Athena was slowly getting her strength back. she was walking back and forth in Dante's chambers trying to find a hole in the seals Dante had put in place. She was becoming frustrated now. It saddened her to stay safely in this room while a battle was happening a few miles to the north side. She was not sure how many hours had gone by. Dante had weakened her with the rose spell to the point that she couldn't break the seals. Now she could still be hours from healing to her full strength. The waves of fear and distress coming from outside her chambers had been overwhelming her for the past few hours and she felt helpless not being able to be out there.

Suddenly she felt him. He was getting closer and closer. He was back from battle which meant he had done enough damage to satisfy his rage and passion for destruction. As he entered his chambers, the scent of death and blood suddenly overcame Athena's senses. Her eyes widened in horror. A lot of pain and suffering was attached to this one man who happened to be her blood match. The man she was sworn to protect the others from. The one invincible man she couldn't defend herself against unless she used offensive spells she could never bring herself to use.

Athena spoke with pain evident in her voice. " Dante. You are back. I was hoping, we could resolve this as soon as we can so I could get back to my healer coven and help those families you have just broken apart. But I promise you, the minute I step outside, I will work myself to the bone to prevent you from hurting any more innocents."

Dante walked slowly towards her and spoke earnestly " very well my love. You may step outside sometime soon. But that won't happen before I issue my ultimatum to you and promise you all the things I would not hesitate do to get you on my side. Uh. Let me first begin by expressing how I am going to look forward to attacking your protective walls Athena. I would do it with full force. Your special place in my heart does not make you immune. I am going to break your defences. I am going to take away your hopes. I am going to separate you from all you hold dear. Your family, your friends, your land, your healer coven, your values. All are going to be surrendered to me soon. It is only a matter of time Athena. Admit it my love".

Athena couldn't express her feelings in words. There was nothing she could say to change Dante's mind. She was wary of angering him. She was aware from the waves of distress and pain all around her that Dante had already done a lot of damage to thousands of innocents already. She didn't want to send him on a second pain inflicting quest. But surrender was not within her nature. She fought always for what she believed in. she was going to speak her mind but in a politer tone at least compared to the way she had intended.

She spoke warily and softly " All I can say is, I will resist you. I will try to delay your quest and reduce the number of people suffering at your hands. I will do this for as long as I can. That is a promise Dante."

Dante laughed menacingly. He was now standing in front of her. He leaned his head over close to Athena's neck and whispered softly; "Of course you would. But you know this would end in your defeat either way. While you try your small scale rescue acts, I am going to enjoy your attempts of challenging me, my love. I would cherish each time we would be duelling with each other. It would give me great pleasure to watch you admitting forfeit each time you challenge me Athena. It would give me great satisfaction to overcome you every time and teach you lessons on not taking me on."

Athena was fuming now and trying hard to control her anger. She decided against using force fields. She just used both hands to push Dante as far as she could and to her surprise, Dante was skilled with hand to hand combat. He grabbed both her hands and forced her to step backwards by pushing her.

Athena took steps further backwards as Dante was pushing her. Then she suddenly felt herself hitting his desk. There was no more space to move. Dante forced Athena to sit on the desk and as he was still holding her hands he spoke ; " My love, you never learn. Do you? Don't ever strike me again or I would have to teach you the hard way not to. I have other weapons besides the roses. Trust me. They are not as painless. You will see those weapons soon when you accompany me to my castle one day. Then you would believe me when I say to you now that I was going easy on you earlier on. In duels, I don't defend myself, I never need to. I just use offensive spells and aim to inflict pain. Plenty of it. My attacks are normally bone crushing but of course I could never do that to you."

As Dante said this he attached his lips to hers in a rough and punishing kiss. He then forced her hands up into a position to wrap her arms around his neck. Athena was reluctant but the blood call was telling her to comply. She didn't want an angry Dante saying farewell to her and taking it all out on others around him. She was a healer with a conscious. So she decided not to fight back.

Dante was pushing it now. He freed his hands and forced her legs up into the position that made her wrap her legs around him. Then he kept moving his hands up and down Athena's waist gripping her tightly while he kept kissing her passionately.

