The moment we reached the Entry Hall, one of the maids came to us, rushing, saying that Cook needed a word with me presently.

I was sure it was just something silly and unimportant about tomorrow's menu again, but the wedding seemed so important to Cook that I couldn't bring myself to tell her that I didn't really mind, or care, what everybody would eat.

"I'll see what Cook needs, and then I'll have to go up for a moment to do something about my hair. I can't possibly meet Rareş like this," I told Vlad, pulling at the strands of hair that had found their way out of my chignon and now floated freely around my face. "You go ahead, I'll join you as soon as I'm ready."

"As you like," Vlad said, walking with me towards the kitchen. "But don't take too long, please. I had to suffer Petru's company last night already, I can't possibly face him again on my own. I need you by my side," he pleaded as he pushed the loose curls behind my ear and kissed me on the cheek before leaving me in front of the kitchen's door.

"I promise I'll be with you soon!" I called as he made his way back to join the company in the Great Hall.

Having succeeded in pacifying the half-hysterical Cook in about ten minutes, I made my way towards my chamber fast.

I was so lost in thoughts about all that was happening around me-- the dinner I had to attend, the wedding that would happen the following day, and all those things I had talked about with Vlad over the last couple of days-- that I was halfway up the spiral staircase when I realised I shouldn't have come this way. I didn't have the key with me. But as I was already here, I decided to try the door anyway.

Luckily, I found it unlocked. I must have left it open the last time I used it, or maybe it was Vlad...

I rushed through the dim corridor towards my room, nearly stumbling over something that hadn't been there before.

A shoe...

The short hair on my forearms stood to attention as I entered the chamber and saw the person whom it belonged to. One of the knights was lying on the floor just behind the door. He was unconscious or... dead... I shivered as I approached him, trying to understand if I could help somehow, while my subconscious was screaming at me to run.

I turned towards my dressing room when I heard sounds of struggle, or fight, coming from inside, muffled by the closed door. It scared me enough to make me back away from the lifeless body and towards the spiral staircase.

A half-forgotten female voice coming from behind the curtains of my bed made me stop in my tracks.

"Oh, there you are, Lady Samara! We've been waiting for so long for this moment."

Alina.

I stood looking at her, motionless, at a loss for words. I didn't expect to see her ever again.

"It wasn't easy to get to you, Samara. I give it to my brother that he looks after you well. You look... glowing." A voice coming from the direction of my boudoir made me look away from the maid.

Radu.

His words were followed by a loud thud of the door of the dressing room, where all sounds I could hear before had ceased.

"What have you done to Katerina?" I finally managed to ask, trying to sound brave. "If you hurt her..."

Radu laughed, leaning against the closed door. "Oh, I'd love to see what you would do if I hurt your beloved nurse, but it's not her in there. Just your second knight."

He was looking at me so intently that his cold blue stare piercing through me made me shudder. I took another few steps back towards the corridor.

"Come here, Samara," Radu said, his now soft, cooing voice reaching me across the room. "Don't make this difficult, I just want to talk to you."

I shook my head, rendered speechless again. Those eyes... I can't fight him... I thought, taking a few steps in his direction this time.

"Your brother is coming," I muttered, unable to stop myself from approaching him.

"Liar. He won't be here anytime soon. The Council will surely keep him busy long enough for me to do what I need to do here..."

As soon as I was within his reach, Radu grasped both of my hands in one of his. He pulled me closer, pressing his lips against mine, making me shudder again and close my eyes in disgust. Why can't I fight him?

Alina's gasp, followed by her loud exclamation, made him stop.

"You! You promised you would marry and change me if I let you in her room!"

"And did you really believe that? After what you did? She might have died in that fire!"

"But..."

"Leave us, Alina, and let me find you where I had told you to wait when I'm ready, or I'll just leave you here. And you know what they will do with you if they find you," Radu warned her.

The maid ducked her head sheepishly and ran to the spiral staircase, the sudden silence of the room only disturbed by soft sobs trailing behind her.

Their exchange didn't last long, but it gave me enough time to gather some of my scattered courage. I had to play for time, sooner or later, Vlad would notice that I didn't turn up as I had promised...

"I've been waiting for you, Samara, for a very long time," Radu said, his voice chilling me.

I took a deep breath, realising I had forgotten to breathe. He was scaring me. Say something, distract him! You can do this!

Radu lifted his free arm and caressed my cheek with a back of hand. His skin felt incredibly cold, and I closed my eyes again, shivering involuntarily. There was that sharp tang of fresh blood, which seemed to linger around some of them, emanating from his body. He was making me feel sick.

"You are so beautiful, Samara..." he whispered hoarsely.

"Why are you here?" I asked, forcing myself to open my eyes. I didn't want to show him how much he scared me.

"I wanted to talk to you, but there was no reasoning with my brother. He would never leave us alone. This was the only way, using Alina and her copy of your key..."

His eyes. Those mesmerising fragments of bright blue ice bore into mine. He had me. I couldn't move. I started to shake visibly, and he laughed.

"Oh, you are so wonderfully human. Do I disgust you? I somehow don't think you react like this to my brother, I wonder why is that? What is so different, so special about him? He is a vampire like me!"

"Tell me what you have to say, then go," I said, trying to sound braver than I felt.

He grasped my arms in both of his hands this time and shook me hard, making my head bob like a rag doll's.

