Samuel's Pride: Hawk Part 3

She stilled. Her breathing even seemed to stop, and she put her hands on his chest. Hawk watched her. He could see that she was thinking, trying to figure something out, but he had no idea what it might be.

"I'm no man's mate." He slid his c.o.c.k into her heat and rolled his hips until she moaned. "Yes, please more. I want more. But I am not saying that we're...oh yes. Please, more, Hawk. It's just that I cannot take a mate. It is...I cannot have one."

"f.u.c.k that." He slammed forward. Her release nearly took his breath away, and when he pulled to the tip to take her again, her legs wrapped around his hips so that when he pounded into her again, he was deeper, her sheath tighter around him. Leaning into her throat, he licked her pulse, felt the pounding of it under his tongue. When she cried out again, saying his name, Hawk lifted her a.s.s up to meet his downward stroke and sank his teeth into her throat.

Blood filled his mouth, hot, boiling hot as it filled his veins and cells. He knew the moment that it touched his heart, the second that her blood filled it and then spread to the rest of his organs. His mind exploded with information about her, the man that chased her, her mother that wanted her dead. Taking more of her, drinking deeply of her, Hawk moaned when she dug her nails into his flesh, when she turned his head to hers and licked the same path he'd taken.

Her bite, deep and painful, brought him over the edge. His climax emptied not just his b.a.l.l.s into her, but everything about him; whatever he was, whatever he'd ever be, she took it. A second, then a third climax had him taking her again, harder, faster, until he could no longer move from coming so many times. Hawk felt his vision blur, his body weaken, until he fell atop her and knew no more.

Awnia held Hawk to her. Never in all her life had she come so hard, felt so much, or wanted so much more than she did from him. As he lay on her, she ran her fingers over his body and felt what had been done to him. His wings, the wings of his hawk, would no longer be the same. When he lifted his head after a few more moments, she could see the dazed look on his face. She was sure she wore the same look as him.

"You're my mate." She shook her head. He had to have seen what that meant. How her mother would destroy him if it was even partly true. "You gave yourself to me. Drank from me as I did you. That has made us mates, bonded mates for all time."

"I cannot have a mate." He held her when she struggled to get from under him. He wasn't hurting her, but she needed to move. Rolling him to his back was what she thought she wanted until he put his hands on her hips and held her. Awnia sat up and moaned. "You're very deep."

"Yes." He rolled her hips, pulled her forward, then back, and she moaned. "Ride me, Awnia. I want to watch your face when you come again."

It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him she couldn't do that again, but he felt so good. His c.o.c.k was so hard that she felt as if she could ride him forever. Rolling her hips forward again, she touched her finger to his nipple and watched it harden. As she leaned down the sensation of his c.o.c.k touching her in a different way made her bite him harder than she'd meant. He didn't pull her back, but held her to him as she bit him again, this time drawing blood.

"Drink." She sucked harder from the tiny wound, then bit him again to drink deeply. Hawk rolled her to her back and held her head to him as he f.u.c.ked her, his c.o.c.k doing amazing things to her as his fingers toyed with her tight hole. The moment he breached the rosette, she threw back her head and cried out. The climax had been quick and hard.

"Again. Come for me again." Her body bowed up again; his blood dripped on her now from his wound, and she pulled him down to seal it. But when his mouth was near her breast, all she could think about was him biting her there. As soon as his fangs dipped into her flesh, she came again, then again when he pounded her into another climax. His own rush of c.u.m as it filled her brought her for a third time.

They lay there this time with him beneath her. He must have rolled them over again when she closed her eyes, and now she looked down at him. His own eyes were closed, and she had a chance to look at him without him seeing her. But for some reason she knew that he was aware.

He had a cla.s.sic face. It was one of beauty, if a man could be called that. His hair was short, almost too short for her taste normally, but for some reason she liked it on him. The scruff of his beard was soft to her finger, but she could feel the burn of it on her throat. His eyes were blue, she knew, intensely so, and she loved his mouth. And what it did to her when he touched it to her....

"My parents are still alive, and from what I got from your memories, they're not much better than your mother." He opened his eyes as he spoke. "I'm not going to let her take you. And Hatter won't either. But I saw no memories of what he looks like in your mind. Have you none?"

"Yes. Plenty. I try to block...how is it you can see my memories?" He grinned at her. "You cannot be my mate, Hawk. It is dangerous for you and you may die. It nearly happened to someone before."

