SPELLBOUND

"About my offer, is your answer still a 'no'?" he asked her seriously. He needed to show her how serious he was in order to get the message across to her that he was not playing around on this.

Vera looked at him and saw that look in his eyes again. She barely had any time to even think about his offer during the past few days of their self-confinement here. But she still managed to think about this, every time she had the chance, whatever little time that was available to her.

When he first told her about this, Vera was so certain that her answer would be 'no' and that it would not change no matter how long the time he had given to her to think about it. She could never, ever, want to do that to him. But the longer she thought over it and as the memories she saw in the future flashed through her mind, Vera's decision began to waver. She found herself genuinely considering his proposition even if she felt that she should not do so.

And she began to question herself that what if that disaster she had seen in those memories had happened because… because she did not accept his offer? These thoughts gave her a serious dilemma and fear and she could no longer firmly say 'no' to him. She was afraid to death that her decision regarding this offer could cause everything to fall apart and then lead them both to that horrific moment she had witnessed in that vision she had been given.

"Gideon…" she uttered his name as she caressed his face. "Can you give me a little more time to think about this? Maybe… a day or two?" her voice was soft, but he could tell that she really meant it and was not just asking to delay him further.

Her answer made Gideon looked relieved. It seemed that as though he was preparing himself to expect her to say 'no' to his suggestion again.

"Of course… two days then," he nodded as he put his hand over hers. "Two days is not long. That would not change much in the grand scheme of things."

Then he kissed the back of her hands before he scooped her into his arms.

"Hang on tight and try to get comfortable, Vera. I will be taking you over to the Great City like this." He told her then his massive wings spread out behind him, glistening with a dark lustre in the bright sunlight.

…

Meanwhile in the Great City, Evie and the royal family were preparing to go to the front lines again. Last night, when the family returned to the King's palace, the family had gathered and discussed on some matters for quite a long time.

The king had so much fun chortling and laughing away at how easily Evie had dealt with those stuck-up lords. It was certainly unexpected that all that was needed to make them stop being stubborn was to summon the dragons.

But then again, the king himself also explained the reason behind why the dragons easily made the lords agree with Evie's proposal. The king had explained that for generations, the lords had been blaming themselves for the annihilation of the ice dragon clan. They had failed to protect the clan from the cruel hands of their own king and that had eventually led to the unfortunate loss of the ice dragons and their keepers.

The King also revealed that the dark fae lords were just naturally drawn to the dragons. Because in the past, a dark fae can never inherit the lordship from his predecessor unless he could domesticate an ice dragon all by himself without any outside help.

That was the dark faes' tradition for a very long time, until one mad king massacred the ice dragon keepers and that had brought to the ending of the tradition. When Evie asked how the king had managed to massacre the entire clan, King Belial said that the mad king had tricked them. He had travelled to the Icyrian's castle, the home of the Icyrias, the ice dragon keepers. The mad king had hosted a banquet and gathered all of the member of the clans – from the youngest to the olderst – using the excuse that he wanted to meet all of the members of the Under Land's so called national treasure, which was the Icyrians. And since the Icyrians were always loyal to the King, they had obeyed unreservedly and without question. The mad king then had taken advantage of the Icyrians' loyalty and in that banquet, he had all of them poisoned. From the oldest to the youngest. No one was spared.

And because of that tragic event, ever since the ice dragon keepers were all annihilated, the ice dragons had also vanished into the annals of history. The mad king had searched for them, thinking that he could finally control them all on his own now that the keepers were gone. But he had found them all frozen in what the dark faes called the mountain of ice dragons now.

King Belial said that the ice dragons were kept frozen there for countless of years and no amount of magic had ever managed to melt the strange ice that had enveloped them all.

The story of the ice dragons and tragic end of the Icyrians made Evie's heart rage with fury. How could that king be so selfish to the point of exterminating a whole clan of people just so he could be the sole one in control of the ice dragons? However, she was not alone in her rage. She also heard the regret and fury in the King's voice as well while he was recounting that story.

Evie could tell that the king must have dearly wished that he was already alive during that time and would have killed that evil first before he could carry out his plan. But there was no such thing as 'what ifs' now.

And King Belial's rage was quick to be replaced by hope when Evie finally reminded them that there was still one ice dragon keeper, definitely a long lost descendant of the Icyrians, was still alive and well.