"Is that what you want? Do you want me to go away already? But I have just come and I won't leave without you, not this time. I wanted to change you back then, to make you one of us, so you would stay with me. My perfect brother, the only one from our family intent on staying human, wouldn't have wanted you once you became like me, I was sure about it," he said, lifting my chin up to see my face better.

I had bitten my lip when he shook me, and I could feel the metallic taste of blood on my tongue. Radu noticed, I saw his eyes fixing on my mouth, his pupils growing wide.

"Do it then. Now. Change me. So I can stay with your brother forever," I challenged him, feeling dizzy. You can't faint!

He laughed again and kissed me one more time, sucking at my bleeding lip. I tried to pull away but couldn't; he had trapped my hands in one of his behind my back, pressing me close to him with the other.

"Are you sure that he would still want you if you became a vampire? When you wouldn't blush when he looks at you as you always do now, when he wouldn't be able to make your heart race with one touch, because it would be half dead like ours? When you wouldn't cry so easily?" he asked, looking at a lone tear rolling down my cheek.

In a blur of movement so fast I didn't feel it, I stood pressed against the wall between the windows. The small table holding the basin that always stood there was knocked down, making the earthenware explode in shards and splashes of water, scattering over the floor.

My head hurt where it hit the stones, and my cheek was squashed painfully against the wall. Radu wrapped my hair, completely unravelled now, around his hand, and pulled my head to one side, revealing my neck. My knees threatened to give way, but he stood flush against my body, pressing me to the cold stone wall, keeping me upright.

"You were supposed to be mine. I loved you, and you knew it, and still you refused me. For him, you were only trouble, back then and even now. Who knows, maybe if my brother had married Jusztyna straight away, when she had asked him, he could have won that war with her help and everything would be different. Maybe you have ruined his life. Have you never thought of that? Shame that I didn't manage to change you back then... you died so fast..." he said, freeing my shaking hands and pulling at the fabric of my green dress, making the tiny jade buttons scatter and pelt the floor with a sound of raindrops against a window pane. "You belong to me, Samara, you already wear my brand..." he murmured, uncovering the strange birthmark on the side of my neck and bringing his freezing lips to it.

I tried to move my head, to use my hands to push him away, scratch him, anything, but I didn't manage. He simply captured both of them in one of his again.

"Stay very still, Samara, this can be fast, or slow and painful," he hissed the warning in my ear.

"You...you..." I had never sworn in my life, but right now, I would give anything to find an appropriate expletive to call him. "Back then, you killed not only me but maybe my child too..." I said with difficulty. His body felt extremely heavy against mine, I couldn't breathe.

"Is that so?" he asked, pausing to let the information sink, then forced a laugh, his cold breath on my skin making me shiver. "It could just be the reason why you were so weak and died too fast. And I have never even thought of that... so early after your wedding..."

He pressed himself even closer to me, knocking the last air out of my lungs. This is it then, I thought as his teeth grazed my skin, drawing blood. I had never seen their fangs before, but now I could feel them. It hurts!

I heard him taking a deep, shuddering breath when my vision started to blur.

"I know that you don't really want to hurt me... You said you loved me." My words came as a tortured whisper. "You can still stop." I could feel him struggle with himself, so I went on while I still could talk. "I... forgive you, Radu, but I'll never forget what you did to us back then, and I'll never choose you over your brother... I have only ever loved him."

The weight of Radu's body lifted off me unexpectedly, and I turned around using my last strength. I fell to the floor, slowly, my back sliding against the wall.

I saw Radu's body fly in the air and land against the opposite wall, his skull hitting the stones with a loud thud.

"Are you all right?" Junior was by my side, his voice worried, but I couldn't look at him.

I was too absorbed in what was happening between Vlad and Radu on the other side of the chamber.

"Help me up," I begged Junior.

"Samara..."

"Help me, for goodness sake, I don't want them to hurt each other, they are brothers!" I called, frustrated that I needed Junior to pull me to my feet. Why am I feeling so weak and sleepy...

Radu was back on his feet now, standing opposite Vlad, both of them ready to strike.

"You are bleeding," Junior said when I finally stood next to him on unsure legs, his arm wrapped around my waist the only thing keeping me upright, as I observed the two men in front of us.

"Vlad!" I called weakly, hoping he would hear me.

They both did, and turned towards me. I noticed how Radu paled even more, and his eyes went wide at the sight of the blood that I could feel trickling down the side of my neck in two tiny rivulets, soaking the front of my dress. Vlad used Radu's distraction, and his fist connected with his brother's temple, making him stumble and nearly fall again.

"Please, don't harm him, he is your only brother. Let someone else deal with him..." My last words came out as a low whisper, and I closed my eyes, overcome by tiredness...

"See what you have done to her, 'brother', are you happy now?" Vlad's voice came from somewhere near, and I could feel him lifting me in his arms.

"Samara... I..." Radu's pleading, desperate voice reached me in the darkness, together with sounds of many scared, excited voices and rushed footsteps, but I had no strength left to reply.

"If you lay a finger on her ever again, I'll kill you!" Vlad hissed.

The last thing I heard was Vlad's voice ordering Ioan and Junior to take Radu downstairs and hand him over to the Council.

Then, finally, everything faded away, and I was enveloped by the most perfect, liberating darkness and silence.