Marilyn sucked on a lock of her golden hair and stared out the window. Ugly place.

Where she'd grown up, in east Gildon, sparks of energy flashed within veils of warm fog. Even the water of rivers had exhilarated her. A tiny strip of elven land on the border of the greatest human nation, rich with energy, her homeland had soothed and nurtured her like a mother's womb. Queen Ceres had warned Marilyn not to leave.

But Marilyn had been young and headstrong. She'd left for Biston's human king. Raulin. His charms lured her here to this cold, sleeping place. Such a mistake.

No one fed Biston's elementals, so they hibernated, deep beneath everyone's feet. No sparks. No tingling water. No warm fog. Strange that human spirits added to the elemental mass here in mortal land. Usually only elven spirits had the skills to control and alter nature. Besides, without the specialized plants that stored an elven populace's excess energy in dirt and water, how did the elementals in Biston eat? Where did they get their energy from?

The countryside offered some beauty. Wildflowers grew in spring and summer. Sometimes, Marilyn had enjoyed snow in winter, when Erick had made snow angels.

Snow would soon fall this winter. Outside her plastic barred window, ice glistened on bare trees, red on one side, white on the other. Both moons shone one on each side of the night sky. No different from any other early winter night, except for the footsteps below.

The foreign king who'd been sniffing around the palace now crept outside. Few thoughts floated freely from his mind. All decoys. Something else hid deeper beneath the false surface. He was planning something. Whatever it was drew him from his bed at three in the morning. Cloaked in black and hurrying through shadows, he secreted his intent.

Men hid outdoors for only two reasons-women and war.

Air filled Marilyn's lungs with the most delightful feeling and she nearly giggled.

Either motivation worked to her benefit. Only one woman would draw a foreign king's attention to Biston, the one woman intended for Erick. But war could also catalyze the destruction of Marilyn's prison. She wouldn't need Phil and his deceits.

Earth, she could escape by her own means during Reiley's siege or theft. Her chin lifted as a grin spread her lips.

Another set of footsteps crept up the steps of her tower. Earth, didn't Phil ever sleep? Her plastic door opened. His footsteps grew frustratingly louder. The clicketyclack tugged on the corners of her lips until she scowled and he stood behind her.

"Aren't you going to say hi?" he asked. "Shhh."

Outside, Reiley's cloaked form disappeared behind a bush at the bend in the road. Strange. Maybe his plan involved someone else outside the palace. Possibly an army.

Yes. Sinfully dark joy bounced inside her gut. "What do you see?" Phil whispered.

"None of your business. I'm mad at you." She faced the window to avoid the allure of Phil's flecked blue eyes. "You let her think I'm a demon." Renewed heat burned away all joy and seared Marilyn's lungs.

"What?"

"Eleanor. She stood at the base of my tower and wouldn't come see me." Marilyn touched her lips to still them. She'd promised herself she wouldn't cry any more today. "Eleanor's afraid of me. Thinks I'm a demon, as if such a thing existed. What did you tell her?"

"My love, I would never call you that. She was probably just upset over something else."

Like any man, he'd spew lies just to placate her. Marilyn couldn't believe him. His arm gently wrapped around her waist and tried to scoop her up.

"Don't." She stiffened her back and shrugged him off. "I love that girl." Thick mucus dripped down the back of Marilyn's throat. She swallowed and coughed up the disgusting fluid. "Eleanor would have been great. Stronger than me in every way if she'd had the proper education. That's why you told her I'm a demon, isn't it? To keep her from learning spells from me?" Tears rolled down Marilyn's cheeks. Damn it. She wiped them away.

Phil brushed back her hair and tucked it behind her pointed ears as if she were just a difficult child.

Oh how she wanted to smack him then.

Softly, Phil said, "She isn't ready for magic yet. Her mother decided to wait until after Eleanor's married to teach her."

Heated breath puffed from Marilyn's chest. "Why? That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard." Had that elven bitch, Anre, scared Eleanor from visiting? Marilyn never did like Anre. That spoilt elven princess thought she knew better than everyone else.

"I know you don't want to hear this but Erick is the one who's afraid of you. Eleanor probably heard that word from him. She loves the boy."

