She wore only a small white nightdress. She looked out of place in it, it was not how imagined her dressing for bed. She seemed like much more of a jersey cotton flannel kind of girl.
He wrapped his arms around her.
"Can we get it off?"
She shook her head, "No Henry did it. It's spelled."
He grabbed at it. Already it was starting to wear at her skin on her ankle.
"How's Sam?"
"He's, well, he's across the street in a tree and very angry. He wants you back."
She nodded stifling a sob, "I want him too."
He pulled her back, "I feel different round you now?"
"Yes alarming isn’t it. Apparently young Sam is her match. Her true love. Very rare for a Siren. More common apparently when the male is the offspring of a Siren."
Aleks stepped back watching Marcus walk into the room.
"He isn’t here to free me." She spoke defiantly.
Marcus's dark eyes shot at her, "As if he could take you from me. Unfortunately for you, Henry no longer feels the need to help you. Your seductive powers are gone."
Aleks watched Marcus with a glare, "You need to let her go Marcus. This isn’t the fourth century, you can't just hold women captive."
Marcus shouted pointing at Hanna like a madman, "She isn’t a woman. She is a Siren. She is MY Siren. Get out."
Aleks looked at Hanna who nodded. Aleks left her there like a coward.
He looked up at Sam in the tree, "She's trapped for now. Lets go home. We need to get to Alise before they move her again."
"You go. I'll stay here."
"He will kill you instantly if he finds you."
"Well I'd rather die than be without her. You can't understand what this feels like."
Aleks sighed, "I do know what it feels like. Sam if you die she is going to be a regular Siren again. She will exude sexuality and he will enjoy every second of that."
Sam dropped from the tree grabbing Aleks and lifting him into the air, "YOU WILL NOT SPEAK OF HER THAT WAY!"
"I AM NOT YOUR ENEMY! I DON’T KNOW HOW ELSE TO TELL YOU THAT SAM!"
Sam put him down, "I need her back. I was trying to give her space. Like an idiot. I wanted her to see me as a friend and fall in love with me that way. The real way. I could see she wanted it. Love without magic. I knew he had her bewitched. I knew once she was away from him she would see more clearly."
Aleks felt sickened for him, "How long have you known she was your match?"
"I met her when she was three and I was four. Our mother's were friends. She was a brat then but I saw it. Her red hair was more orange then but her freckles were the same." A tear ran down his cheek.
Aleks couldn’t imagine how desperate he felt, "Why didn’t you ever try to explain it all to her?"
He sighed laughing at himself and sniffling, "She didn’t grow up knowing what she was. She was a regular girl. I wanted it to be natural for her. I didn’t want to just march up and lay my claim on her heart. I am an idiot. I never should have listened to her father. He wanted her left alone. No one from our world was allowed near her." His eyes turned dark and frightening the way Dorian's did, "I will get her back."
Aleks heaved a sigh, "I know. Right now we have to go back to formulate a plan. A proper one."
Sam growled looking at the castle once more before going home.
Chapter Fifty-Two: Mother Lover
Hanna
His lips were dragging up her throat.
"Hanna I need you to want me again."
She felt the disgusted look cross her face, "It isn’t in my control. Sam is where my heart is."
He grabbed her waist, "I don’t need your heart."
She groaned, "Please Marcus just let me go."
"Never. I'm going to kill your little boy toy and then you'll be free to love again."
She looked at him haunted, "Marcus I will never love you if you harm a hair on his head."
"What will you do Hanna? Fight me everyday on the matter? Kill yourself like your mother did?"
She gasped, "What?"
He nodded, "Yeah, she wouldn’t admit her love for me. She swore her heart belonged to your father. I threatened to kill him and she committed suicide. It was cruel and selfish. She left you and I both."
She felt a disgusted feeling creeping up her stomach, "You loved my mother after you took the potion? You made her commit suicide?"
"Hanna I never took the potion. Who would want to end the love of a Siren? Nothing is more amazing than being with a woman like you."
"You said you took it and stopped loving my mother. You let me believe she died in a car accident." She had to keep him talking, she didn’t want his hands on her again. He had loved her mother, she felt like retching.
