SPELLBOUND

The two queens looked at Claudius with eyes filled with intrigue and curiosity. Their eagerness to hear about every detail were literally flashing in both pairs of beautiful eyes. 

"Tell us, Claudius. We want to know all the details on this." Queen Beatrice stated and Evie nodded her agreement enthusiastically. "Please be seated." 

Claudius sat himself calmly on the nearest available chair after nodding respectfully at the queen. "Your Majesty, I'm not sure why you are asking about this matter. But if you have plans to have a mating bond be triggered on purpose, I really do not recommend it to anyone." 

"Why?" Evie asked dismally. She could not suppress that overwhelming feeling of disappointment when she heard Claudius say that. Initially, upon hearing that he knew a way to trigger the mating bond, she had been so overjoyed and expectant. She even thought Claudius would willingly help them out in this as he had always been helping her out all this time.

"Because this practice is actually a forbidden spell." Claudius replied and the thrill in Evie's eyes died down. Of course… this too must have its consequence since it is forbidden. She should have known. She was trying to find a way to force a bond that was supposed to be triggered naturally on its own to spark. Of course, such a thing would be forbidden. 

Disheartened, Evie nibbled the insides of her lips. But still, she lifted her chin high and looked straight at Claudius. 

"I still want to know the details. Please elaborate, Claudius." She told the dark fae firmly and after a respectful nod, Claudius started. 

"Most of the times, the mating bond is triggered between two individuals at first sight or during sex. There are also some instances where the mating bond is triggered during extreme situations, like those moments where one or both of the parties are under great emotional stress, or one or both are at the brink of death. These examples are the widely known triggers so far. If these situations already occurred and the mating bond still does not spark, it could only mean two things. One, it is either the trigger is a very rare and one-of-a-kind thing or two, it simply because there is just… no bond whatsoever to speak of between the two at all."

The explanation caused a deafening silence to reign for a few moments until Claudius continued speaking. 

"If one tries to force the bond to be triggered and it somehow works one way or another, the price to be paid isn't all that heavy. It ranges from something mild like the temporary loss of emotions or memories to an episode of pain. The lost emotions or memories will return over time, and the pain will subside within a few days. However, if the bond does not spark even after a forced trigger, meaning that the bond actually does not exist between them, the price is much heavier. One can lose his or her emotions and memories or be in pain for hundreds of years. When I refer to the loss of emotion, I meant one will lose the ability to love and feel anything for that entire duration of time." 

Claudius's clear and distinct explanation made the already heavy atmosphere even heavier. Evie did not even realize that her fists were already clenched tightly as they lay on her lap as she listened to the ancient dark fae's descriptions. 

"A ritual must be done if one wishes to go through this forced triggering." Claudius broke the silence again. "But like I said before, I absolutely do not recommend anyone to go through this." His voice could be heard to be firm yet gentle at the same time. Both Queen Beatrice and Evie realised that most likely, Claudius must have witnessed a couple going through this and coming out with more negative impacts on them rather than good.

"Is…" Evie finally managed to speak up, "…is there a way to know if… if a mating bond actually exists between a couple without actually undergoing that ritual?" she asked sombrely. 

But as expected, the dark fae shook his head. "Forgive me for saying this. But I haven't heard nor read anything about such a thing, Queen Evielyn. If there is a way, this forbidden ritual wouldn't have existed in the first place as no one would've gone through the ritual at all. But there are individuals who went through this a long time ago up until now. And that's how we even manage to find out all these information related to the consequences of forcing the mating bond to spark." 

Evie's lips curved into a slight bitter smile. She had already expected that this would be Claudius' answer. If there was truly another way, no one would have bothered to create this forbidden ritual in the first place and no one would even be willing to go through it with the negative impacts if it ends up failing. It was pretty obvious from the explanations itself, and yet she still had to continue asking. 

She felt Queen Beatrice's hand landing gently on hers and squeezed hers in a loving way. And Evie could only force a smile at her before Beatrice hugged her. 

"It's okay, my dear. I strongly believe that you and Gavvy are destined for each other." Beatrice coaxed and Evie let out a small and sad sigh. 

Maybe, it was time for her to stop thinking too much about this for now. It was just not the time and place for it. At least, she had found out that there was a way for their mating bond to be triggered. She wanted to go through it. This ritual. She was confident… but at the same time she was also scared that something might go wrong. However, she thought that if it turns out she truly is not Gav's mate… she would rather suffer the consequence and lose the ability to feel emotions and love in order to survive the pain. It is an unbearably painful thought to her, but she would rather choose that than worrying day to day that Gav's true mate will appear suddenly out of nowhere. That would probably slowly destroy her from inside. And if one day, that fear of hers finally comes true, she knew it would kill her utterly and completely.                     

That was why she wanted to go through this ritual. But not now. Not when she is still pregnant, not when there is a war looming over their heads. If their mating bond still does not get triggered after this war or after giving birth to her child, she would go through this ritual.. That was her decision.