The Veil of Darkness
Chapter 230: Magic & Spells (Part Two)

Chapter 230: Magic & Spells (Part Two)

Annalise thought she was prepared for her failure but unfortunately, she didn’t even thought about passing the test as to her utter surprise, the candle flickered to life as it lit up almost instantlyat her command.

Her eyes immediately flew open as she fixed her gaze on the particular candle sitting on top of a wooden cabinet and found it lit. She didn’t get the chance to express her delight, confusion, and surprise as a hand covered her eyes and blocked her sight.

"I didn’t allow you to open your eyes." Valerius whispered into her ear as his body inched closer to her as he stepped next to her. His hand was pressed against her face which made her shut her eyes closed all over again.

"I... I was just too surprised..." Annalise tried to explain in her defense but then trailed off when she realized what she was doing. She had made a mistake, instead of finding reasons to defend herself, she must be acknowledging it and moving forward with a lesson.

"My apologies." She finally spoke in a confident tone as she took in a small but deep breath and tried to relax both her body and mind.

Once Valerius was sure that she was back on track, he finally lowered his hand from her eyes and stepped away from her. "Focus you attention back on the candle and start from beginning." He instructed.

Annalise was left so confused by the latter part of his instructions that without realizing it, she ended up opening her eyes all over again right at the moment when Valerius clicked his fingers and extinguished the small fire of the candle.

The first dark lord arched one of his eyebrows in question when he noticed her open eyes and it made Annalise hurriedly shut them all over again. However, it was already too late as she had defied his instructions twice despite his warning.

She once again felt him stepping closer to her and the very next second, one of his hands was sliding around her waist before she got pulled into his arms.

Somehow, Annalise succeeded in keeping her eyes shut tightly this time despite the urge of opening them and looking at the ethereal beauty who was holding her in his arms. Her train of thoughts was disturbed when she felt his breath against the sensitive area under her ear before his words entered her ears - "You are being a bad student, wife. Don’t take advantage of my love for you. Just because I can’t handle being harsh on you... didn’t mean that I don’t have my ways of punishing you."

His breath fanned her earlobe as he moved his face upward before continuing - "Or I can just ask Damien to handle the punishment part."

Annalise knew better than to think that he was just bluffing to scare her. While she knew that he himself wouldn’t dare to go harsh on her, she was also aware of his limit of patience that was almost on the verge of breaking because of her constant distractions from his instructions. If she didn’t pay attention, she could end up in deep trouble.

"I won’t do it again... Promise..." She whispered as she tried to keep her hands attached by her side and not to let them find their way to Valerius who was standing barely a breath away from her. "I will be more careful from now on." She didn’t use the word ’try’ knowing fully well it won’t help her out of her current situation but would probably add more trouble in her already full bucket.

Valerius didn’t speak nor did he stepped away and while she had her eyes tightly closed, she could still tell that his gaze was fixed on her face. The realization made her lick her lips without thinking too much about it.

Not even a two seconds passed before she felt her husband’s cold but also warm lips placed against hers in a soft kiss. She didn’t get to either enjoy it or reciprocate it because he pulled away almost immediately.

"This is your last chance." Valerius reminded her in a soft voice as he unwrapped his hand from around her waist and once again stepped away from her for the nth time in just couple of past minutes.

Annalise took in another deep breath to collect herself before she nodded her head in understanding. "I won’t mess it up." She wasn’t saying it only to impress him but because she really meant it. She indeed wanted to learn more powerful spells and a control over her powers which seemed to keep growing with each passing day.

"Good. Now concentrate on that one candle you chose previously and try to light it up." Valerius started giving instructions and Annalise followed them as closely as she could manage.

She imagined the exact candle from before and once again succeeded in finding it among all the others. She pointed her full concentration on its thread which had turned black from the tip, another proof that she somehow succeeded in lightning it up previously.

Once again, she felt the absolute impossible taking place even before it really happened in reality as she managed to light up the candle without having fire as her element. And this time, despite being equally excited and shocked as previously, she kept her eyes closed and waited to listen to Valerius’ next command.

But to her surprise, no one spoke at all for a long while. There wasno sound in the library at all and she couldn’t feel him through their bond as he seemed to have created a barrier to stop her from tracking his presence. Once again, the thought of opening her eyes and looking at whatever was going on disturbed her thoughts but she successfully ignored it.

She promised him that she wouldn’t go against his instructions and she was determined to fulfill her promise despite all the temptations that were suddenly hitting her hard as if determined to make her fail in completing her promise.