SPELLBOUND

Gavriel met her gaze and Evie did not even need to ask anymore to get him to elaborate his point.

"It escaped because it knew that you have the power to imprison him. Therefore, it will not dare return here, knowing that you are here." Gavriel explained, looking at Evie as if he was explaining the reasoning to only her alone.

Everyone who heard this knew that the vampire prince's explanation made a lot of sense. If the dragon was not afraid of the queen's power in trapping and immobilising him, it would not have had escaped so easily like that.

"From what you are saying, it seems that you believe that Onyx will return… not anytime soon, but definitely during one of these days." Evie double checked and Gavriel nodded at her words.

"The darkness in him would most likely try to find a way to counter your power of entrapment before returning to wage a war." Gavriel looked at the clear sky calmly.

Both the vampires and light faes nodded in agreement.

"This war is over now. However, we can't quite relax yet because of another war that might come our way any time in the near future." Gavriel continued and everyone agreed again. "You have all done a great job this time around. Therefore, everyone should take this opportunity to rest up for now."

The light faes then looked at their queen, waiting for her permission to be dismissed.

Evie averted her gaze from Gavriel and then faced her people. "We will be staying here to recuperate and rest up. All of you had just awakened and were immediately thrown into a war. I thank you all for it. For now, all of you must take the rest needed. Seek for help if you need to be healed." She declared and the light faes all bowed their heads in acquiescence.

In the moments that followed, Gavriel quickly ordered his men to make the vampires return. He was going to start fixing the ruined city as soon as possible.

And while Gavriel was busy, Evie on the other hand had summoned and tended to her other dragons instead of going to take a rest. After checking and making sure that none of them were seriously wounded, she had made them a request to fly off and be on the lookout for Onyx.

Evie did not know why but she felt uneasy. She had thought that Onyx might have gone to the human lands. So, she had sent out her dragons to search and check out every empire as she alternately looked through their eyes as she could not leave the capital.

Hours passed and she had yet to find Onyx anywhere even with the aid of all her other dragons searching through the lands. She was relieved though, that the dragon did not go to any other place and decided to wreak havoc there. In times like this, no news is indeed good news. She could only hope that good news would continue to roll in.

By the time the dragons returned to her, it was already night.

"And here I thought that you would be resting and recuperating as you gather up your strength for the next battle." Gavriel's voice echoed.

Evie whipped her head around and she saw him standing by the threshold. His gaze was warm but a little sharp, like a vivid pair of shimmery moonbeams in the night sky.

"I am alright." Evie smiled and approached him. "We'll be resting later anyway, right?"

Gavriel sighed, as though he was a little upset that she did not go to rest as she told him before they went their separate ways this afternoon. "I wasn't planning to rest." He informed her. "But you need to."

He was right before her in an instant and he scooped her up into his arms.

"Where are you taking me?"

"You need to eat." He said simply and when they reached the dining hall, he placed her down on her chair carefully.

Gavriel again offered to feed her. Even when Evie insisted on feeding herself, Gavriel still occasionally fed her and this time he was not feeding her meat, but the varieties of fruits and vegetables that were prepared in an assorted array before them.

"Here, eat this. They said this is nutritious." He said as he put the food into her mouth.

When their dinner was done, Gavriel carried her back to their bedroom. She was actually surprised that he did not try to seduce her this time. She was quite sure that his wild and roving hands would not be able to resist and there would be some hanky panky going on between them. Therefore, seeing a well behaved Gavriel was a surprise.

The bath was all ready and drawn for her when they finally reached their room.

"I'm going to help you bathe, wife." He said and Evie blushed a little, remembering the similar times they shared back in Dacria. So much for no hanky panky.

But she did not try to reject his offer anymore because Evie somehow felt that Gavriel was acting a little strange. She was going to have to remember to speak with him about this matter tonight. They needed to have a serious talk, and she had a lot of things to ask him that she had wanted to know.

It had also bothered her when Gavriel spoke about Onyx. She believed in what he had said but… for some reason, Evie felt as though he was hiding something – something very big from her.

"Careful," he whispered as he helped her into the tub. His arms around her were very protective. As if he was scared that she might slip and fall and hurt herself.

"Gav… I'm not a baby…" suddenly, Evie trailed off. Baby!

The word baby made her body freeze and she looked at him with wide eyes as her heart thumped quickly.

"Gav…" she called out his name again, unable to wait any longer to ask him. "Tell me… you…" she did not know how to say it. However…

"Yes," he said before Evie could even finish what she was going to ask. "I know."

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5 chapters more.. They will be released during my usual update time. ^^