"But he was not your mate." She wanted to believe him. Even only knowing him for less than an hour, she already liked the young s.h.i.+fter. "You are my mate."

She pulled away from him and was disappointed that he let her. But the moment that he stood up too, he pulled her into his arms, and she felt cherished. A feeling, she thought, she'd never felt before.

"We should dress before I lay you back down on the ground and feast on you again." Her body warmed at the thought, and he slid his hand down her body to her p.u.s.s.y. "Come for me this way. Let me taste you on my fingers."

Riding his fingers had her moaning loudly. She spread her legs wider for him when he slid his thigh between hers. But when he dropped down again, pulling her p.u.s.s.y to his mouth, she held onto his head, not sure whether it was to keep him there or to simply keep from falling. When his fingers slid into her a.s.s again, she gripped him tighter, wanting to come so badly that she was weak from it. When his voice in her head commanded that she release, Awnia held him to her as she cried out. Cried until she was hoa.r.s.e from it. When he stood up, he held her again, but his c.o.c.k was digging into her hip again.

His c.o.c.k was hard and the tip of it leaked his c.u.m from the tip in a long hot stream. She wanted to taste him as he had her. Take him into her mouth and suckle him until he filled her throat with his seed. When she reached for him, he backed away. But he did wrap his hand around his c.o.c.k in a way that told her that he needed relief as well.

"If you take me like you want, I'm going to come. And it will be quick and hard." Her fingers curled into his. "You know what I want to do? I want to f.u.c.k your mouth."

"Yes." She laid him back on the ground and sat between his legs. His c.o.c.k stood straight up from his body, and she got her first look at him. "You're so long and hard. And thick. I love the way you fill me."

"Ride me. Please?" Shaking her head, she leaned to him and licked the c.u.m from him. His moan encouraged her to do more, and she curled her tongue around his crown. The moment he pulled her tightly over him, she swallowed, feeling him slide past the tight muscles of her throat as he'd done to her p.u.s.s.y.

He did f.u.c.k her hard. It was wonderful. So when he pulled her back and nearly threw her to the ground, she wondered what she'd done wrong. But he flipped her to her belly and slammed his c.o.c.k deep into her, even as he leaned over her and bit into her shoulder. The climax had her pus.h.i.+ng back at him, at each of his strokes, as he emptied himself into her over and over. This time when she felt herself fade out, she didn't even try to fight it, she just let it settle over her as he was.

When she woke, he was sitting near her, dressed. Her nudity made her feel exposed, but when he smiled at her, it made her feel marginally better. She said nothing while she dressed in borrowed things.

"Samuel and the rest of them are at the house. I've spoken to him and he's happy for us." She didn't tell him again that they couldn't be mates. At this point she was enjoying this too much to spoil it. "He said to tell you congratulations."

"He will not think so when Hatter comes." She was angry now and not sure why. "I should think you'd be upset too. There are people at your house and we're out here playing."

"Making love." She growled at him as she tried to find her shoe. "We were not playing. However, if you'd like for me to show you the difference, I can. In fact, it would be my pleasure."

"You cannot want to have s.e.x again." Lowering her voice, she tried again. "Men do not like s.e.x that often. I've been with men that would only come-"

He put his hand over her mouth. "Let's not talk about other men and s.e.x with you. I'm reasonably sure that you and Vinnie had s.e.x." She nodded. "All right. But I don't want to hear about it. We're a couple now and we will be the only ones having s.e.x with each other. That sounded better in my head. What I mean is, we're a couple and we will only be making love to each other."

"I understood you." He kissed her mouth and pulled back. "I'm not sure how to tell you this, again, but I've been cursed. We cannot be mates. The s.e.x is fantastic, very much so, but we can't be mates. You have to understand that when Temptress or the Hatter come here, and they will, it will be to take me away. They mean to have my powers."

"We are a couple and to me, it matters little what they think they're going to do. We are a mated, bonded couple. Say it with me, Awnia, a mated bonded couple."

It was tempting to pick up a rock and hit him in the head with it. But he was moving along with her hand in his. By the time she could see his house, she had convinced herself that he was nuts and that she was going to miss him when they had him committed. Just before they went into the back door of his large house, he pulled her to him and kissed her.

"I can read your thoughts." When he closed her mouth for her, she wanted to bite him. "Not nice. But if you want to bite me, I can find any number of places it would feel better than where you're thinking. Although my c.o.c.k really loved what you did with your mouth, I think you were meaning to hurt me."

