SPELLBOUND

Evie walked over to where her men were waiting for her with Zanya a step behind to her side.

"We are going to…" Evie trailed off halfway as she was speaking to her men and raised her brows at the sight of them staring at Zanya with varying degrees of mouths hanging open. They looked as though they were beyond dumbstruck, except for Zolan and Leon who were still somewhat quite composed and were not as mesmerized as the others.

Evie could not help but laugh inwardly at their expressions. She definitely understood why her men were so enchanted by Zanya's beauty. As beautiful as vampires were – both males and females, the beauty that faes possess far outstrip any other race. Theirs were the kind of delicate yet distinct beauty that one could not imagine even when in their dreams. So, it stands to reason why her men were literally drooling over Zanya's features.

Zolan cleared his throat to get the others to snap out of their reverie and the men finally blinked and broke free from being completely enchanted. "We're going somewhere… was it, princess?" Zolan asked as he fixed his gaze on Evie.

"We're going to meet the dragons." Evie replied with a small smile, still amused at how some of the men were still having dazed looks in their eyes. "But first, everyone should introduce yourselves to her." Evie gestured with an arm to Zanya as she looked at the men with hilarity in her eyes. Almost in the next second, Levy stepped up to introduce himself to Zanya. His brown eyes were gleaming, obviously infatuated with the beauty before him.

"I'm Levy, my fair lady," he said and even gave a slight bow at the light fae in a very gentlemanly manner. The men behind him cringed at his action. However, all of them were already aware that this man was the most shameless one in their group and the one who is always into beautiful women. To call him a ladies' man might even be too mild. Elias rolled his eyes exaggeratedly as he saw Levy's move.

"Zanya," the light fae said simply as she smiled and gave a small nod, still a little wary towards the vampires.

The other men then introduced themselves as well, all of them simply said their names as they noticed the light fae's slight discomfort at being this close to them. Levy in his eagerness, had missed out on how the light fae was not quite comfortable with so many vampires at such close distance to her. Luc then sighed before grabbing Levy's collar and pulled him to the back to stop him from getting too close to the light fae.

As they stepped outside the great dark castle, Evie halted and looked at Zanya who was walking right behind her, not daring to walk right by her side. She understood that it was Zanya's way of showing respect to her station as one from the royal bloodline.

"I think Onyx refused to get close to the castle. It stopped by the last great arch at the foot of this hill. Is there a reason behind its action?" She asked and Zanya looked like she was surprised with what Evie had said. It seems that the princess' observations are very on point, and she is very sensitive and in tuned to the dragon's feelings.

Zanya contemplated for a while before she eventually shook her head. "I am not certain why Onyx refused to come here. Onyx used to enter into this area back then. In fact, he loved roaming around the castle. But now that you mentioned it, Onyx has never stepped foot in here since the death of the queen. He simply stayed at the entrance to the gate of Crescia and never ventured out." She thoughtfully said. "Are you certain that he refused to come in here, princess?"

Evie nodded. "Yes. I've told him I want to reach the peak of the hill. Though I think he understood, he only dropped us at the entrance of the gate and crouched on the ground as if he intended to wait for us there."

"Pardon me princess, but I am not certain about the reason why. However, I think it must be a miscommunication. Or he must have chosen to stay there to act as a guard as Onyx is very intelligent. Back in the day, I remember the late queen calling Onyx the greatest dragon who had ever lived. I believe the queen gave him her last order before she died and that was to guard Crescia. And that's why he never left the gate at all." Zanya told Evie her opinions on the matter.

There was a sadness that bloomed in Evie's heart as she remembered the very first time when she laid eyes on Onyx. The dark dragon was simply crouching there, motionless in the darkness, as though a dead lifeless statue. As though he was waiting for something or someone to appear into his life. Her heart ached for the dragon as she realized how the dragon must have been fulfilling his former master's order all this while. His loyalty was heart-warming just as it was also heart-wrenching.

Suddenly, she felt that she wanted to summon him to where they were. "I want to call him up here," she said to Zanya.

One glance at Evie's face and Zanya immediately nodded, realizing that the princess needed her to teach her how to call upon the dragon now.

"Calling the dragon is only slightly different from the release magic of the entrapment but calling the dragon will definitely take more strength, princess." Zanya explained. "It could exhaust your powers especially when you are trying to force the dragon to obey your call. However, if the dragon comes to you willingly upon hearing your call, your strength and power won't be drained and much affected."

The explanation made Evie's eyes widen with intrigue. She remembered that the past dragon guardians always fall into exhaustion after the calling of a dragon. Was it due to the dragons who were not willing participants to the summoning and were actually forced to obey their call!? She never would have thought that was the case.