CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN - SIXTY

CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN

He tried to comfort me but the rejection that gnawed at me was enough for me to slap his hands away.

"Athena." His voice was controlled, indented with poise but I cared less for his bull shit. How could he be so selfish? When I have been plagued by the memory of his face up until a point that I could not function as a human being. When the universe gave us a second chance to find each other, embrace the future and distance the past then Count Samsidion shows me a hand of rejection. I was going to get up and try to get back on my own. I did not need him. The fury in me was brazen and my independence just flared up. I tried to pick myself up, but he held me down.

"Why do you misunderstand me my lady?" I was infuriated by his casual attitude.

I had to stand up for myself. "It is not me that you care about." I carelessly flung out my words. "You do not believe that I am Gabrelle; yet I have demonstrated to you so many times that we are one in the same." My conversation with him was on unstable ground and I so wished that I did not give in to tears. That would give me a garbage show of weakness.

"It is because I am fully aware that you are Gabrelle that I feel like this." Note to point on the sincerity that linked into his power fusing words. "I have robbed you of so much in the short while that I had you and you." He pointedly turned me to face him. He had no tears to stifle but indentation of icy pain whipped him into a frenzy of loss. "You, Athena have given me so much. When you sacrificed yourself in fire." He was wincing as though the pain was searing him. "And you came back for me now to heal my brother." I reached and touched his face; mellowing in demeanor as I was understanding his reasoning. "How can I take anymore from you?" He had quickly composed himself and demanded of me.

I had to put the cap on the bottle right now. "Sam," I drawled out his name drawing on the substance called love. "You did not give me anything that I did not want to give you freely and willingly." I was frustrated as he was adamantly shaking his head in denial. "I will do it over and over again Count Samsidion." I was expressing my will of choice and I was not going to take no for an answer. It was becoming glass clear to me that he was going through the motions of guilt. I needed to put on my game face and convince him otherwise.

He was being gnawed by his conscience. "The execution burns a vivid memory upon my senses every single day of my pathetic life." He was raw with memories, and I was beginning to understand that he had suffered more than me.

"Yet I am here with you, my darling." I took care to illustrate to him that everything turned out okay. "I am back for you Sam." I was helpless in my need for him to find a way towards a light that will unlock him from all the pain that was suffocating him.

He took his hands and ran his fingers over his eyes. I gathered that to be a force of habit when he was a complete breathing man. "I am immersed in the thought that I am being given a second chance to make things right for you, my lady."

I gritted my teeth. Was there no reasoning with this stubborn and intricately woven man. "You think too much my darling." I was swathing his thoughts with direct talk so that he may gain control and think with rationality. "My love for you is selfless and I will do it all again. I want you to know that no matter how much time lapses between us, there is always that bond that we share."

"Athena I will never be able to live with myself if anything should happen to you." This was going to be a hard nut to crack.

"So, the bottom line is what exactly?" Frankly I was tired of all this pussy footing around. I needed to know exactly where I stood. I could see he was trying to fathom out my question. My modern lingo was taking a hard toll on him. He was scrambling but I knew him to be smart enough. He gave me a look. It was full of caring and oh yes, I saw the love. It was his stubborn streak that was fighting me tooth and nail.

"I have to set you free my lady." Even as he said it, I heard the dripping of sorrow.

"Then today out here up in the mountains. All this," I flung my hands before my face in a dramatic motion. "It`s all for nothing. I should have jumped into the lake this morning itself." I turned away from him. This was worse pain that I had ever had and the burning at the stake was a walk in the park in comparison to the rejection coming from Samsidion. I rose up and walked a few meters away and this time he did not stop me. I looked into the brazen beauty of the mountains. The snow had melted, and the grass was bragging in lime greenness. A perfect setting to the worse day ever. I did not hear Samsidion creep up and stand behind me. I did not flinch when I realized that he was hovering over my head. Happiness had drained out of me and all I felt was the pinching of pain. He took me by surprise and wrapped his arms around me. This time there was no holding back and the dam inside of me burst from over congestion of motions. Before I knew it, he had turned me around and I was sobbing my anguish all over his chest.

It was the last opportunity to win him back. "Why are you doing this to us?" I was whimpering and he was stroking my hair lovingly. "You are making this more complicated than it needs to be." I knew that he was not a cold person in emotions. He was still the same man that I had married and the same man that loves me with an inbuild passion.

