“It’s from Leeora’s vision that Zelda gets to see,” Morpheus answered.

Thala observed it carefully, “A lovely weapon to create. After so long, finally I have a chance to create one.”

“You should thank me for giving you an opportunity,” Morpheus countered.

“Dream on,” she sneered and looked at Aureus, “Young eagle, will you mind sparing a few drops of your blood?”

“I do mind unless I know what it is for,” Aureus said straightforwardly.

“I won’t say it is for something good if I consider you, but I won’t say it is for something bad if I consider things other than just you.”

Aureus felt puzzled to hear her response. This woman sure didn’t like to answer straight. ‘Are all the witches like this. No, Queen Esther was not like this.’

“What do you mean?” Aureus asked.

“Aureus, ignore her,” Morpheus interrupted them, “You must know by now she never talks anything in right way and makes one feel puzzled. Don’t fall for her tricky words. This is one of her talents, playing with words.”

“And commanders’ talent is to play with the destinies,” Thala commented mockingly.

Morpheus ignored her and said to Aureus, “You can trust me. For the first and last time I am asking you for something. After this, I will never ask for anything.”

Aureus looked at his uncle who looked desperate and could not say no to him. “Fine, only this once.”

Aureus made a tiny cut on his palm with his own sharp nail and the next moment the blood seeped out. Before it could fall on the floor, the blood droplets floated in the air as they moved towards Thala.

“This is precious blood, young eagle. You can not just carelessly drop it. You have no idea what kind of disaster just a one drop of this divine blood can bring.”

She collected that blood in a small vial that appeared in her hand and closed it. She looked at Morpheus and warned, “See you on the mourning day. Before that, do not disturb me.”

Morpheus nodded and he left the Spirit Circle with Aureus.

“What is she going to do on Mourning day? What are you planning? I hope to get an answer as you took my blood,” Aureus asked as they walked out.

Morpheus sighed, “I can not answer you anything yet as nothing is certain but just know that, though you might feel disappointed in me, it is not for something bad. So till then, just trust me.”

“You always say to trust you but I am starting to feel like I can not trust you the way you are keeping things from me. If you tell me, I might help you if it’s something important.”

“You have already helped me,” Morpheus said, “After mourning day, I want you to return to that human kingdom.”

“You want me gone? I thought you would want me to stay here.”

“After that day, you might not want to stay here. You better go back and help the King of Megaris to deal with that black witch Zaria Lynx.”

“I will. That Black Witch has to pay me back for what she has snatched from me.”

“Make sure to give her the worst death possible.”

“I will.”

—

Ember, wrapped in just a single white shirt of his mate, was lying in his arms while putting her head on his shoulder and her hand resting on his chest.

Draven had his one hand folded below his head while the other one was being a pillow for his mate, his palm caressing her shoulder gently.

“I didn’t realize how this day passed by,” she said.

“Hmm, time is passing so fast these days. While the last thousands years I felt like time has just stopped for me,” Draven added. “I am glad that I have you to move that frozen time for me.”

She raised her head and looked at him. “And I am glad that I have you to give me this life where I feel alive as well. On that dead mountain, I was nothing but like a living corpse.”

He looked at her and she spoke again, “Thank you for coming to save me, Draven, and bringing me here. Thank you for giving me this life or I would have never known what it means to live among the people, what it feels like to be alive.”

He caressed her cheek gently, “Life there must have been really tough.”

She nodded. “It feels tough now as I am living here. But there, my only goal was to survive. Now that I think about it, I wonder how I even survived there? It used to be always dark and foggy. Can you believe I had never seen a single human close to me other than just my nanny. I was more like a wild animal who never knew people. Except for darkness around and foggy sky above, I had never seen any color in particular other than what my nanny taught me by showing in the story books or the things she brought from the market.

“My entire life, I had never touched any green tree, had never seen a single animal or bird other than those scavengers which I saw only flying high up in the sky. Even the scavengers would stay away from that dead mountain and I was worse than them to stay there.”

He continued to listen to her side this time. He himself can not imagine how one can live such a life, still keeping their sanity. Her nanny sure had done her best to keep this little girl a human while keeping her away from the society and without her seeing anything in real life. Even the animals need their kinds around to be sane then what more a humans who are known to be the most social creatures.

“You are a precious one,” he commented.