Glass of Revenge

~5~

After Lyria used her compellability magic on Sam, he felt like he had lost his free will, almost as though he had lost his mind. In a way, he felt as though he couldn't control his own body. But he couldn't break free, no matter how hard he tried. Sam was literally enslaved to Lyria in body and mind and there was nothing he could do about it.

There was, however, a small part of Sam's mind that Lyria couldn't touch. Whether that was the part of his mind that contained Sam's soul, he didn't know. But, at the very least, he was glad that he could keep some – if not most – of his thoughts guarded and private.

He was glad, because at least it meant that Lyria didn't know that he no longer had any desire to exact revenge on Aelin or her new lover for abandoning him. It had been a long time, after all, and Aelin had a right to move on with her life. To begin afresh. Of course, Sam wished that Aelin had remained Celaena, that she had never claimed her birthright. He wished that Aelin had remained with him, had kept loving him forever. But even he was aware that when Arobynn had faked his death, he could not expect her to keep waiting for him forever. Not when she had believed him to be dead.

And Aelin's new lover... he had believed Lyria to be dead as well. Had believed her to be dead for far longer than Aelin had believed him to be dead, as well. He had a right to move on with his life as much as Aelin did. But Lyria couldn't see that. All she could see was how she herself had been wronged. She was unable to see past her own wounded pride and selfishness. She remained unable to realise that sometimes people changed as time passed.

As Aelin and her lover had both changed over the years. They had both suffered greatly over the years, and they had risen above their pain and suffering and had only grown stronger for it. After everything they had been through, Sam thought that they deserved to be happy.

He just thought that it was a pity that Lyria couldn't see it. But then again, he had already long since realised that Lyria never thought of any one but herself. She far too snobby and stuck up and selfish too think of anyone else's happiness. All she cared about at the moment was the revenge she desired. She didn't see the lives she would destroy in the process. And she definitely didn't care about anyone other than herself.

But as much as Sam would have liked to give her a piece of his mind, he couldn't. She controlled his every word, his every action. No matter how much he may have wanted to have wanted to stand up to her... No matter how much he may have wanted to abandon her and her horrible schemes... He just couldn't. He had to obey her every word, her every command... Her wish was his command.

As long as that angry and raging part of his mind remained his own, he thought he might be able to warn Aelin and her new lover somehow about the threat that Lyria posed to them. He felt sure that they wouldn't have heard of the general throat against them by now, but perhaps he could somehow warn them of the specifics, as Lyria came up with the details of her plan.

But how would he be able to do that, what with Lyria controlling him the way she did? He may not have a plan at the moment, but knew that he would most definitely have to be clever about it. When the time finally came to send the warning, he only hoped he would somehow be able to pull it off.

As Sam listened to Lyria prattle on about her plan to ensnare Aelin and her lover, he wished he could groan in frustration. He wished that she would just shut the hell up. If only he had control over his body he would scream in frustration and despair. Ever since Lyria had taken control of his body, he had felt as though he were suffocating, as though he were drowning, and there wasn't a single thing he could do about it. He hated the feeling even more than he hated being bound to such a perversely wicked woman.

In a way, though, he felt glad that he had managed to delay Lyria so much before she had finally used her compulsion magic on him. It meant that the mountain passes in Terrasen were snowed in and literally impassable.