. You have the power that is why I chose you, why I decided to wed you after we kidnapped you; you have the power of my people."

"Darian, they will not take command from a mere woman, nor will they listen to the woman they will be certain betrayed you. I must free you if only to return you to our people." I insisted. "Besides, I would die without you. Remember the promise I made only hours ago Darian. I am the cause of your death. It is because of me you were caught and are in this prison. I will wither and die."

"Oh love. I can't undo it; it was not what I meant when I created the geas, but there is nothing I can do to counter it." He whispered his hands touching mine through the bars of his cell. Tears were heavy in his voice. "I never meant to……….. "

"Hush, I know." I replied. "We can't loose hope, we will find a way."

"I had thought my daughter would be too soft headed to stay away from the riff raff that soiled her." My father's voice boomed from behind me and I felt all hope lost. "Take her to her rooms and lock her in there I want a guard posted inside her room until the morrow."

"I love you Darian." I cried as they dragged me away. "I love you."

"Let her go damn you." Darian cried as he threw his already battered body against the bars. "Don't you dare hurt her."

"Hurt my daughter?" my father asked his hand on my shoulder while the men struggled to hold me. From the anger on his face I did not expect him to mean the incredulous words he spoke.

"You know you hate her; she has never been more than a pawn to you since her mother left to return to her people. My people." Darian hissed. "I swear if you harm her in any way, I will find a way to bring you to justice." Despite the Iron that ringed his wrists and dampened his abilities I could feel the power rising around us. The air practically crackled with it. "I bind my life to hers and nothing you can do will separate us. Not even death with lessen our bond. Through eternity we will be bound together and a curse will fall upon those that seek to thwart us. A curse upon anyone that dares to hurt this woman."

I could see the fear on my father's face, but his guards dropped my arms. My hands once again free, I slid them through the bars to entwine with his. He kissed my hand and I added my power to his as he had taught me. Together we sealed our fates.

"Go back to your room Elaine, you can not free me." He whispered the love in his eyes causing my already battered heart to shatter. "Come morning know I love you."

"No." I whispered pleading.

"Yes Elaine, you promised in that clearing you would obey me. Now do as I ask and return to your room." He said sternly. I might have left feeling as though he had rejected me, had I not seen the tears in his eyes. I knew it was killing him inside as much as it was killing me. If only to ease it, I nodded and allowed the men to gently lead me away.

I did not sleep that night; instead I stared into the stars remembering the night I had been given. If nothing else I had been given one night of happiness that was not controlled my others. I had taken control of my own life and I had lived. As the morning dawned, tears streamed down my cheeks and I knew in my heart it was to be Darian's last. I knew it with the inner knowledge that frightened my father.

They escorted me to my father's pavilion, ten feet below us was a bier. Oil soaked torches stood at the ready, oil soaked wood surrounding a single post. I prayed as I had never prayed before. Darian had to have some way to save himself with his magick. Some how it had to be done.

His dark head was bent as he was lead into the courtyard and the jeers of the crowd made my heart clench. He looked up, his eyes on me as they led him up the bier and tied him firmly to the post. Never had I seen the arrogant proud man that I had spent the past months with, look so defeated.

"I love you." I whispered and I knew he could read my lips.

"I loved a woman far more than myself and for that I will die." Those were his last words. My heart stopped as they lit the brier. As the flames reached him, and he began to scream, tears streamed down my face. The smell of burning flesh making made me retch helplessly over the side of the wall. My father's face was alight with demonic joy, as he watched his nemesis burn. I looked down to find I knelt on the edge of the wall. Slowly I stood as I realized there was no one close to me. My hand touched the edge of the stone wall and I let the balls of my feet hang over the edge. Still no one noticed me. Looking at the unforgiving grey stone beneath me, I knew I would die one way or another, but this way I would die touched only by one man. My love for him still warm in my heart. The marriage my father wished upon me never to take place. With a deep breath I raised my arms like a bird and I flew.

"No!" Was the last thing I heard, a scream wrenched from my lover's lips.

"I go to be with you." I whispered, and somehow I knew he heard me.

As Dream to Dream and Battle with Fate are close to their end I decided it was time to allow this story to come out of hiding. Hopefully you enjoyed this prologue, I know it has nothing to do with Newsies at the moment, but I promise it will.