"In order to be my mate, do you have any idea what is required of you?" He shook his head. "Then for all you know, you might have to be boiled in oil and then flayed alive."

"Boiling me in oil would not leave me very alive, that much I do know. And if you flay me...I'm not sure what would happen about me living through that. I do know that it matters little. I don't think you could hurt me anyway." He kissed her again, and she did try to bite his lip. "You're a h.e.l.l cat. I cannot wait to see you tied to my bed with nothing on, but my mouth touching you for a long while. As soon as our company leaves, I'll take you to my room and show you...h.e.l.l, I'll even let you show me a few things."

"Hawk, if my mother even thinks you are my mate, she will kill you before we can make sure. There are things...she cursed me to where I cannot have a mate, as I have told you like fifty times now. And to try to find out if you truly are will...I will never allow that to happen again. Once nearly took away my dearest friend." He asked her if it was Vinnie. "Yes. He thought to be my mate and it nearly killed him. I can't let that happen to someone again. Not ever."

"I am your mate, love. I know that you don't want to believe it, but I am." She shook her head. "Whatever happens from now on will happen no matter how many times you say no. But believe me when I tell you, everyone in that room is going to know the second they smell us. We are well and truly mated." She stopped him from entering the house with her hand on his chest. She could feel his heart beating, his breaths going in and out of his lungs. She wanted to believe him. More than anything in this world. But he just didn't understand. She wouldn't let him be hurt.

"Hawk, when she comes, I won't be able to protect you from her. She has powers over me that will make it impossible for me to help you. And she will come. Sooner rather than later. And once she has me where she wants me, she'll kill me and give you to the hounds. Her hounds." He nodded, but she could see that he was trying to understand. "h.e.l.l hounds, Hawk. She has her own pair."

The door opened then and a small, compact woman pulled them both into her arms. Then she jerked them into the house so quickly that she stumbled. Awnia looked around the s.p.a.cious room, then at the little couple that was bowing before her.

"You're owls." The little man looked up at her with a smile and winked. "How did you...? A faerie granted you the ability to be humans."

"She did." The woman looked as if she might want to fight her, but looked at Hawk. "You've a mate? You've...well, thank goodness! Who is she? When do we meet her?"

"Awnia, I'd like for you to meet two of the sweetest dense people I know. This is Margo Hobbs and her mate, Deacon Hobbs. And yes, they're owls." Hawk looked at Margo. "This is my mate. Awnia Solis. She's a sun G.o.ddess, and the one we're going to protect."

"I'm sorry, my lady. I thought...there is no scent about you of him. I'm so terribly sorry." Margo bowed again, and her husband stood in front of her. "We never thought...he's like a child to us. And we thought-"

"I'm not upset. And the reason there is no scent is because...." They both looked at her. "I've been trying to tell Hawk that we're not mates. But he won't listen. He seems to think that we are. But we can't be. I can't have a mate."

"Why not?" She looked at Deacon. "If you don't mind my asking, my lady. Why can you not have a mate? Seems, if you ask me, that you've found yourself a good one. And so what if there's no scent of him on you? He is certainly carrying yours." The older man flushed and apologized.

"No harm done, I a.s.sure you. My mother will not allow it, you see. She has put a curse on me so that no one will ever love me. This curse she's put on me, it will kill anyone that tries to have me in their heart. I know that it works...I've seen it kill before. So you see, he can't be my mate or he'd be dead now. She's said so." Which was an understatement if there ever was one. Awnia noticed the loaves of bread spread out on the cutting table. She wanted a slice or two of one so badly that she had to put her hands behind her back. "I understand you're having guests for dinner. Can I help?"

They both looked at each other, then at Hawk. She had a feeling that they were terrified she'd burn everything, and for some reason, that struck her funny. She was still laughing when she was led to the living room, where some of Hawk's friends were already sitting. Hawk introduced her to the few she didn't know.

"Everyone, I'd like for you to meet my mate. Please don't get into a long boring conversation with her telling you that she's not. I'm her mate and we'll leave it at that." Awnia was hugged by them all. After, of course, they asked for permission to do so.

"I'm very glad to meet you all." She sat down on the couch next to Kennedy and Thor, a woman she'd not met until now. This pride was bigger than she'd thought, and much more diverse. She was going to enjoy these friendly people as much as she could.

Chapter 5.