"I lied. I've loved several women and with each I find they say they want to know about my past until I've told them. Then they wish they never knew. I spared you the agony of knowing. I've lived long enough to know what you need to hear from me Hanna. I made you love me once. I can do it again."
"Marcus." Her lips trembled at the sight of the coldness in his eyes.
"Hanna you cannot imagine the effort that has gone into this plan. It's been in the works since you were seven. They always say you can't plan for every detail but I did, every detail but Sam." He paced the room.
"What have you done?"
He turned angrily, "I did what I had to Hanna. I tested your blood, nothing would change you but death."
Her stomach sank, "You made my aunt murder me and my friend?"
He laughed, "Your friend was an accident Hanna, you have to believe that. Cecile was an idiot. I told her about the money but she didn’t care. She loved you. So I made her feel like it was all her idea."
"What about the houses?"
"What do you think?"
She felt sick, "I think you compelled her into betraying me so I would change. My death would trigger the changes. You knew I was a Siren, you knew I would attract other men. You needed me to be dangerous so I would only feel safe with you. Every moment we have spent has been a lie."
He sat on her bed, "No it wasn’t. Hanna I am cursed, I feel nothing. I have no heart. Henry cursed me. Don't you see it's why I stole his soul? He stole my heart." He looked at her, pleading with her, "Don’t you see. You make me feel again. Your feelings are so strong even I feel something."
She refused to hear him, her mind was reeling at the events that had taken place. He had betrayed her father in every way, he had been the reason her mother died, he set up her aunt and uncle and then made them murder her best friend. He forced her to be reliant on him, he had been her savior. She looked back, seeing every step she'd taken had been planned out by him. She had slept with him. She fought back the urge to throw up.
"Let me die Marcus." She was empty.
"Hanna you will see this is better. When I kill Sam I will make Henry erase your memories of him. And this conversation." He walked to the door leaving her alone in the room.
She walked to her bed to cry herself to sleep.
****
She woke to the sound of water being poured.
She opened her eyes to see Marcus smiling at her.
"Bath time Hanna."
She shivered, "Marcus please just let me have a shower like a human not a sponge bath like an animal."
He watched her and nodded, "Fine but I will wait outside the bathroom."
She sighed, "Thank you." She hated the idea of him touching her. Her only saving grace had been that he was disgusted by her love for another man. She'd managed to avoid any serious touching. She knew it would be short lived. He would eventually want her in his bed again. She would follow her mother and take her own life before she ever did that again.
He took out a key and opened the latch on the manacle. She almost cried as it slipped off her foot. Her skin had gotten raw where it touched.
He grabbed her arm, dragging her to the bathroom.
He stood in front of the door to the bathroom with his arms crossed.
His smug look explained how it would be going. She slipped the stupid nightdress he'd given her off. She was completely naked standing in the cold bathroom. She started the hot water and jumped in before it was even lukewarm.
The water heated quickly making her feel better. She rinsed his kisses and licks from her throat and arms. She washed her face repeatedly. She imagined Sam touching her. She saw his lips dragging along her throat, his fingers soon became the water.
She opened her eyes ensuring he wasn’t there for real.
But then she heard his voce, "Hanna?"
She looked all around. She could hear him. She poked her head out the side of the wall to see Marcus looking at his phone. She slipped back into the water.
"Hanna?" She jerked to the left and right not wanting to whisper, Marcus had incredible hearing.
"Hanna if you can hear me, be ready. We will be there at high noon."
She nodded wondering if Sam could see her in the shower. She used her thoughts to speak to him, "Sam?"
Nothing happened. She wondered if Lydia was able to somehow make their voices come out of the shower.
"Okay love, wrap it up."
She looked out at Marcus, "Why?"
He frowned, "I'm getting annoyed standing here. I want to go back to your room and tie you up." He grinned, "Now that you're clean."
She frowned, "What time is it?"
"Why?"
"Curiosity."
"Eleven thirty."
"I'm hungry."
"I don’t care."
She poked her head out of the shower again and stuck her lip out, "Please."
He laughed, "Fine. I'll tell Henry to bring you lunch."
She felt disgusted but smiled at him, "Thanks."
He rolled his eyes, "If your trying to butter me up it won't work. You're staying."