That cowardly, weak, nearly human Duran. How could anyone take what he said seriously? The girl couldn't want him. "What about this King Reiley from Porter?" Marilyn wiped her cheeks and turned to face Phil. "What does she think of Reiley?"

A twitch shook a corner of Phil's mouth and he shifted as if to hide it. He tried to squeeze in beside her on the window seat but she locked her leg against the sill.

Marilyn wouldn't let him distract her with sex again.

Finally, Phil mumbled, "He's an arrogant man. I don't think she likes Reiley much at all." But Phil's voice lacked confidence and his gaze dropped from Marilyn.

Like a child with a wounded bug, she poked at Phil's worry. "Reiley dresses well. He's very articulate. Probably more successful than Erick, right? Definitely more attractive. Plus, Eleanor's half human. She could love someone other than her fated. Maybe she could learn to control a shielded human if need be, with the proper spells." Marilyn didn't have the strength to power those spells but Eleanor might.

Phil coughed and shook his head. "No. She wants Erick."

"You want that but I don't think she does. She seemed very angry at him when she stood outside my tower. Maybe angry enough to take another man's offer."

Worries leaked from his mind as he knelt on the ground. He rubbed the back of his neck and his brow wrinkled at the center.

The dark part of her craved more of that, to deepen those lines into a grimace. "Would it be so bad? Either way, I'd be free, right?"

He nodded and blinked.

Selfish son of a bitch. Her chest tightened and heated. She would scream spells to make Phil's blood boil if not for the elves at the door. How could he so callously lie to her? He didn't care about freeing her-he only wanted to possess her.

Marilyn turned away, unable to look at him without dark spells buzzing through her head. In the long pause that followed, the buzz in her head grew to a throbbing percussion. The melody-images of Phil writhing like a half-crushed bug beneath her heel.

"I'll talk to Erick. I'll make sure he sweetens up and gets you that grandbaby," Phil muttered.

Marilyn glared at him over her shoulder. He teased her with hope that never ripened into reality.

His nimble fingers disappeared into his coat pocket. "I have something for you." A small smile lifted the corners of his mouth, as he weren't a hated roach.

Her eyes rolled through no accord of her own. Why did men think they could buy a woman's love with trinkets? "What is it?" she snapped.

His smile struggled and fell. "You don't want it?"

Only if it could help her escape. Otherwise, no. His little presents always tortured her with want for more. "Is it a shell from a beach covered with warm sand that I'll never dig my toes into? Or maybe spice from an exotic land where flowers play a different melody every day that I'll never hear?"

His head dropped forward and he looked away. "I thought you liked those things. I meant that we can visit those places together someday."

"Well, you thought wrong." She turned away to look out the window. No sign of Reiley, still.

Something rattled and crinkled in Phil's hands. "For our grandbaby," he said softly. The dark images in her head faded. Marilyn turned around.

In his hands, a pink rattle glowed beside a pair of knitted booties atop torn wrapping paper.

Her lungs emptied and her eyes instantly watered. She slid down from the window seat, onto the plastic floor beside him. "Can you imagine such tiny feet?" Marilyn's lips trembled as she touched the soft booties. Only her fingertips fit inside as she lifted them to her mouth. Her grandbaby's little feet would fill them and kick with glee. Earth, they even smelled like baby.

Marilyn's chin tightened to crush her lower lip against the supple knitted cotton. Tears rolled down her cheeks, though she wished she didn't care. She wished she didn't want the tiny booties and toy.

"Shhh." Phil's arm wrapped around her. "I didn't mean to upset you."

"I'm not," she sobbed. A smile somehow contorted her mouth. She seized Phil's neck and kissed his rough cheek. "I've never been happier." It hurt to admit that.

His pale lips spread into a grin, unable to pucker when he pressed them to her forehead. He cupped the back of her head and leaned his bearded cheek against hers.

That simple touch calmed away the buzz from her mind and relaxed the muscles in her back. Warmth spread from his skin and deep inside her. Love shouldn't soften her to him but it did, as much as she wanted to hate him.

He pulled her into his lap where an ulterior motive dug into her hip. His breath lengthened as his hand slid to the swell of her hips.