"I will not have this." Temptress looked around the room at the men bowing before her. Her men, loyal only to her. "Where is she right now?"

"We are looking, my lady." That p.i.s.sed her off. The daughter was out there finding her mate and they didn't know where she was. All would be lost, everything she'd planned for would be gone, and these idiots just didn't seem to understand that at all. "There has been some confusion since the young wizard came into the picture."

Vega Pruitt. d.a.m.n him. She was sick to death of that b.a.s.t.a.r.d too. He'd had to have more power. Then he wanted more. After he'd found her daughter and lost her again, he'd had to heal. The man was an endless list of things he needed, and there had been very little returned to her.

"What has he done?" No one answered her, and she lifted up the closest guard with her magic. He looked terrified, and she was sure that he was going to wet himself soon. "I asked you a question. What has he done now?"

"He has tried to capture her again, but hurt her instead." The man sailed across the room. Temptress didn't want her hurt. She wanted her to suffer and die. The nerve of her mate to have singled her out of all the daughters that she had. Temptress started pacing, only to be brought up short when she heard him coming down the hall.

Halmar came into the room and only looked at the supine men before her, then the man that was broken on the floor across from them. He said nothing but snapped his fingers, and all of them, the dead man included, disappeared. Temptress hated that he had more power than her. Had she thought to make friends instead of enemies long ago, she might be better off now.

"I want you to stop this nonsense now." She tried to look innocent, but he wasn't buying it. "I wish another child of you, one that I will raise for my own, one to keep me company. You'll do it now, today. And you will break this curse you have on the children you have with me. I wish for her, my child, to be happy. With a man she can love and be loved by. This man she's to be mated to, he'll be a good man, and should be-"

"You know of him?" Her face flushed with anger, and she wanted to go to a mirror and see if it had caused her any damage. But this...right now, this was more important. "I will not break my curses on her. Awnia should never have been allowed to live any more than the rest of them were."

The moment it left her mouth, she knew her mistake. All this time she knew that he thought the children she'd had, all of them, had died at birth...or in Awnia's case, as a teenager. Now he knew, if the look on his face was any indication. The thunder of his anger shook her room, tore pictures from the walls, and set doors off their hinges. No one would come to her aid, she knew this. Temptress had made too many people jealous of her beauty and intelligence in her life with him.

He had her up off the floor with his hand around her throat so quickly that she lashed out at him before she could think how bad an idea that really was. Her body, like that of the man she'd thrown, hit the wall hard. But when she hit it, she shattered the wall behind her rather than her skull. Temptress hurt so badly, and lay there stunned for too long before she realized she should have run.

As he came at her, Halmar was speaking a language that she'd never heard before. It occurred to her that other than the few hundred times they'd had s.e.x, she rarely spent any time with him. Which, she supposed, was best, since they hated each other with a great deal of pa.s.sion.

"Where is my daughter? Where are the others?" She didn't have a clue what he was asking her, but before she could ask him, he asked her in that barely controlled, angered voice, "Where are my other children? I'm a.s.suming there were more than just Awnia."

"Well of course there were. It was our curse, was it not?" He told her it was her curse. "Semantics. You were cursed as well. You do have to sleep with me once a year. And there was an issue each time. As for where they are? I have no clue. Nor do I care."

"You cold, heartless, f.u.c.king c.u.n.t." Temptress shrugged. "Where did you have them taken? And which minions did you have do your dirty work? I shall kill them all."

"None of them would help me, you know that. You turned everyone against me with your lies and hatred." She didn't want to tell him what she'd done with the brats. She knew as surely as he was standing there that he'd hurt her for it. "Are you here to f.u.c.k me? Because if you are, then let's get this over with. I have much more important things to do than wait for you to get your rocks off."

He s.h.i.+vered. "Never again. Never shall I touch you." Temptress perked up. If he didn't come to her bed, then she could- "No other man shall either. I'll put...since you are so fond of curses, then I'll tell you that there is one attached to you. So long as you are in this world, no person will ever want to have s.e.x with you again."

Her body felt as if he'd blown her up. She was tossed back so quickly that she was sure if she was facing the wall, she'd be dead...well, as dead as one of their kind could be. But when she landed, her body slamming against something profoundly hard, she lay there trying to take an accounting of her body. Everything was broken, but to what extent she couldn't tell. The room was darker, it seemed, than black.