"I cannot stop the growth of your life anymore because you have done so much for my family and of course for me." He was making sense, but it was my choice.

"My life is my choice on how to live it." I informed him with equality of opinion. "I choose you every time."

He was holding me tight, and I could feel his body shake with emotions of loss. "I want you to have a life filled with good." His lips grazed the fine strands of my hair causing a frisson of excitement coursing through me. "You deserve to have a husband with blood running through his veins. You deserve to carry your children and enjoy them nursing at your bosom." His grip on me loosened. I had gone stiff. "You were born to enjoy the fruits that would ripen in your hands only."

I was stumbling; reeling from the string of the words he spouted.

"Sam," I whispered.

"Yes, my dearest."

"When I was being executed, I was pregnant." Even as I spoke the reality, I was shocked that I had forgotten such a major piece of information.

"Pregnant?" He did not know what this meant, and I was searching deeply into my vocabulary to find the correct terminology.

"I was with child."

CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT

He let go of me. Shock was registered over his whitened face causing him to heave with tremor. Honestly waded the pits of my eyes so he knew that I was being heartily sincere.

"That is not possible." I did not know whether he was trying to persuade me, or he was coaxing himself into believing the unbelievable. "I do not believe that to be possible," He ground out. He was furious but I knew that his fury was not directed at me. "How?"

I shook my head. "You were gone for many days, and I had begun to feel ill. Dizzy in the morning and my stomach was so unsettled. I began to get worried that maybe I had gotten the typhoid fever." I paused. "I am thirsty," I declared, and he went to the basket to get me a sip of water that he had carried in a canister. It felt good as it slowly went through the canal of my throat. I knew that Samsidion was eager to know the rest, so I told him that a midwife had confirmed that I was with child. I could see the rage inside of him was climbing out. He was mad with rage.

"Those murderers." He was crying even though he lacked the support of tears. Even I had become an emotional basket case and wept with him. "Why did you not tell me?"

For this question I was ready. "That day you had come to see me, I was too distraught to tell you and I knew that you would rage and kill them all the same time." I paused and drank more water. "I did not want you to be hurt Sam." He saw the sincerity in my face. "When I returned, this was kept loss in the back of remembrance. Perhaps it hurt too much for me to remember." I was sad and Samsidion held me close. He took me back and lay me gently on the carpet of wool. He kissed me oh so gently that I thought that I would melt.

"So, you see my love, we can still have a family. It is all about timing." He nodded and his voice became hoarse as he caressed me and started to kiss me. I enjoyed his touch and when he slipped his hand inside of my dress it was quite a mission for him to explore as he wished because my dress was body fitting. He growled his frustration, and I moaned mine. Eventually he removed my dress and his finger danced around my nipples, I felt the smooth flowing of my juices. I wanted to feel him to. To touch him so that he would go wild for me. He bent down and licked at my nipples, nipping the buds so that I squealed with a pleasure pain. I ached in between my legs, and I was opening up to him. When he touched the pleasure point below my abdomen, I went wild for him. We kissed, we touched, and he bit me gently all over, carefully avoiding himself from licking on my blood. I was wanton for him and even teased him by stretching out my neck for his pleasure. My vein throbbed and bobbed up and down and while I knew it was not easy for him to resist, he did not take advantage of the opportunity. I was crazy madly in love for him. He was trying to spread out my legs so that he could drive into me, but an idea popped into my head.

"Not now," I sobbed my passion and teased his ear with my tongue.

"Please," he was begging but I was not going to fall for that anymore.

"NO!" I forced out my adamance. I saw the look of confusion in his eyes and then I relaxed him by stroking his manhood.

"Open up for me." He commanded and I took it in stride and did not comply.

"Not until you agree to marry me again and make me yours forever." I did it. I maneuvered my feelings to manipulate him into seeing things my way. He was helpless with need, and he was urgently emoting to thrust.

"Yes, oh dear stars yes."

I needed no more cajoling as my legs opened for him and he hoisted me over his shoulder, in one fluid movement, he entered me and banged me hard until I could no longer hold on and deep orgasmed screaming my fulfilment. It was the most satisfying event of the day, and I was smiling as the sun beat down on my face. My Count held me in his arms and his face was covered under my hair. He too was groaning his contentment. I could tell that he loved basking in the sun and that was all thanks to me. I was content. I rose but he pulled me down.

