SPELLBOUND

Her eyes began to change colour and her hands flew to her nose as she stumbled backwards as though something really terrible had assaulted her senses. 

Seeing her reaction, Gideon abruptly closed the door, realizing that the queen had caught the thick scent of blood that was lingering in the air within the room. 

"Mother, are you alright?" Gideon hastily approached, worried about her. "Could it be that you had been starving yourself again since father isn't here?" There was a hint of worry mixed in with more than a little anger that could be heard in Gideon's voice. Then he swiftly pulled up his sleeve to offer her his blood. 

But Beatrice pushed his hand away, shaking her head. "Elda!" she called out instead and one of the three women in purple cloak that had been part of their entourage suddenly appeared before her, immediately doing the same thing Gideon just did and offered up her wrist to the queen. 

Beatrice took that pale arm and bit down delicately on her wrist, drawing a few sips until her eyes slowly returned to its normal silvery grey hue again. But after this episode, the queen seemed to become limp, and her knees gave way. Gideon was quick to catch her before she crumpled to the ground as though he already knew that she would pass out. 

Evie was so worried that she could do nothing but only watch that she just followed after Gideon as he brought Beatrice into another room. After he tucked the queen under the covers, Gideon's gaze was sharp as blade as he looked over at the female dark fae named Elda and then to Alvion who had just rushed into the room. 

"What the hell is this?! How could the bunch of you useless things allow her to starve herself until she had reached this state?" Gideon's angry voice seemed to vibrate in the air, his darkness already oozing from his body. 

The woman flinched and stepped back in fear, but Alvion stood his ground and only lowered his head a little. "The queen never showed any signs of starvation throughout the whole journey. She had told us she had her fill before we got separated from His Majesty. The queen had been training herself to stop being dependent on blood and she had been doing pretty well for a long time now." Alvion explained without batting an eye. 

"Stop being dependent on blood? She's a vampire!" Gideon roared out at the head guard.

"Yes, Your Highness. But that's her wish and even the king couldn't stop her." 

Gideon's jaws worked and he took deep breaths, trying to control himself from losing his temper. Thankfully, he managed to calm down and his darkness subsided and the room was free from the suffocating air. 

"She has been doing very fine all the while and we even thought that her hard work is finally paying off. But it seems that the scent of human blood might probably have the same effect as the king's scent on her. That's why her craving suddenly struck." Alvion continued and Gideon sat silently on the edge of the bed, looking down at his mother's sleeping face. 

After a long while of silence, Gideon dismissed everyone. But Evie did not leave. "She's alright, right?" Evie asked, worried. Everyone did not look worried, but she was wondering why the queen had fainted. She was supposed to be revitalized after drinking blood so why did she look like she was weakened instead? 

"She's fine." Gideon gave a curt answer.

"But why did she faint?" Evie was curious.

"It's the side effect of her drinking the blood of a dark fae. Except my father's blood, she'd get weak every time she drinks blood from a dark fae. The one she drunk from is a noble, so she'd wake up in two days. If it was blood from an ordinary dark fae, she'd fall into a slumber for a week." Gideon's voice was flat as he explained to her.

Evie was shocked at the explanation. She had never expected this. 

"But if it's the royal blood, the king, she won't faint, right?" Evie asked, weakly. 

"Yes. In fact, she'd become extremely strong after she drinks from father. We are not sure if it's because of the royal blood, since mother never drunk from me or from Gavrael. She would rather pass out for a week than drink from us." Gideon answered and Evie stared at Beatrice. She realized now why she was trying to kill her vampire instinct of drinking blood. 

"There is no effect on King Belial when she drinks from him, right?" Evie asked again and Gideon rose towards the window and opened it, letting the cold wind outside to enter the room and circulate the still air within. 

"Father cannot use his magic for a few hours once mother drinks from him," Gideon said, shocking Evie again, "But during those few hours, my mother will be invincible."

"In…vincible?" 

"She becomes so strong. In fact, she ends up becoming even stronger than anything or anyone else. She could fight hundreds of monsters all by herself and kill them all with just her raw power and vampiric ability. When she's in that state, even the strongest dark magic might not be able to bring her down."

Evie's mouth gaped in awe. That must be so wicked cool!

"She had only done that twice as far as I know and that only happens when she couldn't control herself and nearly drain my father's blood. She's dependent on him since she came here but she seems to be able to control herself very well now. But I guess, mother still dreams of the day when she does not need to drink anyone else's blood anymore especially from father to survive." Gideon turned and faced Evie. His gaze sharpening again, and Evie looked away. She knew that he was looking at her like this because of what she had said about Vera. 

He was about to speak when the door opened. Kione appeared with a grave expression. "My Lord, Queen, the human girl… I think she's in trouble." 

Evie and Gideon looked at each other in alarm and then to Kione. 

"What happened?" Evie asked. 

"I… please just come with me." 

As Evie rushed out of the room and followed after Kione, Gideon stayed back for a couple of seconds. But not even a few seconds passed, and he ended up calling for Elda and the other noble ladies to stay with his mother. When he saw Alvion outside the door, Gideon did not waste another moment and rushed straight over to where Vera was. Now what the hell was it this time?

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