The next day, Alastor sent for Saoirse and Madeline's mother escorted her to the throne room.
He sat there reveling in his power as the queen knelt next to his throne, massaging his feet and another woman shielded him with a shade. Saoirse looked up to see the sun that came in from a window in the ceiling. Wherever he moved, the woman followed, keeping him from being burned. Saoirse wondered for a moment if the window was there so he could enjoy the light a little bit, or if it was just to exercise his dominion over her.
Then Saoirse realized the queen wasn't equal to him, she behaved just like a servant instead. She pictured her mother having to do that kind of task and it sounded ridiculous. This man couldn't possibly believe he would have been her father.
"Send for my son." The king said as Saoirse arrived. Then he motioned for Saoirse to come near him.
He leaned in close to her and smelled her a bit leaving her feeling scared of what he would do and then he nodded. "Yes she is indeed Amali's daughter. It's a shame you aren't older, I would just have you for myself right now." He chuckled a bit at the thought and then finished, "no matter, I can just save you for later. You will indeed be of great use to me in other ways in the meantime." Then his hand lashed out at her and grabbed ahold of her arm. She jumped startled. The woman hiding the sunlight suddenly lowered the shade as he flicked his finger at her and said, "first we shall do the branding."
He held out her arm to the beam of light and nearly touched her with it when the door opened and he was interrupted by Sirius entering.
The boy immediately regretted coming when he saw Saoirse standing there, terror in her eyes as his father held her closely, too close for him to feel comfortable with. She was nearly on his lap and tears were flooding down her face.
"You called for me father?" He asked, his eyes darting towards the girl he had brought here before retiring his gaze to the king.
The king saw this and smiled. "Oh don't worry my son, I haven't done anything to her yet. I was waiting for you to do that part."
Sirius looked at his father in terror, "what do you want me to do?!"
The king motioned him to come closer and he obediently came to stand next to Saoirse. Then he pushed her over to him. Sirius protectively held her and Alastor commanded him, "brand her. She shall be your servant and eventually, she will be your first blood bond."
Saoirse looked at Sirius, hoping he would say no, but instead he closed his eyes and held his breath. He moved her arm towards the light slowly.
"OPEN YOUR EYES!!!!!!" The king yelled, "or I'll burn you too!"
Sirius began crying as he opened his eyes again and trembling, he attempted to burn her once again.
The king smiled contentedly as she began screaming in pain; the sunlight burning her from within. Sirius moved her arm, causing the beam to burn a mark that led from her wrist to her elbow. He then dropped her arm and trembled as if it caused him pain to hurt her.
The king smiled, "now now Sirius, you can't leave her looking disproportionate, you have to do the other side too! Afterall, she's meant to be your queen. You can't be sloppy with her."
Saoirse was holding her burned arm in pain, waiting for it to heal when she heard this, she screamed and tried to run away.
Alastor grabbed her firmly by the burned arm and yanked her to the ground, "don't you dare run away from me or I'll have him do your legs too!"
Sirius closed his eyes as he pictured having to burn her more than necessary and plead with his father, "father please, that won't be necessary, I promise I'm content with her just the way she is!"
"Nonsense." His father snapped, "you have to do both arms. Everyone knows that a servant can cut of their brand if you only do one arm and keep living, but losing both arms, now who would choose that? A queen has to be burned on both sides."
Shaking Sirius obeyed his father and burned her other arm.
"Good job my son. You're becoming a little more like me everyday. I will convince you to let your beast out eventually."
Then he stood up contentedly and patted his son on the back, causing him to fall to the floor and watched him sob there for a while.
"I would hope the next time you brand a girl, you could be a little less weak, but that will do. Congratulations you have your first servant."
Then the king turned towards Saoirse and said coldly, "I expect you to do whatever he asks of you and question none of it." Then he pulled her to her feet, clutching both burned arms in his grasp and got close enough to touch her cheek with his fanged teeth. "And remember, what belongs to my son belongs to me."
Then he dropped her onto the floor and snapped his fingers at his son. Sirius stood and looked his father in the eye obediently. "Now moving into the next thing on the agenda. Bite her."
Sirius' eyes went wide, "no father! Please! I couldn't possibly control myself! I've never bitten a person before!"
"Bite her right now! It's not to feed off of her you pathetic parasite! If you go too far I'll pull you off myself, don't talk back to me or I'll make you burn her more."
He obediently opened his mouth and bit down on Saoirse's neck and his fangs tingled with excitement as his prey suddenly submitted to him. Saoirse going still, didn't resist at all and it tempted him to enjoy the power of consuming her. His mind melted away and his eyes grew dark and he sank his fangs in deeper, passing through her vein and sinking them deep into her muscle to get a more rich supply.
The king watched his son proudly as Saoirse began to lose the life in her eyes and her skin got paler. Then he pulled his son off who was in a trance.
His startled eyes returned to their red color and he looked in shock at the girl he loved who now looked drained of her life force.
"No father! What did I do!? Is she dead!!!!!?"
The king shook his head and then commanded the queen to help Saoirse to her feet.
The woman who was massaging his back now stopped what she was doing and ran to the girl's aid.
"Bite him back!" The king commanded. "It is time for him to return the blood and it will bond you to him."
The tired girl, now submissive to whatever the king asked of her bit Sirius back and as if by some sort of magic, she realized she had fangs as well. In a moment of confusion, she drank until she felt back to normal.
Then the king pulled her fangs away from him and said, "that will be all."
He waved his hand at the new couple and dismissed them. As they began walking away, confused at what just happened, the king called out to them once again, "oh and Saoirse, if you don't cheer up, you'll hurt Sirius and I won't have that.
So quit thinking of ways to escape and get used to your new life. You are nothing but a servant to my son now and when you two are old enough, I will have you marry him to bring me more descendants. I expect you to be worthy of that. Any descendants of his that are weak will be killed by my hand. You can be sure of that."
Saoirse nodded, not saying anything as she followed Sirius out of the room.
Once they left the throne room, he led her to his room and set her down on a chair before he threw himself against the wall, slumping down to hug his knees and cry. Saoirse too wanted to cry but she felt a bit bad for this boy who had been forced to act so brutally against his will.
"Hey." She said calmly touching his shoulder after a while.
He jumped away from her in shame and hugged his legs tighter.
"Hey Sirius," she tried again scooting closer to him. "Don't worry about it, I know what he wants us to do is to have me serve you and I get that, but you know what? Maybe instead we can be friends."
Sirius looked up at her curiously and she wiped a tear from his face as she continued, "who's he anyways that can order you around? Won't you be the king someday? So maybe we can change things! Maybe we can be friends and he won't even have to know about it and maybe I would be honored to marry you."
He got red when she said this and scooted away a bit. "Saoirse you don't have to do that, I promise I won't lay a finger on you."
Saoirse came over to him again and gave him a hug. "Hey Sirius, let's be friends, we don't have to go through this alone."
He hesitated in her embrace and noticed she smelled really nice, and his grief began to fade. Like a sigh, he felt his mood lift and he hugged her back, "thank you." He whispered. "I'm so sorry I burned you."