SPELLBOUND

Evie had to press her lips tight together in order not to speak and just patiently wait for Queen Beatrice's answer to Gav's question. Her eyes gleamed with anticipation as she looked expectantly at the queen.

"I believe so… yes," Beatrice said, and Evie's eyes stretched wide with shocked surprise. She had already suspected this before but still she could not help but feel shocked. How? Vera is a human and Leah's a dark fae, right? So how could Vera be Leah?

"I believe Vera is technically Leah." Beatrice repeated and Gav creased his brows, confused by the queen's second line now.

"Technically…? What do you mean by that?" he repeated with a low voice. He had a sudden thought when his mother mentioned the word technically. Could it be that something similar to himself had occurred with Leah? Seeing that his mother was about to continue explaining, Gav tamped down his question that he wanted to ask and listened patiently.

"Yes. Leah… she's been very close to Gideon since they were young. You have even met her before when you were a child as Leah helped to babysit you when you keep following after your brother everywhere. Leah was such sweet girl. She was an adopted daughter of the Lord of Axinia, and since her brother Azrael is one of Gideon's best friends, she was already acquainted with Gideon since they were children. During Leah's coming of age ceremony, Gideon introduced her to us. I have not seen Leah for a long time, so it was then that I just found out during that ceremony that she and Gideon were already lovers." Beatrice recounted and a soft nostalgic smile curved on her lips.

"I was so overjoyed at that time because I saw how Gideon loved her so much. And it was heart-warming how Leah loved him deeply as well. Hope immediately bloomed within me and Belial for Gideon as we saw he had somehow changed for the better after being in a relationship with Leah. Since then, we felt Gideon slowly coming back to us. We knew he was trying his best and I know it was Leah who was helping him see the light again. He was still adamant at first, as if something was scaring him, and he still sometimes go into hiding. But I felt everything was getting better. However," Beatrice breath became a little shaky, remembering that chaotic time again, "Leah suddenly disappeared. And since her disappearance, we never have found her body."

Evie could not even speak, she looked at Beatrice with an anxious and questioning look in her eyes. And Beatrice continued her story again.

"She was sent to the surface?" Gavriel wondered out aloud. Did she somehow got sent away from the Under Lands due to having to pay a price for some forbidden spell being casted? But Beatrice shook her head and Gav lost his trail of thoughts.

"No, she was not sent there. Leah had died here in the Under Lands. We knew she had died the moment she disappeared. We never found out the reason of her death as we couldn't find any signs of her remains anywhere. Gideon even jumped into the abyss again to see what had happened to find her. Gideon never said a word about it. But we knew he jumped into the abyss because it seems, he might be able to decipher the truth when he's down there. Belial told me that Gideon started acting cold since he accidentally fell into the abyss. We thought that perhaps, he had seen the truth about him and his birth parents when he was in there. And when Gideon finally came out from the abyss, he had stopped looking for Leah's body and just disappeared and went into hiding again. We believed that he must have found out what had happened to Leah there and that's why he had stopped the search for her remains. I tried to speak to him about it. But it was impossible to make him talk about her anymore after that. He did not even want to hear her name being mentioned anywhere around him. I also tried talking to Kione and Azrael but apparently, any mention of Leah became a taboo to him. Those told me her name never crossed his lips ever again since then." Queen Beatrice sighed heavily after speaking at length on this.

A heavy silence reigned for quite a while between the three of them until Evie spoke.

"How… how did you know that Leah died?" Evie asked. She still could not understand what Leah's connection with Vera was. How were these two women technically the same person? Why did the queen say Vera was Leah? Was she still holding back some information that she had yet to share with them on it? She thought perhaps what happened to Leah was akin to Gav, maybe she was suddenly sent on the surface and lost her memories. But the queen said that it was not the case when Gav queried earlier.

Looking away towards the window, Beatrice's eyes became sad and pained again as if she was seeing a very painful memory in that space. She seemed to be caught in her own agony for some moments before turning tear filled eyes to them to continue speaking.

"When Gideon was forced to come out from his hiding again due to the king's summons, I saw Leah's spirit sticking to him." Beatrice said, smiling so sadly. "That was after months since Gideon stopped the search. Leah was… she was just following Gideon closely, walking by his side, never leaving his side at all. And apparently, I am the only who was able to see her spirit. Gideon was not even aware that she was always… always with him.." this revelation from Queen Beatrice caused both Evie's and Gav's eyes to widen in shock. This means that Leah really had died? But if her spirit had been following Gideon around, then what about Vera?