SPELLBOUND

"I know. It's just that I had the thought that I might stand a chance when I felt you were trying your best to resist her. But it seems like you guys are truly fated for each other. I'm not stupid enough not to realize now that I did not have even a chance since the beginning." Kione then looked at him without any anger or jealousy and put his hand on Gideon's shoulder chummily, "Congratulations… I knew that you're the only one who can make her happy."

Once he retracted his hand, Kione rubbed the back of his neck. "Though I just want to inform you that I will be having a few words with her… just for a short while, yeah? So please don't go berserk on me again, alright?" 

Gideon looked at him silently. But after a moment, he replied, "As long as you don't touch even a strand of her hair, then it's fine." and he left after speaking. 

While a long sigh was coming from Kione's lips as he watched Gideon's back disappearing, Azrael's hand landed heavily on his shoulder. "You'll move on real soon man, don't worry." He said and Kione just sighed again.

"I am hoping you're right." Kione truly hoped so as well in his heart.

"Who knows you will meet your mate real soon?" Azrael winked as he teased Kione.

"Bloody hell. Give me a break. I want to go back to my usual life. My life before I met Vera was definitely far better for me." Kione sighed again. 

…

Inside the house that was carved inside a large, crystalized tree trunk, Evie and Beatrice were busy with Vera. One of the noble ladies were also with them to cast magic on Vera and dress her up using a special kind of magic as per the dark fae's mating ritual tradition. 

Beatrice explained to Vera that she, the queen of the dark faes will be the one to officiate and lead in the ritual. Because in the Under Lands, only female nobles and royals were allowed to oversee and guide the connecting and completion of the mating bond. It was because common dark faes could not withstand the magic that the mating bond will produce during the ritual. It was one of the queen's duties to perform the ritual if one or both of the parties were royalty. But for the party who are not royalties, the noble ladies would be sufficient to officiate and guide the ritual.

However, if the couple involved were the king and queen themselves, the high priestess, the oldest female dark fae alive will be the one officiating and guiding the ceremony. 

"What is… going to happen during the ritual? Is there… something I should do?" Vera asked, a bit nervously. When Gideon told her about this, she did not even have the time to process everything because of a commotion disturbing their talk even before she could grasp everything. She felt as though Gideon had just proposed to her and now, they are already getting married in the very next moment. Though she was extremely happy, but she was still overwhelmed as she was trying her best to understand and cope with the urgency of it all. Everything was just going all too fast for her, and she was afraid she could not quite catch up with the events. Vera also could not help but feel worried that as a human, she might not be able to match with these magical people's pace.  

"Oh, don't you worry about a thing, my dearest." Beatrice calmed her as she saw how Vera was looking a little lost and had a mild panicky look on her face. She was smiling at Vera with all the understanding and love that reminded her of her mother's smile before she fell into madness. "I understand what you are feeling right now. I certainly felt nervous too, back then because things just proceeded too fast all of a sudden. But trust me dear, you have nothing to worry about. Because the ceremony will be over quite quickly as well," she chuckled. "But it will be something that you will never ever forget, trust me." 

Vera's heartbeat calmed down at the queen's words. She was just so nice, so warm, that it was impossible not to feel relaxed around her. This woman, she was amazing and powerful and shining so brightly, just like Evie. 

"But I should tell you some things first about what happens right after the ritual is done." Beatrice informed and she winked at Evie and the noble ladies. 

Understanding what the queen wanted, everyone left the house to give the privacy Vera needed since her outfit as well as Queen Beatrice's were all readied. 

The moment Evie stepped out of the house, she saw the front yard was already transformed. The trees seemed to have been moved aside and a perfect circle was created surrounded by trees. In the middle lay another circle of eleven different crystals. The place no longer looked like the creepy Monsters Forest anymore. 

But Evie's smile quickly faded when she realized that her husband was not there. 

"Where is my husband?" She asked Kione who was the first person she saw, and the man looked towards a direction. 

"He said he wanted to investigate the monsters while they're still docile, Queen." 

"Thank you." Evie replied and without wasting a moment longer, she went towards the direction Kione had pointed. Once Evie saw Gav's back facing the huge monster that was sitting quietly like an obedient pet, she sighed out in relief. 

"Gav!" Gavriel already turned before she could call his name. 

"Wifey? You missed me already?" A wide, beautiful smile graced his face as he moved and meet Evie, lifting her gently when he reached her before hugging her close to him. 

"What are you doing here by yourself?" Evie quickly changed the topic. She was afraid she might lose her rationality if her husband's naughtiness will strike at this moment. It had been a while since they were together alone. She would not be able to resist him! She was sure of it!

"Just curious about these creatures. They're absolutely different from the monsters back in the Middle Lands." Gavriel said, going with the flow. Though Evie felt that he certainly held back a lot as well. 

When Evie looked at the monster up close, she still could not get used to it and a tinge of fear crawled all over her skin. The monster was huge, taller than two vampires as big as Samuel combined. Theses monsters had human-like hands and feet but very long and skinny arms. The tips of their ribs literally pierced through their ash-coloured skin. They have four eyes around their head and one big mouth so wide it stretched out across their their whole face as their very long tongue were sticking out that almost reached the ground. They were absolutely disgusting and… Evie was certain, they were the monsters she had seen in her dream. 

"Are these the monsters the ones in your dream?" Gav asked quietly and when Evie nodded, he looked at the monster again. "And these same monsters were turned into these harmless creatures who couldn't seem to do anything on their own just because Gideon ordered them not to.." He murmured contemplatively, and Evie saw a mysterious gleam in his eyes as he said that.