He suddenly pulled away to allow Athena to breathe. After he moved his kisses up and down her neck a few times, he whispered in her ear: " Before you leave my chambers, you must admit to me that you are mine. You must make the vow to me that you would never ever, let any male touch you. You must make a vow never to let any male to hold you like I do right now. Say that you are mine and you would return to me when you have had enough space and time to think and get used to us. Say it Athena. Say that you are my possession."

Athena looked away breathing heavily. Her heart was beating faster and faster. Her mind was blank. She was not sure if her words would have come out as truthful as she would have hoped if she responded. Any response with a hint of doubt could set Dante off. She thought silence was the best answer as it couldn't make Dante any more furious than he already was.

Dante's eyes suddenly turned silver. He grabbed Athena's chin and tilted her head angled to stare right into his eyes: " Fine my love. If you don't have the heart to say it. It is your choice. But you forget that, whenever any one defies me I punish them. You defy me now. You refuse to give me the response that I wish for. Very well, Right now, I promise to make you feel completely helpless. But not in a painful way. Make no mistake, I promise to back you up against a wall one day. I promise for your defiance to get you all alone trapped next to a wall so only I would be the one that you could ever turn to. I am going to make sure I would corner you into surrendering and accepting your faith. You would regret your defiance my love. I promise."

He then pushed Athena painfully to lay on his desk and he towered over her and layed on top of her. He had trapped her body completely beneath his. Being this close to Athena was turning Dante on.

But Athena was feeling uncomfortable giving Dante so much control. She had to keep reminding herself that she had to be trying to compromise with him at least until she healed herself and she was also with her coven able to make some plans to delay Dante. She needed well thought strategies to do damage control. Right this minute, she didn't want to defy him and prolong her stay here. That was the last thing she wanted. Besides she couldn't lie to herself for longer. She craved Dante's touch. She wanted him. She was feeling some pleasure being in such close proximity to Dante. She was sure, he felt the same way too. She could feel the waves of satisfaction coming off him.

Dante took his time staring intently looking into Athena's eyes. He spoke slowly with threat and promise evident behind each word. "Athena You would be one day serving me as a partner and as an ally. There are no other alternatives. If you ever thought, you could escape me and avoid me for any longer, well you were mistaken surely. You are my possession. You must get used to this idea soon. Your time is going to run out soon to come to me willingly. Then I would use force. You would only blame yourself if you had to learn the hard way to never keep me waiting. Nothing and no one comes between me and whats mine."

Then he paused and started stroking Athena's hair " Remember, I am the one who holds the lives of all beings around you. I am the master and the future ruler of all beings on this planet. I am the one who would make all beings kneel to me. I am Dante Ronas, the 5th heir to the legendary dynasty of my ancestor."

He then leaned over and kissed Athena's lips forcefully. Athena kissed his lips too and returned his kisses even though it was getting hard to keep up with his forceful kisses he was planting on her soft lips. It pleased him that his love was responding to his kiss. He then put even more force and intensity into the kiss. His hands were now rubbing up and down her arms. He wanted her to remember his possessive kisses and his control over her. He wanted her to be reminded of what she meant to him and what he was capable of if she refused to come to him willingly. It was now down to Athena to make her choice.

After Dante was satisfied, he pulled away and stepped away from the desk giving Athena enough space to get up. Uh he loved her so much. He wanted to push her down again onto the desk and repeat this make out session over and over again. But he knew there was a limit to Athena's patience. She was going to defend herself if he kept this up and he wasn't sure if he wanted to be forced to attack her again whilst she was still recovering from the effect of his roses.

With a heavy heart Dante spoke " My love I said all that needed to be said. If I find out you are not taking my threats seriously, I would summon you again and remind you who you belong to. So think about my words carefully my love. I would now send you close to your healer coven. I think I felt one of them near the carnage in the capital. I guess your buddies have a lot to do now. It was my pleasure of course. Send my regards to them. Farewell my love."

Before Athena could respond, Dante waved his hands and Athena found herself seeing the familiar white light as she was teleported away from Dante.

Dante made a loud frustrating sigh as Athena's presence left his chambers. He hated how Athena did not choose to remain by his side after he confessed his love to her. This was the first and only display of empathy he had ever done at this scale. Those that Athena held dear, were going to pay for this. He vowed to himself not to rest until his love was beside him and no one but him had any place in her heart.