SPELLBOUND

The silence around them thickened until it felt as though they were enclosed in a thick viscous soup. It was so unsettling and heavy that no one dared to even make a single move nor speak up for the whole time. Anyone present at the scene could clearly feel that something big was going to explode very soon. And it would be a blast so powerful that it could make the entire castle tremble, if not the entire city.

But just as the explosion was about to be set off, a loud sound echoed out from the side, breaking the deafening silence and deflating the tense atmosphere.

"Damn! I can't believe the two of you went on ahead and are having fun without me!" Azrael landed right behind Gideon, his loud and booming voice filled with excitement, like a child who had finally found his best friends in the middle of an exciting game, and he had jump right into the middle of it.

Kione could only avert his gaze from Gideon and look at this damned air-headed friend of his who was now cracking his knuckles and neck as if he was getting warmed up and ready to join a brawl. What the hell, Azrael! If my hard work goes to waste because of this, I'll bury you alive, along with all the mess that you have dragged in with you as well! Kione could not help but roll his eyes seeing how dense and thick this friend of his was. He just stopped short of running over to the big oaf and curling his fingers around the guy's neck and strangling him! Urgh! His feet were itching to deliver a well-aimed and nicely angled kick to the man's behind.

And just as Kione was thinking of that, Gideon's grip on his collar loosened. No, shit!

When he returned his gaze to Gideon, the man had already put on his impenetrable and blank faced mask and Kione cursed up a storm again – all within the safe confines of his mind of course. All that hard work of his, now negated and back to square one, all thanks to that big lug! The darkness that was earlier swirling around him had immediately calmed and his hand fell to his sides.

Then without another word, he reached out and grabbed Vera's hand that was still wrapped snugly around his waist. He peeled her off him and wordlessly dragged her along with him as he turned and walked past Azrael who was now looking very confused. He was just getting all excited about the commotion that was kicked up and now it had died out, he was like a kite whose string was suddenly snapped and sent into a tizzy.

"Wait, why are you all leaving already? This is not fair…" Azrael complained but Gideon totally ignored him as though he did not hear a thing at all. The big man was huge, and his presence was difficult to ignore, but Gideon made an art out of it in how he treated Azrael just like air and did not even seem to acknowledge that there was a huge mountain of a man standing right there in his way.

The huge man returned his gaze to Kione, his eyes questioning on what the hell was going on. The look on his face did not give others a single doubt on how aggrieved he was feeling as one of his good friends had just ignored him and walked off as though he was not even there. Was that how it is now? He remembered the colloquial saying of the normal people that were used in their daily language "bros before hoes". In Azrael's mind, Gideon's actions were the perfect example of the exact opposite!

Kione drew in a deep calming breath and closed his eyes. He really wanted to beat this huge air-head to a pulp now! Azrael really knew how to choose his moments. How could he appear right at that most crucial moment? Now there goes the perfect chance, goddammit!

Utterly frustrated, he could only glare at him. Kione really wanted to beat him. But he knew that if he does that, this air-head would only get more fired up. He would only get more excited if they both end up fighting. And there was no way in hell that he was going to give him just what he wanted. Kione was going to make him suffer the lack of it for now. That would at least even out the frustration that he was feeling about his perfectly laid plans being thrown into the garbage .

So he breathed out and calmed down. He returned his gaze to the two retreating figures and totally ignored Azrael. He could not be bothered to give Azrael more attention at this moment as his eyes were carefully and critically observing the duo that were moving further away.

Seeing how Gideon held the human girl's wrist, Kione could only lean back against the door as he wiped his bleeding lip with his sleeve. 'Oh well, I guess that should be enough for now', he thought and when he finally realized how far he had taken it to, a short chuckle left him. 'I can't believe I've gone that far. To think I didn't even realize it until now. Seems like I owe him a 'thank you' after all. It seems that this air-head might have actually saved me. But still, I wondered what he'd have done if Azrael had not interrupted when he did. Now there's no way to find out….' he sighed, running his fingers through his hair as he shook his head.

He was about to look at the light fae queen and mouth it to her 'are you happy now?' but he heard the human girl's voice speaking out.

"W-wait." She had said as they were about to ascend the staircase. "Just… a moment please."

Gideon halted but he did not turn around to look at her. Everyone who were still there just watched and waited, wanting to know why the human girl had asked Prince Gideon to wait.. But of course, Kione was more interested in seeing if Gideon would listen to her request.