"Are you still living, Temptress?" She didn't answer Halmar. His voice echoed through what she thought was a small structure. "Too bad really. You're not going to enjoy where you are. The pit I've been saving just for you for a good many decades. And do you know what else I've done?"

The blinding light took her breath away, and she had to s.h.i.+eld her face with her hands. The pain made her cry out. Halmar laughed from what she could now see was a long, deep tunnel that was as dark as the light was bright. His figure, large and imposing when he was near her, was a small dot from where she was now. The light, now that she could see it, was s.h.i.+ning on a single item, a small round mirror. As her body began to heal, she made her way to it and wasn't surprised to see that it was marred with cracks. But the face reflected back at her couldn't have been hers.

"What's the meaning of this? You cannot do this to me. I am your wife. We have a contract, you and I. I demand that you bring me out of here this minute. I'm not kidding, Halmar. Get me out of here." He laughed harder. "And whose face is this that you torment me with? Our daughter's? I knew she was going to be ugly as soon as she was pulled from my body. Why do you even care where the brat is? She's nothing. I want out of here."

"Nay, you'll not be taken from there any time soon. And it is not her that I show you, Temptress the b.i.t.c.h. Though when I find her, I will give you an image of her to haunt you. That is you that looks back at you from the mirror." Temptress looked in the mirror again and wanted to argue with him. "It is. You look that way without your magic. I've taken it from you as well. At least the magic you thought you needed for your beauty. And now that I see what your true self looks like, I'm wholly glad that you used it. Christ, you are one ugly f.u.c.king b.i.t.c.h."

"Take me out of here. Now, Halmar. I will not stand for this." The pinpoint of light where he stood disappeared with a loud bang. But the small light on the mirror stayed. And no matter how hard she tried, Temptress could not see beyond it into the room. "Halmar? You've had your fun. Take me out of here now and I'll give you the next child. Halmar?"

Temptress had no concept of time, but it seemed as if it had been forever since anyone had come to see her. She was sure that only a few hours had pa.s.sed, but it seemed as if it had been days. Food had appeared on her lap twice now. And in that time, little or not, she'd had plenty of time to think and plan. She was going to kill his f.u.c.king a.s.s as soon as she took care of the daughter. No one treated her this way and got away with it.

She was tempted to call on her servant. But she suspected that if she did that, she'd have maybe a single time with her and nothing more. So she worked out what she wanted her to do and how to do it. Rysdan had been with her for only the last two decades or so, but she'd proven herself invaluable in that short amount of time. The girl possessed some magical talent, but not anything like Temptress had. But her one talent was going to get Temptress out of there and to the realm that the daughter was in.

When she was finished, covering all her angles and all the things that could go wrong, Temptress looked into the mirror again. The hideous face that stared back at her made her close her eyes for just a moment before she looked again.

"Halmar, you're going to pay for this. See if you don't. And so will that brat of yours. Awnia will never be an issue for me again." Calling to Rysdan, she thought for sure that Halmar had taken that from her as well. But when she appeared in her mirror, Temptress was thrilled.

"My lady." Rysdan would never say a word about her looks. She'd seen her as very few had over the years, but only looked down when she told her she needed her. "You've only to ask, my lady."

"Good. I have a long list of things I need for you to do. And in a specific order. You should write this down." As she went to get pen and paper, Temptress smiled. This was going to be the best plan she'd ever had.

"You have to have a reason for this...what you believe is a good reason at any rate. I'd like to hear it." Hawk sat down at his table and waited for Awnia to do the same. Two faeries had come to stay with him as soon as he'd purchased the house, and they sat on the little cotton ball that Margo had laid out for them. They sat before she did. "Sit down and tell me please. I'd like to have a better understanding."

Awnia sat, but she didn't look like she'd be there for long. Margo set a cup of tea in front of her, then a plate of cookies. He noticed that there was a large pile of crumbs to one side of the plate, and wasn't surprised when the two little faeries went to it and picked up several pieces.

"They belong to you now?" Hawk nodded at Awnia when she asked about Nelena and Serane, who had volunteered to be his house faeries. "Vinnie has always had a great relations.h.i.+p with them as well. Once when I was just new to this earth, he had them make me a dress to wear. It was...different than anything I'd ever worn before. I felt human for a time. Then he took me to dinner, and the only thing I had to wear was the clothing I had on when I was dropped here. Not even it was in very good shape."

"Dropped?" She nodded and looked at him. "You mean that someone literally dropped you here? Where from, if I may ask?"