"Not yet," he muttered inside my hair. "I love feeling like this." I smiled some more.

"If someone should come." I voiced my worry, and he silenced me by turning me over to face him.

"I will sense them in time to get you covered." He then looked at me deeply. "You have too many secrets my lady."

That was a strange thing for him to say and I looked at him in wonderment. I shook my head in denial. But he kept looking at me.

"When will you stop thinking about others and remember that you matter too."

I swallowed the lump in my throat. "Why are you bombarding me with all these unnecessary questions." I felt lightly irritated. After a wonderful making up then he decides to taunt me so.

"I need to understand one thing dear Elle." Oh boy, this meant that he wanted to ask me a question pertaining to the past. I wanted to overrule him, but he placed his finger over my lips to silence him. "If you knew that you were with child then why did you ruin our family and not give me a chance to help release you?" I was stumbling; I was afraid, and I was absolutely certain that there would be no way that we I could divulge the truth to him.

I ran my fingers through my disheveled hair, and I yawned intentionally. "Can we please leave the past where it belongs." I was making myself clear that I was not interested in answering his question. "Let bygones be bygones." I leaned closer to him and flickered my tongue over his jaw in temptation. He brushed me aside. He was not going to let this go. I squeezed out a tiny smile.

"Can we just forget all of this?" I was trying to be patient, but he was not making it easy for me.

He reached for me and stroked my hair gently. My mind was racing as I had understood the game that he was playing with me. I could not reveal the reason behind my decision, and I knew that it was going to hurt my relationship with him. I smiled brightly.

"Let it go my love, please I am begging you."

He returned my smile and took my hand. "Yes of course." He took my hand to his lips and kissed my fingers softly. "Dear Athena," He squinted, and his eyebrows creased. "Do you know that I don't even know your full name." He gave a bark of laughter that lacked luster in humor.

"Athena Kiara Jacobs." I supplied him with my current name.

"That is beautiful." He was so sweet, and I was so glad that he chose to walk away from badgering me with the questions of yesteryear. "Athena Kiara Jacobs, will you consent to be my wife?" I was so taken back at his proposal. I felt as though cloud nine had scooped me and placed me on this abode. A lone, stray tear fell down of my overused ducts.

I grabbed him and hugged him hard. "Yes! A million times yes." He did not return my hug, instead he pushed me gently back. He reached into the wicker picnic basket and removed a white handkerchief. He opened it with the pace of a snail, and I was over eager to see what was wrapped up so tightly. He then asked me to close my eyes and I easily complied. I smiled as I felt him slipping a ring onto my finger and my eyes flew open in excitement. The sight of the ring caught me off my guard and my smile vanished almost immediately.

"The one thing that I remembered distinctively was on the day that you were taken away by the marshal was that this ring was still on your finger." He was speaking boldly, and I could feel the whip that had struck me to finish the race. "When you were taken to your death, this ring was nowhere to be seen because I would naturally assume that it had melted in the ring of fire."

He was toying with me. "Where did you find it? I probably lost it when I was being dragged through the town." I was making light of the situation, but I knew he was seeing me for the liar that I was.

"Perhaps you can stop lying me to me and tell me the damn truth." He did not hate me, but he was most certainly not happy with me. "Tell me how my mother convinced you to give up on us; on your life and our family so easily?"

I sagged down onto the makeshift bed and looked at my ring. Gabrelle`s wedding ring encircled my finger. A fiery ruby dominating a band of diamonds. He knew. Count Samsidion knew that his mother had been the coordinator of my execution. I bit hard on my knuckle and with a guttural cry and collapsed over my knee and sobbed with all my might.

CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE

"I never wanted you to find out about your mother." I was solemn as I watched his reaction. The light had fell out of his eyes. "She was the one that had tipped off the clergy about me being a witch." There was nothing to hold me back now because Count Samsidion knew most of the truth. "How did you find out?"

He shook his head. "You tell me everything first, then I will replenish your appetite.

