SPELLBOUND

"Gav…Gav…" Evie kept calling his name as she held him in her arms. But there was no response from the man. "Answer me… please!"

Everyone else who were there, the light faes and the vampires could only stand by silently, watching their queen slumped over on the ground, hugging her man and crying silently as her shoulders shook. 

The light faes were confused. They could feel that the man in their queen's arms was still alive. He was still breathing. So why was the queen crying and looking as though she was in so much pain… as if… as if she had lost him forever? Were their senses wrong and is the man actually dying?

Seeing their queen's back, trembling as she hugged him made them all feel as through their hearts were breaking along with hers. Now they know and are seeing for themselves first-hand on how much she loves that man. 

However, this is not the right time for them to mourn yet. They still have another huge and pressing problem that requires immediate attention more than ever, now that the queen failed to trap the dragon. 

Looking up into the sky, everyone braced themselves for whatever that would come next. But to their surprise and confusion, as soon as that last wisp of smoke that had come from the man in the Queen's arms reached the dragon's body, it only moved to fly away and quickly disappeared into the dark sky that was showing signs of lightening already. 

It was now dawn. Everything was quiet as the atmosphere remained lonely and sad. 

But they could not quite relax their guard yet. They continued waiting for the great dark dragon to come back and spring a surprise attack on them. But it did no such thing. There was no sign of that dragon after it flew off earlier. However, everyone maintained their vigil until daylight came.

The sky was so blue and so clear, as the sun rose from the horizon. It was an incredibly beautiful day and seemingly one that is full of promise and good things to come. However, as opposed to the scenery on the ground, everything still remained sombre and quiet. 

Evie finally lifted her face. She had long stopped crying as her tears had dried up. But she remained sitting on the ground, unmoving except her bright eyes that were resolutely fixed and watching Gav's face. It was as though she did not want to miss anything that might cross that beloved face she was observing. 

When she finally tilted her head back and stared up into the clear blue sky, Evie shut her eyes tiredly for a brief moment. And in the next time when she opened them, her eyes had turned calm but there was an edge of fierceness in them. She looked like she was ready to rise and fight again. 

"Zolan!" she called out and the vampire immediately appeared before her. 

"Is there any place in the city that isn't ruined?" she asked and Zolan was quick to report. He had already done the survey earlier when he saw that Onyx did not seem to show signs of coming back. 

"There is, Princess. The empty castles that are a bit farther off from the imperial palace were untouched. That also includes yours and His Highness' home." 

Evie blinked at the sound of the word home. But he was right. That castle was the first place where she and Gav lived right after their marriage. 

She kept her chin high as she continued giving out her instructions. "Alright, I will need you guys to bring Gav there. He needs to be resting in a comfortable place." 

"What about yourself, Princess?" Zolan questioned carefully. "The dragon… Onyx… do you think it's going to come back?" 

Evie looked up into the blue sky again. "I don't think he would be coming back any time soon."

At that moment, Zirrus and Samuel appeared. A man was held immobile in their arms between them. 

The sight of the man caused Evie's expression to harden. She then nodded at Zolan and the vampires finally came forward to carry the prince away carefully from Evie's lap. 

She watched until she could no longer see Gav's back anymore. And when she returned her gaze to the man Zirrus and Samuel had captured, her eyes became a little steely. 

"Bad grasses are really hard to die, huh." Evie's words came out with a little hollow sound as she stared stiffly at Thundrann. 

The half dark fae had been beaten up so badly but somehow, he was still very much alive. It was really such a surprise that he was still actually alive after his magic was almost completely drained out of him.

"We found him as he was trying to escape," Zirrus reported, "I suggest that we execute him now, my queen. This awful traitor no longer deserves to live." The light fae snorted with so much hate as he shook the traitor that was held tightly in his grasp. It had been thousands of years and finally this traitor who was one of the greatest causes of the light fae empire's destruction was finally at their mercy. 

Thundrann suddenly fell to his knees and knelt. "Forgive me, Queen…" he began to beg, "don't kill me. I swear I will serve you to my best abilities for life. I did all those because of the dark magic that had consumed me. Now that the dark magic is no longer possessing me, I swear I can finally go back to how I used to be." It was amazing how he could throw away all his pride and beg just to stay alive. 

"Shut up!" Zirrus kicked him in his sides, unable to stand Thundrann's shameless begging and blabbering. 

But Evie just stared at him silently as though she were contemplating his words, keeping her gaze level and utterly calm. No one could read her poker face, and none knew what was going through her mind at that moment.. Thundrann saw that she did not immediately brush him off, therefore he knee-walked a couple steps forward and continued to implore Evie, hoping that she would soften her stance on his punishment.