SPELLBOUND

Evie's heart thundered inside her chest as he took her cloak off. Oh my…

Then without a warning, he swooped her up into his arms again, causing her breath to catch. She missed this. Him, carrying her like this as he moved fluidly, so gracefully with his breath-taking vitality charging the air.

And just like that, as he put her on the bed and staring down at her with those intense blue flames in his eyes, the protest that Evie had prepared which was right at the tip of her tongue and about to verbalise had all died on the spot. He had not even done anything yet and already, he had pierced through her composure, surely and completely.

Perhaps, it was because she had been missing him so much and so badly. She could not deny to herself that she wanted him. It truly has been a long while since they had… Evie could not even finish the sentence in her mind before blushing hotly. She guessed that that was most probably why she was already feeling this raw and sweet feeling violently gathering low inside her even before he could do anything remotely intimate with her.

When he bent down, Evie held her breath and closed her eyes, waiting for the kiss. However…

The kiss did not come to her disappointment – secretly, of course. She opened her dazed eyes and saw him pulling on the blanket that was folded at the foot of the bed, then he covered her.

Evie blinked, speechless at his gentlemanly behaviour on not pouncing on her the very moment he could. And this is more astonishing, given that he would have known she was also very much willing to participate in the more excitable activities in bed, had he initiated it.

"It's time for you to sleep, Evie. It's already past midnight." He said, voice calm and cool – without a single ripple to it. And Evie's face coloured deep red in embarrassment. What? He was just putting her to bed?! What was she? A little kid that needed to be coaxed into bed?!

He pulled away after ensuring that she was comfortably tucked in and turned to leave when Evie quickly reached out and make a grab at his robe.

He turned, looking at her questioningly.

"Y-you said you're going to teach me. You said 'yes'." She managed to throw out something to stall him from leaving.

Gavrael's blank expression did not change one bit. He turned back to her and bent over before holding her shoulders and gently pushed her back down into bed.

He fixed his deep, blazing gaze at her as he brushed the stray strands of her hair away fondly from her face. The light and discreet collision of his fingers against her skin was making her feel ticklish. "Yes. I did say that. And yes, my word is as good as my promise to you." He spoke. "However… I never did say I'd teach you 'now'. You need to sleep. Even if you're stronger now, don't forget that your body still functions like any other humans." He was so considerate in explaining everything to her. It was as if he already knew her thought process and the objections that she would raise.

Evie could only fall speechless for a moment, then she chuckled softly. Glad that this was the reason why he was putting her to bed and not something else.

"Oh, don't worry about that Gav. I am already used to this. I can even sleep like the vampires now. Since I married you, I've learned to sleep and live like a vampire." She told him, her eyes gleaming with blissful nostalgia, as she remembered her days and nights with him. There was even a slight twinge of wishful thinking that how good it would be if they could return to those idyllic simpler days.

However, contrary to her expression, Gavrael was obviously displeased. His darkness suddenly flared out again, causing Evie's smile to fade off slowly, unsure what was it that displeased him this time. Did he not like what she just said? That she was living like a vampire now?

A heavy silence reigned between them. There he goes again, turning from balmy warm to freezing cold without the slightest hint or warning. His emotions just switch around so fast and the differences were so huge, as if a candle flame suddenly turning into hellfire in the blink of an eye.

Because he stayed so very still, Evie waited for him to calm his reeking dark magic and rein it back in. She could feel it, the pressure emanating from his every pore, so she decided to wait it out. She was afraid she would end up aggravating him – yet again. But the longer she waited, the more she could not bear the heavy and suffocating silence which kept rolling off from him.

She remembered that she had never felt this way with Gavriel – ever. She never found the silence between them suffocating and unbearable no matter how long they stay silent, but with him now, as Gavrael, it was somehow different. But she told herself that this was definitely because of his dark magic which was just too strong and overpowering. Perhaps it was due to the fact that she could physically feel it spill out from him and even crawl over her skin.

It was like the pressure of the magic subconsciously coming from him kept building up around her the longer she stays this close to him, squeezing and squeezing as the silence continued.

Evie then began to feel breathless. What is this? What is going on? She looked at him and he still stayed in that same position and maintained that stillness. His eyes that were smouldering intensely through the strands of his dark hair was still fixed on her, but it was as though he was not quite looking at her.

"G-gav…" Evie finally broke the silence when she started to feel the strange pressure began to really cut off her air supply. It was strangling her!