SPELLBOUND

As soon as they arrived in the Great City, Evie, Gav, Gideon and Vera went straight to the castle. Queen Beatrice on the other hand had left them to attend to some other important matters.

Evie thought that it was time for Vera to tell everything to Gideon so the moment they arrived inside the castle, Evie nodded discreetly at Vera. Vera quickly understood what Evie was trying to tell her with that nod, and after she nodded back to Evie, Evie grabbed Gav's hand and pulled him in the opposite direction to leave the couple to have some time alone.

"Can you bring me to a quiet place where you loved hiding at back when you were still living here?" Evie asked Gav as she led him out to the veranda. "I want us to talk Gav. And no, I'm not going to bring you into our room. I'm afraid you'd just sleep on me again, so bring me somewhere else that we can spend some time together."

Gav bit down on his lips as if to stop himself from smiling.

"Now let's go." Evie offered him her hand and Gav took it before he gently scooped her up in his arms.

That put a wide smile on Evie's face, and she immediately leaned her head on his shoulder.

Gav spread his wings out and the two of them spiralled up to the highest peak of the castle. He landed there and stood there holding Evie in his arms without moving for a while.

"The view is even more beautiful up here." Evie whispered out, amazed at the scenery that greeted her eyes.

Just as Evie thought Gav was going to put her down, Gav's wings spread open majestically again before flapping powerfully a few times, bringing them higher up into the 'sky'.

Evie's eyes widened when she realized where Gav might be bringing her. He is bringing me up into those crystals in the ceiling?!

Gav's pace increased and after a few moments, and they finally reached the ceiling.

The seemingly tiny glowing crystals that they see below were actually so massive up close, and just breathtaking. The crystals looked like they were planted into the ceiling, so Evie thought that Gav must have just taken a detour to purposely show this beautiful view to her first before bringing her to the place where they could comfortably sit and talk. However, to her surprise, Evie saw an L shaped massive and transparent coloured crystal before them. It has a wide and flat surface where they could even land!

Gav did land onto it and finally put Evie down.

Evie just gaped as she looked around. The place was just… she had no word for it. It was like they were in the under lands heaven!

"My god, Gav…" Evie could not help but feel emotional as she looked around. The wide and flat crystal beneath her feet looked like a mirror, reflecting the colourful smaller crystals above and everywhere. When she looked down over the edge of the flat crystal, she could see the beauty of the Under Lands down below. 

"This is your quiet place!" Evie exclaimed to him as she was still not over this incredible place.

"I found this place by accident back then when I was younger." Gav said. "No one ever comes over here so…" he trailed off and looked up. "Well… I think I always come here back then because this might be the only place that was closest to the surface. I had always wondered how it looked like up there whenever I come here."

Evie smiled gently at him, and she suddenly wrapped her hands around his waist and squeezed him, feeling her love for this person overwhelm her heart. He might look all tough and firm, but he possesses such a gentle and warm heart.

"This is just so beautiful... this might be the most beautiful place I've seen so far – even comparing to places on the surface! I really have no words for it."

"I knew you'd love this place. I have always wanted to bring you here back then but…" he took a long pause until Evie looked up.

"But the portal was still not passable during those times yet, right?" she completed his sentence at the realization that Gav suddenly hesitated to continue what he was saying.

He nodded and just stared at her.

Evie met his fiery blue eyes and when he did not speak anymore, she reached out and caressed his face with a soft smile on her face.

"Thank you, Gav." She said and he blinked then abruptly looked away.

"This is… I am the one who's thankful, Evie."

Evie made him look at her, smiling at him with so much adoration and gratitude.

"Not just for this Gav. I'm also thankful for your support a while ago at the tent." Evie explained to him further. "Your words really surprised me. And I was… so touched. You don't know how much those words of yours comforted me, Gav. I can't thank you enough…"

As Evie's eyes gleamed, Gavrael cupped the sides of her face and pulled her closer to him. He landed a kiss on her forehead as he closed his eyes, drawing in a deep breath, his nostrils filling with the unique floral scent that only belonged to Evie, his wife.

"I'm glad I was able to comfort you." he whispered then he dropped his head and his forehead landed lightly on her shoulder. "Though that was… actually… all thanks to Gavriel. He prepared me to speak up for you… he… really knows you so well, Evie…"

Evie pulled him closer and squeezed him tighter.

"You are him Gav…" Evie whispered gently, reminding him of this point.

"I know…" he answered, causing Evie to look up at him. This was the first time he acknowledged this. "He's my present self and he's wiser than I am… his old version."

Evie was about to worry for him again, but she quickly noticed that the way he speaks right now about this topic seemed to have changed somewhat. She could no longer hear the sadness nor the jealousy that used to be so sharp in his voice anymore.

He hid his face by dropping his head down into the crook of her shoulders. "I am really thankful of him now… that he exists…" his voice weakened. "Without him… I wouldn't know how to support you. I would not have known how to be helpful to you… he told me there must be a reason why this has happened to us, our past and present selves or our vampire and dark fae sides splitting like this. When he said that, I don't know why, but even though I don't have any idea on what this reason is, I just believed him. And I do think that he's right. That there must be a good reason for this. He also told me that one reason must be because you needed us both, separately, right now…"

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A/N: I'm sorry i couldn't update yesterday guys.. Was so exhausted and this book really requires a lot of brain cells from me . 😅