Touch of Flame

In the morning, Ester whistled happily as she removed the curtains. "Are you ready for another exciting day, My Lady?"

Ravina shook her head at her, knowing what she was implying. She was not going to let herself get carried away again. She was back to being mission-focused.

"What you suppress will only progress." Ester shrugged. "Allow yourself to enjoy this sunny day." She continued placing herself in front of the sunlight shining through the window with open arms.

Ravina frowned. "Aren't you enjoying this too much?"

"Of course. I have waited and waited for you to grow up and notice men so you could share with me your excitement and we could giggle together." She went forward to the window and stared ahead with dreamy eyes. "To watch the one you desire from afar and wonder."

Ravina stood up and went to the window. Looking outside she found a few soldiers training. Which one of them was Ester looking at dreamingly.

"You didn't tell me you liked a soldier?"

"Oh. It only happened recently." She said without tearing her gaze away from the window.

Ravina never understood this whole thing of admiring someone from afar. What was there to be excited about watching someone?

The only time she watched someone from her window was when the dragons were brought here. Suddenly she remembered Malachi. She remembered his fury and strength. And then she remembered his eyes when he first looked up at her.

Disturbed she turned away from the window and decided to go to the laboratory. Losing focus of her mission wasn't an option. She would have to remind herself of her hatred, let it grow again, harden her heart even more so it would be resistant to anything.

Ravina quickly greeted Bram, took her things, and went to the inventory to focus on developing her weapons. Only when her uncle came to see her did she realize that she has skipped breakfast.

"What should I do with you?" Her uncle shook his head.

"I woke up early and hungry so I already asked Ester for breakfast." She lied.

"Shall I ask her?"

"No."

He chuckled walking further in. "What do you think of Lord Steele so far?"

"I like him." She said.

Her uncle didn't seem very satisfied with the answer but he said nothing about it. She didn't say anything either. She didn't want to fight about being happy and whatever else he wished for her. She had a mission and she would complete it or die trying.

"I will attend some work with Lord Steele so I will be gone until night." He told her.

She nodded. "Alright."

Once he was gone, she thought today would be the perfect opportunity to test her theories without worrying about time. She hurried back to her room and pulled out professor Ward's notebooks. Then she took notes of the things she needed to do.

The scent was something she still needed to verify. The red dress was something she wanted to test but she couldn't let him know that she was trying all those things. She would have to find a good excuse, perhaps some good questions to ask to make it seem like she was there for some other reason.

What could she ask him? Or should she pretend to experiment with him? Something that would make her get close to him. Very close, where he couldn't ignore her scent. Well, she could just pretend she needed to take blood perhaps?

Unsure what the best thing to do was she decided to go find a red dress instead.

She rummaged through the clothing in the chest. Almost all of her outfits were blue or white. Oh lord. She despised bright colors and now she was going to wear red? That was enough to trigger her, much alone a beast who could smell her fertility.

She grimaced feeling like she was being suicidal. Were they at least gentle toward the women? She didn't know why breeding and smelling others made her think of the scenario as something very animalistic and violent.

Malachi. He did look violent and the size of him with those muscles, those dark eyes, and bronzed skin made him look even more dangerous. But Ravina knew he wasn't with her the way he perhaps was with his own people. She had seen his calmer side too. She knew he could be cunning and calculative.

Ravina empties the chest but couldn't find a single red dress. She rushed down to the servants' quarters in the hopes of finding Ester. Outside, Ester was assisting another maid in washing garments.

"Ester, I need you."

Ester was surprised to see her there. She quickly left her work and came to her side looking worried. "What happened?"

Ravina never called upon her during the day, so she probably thought something happened.

"Nothing, I just need a red dress."

Her eyes widened and then slowly a mischievous smile curved her lips. "That is a good choice of color. You will look so beautiful, My Lady. Someone has brought back colors to your life."

Well, that wasn't the case but she played along.

"Here." She gave her the money to buy the dress. "You have good taste. Buy me something exquisite."

"Of course," Ester winked, enjoying the whole thing.

Now she just had to wait for Ester to come back. It would take a while since she would have to ride into town. Ravina tried to keep herself distracted with her inventions until Ester returned, and when she did, she rushed to get ready.

"But my lady, Lord Steele is not here today."

"I know. I am preparing for when he comes home at dinner."

Ester nodded, looking a bit confused by her sudden change of behavior.

"Shall I paint your face?"

"Sure."

"You might receive more than a kiss this way." Ester teased.

Ravina's heart skipped. Was it that much? Then she shrugged it off. It should be much to get a decent reaction she could analyze. She had not considered the possible reactions of others. Clearly, red drew the attention of every man.

Servants and guards looked her way discreetly and in the beginning, she thought that it was only because she wore a color she usually didn't wear but when she arrived at the cave, the chattering guards paused and looked her way with eyes widening.

Some of them blushed and fumbled as they attempted to construct a few sentences. Ravina became even more nervous as a result of this. What would the beast drawn to this color do if human men reacted in this way?

She proceeded slowly and carefully along the cave's passage, clutching her tool bag. As she entered, the prisoner turned to face her from his seat near the graviton. She kept a close eye on him as he regarded her with a grave expression, his attention fixed on her as she neared.

The clinking of chains echoed in the silent cave as he slowly rose from his seat, stretching his bare magnificent body. He then remained still. His lips parted slightly and his eyes darkened as he let his gaze sweep over her before settling on her eyes.

"Words fail me," he said.

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You can thank K-deck for bribing me to write today's bonus chapter ;). Thank you, K for the generous gift <3

Thank you everyone for voting <3