I was no longer afraid to spill my guts. "Countess Arabella came to see me in jail and confessed that she had told the clergy that I was not just dabbling in witchcraft, but I was practicing it. Turning people`s lives upside down because of my own selfish reasons." I took a breather and drank in the fresh mountain air. "I pleaded and told her that it was not true because the only people that I had actually helped was you and Count Thaneus. She had sneered at me. She said that she despised me because I was nothing but a gold digger. It had hurt bitterly but I could also understand her feeling as a mother." I looked at my man and he was destroyed. He was utterly degraded that his mother could stoop so low. For now, I knew that he deserved to know the entire truth. "She told me that she had overheard you and your brother talking and devising a plan that would have me released." My eyes closed as I recalled the bitterness that dripped off her every word. "She had laughed miserably and told me that was no going to work with her plans. She then confessed that she had told the clergy man all about me." I remembered it as though it was yesterday. The sneering remarks. The talk about status and rank. "A girl like you Gabrelle St. James thought that you could put your feet into my home." She bit out cruelly. "You are nothing but a snip of emptiness." I had begged and pleaded for my life but then she had reminded me that if I was to be let go then her sons would have to punished.

"You claim to love my son, child." Her smile was icy cold. "Here now is your chance to prove your love. Sacrifice is eminent." She had left me with no choice. My heart was bleeding. I told Samsidion my entire story that highlighted episodes of his mother. I expected a reaction of shock coming out of him, but his facial expressions were neutral.

When I was done, he calmly asked. "Did she know that you were with child?" I bit mt lips, contemplating a lie but he had got into my head again.

"She was evil." He acknowledged it before I could utter it. "What did she say?" he was pressing me hard for information and I decided to let it all go.

My eyes watered with the remembrance of pain. "She said that she will never accept our child as her grandchild because he or she was the spawn of the devil."

Samsidion let out an aggravated cry. "Did she have so much disgust for me?" I could not answer him.

I could only reply with the benefit of the knowledge that I had. "No one would have known better than her that she had raised two beautiful sons." I was rigorously gentle, and my Count knew that I meant every single word.

He smiled at me through his pain. "Did you know the sex of our child?"

"Not while I was alive, but I met her in heaven." I was filled with pride. "She got her wings and of that I am quite sure." I pictured my little girl in a meadow of flowers and little wings flapping out of her back. Samsidion smiled, the cleft on his chin bobbing down deeply.

"It seems that I have done something good." I remembered Grams words that he was going to play an integral part in humanity. I squeezed him on the shoulder.

"Never doubt the goodness that you have inside of you, my love. It shines like a beacon everywhere."

"I don't want to be a monster." He confessed to me, and I appreciated the fact that he had trust in me.

I was about to say that he could be reassured that he can never be one when he broke my thoughts in a division of two. "I admit that I have done some bad things when I was first converted. The craving for human blood made me mad for wanting and taking as I wished." He was feeling the stress of those daunting days.

"It was not your fault." I consoled him. "You were compelled to satisfy your thirst and you did not have anyone to help you with the process." I wish that I could help him heal but he had a mindset that was strict to his own wishes.

"If my heart is cold and frozen then how can I love you with so much of passion." His demand was there interested in an acute answer.

I summoned up the courage of my conviction. "The man that you were before your transformation is still alive inside you. Your roots can never be severed. Kindness is a format that has not been programmed in you, but you came with it from another dimension." I looked up into the sky as though it was the signature that God lived there.

He looked sad. "Have I forsaken God because of my circumstances?" How could I answer him? I was not equipped to provide a reasonable explanation.

"Let`s go back home. I feel so tired." It was my best exit line so that he could forget what was ailing him.

He brightened almost immediately, his grin stealing away his famished pain. "I have a better idea." He winked at me, and I was so intrigued. "Let`s go and plan our wedding. I think Father Time is not going to give us much of a space." He scooped me up, helped me to dress quickly and picked me up to fly down the mountain. I giggled like a schoolgirl and asked about the basket to which he replied. "Let the buzzards enjoy." It was his way to give back what he was always taking.

