SPELLBOUND

The shock in Gavrael's eyes made Gavriel feel the fear grow even more in his heart. It was obvious that Gavrael never had thought about this possibility at all until now when he brought it up. Well, he could understand. Gavrael never had the luxury to think about his actions or even the consequences of his decisions. 

When he came out, there was a war and he had forgotten about what he did, that he had turned back time to save Evie. Of course, he would be shocked as hell now. 

Still Gavriel wanted him to say something. That this issue about Evie and her pregnancy, and their child, was a completely different matter altogether. 

Disoriented, Gavrael nodded. "Yes. It's definitely different in her case. You… have already said it. I turned back time. But for Queen Ellia's case… it was totally different for her. It's not the same. Evie will be just fine." He said but the both of them knew that those words were not rock solid facts. He was only saying what he believed or what he desperately wanted to believe for it to be true. And Gavriel was the same as well. He had told himself those exact same words many times since the very moment he had heard about the story of Queen Ellia and King Sarion. 

But they could not just sit there, keep their fingers crossed and just helplessly hope that they were right. No way in hell! He was not going to allow even a possibility of Evie being put in danger… no way in hell! He needed to try and do something… whatever it takes.

"Listen," Gavriel's steely grey eyes gleamed as he looked at the blue eyed version of himself. "We need to deal with this. Immediately! We need to make sure that nothing will happen, and Evie will be just fine. And no way in hell are we going to sit on our asses and just wait. So, we'll have to think of a plan or a solution and come up with something right now." His tone was serious and sounded as hard as flint.

Gavrael stared back at Gavriel. "I'll go seek for help." He said immediately, "Those ancient dark faes who taught me all those forbidden dark magic, they most probably are our best bet for now. If anyone knows anything on how to fix this, it's probably them. I can get every information that is needed –"

"No! It's imperative that we carry this out in utmost secrecy." Gavriel cut him off. "If you go around asking everyone or anyone about this, I'm certain it will eventually leak out. By then, it would be just a matter of time. I don't want Evie to know about this. We can't give her anymore things to worry about at this point in time."

"You're right," Gavrael immediately agreed. "She should not find out about this as well. She's already so troubled as it is now about us and that mating bond too." He gritted his teeth as his darkness began to blaze and swirl around him. 

"Mating bond? What do you…" Gavriel's eyes slowly widened at the thought that suddenly came to him.

"Evie… she's very troubled about this. She asked me if… if the mating bond was triggered between me and her past self when we were together back then, before I turned back time." Gavrael brought Gavriel up to speed on this issue as his fists clenched. "She was thinking that… she might not be my mate. And she had tried to brush it off as though it did not really matter after asking me about it. But I could see very clearly that she is definitely troubled by it." 

A heavy, dangerous silence reigned between them. Gavriel also found himself clenching his fists tight. When they were watching the mating ritual of Gideon and Vera, Gavriel had already felt a peculiar emotion coming from Evie. However, he had never thought she was thinking and worrying about such a thing!

"I told her I am different from the other dark faes because I am not a pure blood. I have you, my vampire side, so I might not even have a mate. But from her response… I know that she's still troubled over it." Gavrael continued. 

Gavriel ran his fingers through his hair distractedly. Of course she would feel troubled. Terribly troubled, in fact. He could already predict on how Evie's line of thought about this and he could only clench his jaws hard. He knew that no matter how they explain to her that they do not care about this mating bond, it will always haunt her. The thought that she might not be the fated mate for them would constantly be at the back of her mind, nagging at her and causing her innumerable heartaches. 

He rested his head again at the invisible wall behind him and shut his eyes closed. Damn it all to hell! Why is it that it had to happen now? Problems were just bombarding them one after another!

"If we have a mate, it would only be Evie, no one else." Gavriel muttered firmly, then his lids slowly lifted, and his grey eyes were dangerously calm again. "I always believe that it could only be her and no one else. She's already fated for us. She's always destined to be with us. I don't have even a tiny doubt about that. It is a fact that is carved in stone. I have always believed that she is our mate. But no matter what you or I believe, the only way to make her feel at ease and stop being troubled about this right now is for our mating bond to be triggered and commence." 

"Why are you so certain about that? That I will be like the other dark faes with mates?" Gavrael questioned.

"Stop using 'I', you, idiot. It's irking me. Use 'we' instead, at least that sounds less complicated." Gavriel could not help but frown at him.

They stared at each other. Gavrael glared at him but eventually he relented. 

"Fine, now answer me. And stop calling me an 'idiot'. That would mean you are an idiot too." His blue orbs blazed with warning, but Gavriel simply smirked darkly at him before his expression turned serious again. 

"No reason. I just believe that. And isn't it pretty obvious? If she's not our destined mate, we wouldn't have fallen in love with each other again after being separated like that. Even after all the things that had happened in the past, Evie still ended up in our arms in the end did she not? I refuse to believe that it was due to some coincidence. To me, that's nothing but fate." Gavriel answered and Gavrael looked like he instantly began agreeing with Gavriel's explanation. "I believe that the reason our mating bond is not triggered yet is because something that could trigger the mating bond is yet to happen. I always believe everything happens for a reason and that there's always a way to deal with things that are seemingly impossible to deal with. For this too… I know we can deal with this.. One step at a time."