When the sound of the horse was right outside Bronson pulled Arielle forward and kicked open the door. He pressed her against him, pulled out his sword and held it across her neck.

"Bronson! What in God's name are you doing? I'm your sister!" She screamed.

"Be silent you whore! You are not my sister!" He shouted at her.

The Kurgan's horse reared and cried as he pulled back on the reigns. Arielle looked up at the giant black knight on his horse with fear. Bronson looked at him with cold recognition. When The Kurgan dismounted he was ready to fight but the other man held Arielle in front of him with his sword at her throat. The Kurgan growled and stopped.

"Don't come any closer Kurgan," Bronson said. "Or I'll cut her throat."

"Release her whelp," Kurgan said, his eyes full of rage.

Bronson felt sweat begin to bead at his forehead. He pressed the blade harder against Arielle's neck and she cried out.

"Bronson please. . ." she whimpered.

"You will address me as Lord!" He shouted and shook her.

The Kurgan growled, "You're dead is what you are."

"What is going on!?" She screamed. "Please someone tell me!"

It was Bronson who told her, "You are The Kurgan's woman! His whore! My father took you, we tortured you and drugged you and had plans on getting you pregnant with my father's seed but The Kurgan killed him before he could," he said.

Arielle's eyes watered, "What?"

"He wanted me to make you think you were someone else and if The Kurgan ever found you I was to kill you," he explained. "And I shall with pleasure right in front of the monster you worship."

"I don't even know who he is!" She shouted in her defense.

"He speaks the truth Arielle," Kurgan said, "You are my woman but a whore you are not."

Bronson laughed, "You were never properly married and yet she slept with you for months! That is what makes a whore!"

The Kurgan growled and took a step forward but Bronson laughed again and pressed the blade harder against Arielle, drawing a thin line of blood. She tried to gulp down a breath of air but the movement only took the blade deeper into her neck. She whimpered and suddenly in her eyes, The Kurgan, whom she had hated for as long as she could remember, was her only hope at surviving. She looked at him with pleading eyes and he saw.

"Let her go," Kurgan warned. "If you kill her I will slowly tear you apart limb from limb."

Bronson was undaunted by the thought, "I have prepared myself for death for years! You don't scare me Kurgan." He smirked.

At a standstill Arielle saw a glimmer of chance and took it, she had carefully worked her leg between Bronson's and while he was concentrated on The Kurgan she brought her heel up and kicked his groin. He shouted and let go of her, dropping his sword and falling to the ground. Arielle dashed to the small barn behind their cottage and slammed the door behind her. At the same time, The Kurgan lunged forward but Bronson quickly recovered. He grabbed his sword with barely enough time to send it into the giant's chest. He kicked The Kurgan back with difficulty and with a groan of pain he ran towards the barn; he still had to complete his father's last will and kill the girl. Not thinking The Kurgan was still alive he kicked in the door and strode forward.

"Come out you little whore," he called. "I need to talk to you!"

Arielle jumped onto his back from out of a stable with a sickle in her hand and screamed in rage. She turned him over and intended to slit his throat like he did to her. Brother or not he had tried to kill her and she wouldn't let him have a second chance. He grabbed her hands, letting go of his sword, and swung her over so that he was on top of her. He slammed his fist on her wrist and she cried out at the pain, she dropped the sickle. Bronson grabbed it and put it to her throat.

"We never even looked alike!" he shouted. "How could you ever think that a whore like you could be of noble blood?" He asked, leaning in close and sneering at her.

"I-I never slept with him before Bronson you must believe me!" She cried.

He laughed at her, "The root I've been giving you wasn't to keep that devil away, it was to make you forget! You had been with The Kurgan for months before we took you. In that time God only knows how many times he fucked you!" He suddenly spit in her face.

She closed her eyes and turned her head as he put the tip of the sickle against her throat, but he never cut her skin. A massive hand grabbed his hair and flung him away from Arielle. The Kurgan stood above her and she whipped the spit off her face. He knelt down and picked her up gently, putting her behind him and wrapping an arm back around her. She gratefully held onto him as her legs threatened to give out. She coddled her hurting wrist and watched.

"Hartmann" The Kurgan's voice was a deep growl as he glared at the other man.

Bronson returned the death glare, "Kurgan," he said. It was no wonder that Derbith had told the Hartmanns what he really was.

The Kurgan smirked and then lunged forward. Bronson never had a chance as The Kurgan brought his heavy broad sword down over and over against the other man's sword. When he finally knocked it out of Bronson's hands the other man gasped and stared at The Kurgan who broke into a twisted smile. Arielle was left to stand on weak legs and watched as The Kurgan laughed and raised his sword. The last thing Bronson Hartmann saw was The Kurgan's grin before the giant Immortal swung his blade forward and chopped off his head. Bronson's body fell to the ground and The Kurgan turned back to Arielle. As soon as their eyes met the woman fainted, terrified at the prospect that she was alone in the world with no one but this giant savage to tell her the truth and give her a new home. The Kurgan lunged forward and reached out with one hand, catching her before she hit the ground.

The Kurgan may have won the battle. . .But if his mate doesn't know who he is has Duke Hartmann won the war from beyond the grave?