CHAPTER SIXTY

Count Samsidion was truly a master in preparation. I do not know how he had pulled it off, but he managed to put together out wedding in less than twenty-four hours. I did not care much about finery and guests because all that was just too unnecessary. All I wanted was to go back home as a married woman. He had insisted and he had taken the decision out of my hand but seeing him so excited allowed me to give him this pleasure. I still had one more surprise for my Count and as I played it out in my head, I was not sure if he will be amiable or will he throw all his toys out of the cot and indulge in a tantrum like a lost little boy. I was grateful for the ladies in waiting that helped me with my bath, do my hair and dress me up. I don't know where Samsidion managed to rustle up a dress on this short notice, but it was exquisite. Shimmering silk with a bodice of pink embroidered flowers. Lace covered the hands and neckline and the dressed flowed like a swan as I took my steps. The veil was handmade, stitched with golden threads and it was held down by a diamond tiara that was befitting to a Countess. The mirror did not lie to me. I looked stunningly gorgeous and from the time that I had arrived I managed to gain a bit of weight. My hips were a little fuller and my breasts felt global and fuller. Perhaps it was all the happiness that I was feeling. I did not think about tomorrow because I knew that I would not be able to contain my sadness. I was surprised when the lady in waiting applied the juice of a pomegranate to my lips making it beautifully pinky red. Truly for the first time of my life, I was looking stunning. Samsidion had managed to get an officiator and I was fine with that. My parents were Christians, but they were not that staunch and well I always believed in the religion of humanity in the understanding of love. The garden had been decorated by wildflowers and for a short notice everything was pure perfection. I stepped onto a path that was strewn by blood red petals and to my excitement it was Count Thaneus that would take my arm and walk me down to his brother. He also stood in as Samsidion`s best man. The guests consisted of the in-house staff and some of the locals. I wondered how my Count would account for my whereabouts while I was gone but for now, I did not take that into my train of thought. It would be his problem to deal with and not mine. Samsidion was looking at me with eyes that were filled with so much emotion. My eyes were focused on how handsome he looked in his black tailed coat, shirt that was made of the same fabric of my dress. Even his collar and neck piece were filled with the same lace as mine. I had opted to be barefoot, and I felt the spring on my legs as I rushed Count Thaneus to the end of the altar.

"You look so beautiful." I told my Count as tears threatened to pour out of my eyes. He grinned, impervious to the embarrassment I was causing him.

He bent over to me and whispered that I was a breath fresh air. I blushed heartily. Count Thaneus proudly declared that he was giving me away in the capacity of a brother. I beamed as never have I felt such an overwhelming show of a warm welcome.

Samsidion spoke his vows with a bubbling froth of emotion. "Dear Athena," he began taking my hand in his. "I was just lost in a maze that had no exit. My life showed promise of mundane existence and then you arrived with life that only showed promise of healing and blooming." I knew that he was making reference to my past life. "You were lost to me, and I found you once more. Today I give you not my heart and soul, but I give you every right to me wholly. I do so love you." It was simple, elegant and it captured my heart. It was turn.

"Count Samsidion I came to you with nothing to give but being the great man that you are, you saw the traits in me that matter in this world. It is not about materialism, but it is about the depth of one's conscious and soul. Today I give myself to you not for the earthly goods of the world, but I give you me in sickness and in health, for better or worse." I slipped the ring on his third finger, and he slipped mine. When we were alone, he had asked me to remove it and read the inscription. "For earthly eternity. Sam." I knew what he was driving at. After the dinner, we came back into our room and this time I removed my wedding gown and walked naked to my husband. There were no inhibitors that stood as a deterrent for me because tonight I felt as though the world belonged to me. He took my hands into mine and walked me to the huge window as the moonlight soaked into the room. My pale skin glowed and my husband kissed me gently on my lips. His hands were free to move all over my body because I was his and he will remain mine. He made love to me sweetly, slowly and luxuriously. My orgasms snaked to the highest point of the sky and just when I thought that it could not get any better my enjoyment was heightened. While my husband was on the pinnacle of a balance beam of pleasure, I took the opportunity of preying on his weakness.

"My love," I whispered into his ear and pulled him towards our bed. He would follow me to the ends of the world; I felt the intense commitment that he had made to me. I lay on the bad and he came over me. I bit him gently on the lobe of his ear and it was then that I decided to surrender myself to him. Innocently offering my neck to him and he so caught up in the exuberance of our love making he took the bait. He was gone mad for our love, and I felt his body contort to an explosive force. I bit on his neck and while lapping at the skin of my neck, I felt his incisors weaponize. It was time. I did not protest and just as he was about to sink his teeth into my vein, I rubbed my sex onto his. My breath paced out; from steady to slow. The anticipation was killing me and just when I thought that he would take the plunge, he roughly pushed me aside and said "NO!"

I used my wiles and pulled him to me. "Change me," I ordered him with no strikes of regret neither was I coerced. I kissed him madly. "Please," I whimpered and begged. It took every ounce of his might to push me away and his answer never staggered. It was no. That was the end of our beautiful wedding night.