"Above." She didn't go into any more detail, and Hawk was sort of glad for that. He had no idea where above might be, but for now, that was enough. "My mother's name is Temptress. Have you heard of her?"

"No. Should I have?" Awnia laughed and told him Temptress would certainly think he should. "And your father, I'm a.s.suming he's a G.o.d, too."

"Yes. Temptress is a beauty, or so she makes everyone believe with her magic. Halmar, my father, is a maker. As to what he makes, it would depend on what the other G.o.ds, the stronger G.o.ds, need from him. He is powerful and full of magic. But he was cursed; not as I was, but worse in that he had to marry Temptress." He asked her why. "When he was a younger man, he was in love with Temptress and she him, I suppose. Not with her, the witch told him, but with the beauty that she let everyone think she had. It...he was mesmerized by her, I suppose. And he was stupid with his claim to have her, he told me later. He claimed that her beauty would fade. It was the woman he wanted. And no matter how many times the witch told him that his love was not his own, he would not believe her. Then one day, he took Temptress to his bed. She'd been meant for another, and instead of killing him, which was well within his rights as a c.o.c.kled man, the other man thanked Halmar and asked that he only be cursed."

"So he raped her." Awnia shook her head. "Ah, so she wanted him just as badly. And so they were put together as punishment."

"No. She was willing because she thought Halmar could give her things that the other man could not. I was never sure as to what that might have been, but after they were wed, it came out that he didn't have this power or whatever she wanted. It was said then that the marriage became one of war. And each time they had s.e.x, there would be an issue. The first child, a boy child, died within minutes of his birth. The witch said that too much magic had been used by the mother to keep him well enough to survive the natural world around him. Halmar was mad with the pain of losing his child. He cursed at the witch and Temptress. But neither woman cared, it seemed, enough to suit him. The witch knew it was his grief, and Temptress was already planning." With a wave of her hand, a hologram of two people appeared above the table. "This is them. My parents. It is thought that for many, many years my mother would not conceive, that her magic and the power of her domain kept her from having an issue. But there were. Each time that there was a child born to her, she would...she tossed them to this realm."

Hawk watched in horror as the woman moved to the edge of a large opening in her floor and dropped the still screaming child into it. He didn't have to know that the baby wouldn't survive such a fall, and when Awnia continued, she explained to him while he was speechless at just how helpless the child really had been.

"Until an issue, a child, is ten and six, they are not magical. They have nothing more than a child born of any human here on this earth. Any magic that there would be was gifted to them by the witch. But she can only give them so much. What she is said to have done was pull some from each of the parents and make it stronger. Mine was the sun. And as my sires were lower G.o.ds, I too became a G.o.ddess then as well." As he watched the hologram, it changed into a child kneeling before a woman in many robes, a colorful robe that hid her face and body from him. She touched the child on the forehead, and she glowed for a moment before her eyes changed to a shade of blue so intense that it was hard to see. Then it faded out to the color that Awnia's were now...still very blue, but not glowing. He wondered for a moment if it was her when the image changed again. This child was sickly, in a bed covered in blankets with a fire roaring in the background. He knew that this was his Awnia, and that the witch was giving her whatever she needed.

"Is that why you survived? Because she came to you even though you were dying?" He knew that he wasn't going to like the answer when she smiled sadly at him and nodded. "She's not going to get you. And this curse that she's done to you, it will be broken."

"On the day that I was born, my father saved me. As I was being prepared by Temptress for my final journey, he happened upon her and took me to his chambers before I was tossed away like so many before me. I wasn't supposed to learn of this, but I found her once. Temptress was tossing a small bundle through the opening, and I knew somehow what she was doing wasn't right. It wasn't until years later that I knew why. There were many more after, I would imagine. Once I was with Halmar, he protected me. I knew, even as a small child, that what he was doing was unheard of. A man, a G.o.d like him, caring for his issue. But he did. And for many years, it was just the two of us." The scene changed before him and there stood the same man teaching his daughter to use a bow and arrow. Then another of him teaching her to swim. As Hawk watched, the child became a teenager, until the scenes stopped altogether.

"I was too pretty, she said." The woman appeared, her face contorted in anger. She was shaking the girl child hard, and Hawk felt his body scream at him to take action. "Her curse was not just to have a child a year, but to have them until one child would exceed her beauty. That child would bring her heartache, so much so that Temptress would know pain as she'd never felt before. And that child would rule in her place."