The Devil's Cursed Witch

Erlos looked at Ember and then towards the window. "The sun will be setting soon. I wonder if he'll be back within the night."

As a loyal and responsible servant, Erlos took care of everything even without his master's presence. After the sun had set, he lit the lamps inside the chamber and would check on the human once in a while, observing for any changes on her from a distance. She was the King's mate, and he didn't want to risk his life by going close to that bed. Though he was young, he wasn't naive—he had heard things about how 'marking a mate' could turn even the gentlest people unreasonable.

The King was a dragon, and one could easily guess how this temperamental beast would overreact, with him possibly being the most dangerous and possessive creature towards his mate.

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It was already deep in the middle of the night when Draven returned to the palace.  He appeared outside his chamber and found Erlos almost dozing off while standing outside the door.

Draven frowned at his lazy servant.

Crash!

The glass lamp hanging on the wall fell on the floor, smashing into pieces as its oil spread on the carpet,  causing part of the floor near the elf to catch fire.

"What the—"

The noise pulled Erlos out of sleep, and he jumped upon seeing the fire on the floor together with his master standing in front of him with a scowl.

"S-Sire, you are back?" he muttered as he hurried to step on the fire to extinguish it.

"Prepare the bath for me," Draven simply instructed as he used his power to open the door and walked inside his chamber.

"Yes, Sire," Erlos replied with his head lowered. Once Draven was gone, he made sure that he properly put off the fire on the floor, reminding himself to order a new carpet in the morning, before going towards the side chamber which was a stone room with a large pool of water connected to a natural spring from the forest.

Using his powers, he prepared a clean set of robes and other essentials. It didn't take him long to prepare the bath for the King, and he soon appeared inside the main chamber, only to find Draven staring outside the window.

"Sir, the bath is ready. Clothes are already placed there as well," he informed.

"You can leave," was all Draven said and his servant quietly departed.

Draven turned to go to the side chamber after glancing at the bed on his way. After removing his clothes, he stepped into the pool of hot water, and soon after, fully submerged himself under the water to relax his mind. He lay at the bottom of the water without any particular thoughts.

After a long time, he broke through the surface of the water and sat on the edge of the pool, resting his back against the edge with his long, toned arms spread along the stone platform behind him.

He stared blankly at the night sky which was visible from the huge glass windows on one side of the chamber. His red eyes flickered with unknown emotions, unlike how cold and indifferent they looked most of the time.

'Going there was not useless,' he thought and stayed in the bath for a while longer.

He stepped out of the bath wearing his usual sleeping robe. As he dried his dripping wet hair with a towel, he looked at the bed once again and realized he hadn't checked on her since the morning after her clothes were changed by the servants.

He walked closer to the bed and sat at the edge of it. Not to his surprise, the human girl looked feeble, like a brittle doll made of porcelain who would break at the gentlest touch, having almost no colour on her skin, as if she would die anytime soon.

Unknown feelings flooded Draven's body, causing him to clench his fists. As gently as he could, he reached out his hand to touch her forehead, feeling her temperature had dropped drastically. He moved the blanket a little and held her hand to check on her pulse. It was too weak which didn't look like a good sign to him.

He felt a sudden heavy weight in his chest at the thought of her dying and called loudly, "Erlos."

The door opened. "Yes, Sire?"

"Light the fireplace," Draven ordered as he placed her cold palm between his warm ones.

Erlos quickly disappeared, and just in a few moments, returned with blocks of chopped wood in his hands and added them to the two fireplaces that warmed the huge bedchamber. Given Draven's strong constitution, neither the cold nor warmth of the seasons bothered him, and he generally didn't pay attention to such small inconveniences like the temperature of his bedchamber.

However, it was different for humans, as what could be bearable to him might be the opposite to them, especially for this frail human mate of his who's barely fighting for her life.

"It's done, Sire," Erlos informed him. "Is there anything…?"

His words trailed off as he felt like his eyes were seeing something beyond comprehension. Even in that dimly lit chamber, he thought he just saw an emotion called 'worry' flash in his heartless master's face. He even witnessed something as unbelievable as the King holding that human's hand delicately in his bare ones.

'This can't be! A miracle! I am witnessing a miracle!' Erlos wanted to rub his eyes, just to make sure he wasn't seeing things. 'Is this bond finally making my master learn how to be truly considerate of others?! Will I be experiencing a better future too—'

"Leave," Draven ordered as if he didn't want his presence there even for a moment more.

"Y-Yes, Sire!"

It startled the elf out of his muddled thoughts, but his pointed ears continued to twitch left and right as he hurried to leave. 'Am I wrong? No, I don't think I am. That bond is making him lose his already not-so-sane mind. If he learns how to be kind to his mate, by extension, he'll learn how to be kinder to me too, right? Yes, that should be it…'

The elf nodded to himself, convinced of his thoughts, because he found the King's gaze still stuck on that human's face even as Erlos closed the door behind him.

Draven stood up and removed his black sleeping robe from his toned body, leaving only his pants on him. Without a second thought, he climbed on the bed and gently scooped that frail body in his warm embrace. He let her head use one of his arms as a pillow while his other arm circled her thin waist, pulling her closer to his warm chest. The blankets moved on their own to cover them both, leaving nothing but their heads under the sheets.

Against his strong body, her body felt incredibly small and weak, but for some reason, he felt that having her in his arms like this made perfect sense. He held her even closer, his head filled with thoughts of wanting to protect her from any harm, but he didn't understand why he was doing it or why he was feeling this way.

'It's not me, it's the bond,' was the only reason he could think of.

To Draven, these strange thoughts and behaviour of his were all due to the influence of the bond about to form between them. That bond was compelling him to protect her and take care of her. He himself didn't know if it was truly the work of the bond or something else.

He wondered if he made a mistake.  Just with this much closeness with his potential mate— she was even unconscious and the bond had not yet crossed the last stage—he was already acting like he wasn't himself, then how much worse would it be afterwards?

Having her in his arms already made his heart beat wildly in his chest. What would happen after this human survives and he is forced to finish the last stage of that bond with her?

What would he do? How would he stop himself?

Sighing at the uncertainty of the future coming his way, there was only one thing he was sure about—that he didn't want this human to die at any cost.

As if not wanting to let her go away, he tightened his grip around her, pressing her cold cheek against his chest. Her weak breathing against the top of his bare chest continued to assure him that she was still alive.

Sudden warmth filled his heart as his hand that was on her waist moved towards her head and caressed it gently as if she was a child. He had never done this before to anyone, and he felt surprised at his own action.

He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply to calm himself, but the next moment, found himself leaning close and planting a gentle kiss on her head.

'What?' He opened his eyes in shock. What did he just do?

'This bond is making me do this. I better be alert,' he concluded and closed his eyes once again. Despite himself, he drifted to a peaceful sleep while holding the frail body of his mate in his arms.