The Alpha's Temptation

The violet tendrils of Yunabi rhythmically fluttered around her wrists. She felt as if they were speaking to her, trying to sing a song that resonated with her body. Her skin tingled as they slithered over her and reached her mouth. They hissed, 'Mine…' as they entered her mouth and before she knew, they were all gone inside. Energy rushed in her blood. She let out a moan, feeling them getting absorbed with her blood. It was as though they had come… home. When Tania looked at the book, the first line had disappeared. It was converted into violet smoky tendrils and was absorbed in her body.

Rolfe was watching her keenly. "How are you?" he asked when the last thread of violet tendril disappeared inside her.

With a flushed face and feeling energetic, she looked at him with wide eyes. "I feel… good." She felt as if she consumed this vast source of energy, the tip of which she had just tapped.

"Now be very careful of it," said Rolfe. "That is Yunabi magic. It is extremely powerful. You will have to train yourself to control it, else it is possible that it will take you in its world and you become caged in it forever. That is also the point when you will reach insanity and when the magic is uncontrolled, you will be put to death."

Tania shuddered when she listened to Rolfe. Her eyes drifted to the arcana. This was just the first set of text that she had read and it was so potent. She couldn't help trembling when she realized that the arcana was thick and what would happen to her when she read the entirety of it. No wonder Rolfe was here to help her.

They started the same process with the next line. Rolfe cast his spell for the text to stop wiggling. He placed his finger over the line. Tania read it. The symbols started lifting off the book and converted into violet tendrils. Once again, they gripped her wrists and traveled all the way to her mouth to be consumed.

Tania's heart fluttered wildly. She started breathing heavily. Rolfe waited for her to steady and then when she nodded, did he repeat the process. By the end of the page, Tania could no longer hold the magic inside her. She started feeling as if the magic was running inside her creating so much mayhem that it would burst and leak out of her veins over her skin. "I can't—" she rasped. She held the edge of the table and panted. There was a thin line of sweat on her forehead. "I can't—" She mumbled something incorrigible.

Rolfe closed the arcana, binding it with his spell. He grabbed Tania's shoulders and said, "Sit down, Lusitania!" He whispered another spell and her body got covered with a thin cool mist. Her skin was heating up. Her face was flushed and it looked as if she was having a fever. Tania looked like she had spaced out. She stared blankly at Rolfe. It was difficult for her to comprehend the situation.

For a long time they stayed in the library until she cooled down. The mist around her would sizzle off and a fresh one would replace it. She liked the cool effect, but she wasn't sure if she was ready for more. Even though she felt more powerful, more energetic than ever, she was sure that she wouldn't be able to take more of the dark magic. "It is too dark," she mumbled.

Rolfe chuckled. "It is not dark for a fae, because faes hold magic naturally. However, if anyone other than a fae reads it, they would absorb it but their blood won't be able to understand or mingle with the magic completely and then you can call it dark. At the same time, I am not surprised that you haven't fainted after reading one full page. If it had been anyone else, they would have become unconscious by now."

Tania tilted her head and peered at him. "Is it the same for you? Even you can't read Yunabi?"

Rolfe laughed. "I am Yunabi and then some more."

Tania blinked her eyes not understanding what he said.

"I think we are done for the day," Rolfe said as he picked up the arcana and then walked over to the shelf to keep it back. It had taken them the whole afternoon to complete one page. He wondered how it would go for the rest of the book. It would take months before she would be able to read it and he didn't have that kind of time.

Tania rose to her feet rather shakingly. Rolfe rushed to her side and held her hands. "You must rest for the rest of the day. If you feel that you are not well, don't call the healer, call me, okay?"

She nodded and they both walked out of the library.

---

King Biham was waiting eagerly for Ileus in the garden that overlooked his bedchamber. He had received a message that Ileus was coming. He was pacing the garden from past hour. Tania had gone to Draka and he had received a message from Eltanin that she had started reading Yunabi. He knew that she would do well. She was a half fae and Yunabi wouldn't be an issue with her. His mind wandered to his older daughter and wife Sirrah and a pang of sadness choked his throat. He had given them so much in their life and they took everything for granted. And then they wanted more. Both of them couldn't digest the fact that his daughter from his mate had come back. If they had accepted her, he would have respected Sirrah all the more.

His thoughts were interrupted when a blue ring of lights sizzled at a distance under a canopy of oak trees. A portal opened up. He rushed to the portal. Ileus stepped out of it and Biham's lips curled up. He bowed to Prince Ileus. "Greetings, Prince Ileus," he said. However, the moment he straightened, he saw someone else stepping out of the portal. His breath lodged in his throat when he saw who stepped out. His skin lined with goosebumps as his eyes widened.

"Princess Anastasia!" he rasped. He couldn't believe that the fae princess had come to Pegasii. He had never seen her earlier but it was not difficult to recognize her. An extremely beautiful woman with golden hair and eyes like sky, wings tucked tightly behind her, looking like a deity, could be no one else but Princess Anastasia. Anastasia smiled at him as she came to stand next to her husband.

Biham didn't know whether he should cry or laugh. A fae had entered his kingdom once again. He bowed to the daughter of King Ian Lachlan. "It's a pleasure to have you here."

She curtsied back to him. "We received a message from my father and I thought I should come here personally to deliver it to you."

A rush of excitement surged through him. "Please come," he said in a grateful voice.

Anastasia walked with her arm draped on her husband's. "I would like to meet Lusitania," she said as they walked to the Pegasus Palace.