The Veil of Darkness
Chapter 49: Ice and Dark Fire

Chapter 49: Ice and Dark Fire

"So you are saying that she’s the one." It wasn’t exactly a question but the doubt was still clearly heard in Damian’s voice as he still wasn’t too convinced with Valerius’ theory.

"Why are you still questioning it? Can’t you already feel the bond that these two have just formed? What more do you need as proof?" Kenric sure was getting tired of his brother’s constant efforts of questioning Annalise’s identity as their destined mate. Though he still had to initiate a bond with her, he could still feel the comparability between their souls - something that was only seen between soulmates.

Damian let out a sigh as he turned to look at Kenric before responding, "First, because I still haven’t felt any sort of compatibility between our souls. Second, because she’s too weak to be our mate. And third, because she’s not one of us."

His voice was firm and the look in his eyes clearly stated that he fully believed in his words and wanted them to believe him too.

Valerius just shook his head but didn’t comment and just kept his attention on Annalise who was talking with Aunt Claire and Sera as the three women discussed about the presents that they would need to bring with them on their visit to the Grand Duke’s mansion.

But unlike Valerius, Kenric wasn’t ready to give in yet. "First, she’s not weak as we can clearly feel the essence of her actual powers that are sleeping deep inside her. And even without those powers, she’s still pretty strong. Second, even if she’s not one of us, that thing hardly matters. We have known from the very beginning that our mate won’t be from the Midnight realm and that’s why we came here. And third..."

There was a long silence for the next couple of moments before Kenric finally spoke again, "... since you can’t feel compatible with her, what was with that sudden appearance on that morning when you were hardly in a state to control your urges? Was it because you got..."

"Distracted." Damian interrupted. "I got distracted that day for a few moments but not anymore. I don’t care what you both believe in but I’m not going to put my hopes up. Even though she and Valerius have just bonded, it’s still stage one. We aren’t even sure that this bond will last this initiation period."

The soulmate bonds among faes were divided into four stages. The first stage was the initiation stage and it started when two souls came into compatible intimate contact. Whether a bond would work or not depended on the competition of the initiation stage. If a pair successfully passed the initiation stage and entered the second stage, it meant that they were destined soulmates.

The second stage and third stages were the courtship period where the mates came to know more about each other and get to know each other. And the fourth stage was the final stage of a soulmate bond, once completed, it was impossible to break.

That’s why whether the initiation bond between Valerius and Annalise would work or not depended on whether they would be able to pass the initiation stage that would last for a month.

A soulmate bond could only be initiated between two willing parties. So it meant that if a bond got initiated between two people, they both agreed to it deep down in their souls even if they believed that they didn’t.

There were different ways for initiating a bond. It could be initiated during a bite, or during sex, or it could just initiate when two souls believe in each other’s existence like they were meant for each other.

The bond that got initiated between Valerius and Annalise was undoubtedly the result of the third option.

"We are ready to leave."

Annalise’s voice pulled the attention of all the lords towards her and it was Valerius who spoke first breaking the silence that had descended between the brothers after Damian’s last comment.

"Here’s the money. Don’t think too much about saving and buy everything that you will like. Alright?" He handed her a pouch full of silver and gold coins that were probably way more than Annalise needed for the shopping. Besides, she had her own money and though it was nothing when compared to what Valerius had given her, it was still pretty enough.

Annalise thought about rejecting the money but before she could have opened her mouth to speak, Valerius’ gaze silenced her and made the words disintegrate from her throat.

"Okay." She finally muttered in a small voice as she accepted the pouch without any complaints or objections.

Sera helped her in getting inside the carriage and a couple of moments later, Damian too entered the carriage with a grumpy face. He was still avoiding looking at her or even speaking to her, so Annalise also didn’t try to speak with him either.

She just sat there in silence and watched through the window as the carriage set out from the castle and headed down the mountain towards the capital city.

*****

"I just don’t understand what’s up with Damian," Kenric complained as he took a seat on the couch next to Valerius as the two of them returned to the basement after Annalise and Damian left the castle.

There was still a lot of important stuff pending that they needed to do before their visit to the Grand Duke’s mansion the coming morning and since Damian wasn’t there with them, it was only the two of them who had to prepare everything.

"It’s just his beliefs that are stopping him from realizing his heart. But don’t worry too much about him, it’s already pretty clear that he can’t control himself when it comes to her just like the two of us. He likes her too, just doesn’t want to accept it. Sooner or later, she will make him give in." Valerius responded as he conjured a little flask from his powers and filled it with his ice powers before setting it on the table.

Kenric too conjured a similar flask and filled it with his dark fire powers before setting it beside Valerius’ flask. "I will love to see just how long he will be able to about her. I just hope that in the meantime, he won’t end up hurting her because of his stubbornness."

The sigh that left Valerius’ lips confirmed that even he was worried about the same thing - Damian hurting Annalise’s feelings just because he’s too deep into his stupid beliefs of the ancient rules of their realm.

"What are you planning to create? I want it to be unique." Kenric added as he watched his brother chanting a spell over the two flasks.

"These are just for the thread. We will have to wait for Damian’s addition if we want to create something more than the thread." Valerius responded as he removed his palm from around the flasks that were now empty, the ice and dark fire powers had already disappeared from inside them.

Kenric let out a sigh as rethought about the Moon Thread that their wife wore. He could already picture two out of those three threads turning ice blue and fire red as their powers entered it. They could have done it while she was inside the castle but they would be too busy later on and they didn’t want their In-laws to see her Moon Thread in its most vulnerable state.

Though just changing the colors of the thread won’t create too much of an impact, it was still far better than a simple Moon Thread.

"Let’s go. We have to prepare for our departure to Lakeshire. There’s a lot we have to do." Valerius started as he stood up from his seat and headed towards the staircase leading downstairs deep into the basement.

"When are we going to tell her about our plan?" Kenric asked as he followed behind his brother. They had to depart for Lakeshire town by the end of the weekend as there was someone special there whom they needed to meet.

The kidnapping and murder situation in the empire was getting more and more complicated with every passing day and if they had to stop things before they ended up becoming out of control, then they needed to work fast.

Though they were already aware of exactly what was going on with those kidnapping and murder cases, it didn’t mean that they were powerful enough to sort out everything on their own. They were able to fight the darkness that was trying to destroy the empire but they wouldn’t be able to defeat it. Their mission was to find the one who could.

One of their reasons to leave the Midnight Realm and live on the borders of the Seelie Realm was to search for the daughter of the Light - the one who was destined to bring back the seelie realm to life and defeat the darkness that was threatening to consume not only the Mortal Tealm but also the Midnight Realm.

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