SPELLBOUND

Dragging his hand through his hair, Gavrael could only sigh helplessly and follow after Evie and that irritating dragon. He stayed very close to her as he stood lazily, floating in the air as a dark cloud formed purely from his powers was suspended beneath his feet, carrying him along very similarly to a magic rug.

Looking over at him, Evie could only part her lips in awe. She did not know he could do this too. His magic was truly something far more superior compared to what she had seen from Zanya or hers. As she continued watching him, Gavrael felt the weight of her gaze on him and turned to see her staring starry eyed.

"Want to fly with me?" his voice echoed across the short distance between them, and Evie realized the man had read her expression. "Come, Evie." he stretched out his arm towards her welcomingly, but Onyx suddenly picked up his pace and flew a little further from the man, so Evie's outstretched arm could not bridge that sudden gap that widened between them to reach for his hand.

Evie saw how Gavrael half-bite his lower lip in frustration and she could not help but smile in amusement. Somehow, seeing him looking so incredibly annoyed was providing her with some jollity. Though knowing that both Gav and Onyx seemed to irritate each other to death, she could not help finding the way these two interact was just so funny.

'Easy Onyx, don't tease him too much.' Evie told her dragon through her mind communication and the dragon voluntarily moved closer to Gavrael again – but not before giving a somewhat indignant snort that had Evie patting his back soothingly.

But the moment Gavrael stretched out his hand when Evie was within reach, again Onyx swerved away. It was clearly on purpose to agitate Gavrael.

Gavrael's hand stayed suspended in mid-air as Evie looked helplessly at him, pressing her lips tight to stop smiling. But the next second, she saw his darkness blazed like black fire around his body and her eyes widened. Oh, no!

Before Evie could say anything to appease him, Gavrael disappeared from where he was, and she felt strong and swift arms grabbing her the next second as she heard and felt Onyx's growl vibrate along his large body. The next thing she knew, she was already pressed against Gavrael, floating along with him on his cloud.

Speechless, Evie looked up at him and his expression was all serious, completely unrepentant. "You should always choose anything that I offer over anybody else's." He said, sounding as though he was more than certain that he what he just did was the right thing. "Because I'm your husband." He added, though this time she heard a hint of difficulty for him to finally vocalise that last thought.

Evie fought the urge to laugh at his pettiness. It seemed that this version of her Gav was even pettier that it was making her want to crack up constantly. He is really just too precious! "Who told you that?" she raised a brow at his statement, but her tone was still gentle and patient. "Just because you're my husband, doesn't mean that I must always choose your offers and am not allowed to make my own choice, Gav. And as my husband, you can't just ignore my choices too. Otherwise, our relationship wouldn't be of husband and wife but would be reduced to something like a master and slave, don't you think?"

Gavrael fell silent. "Alright," he gave in after sighing glumly, looking away as if to hide the expression on his face. "But between me and this dragon, I should always be your first choice. Deal?"

And with that, Evie could no longer stop herself from bursting out in laughter. Her sweet and soft laughter as of light that stirred the sea, echoed all around them as her shoulders trembled exquisitely. He was so serious as he said those words and that was what actually triggered her to laugh even more. She actually found him so adorable right now despite the brooding expression on his face. The more she laughed, the harder his frown became.

Seeing how he was frowning so hard, as if he was having problems solving a serious puzzle which was the question 'why the hell is she laughing? Is she laughing at me?' as he looked at her, Evie finally forced herself to stop.

"Geez, Gav," She lifted her hand and pinched his cheek playfully. "Could it be that you're jealous of Onyx?"

His frown became even deeper. He could not believe she was still asking him that. Was it not already obvious to the point that even a blind person could tell? He could not believe this was one of the other characteristics that did not change with her as well.

Gavrael was about to groan when suddenly, something caught his attention. There was another dragon approaching them as if it came from the sky and was now falling to the ground, looking as though it was hurt.

Without a word, Gavrael disappeared from the air along with Evie and materialized on the ground.

Evie was about to ask what the problem was when she saw Fir and he was indeed wounded! Her heart immediately jumped at the sight of the dragon, there were cracks spreading out on almost all the scales that were covering his chest area and his blood had coloured his originally bluish scales into dark red – that was just how much blood he had lost.

"Fir!" Evie shrieked as she approached the dragon. "Oh god, what had happened to you?"

"I think someone must have summoned him." Gavrael said, his face now expressionless, as Evie worriedly surveyed the dragon's large chest wound. Someone had summoned him? Evie then remembered Thundrann.

"Oh god, how can we help him?" she looked over at Gavrael with a frantic face, hoping for him to give her an answer. "That's right, let's bring him to the magical crystal waters, Gav!"

"The waters won't work on them." Gavreal rejected her idea immediately, causing her heart to drop. "But there's something else…" he suddenly trailed off as if he had changed his mind at the last second.

But Evie was not going to let him keep mum and be all mysterious about what he was about to say earlier. "What something? Please tell me! I can't let anymore dragons die, Gav. There are only seven of them left. I can't let any of them who are left to die! So please… tell me…" She was beside herself with worry.

He stared at her and then let out a deep sigh, "The waters can't cure them… but you can, Evie."