She should have shoved him away but sexy thoughts spilled from his mind to infect hers. Images of their bodies intertwined in a warm river made her heart flutter and her nipples bead. He knew how to make her want him and abused that power at will.

"If I didn't, we'd never have any fun," he whispered in her ear.

She glanced to the door where the elves' silver eyes met hers. They didn't yet glow but they would. Disgusting creatures.

"Phil..."

"Shhh, just look at me." He guided her face back to him. "They aren't there. There's just you and me." He said that every time. Any moment now, he'd make her ache with the fiery caresses of his rough lips.

But something startled her from his embrace. A single word rose up on a thought from outside. War. Broken pieces followed.

Reiley.

"What's wrong?"

Marilyn put her finger to her lips, then motioned to the window. She climbed up onto her window seat and scanned the darkness.

Nothing stirred.

Phil's chest pushed against her back. His bearded chin would have tickled her neck if not for the brief attention-stealing image of a cloaked mercenary.

It flashed from Reiley's fatigued mind. Multiple hilts glistened at the mercenary's belt, just beyond his upheld palm.

What would he hire mercenaries for that his armies couldn't do? Marilyn held her breath, waiting for more. She scanned the surface of Reiley's mind but nothing else slipped out. If she dug deeper, he might feel her and stop whatever scheme he'd set into motion.

She searched for the mercenary's mind but he didn't seem to exist. No thoughts escaped the stronger man's shields. A wizard? No, he couldn't be. Pouches and bottles didn't hang from his belts.

"What do you see?" Phil whispered. Shhh.

Reiley's steps grew louder, having left the mercenary. His cloak snagged on a rosebush and curses rang out from his mind. Apparently, he wasn't so successful. Very wealthy royals wore elven silk, spun by a special breed of spiders in eastern New Pangaea. An elven silk cloak wouldn't have torn.

"Reiley," Phil growled. "What is he doing out so late at night?"

"Probably searching out a path for Eleanor to elope with him. Your protege has some competition." A tinge of disappointment tightened Marilyn's throat but she didn't need the girl. If Eleanor left, a darker opportunity would present itself with greater benefits. Nothing would protect Erick then.

Reiley darted through the shadows to the southern wing, where he disappeared around a corner. The click of a door sounded twice. He must have slipped inside.

Phil slammed his fist against the wall and the plastic rattled. He leaned his forehead against his fist, shoulders slumped. In a dark tone Marilyn had never heard from him, he said, "Erick just needs to make an effort."

What for? "He's outmatched. There's nothing he can offer her that Reiley can't top." Phil's plan would fail.

Marilyn scooped up the pink rattle and booties. The brief hope they'd birthed had burrowed a deeper hole of emptiness inside. Why had she let herself believe him? Marilyn silently cursed as she squeezed the soft cotton and hard metal. Like the seashell and exotic spices, the booties and rattle would only make her ache for something she couldn't have. She tried to give Phil's gifts back.

But he wouldn't take them. He just scowled down at her. Back to plan one-escape and revenge.

Chapter Nine.

December 23, 9544 AR

Valetta, Biston

The silk cord slid over Erick's knuckles and he inhaled the lemony scent. A perfume like Eleanor's hid beneath and quickened his pulse. Hybrid magic. His mouth salivated and his cock rose up to the underside of the table, hungry for her.

Erick groaned, wishing he hadn't pushed her. The little nymph probably had a husband. But she'd felt so good, so right. Not just her body. Inside too. Her thoughts had stroked his ego like a nurse's healing touch.

Earth, he didn't care if she had a husband. Erick shifted in his seat and broke the hard silence. "Did Patty hire anyone new?"

Phil shook his head, gaze fixed on the door. "You should check on her. She should be up by now."

The old man had it in his head that Porter's king meant to steal his troublesome niece. Good riddance. "Ellie's fine."

"Why would Reiley leave late at night and sneak back at dawn? Something's not right," Phil warned.

"If he kidnapped the brat, he wouldn't still be here."

"Not kidnap. Elope," Phil corrected. "She was very upset yesterday."

Either way would be a blessing. "Are you sure Patty didn't hire anyone new? A hybrid?"

A slow smile spread over Phil's weathered face. "Why hybrid?"