Chapter 6

Dark Ages, 1457. Say my name again.

Three months, three months of the hardest self-control I put myself into, and I lost it right there, as soon as I got close to her, not only because I didn’t find a fragment of fear in her eyes, but also I saw the defiance in her face. She affronted me! I went for the kill, I wanted to snap that long sinful neck like a twig under my fingers, how dared she questioned my actions and how I treated my opponents? I was a ruler, I had a country to build and enemies to banish away by any means possible, and she would have to come to terms with that. Everything I used against them, every means of torture, every piece of strategy I learned from the best teachers, my foes! And they were no less cruel than me, and knowing your opponents well is the only chance you had to outsmart them, and I fought hard every day, so we didn’t fall under their power again. Yet, my walls crumbled to the ground getting closer to her body, inhaling her sweet floral perfume, and suddenly unable to resist her, and apparently neither did she.

My contingent stayed behind guarding Poenari, for that reason I left by myself to meet my other contingent near Braşov, and for the first time, it was the hardest thing to do. Leaving that puny enchantress behind! I won’t tolerate a woman coming between me and my war, if I did she would be my downfall. I needed to concentrate and focused on the problems ahead of me; I didn't need a weakness and a liability to the eyes of my enemies, but unfortunately, I was already lost to her magic.

It’s been a month since I last saw her. It could be less if we hadn’t suffered an attack by the Turk’s army that led to a hideous fight, and a major set back. I wanted to go back home! Funny how this word had a different meaning now. I hated the situation of being torn between two worlds, one I knew so well and the other I've never dared to think about it.

Getting back to Poenari I saw her from afar, the sun was setting, and she walked in the small garden, just by seeing her my pulse quickened and a very part of me came alive. I needed some peace and quiet before I faced her, so I cleaned myself and went to the chapel. I loved the tranquility those places brought to my tortured mind sometimes. Lighting up the dark chapel with some torches, I sat there and stared at nothing, just letting my brain wander freely. But the minute she stepped inside all my self-control began to fade.

“What do you want, Alizandra?” I was harsh and kept staring at the wall, she stopped at the entrance not so sure of what to do.

“Why are you here and so alone?” her soft voice penetrated my ears going straight down my spine, and settling in my groin, I shut my eyes and sighed heavily. As I opened them again, she was closer to me. What a beautiful view, my eyes were glued to her, and right there I realized my world would change forever.

“Thinking, this is the best place to put your thoughts right again.”

“What happened? Why did it take you so long to return?” The real concern in her voice pierced my chest like a sword would do, and slowly she tried a few more steps towards me. “You are hurt!” her eyes widened.

“Don’t worry, I’ve had worse, It’s just a fight wound.” her caring tone melted my heart if I could say that. I wasn’t looking my best, a cut on my neck and scratches on my face and hands. “I had business to attend with the mayor of Braşov and some merchants, and on my way back here we were ambushed by the sultan’s army and a lot of my men lost their lives, but those bastards received the punishment they deserved.”

“And… What did you do to them?”

“You don’t need to know the nasty details, it’s none of your business.”

“Then, why are you so tormented?” she looked at me with those big violet eyes, such a different and beautiful color, waiting for my answer. “I feel your exhaustion.”

“At night, when I sleep, my dreams are plagued with terrors and burdens, since you came along you chased them away, but this whole month separated from you made them worse I scarcely managed to have one rested night,” I didn’t know why, but with her, I could be myself and talk to someone other than the priests who were just behind a confession and then told me what I wanted to hear from them out of fear. Her face lit up in surprise. “Do you believe there’s a place where all the damned souls are sent to?” she blinked a little uncertain, and chewed on her bottom lip, maybe trying to find the right answer.

“The church said so,” she carefully calculated hed answer, and it didn’t answer my question. “Why are you worried about your soul?”

“You didn’t answer my question. I asked if ‘you’ believe?” she sighed and those beautiful lavenders were seriously upon me.

“Yes, I believe, but I also believe in salvation if you truly repent from your sins. God doesn’t punish anyone, He loves us dearly and saddens with our sins,” I couldn’t look at her, not when she wore compassion on her face. “Vlad… Look at me… Why all this now?” then I snapped my head up and stared at her. “What?” I could see confusion in her eyes, then her hand touched my face, the lightest of touches, and I let my cheek rest in her soft palm.

“It’s the first time you said my name in all these months, and it sounded so perfect on your lips.”

“I know, and I’m so sorry.”

Bringing her closer to me, between my knees, I embraced her by the waist and nestled my head on her belly. I had found my safe haven, and the feeling of her arms around my shoulders made me wish to be there forever. I held tight to her not only because I was thirsty for her touch, but also for my own sake. Her floral perfume surrounded me, and I breathed her in, reveling in the softness of her body against my rougher one, the comfort it brought to my tortured soul was too much for me to bear. She sent all my demons away, and I just let myself feel and bask in the refuge of her body.

“You have nothing to be sorry for.”

I heard her gasp in surprise when she found her lips possessed by mine, in a desperate hungry kiss, her fingers laced on the mass of my hair, pulling me to her, and it just added to the state of pain I was already living in. She rested her forehead on mine, and our gazes locked. We were both breathless.

“Say my name again,” I asked. I couldn’t help myself.

“Vlad…” and she kissed the corner of my mouth. “Vlad…” and kept going on, showering my face with loving kisses and saying my name. I captured her soft lips again, diving my tongue inside tasting her sweetness, and her little breathy keen sounds made me harder in my pants. It was beyond myself to wait for more. I needed her writhing beneath my body, and screaming my name, because her lips were the only place in this world where my name didn’t sound like a blasphemy, the only place when said it carried love and passion, and not terror and fear on people. I kissed her nonsense while I walked us back to our room, our clothes were already forgotten in the middle of the way, and then, only then I parted from my beautiful Alizandra.