The Devil's Cursed Witch

Ember's fingers nervously clutched into her skirt as her conviction wavered. Before he arrived, she was thinking about telling him what happened between her and Morpheus, but his sudden appearance made her question whether this would be good for their budding relationship or not.

"Ah, yes…I want to say something…"

She tried to keep herself calm, wanting to talk about the situation with him clearly though she was shaking in fear. Not getting a reply from him scared her, but…

Draven's face became icy cold as he watched the various conflicting emotions appear on her face. Seeing her look like she had committed a sin, his imagination ran wild, guessing what she had done.

"Tell me," she heard Draven say, his eyes frosty cold as his voice held not even an ounce of emotion.

Feeling dread crawling up her spine, Ember closed her eyes and forced herself to confess.

"Kiss! We k-k-kissed! I don't know how it happened—"

Before she could say more, Draven disappeared from the balcony, and the shock mixed with her guilt made her knees wobble; she needed to hold onto the railing to keep herself upright.

"Your Majesty?" Her eyes turned teary as she looked around the empty balcony. "W-Where did he go…?"

Draven was a man who seldom showed his real emotions to others. His cold expression was something that scared most people, even Ember, because it made him hard to read. It gave them the impression that he was constantly annoyed or that they were wasting his time.

Yet today…that cold mask broke.

His disappointment terrified her more than his anger.

Sadness weighed her down, thinking about his reaction to what she said.

'Will he abandon me now?' Fat tears rolled down her eyes. 'I don't want him to. He's my only family. I want to be good to him, but instead… instead of being good to him…I-I shouldn't have done anything that would hurt him…'

She felt like suddenly she was going to lose everything she gained, that she would be left alone once again.

'What have I done? '

------

Leaving Ember in the balcony of her study. Morpheus returned to the rocky peak at the southern side of the mountain range surrounding Agartha. It was the same mountain where his sister's cave was located, the best place to calm him down from his current agitated state.

'That little female…'

He kept recalling the same scene. He could not understand his own actions. He should have known better. Why did he allow himself to go that close to her?  Why did he approach her… and feel regret that she refused to kiss him?

Morpheus sat at the edge of the cliff where he sat together with Ember when he brought her to this place. He never mentioned it to her, but this was his favourite spot where he would often sit and be lost in his thoughts while surrounded by the sea of clouds.

Remembering the admiration on Ember's face as she appreciated the view, he could not help but be bothered by the empty space next to him, seemingly echoing the strange emptiness inside his heart.

However, even the sea of clouds wasn't helping. The image of Ember up close, the brief brushing of their lips, and how he had to stop himself, all of them kept plaguing his mind. When they were on the balcony a while ago, her scent was really intoxicating and he could not stop himself from giving in to temptation.

'It must be her scent, or else, there is no way I would do anything like this with someone with a mate. I have more dignity than that,' he told himself. 'Especially not that guy's mate. I wanted to punish him, so I don't think about her in that way. What I have for her is pity…and guilt for what I have to do in the future.

'Not just her. No one should be able to affect me like this.'

He continued to deny what his heart was feeling, but the more he tried, the more he thought about her.

How close they were and how good it felt when he felt those delicate lips of hers against his. His heart started to beat faster, and he put his palm on it to calm it.

'I should not think about her…I should not…'

In the end, he gave up trying to get rid of the thoughts about Ember. Feeling helpless, Morpheus fell back to lay down on the rocky ground with his legs dangling over the edge. He stared at the sky for a while and then closed his eyes.

One word left his mouth…

"Ember!"

Unknown to him, a pleasant smile had appeared on his lips, continuing to lay there with his eyes closed.

Almost half an hour passed by when he finally thought to get up but then sensed a certain movement nearby. A wicked smirk appeared on his lips.

'Oh, I've been found. I can never underestimate his senses.'

With a slight shake of his body, he stood up at the edge of the cliff, his eyes on the sea of clouds as if he could see something coming in his direction, and the next moment, the peace on that mountain was destroyed.

A loud sound of collision could be heard with broken rocks falling down the cliff.

Morpheus was being strangled, his body pushed against the side of the mountain by the owner of a pair of glaring red eyes. The force put on that grasp seemed determined to kill him. Before Morpheus could even put up a struggle, he was once again thrown somewhere else, which caused him to collide on a nearby cliff, crushing the rocks where he landed.

With a cough, Morpheus' body fell down to the ground. Before the cloud of dust could even dissipate, Draven disappeared from his place and appeared next to Morpheus, only to throw him once again which caused the same effect. He repeated this until the other man's body was covered in bruises and cuts.

Draven didn't look like his usual self. He had none of his nonchalant attitude, and there was neither a tinge of mercy in him.

The fury that he embodied made it seem like he would really kill Morpheus today.

Draven walked towards that pile of rocks under which the shapeshifter was buried. His red eyes carried raw anger in them, as if he had lost every bit of sanity left in him and only his animal instinct took over him. The rocks moved away on their own as Draven used his powers to lift them. His red eyes darkened ferociously at the bloody shapeshifter who was lying on the ground.

Cough! Cough!

Morpheus coughed a little blood out and turned his head to look at the man who was standing a few steps away. He smirked at him with his face covered in bloody cuts.

"This much is not enough to kill me, Draven. You should try more."

The next moment, Morpheus was lifted up in the air and was pinned to the rock behind him, but the shapeshifter's expression still held the same mocking smirk. Nothing could scare a man who wasn't afraid of dying.

"Yes, this is it. That expression…"

He chuckled though he was in pain and looked at Draven with a broad grin. His entire body was covered in dirt and blood was gushing out of the cuts,  but he continued to chuckle as if the badly battered body was not his own.

"How satisfying it is to see you like this, Draven. You think I don't know? You always intentionally avoided hurting me for real throughout the years, but today, you finally could not hold back. I am seeing the success that my efforts brought to me."

Draven said nothing, but Morpheus's smile broadened.

"So, did you finally decide to end my life with your own hands? What are you waiting for? Go ahead, or do I need to do more with your mate to make you kill me? Why are you not charging in? What's holding you back? Seems like only a kiss was not enough…Cough!"

His throat was strangled by the power Draven was using to pin him to the wall, causing his face to change colour due to lack of air.

Draven walked closer to him and glared down at him.

"You ungrateful eagle! I let you be because you are the only friend she had and she trusted you. How dare you take advantage of her?"

Morpheus choked in response, and he used his own power to push against Draven's. As soon as he was able to gasp enough air, he laughed mockingly at him.

"Advantage? You think I did something she didn't want?"

Those words felt like blades cutting through Draven's anger, causing him to freeze.

Morpheus continued to laugh at him. "Before blaming me, you should look at yourself, see how pathetic you are as a mate. How can you leave your mate alone when she has 'needs' to be taken care of? You should be aware of how much such desires affect a female, and you should know how worse it is for one who is already marked. Do I need to spell it out to you?"