The Veil of Darkness
Chapter 270: Offer Of A Night Together

Chapter 270: Offer Of A Night Together

Annalise recalled how she was taught during her childhood to never accept any food or drinks from a dark fae as it could bind her to them with a contract of servitude, but she recalled nothing like that hearing about the foods and drinks offered by a dark witch. Still, a voice inside her head was telling her to not trust the witch in front of her and especially the tasty tea and snacks she was offering.

She closely watched as the witch offered the tea and snacks to her husbands and when it was finally her turn, she too accepted them with a polite smile like her husbands did, of course, they’d didn’t smile at the witch but they acted politely toward the woman who just called herself despite her looking not a single day over thirty.

However, Annalise knew very well that a supernatural’s look had nothing to do with their ages. A person could look twenty while they could be decades old or even centuries old. Just like her husbands, who appeared to be in their early twenties but were actually centuries old.

Annalise noticed how all three of her husbands either kept holding the teacup in their hands or placed it back on the table very swiftly, none of them took even a single whiff of the smell of the tea let alone actually drinking it. That was all she needed to know what she had to do but if there was any doubt left, it went away when Kenric signaled her to put down the cup on the table.

Without any questions or complaints, she happily placed the cup on the table and turned her attention toward Valerius who seemed to be about to speak. She was absolutely right about her guess.

"We are here to ask for your help." He told the witch in a simple and direct way without beating around the bush.

"My help?" The witch asked while arching her dark bold eyebrows in question.

"Right. I’m sure despite your seclusion from the rest of the world, you must be aware of everything that has been happening which includes the secret and unexplainable attacks that have happened to the Portal Halls." Valerius elaborated.

Annalise watched the witch closely and observed how the woman barely showed any change in her expression as she silently waited for Valerius to continue without bothering to confirm whether she was aware of the incidents going outside her city walls or not.

"After the incidents, dark energy took over the Portal Halls and has been slowly taking over the guarding beasts that are bound to those portal halls. We are here to request for your help to get those beasts freed from the dark energy and their bonds with the Portal Halls." Valerius finished explaining the entire scenario and along with others, he too waited for the witch’s response.

The woman didn’t take long before she responded with yet another question - "Didn’t you sucessfully got one of those things out? Why do you suddenly need my help now then when you can easily do it on your own?"

Annalise wasn’t sure exactly what surprised her more, the fact that the witch knew about her and the Princes freeing the Little Snow Lion, or that despite knowing everything she still had no clue exactly how unlikely they had to succeed if they tried the same method to rescue the other guarding beasts?

"Let’s just say that it was a coincidence or miracle that we were able to save at least one of those beasts, but such miracles don’t happen always. If we could rescue the remaining beasts on our own, we wouldn’t have come here seeking your help." Valerius calmly answered.

The witch was silent for a while before she finally spoke and just like usual, it was again a question for them to answer - "The great Midnight Princes and..." her gaze shifted toward Annalise before she continued, "... someone as powerful and pure as the Princess of Seelie Empire couldn’t save those beasts... yet you all think I can do it. Why would you think so? And even if I can... why should I?"

Annalise’s gaze was fixed on Valerius as she, along with Damien and Kenric, waited for the Winter Prince to answer the witch’s question because even the three of them had no clue yet exactly how Valerius was going to make the witch agree to help them.

Valerius hadn’t told anything about his master plan to any of them and neither did they think about asking. They were just blindly following him with all their trusts and hopes put into him.

"Because I’m sure we can come up with a win-win situation for both of us." Valerius replied simply.

The witch didn’t speak for a while and took her time to study all four of them one at a time. When her gaze finally found Annalise, the woman had a little wicked smile on her lips that only became bigger when her gaze shifted to Valerius once again.

"I think so as well."

Annalise felt a weird feeling bloom deep inside her because of the witch’s words as well as the look she was giving to Valerius. Her instincts were only proved true not too long after as the woman spoke - "Then how about a night with me in return of my help?"

Before anyone could even realize what was going on, Annalise had a huge blast of energy aiming straight at the witch as she jumped out of her seat the moment her ears registered those nonsense words from the witch.

However, much to her dismay, the force didn’t hit the witch as the latter escaped with her quick reflex of a protection shield spell. Their powers collided, caused a powerful wave to wash across the room before it dissipated into nothingness.

Annalise was more than ready to attack again but Valerius caught both her hands in his tight grip while Damien and Kenric covered her from all around, surrounding her and pulling her attention away from the witch.