After Seren and Drayce stepped out of that ice cave, they found Martha waiting in the antechamber. Seren and Drayce removed the fur-lined coats and handed them back to the older woman.
Martha no longer led them as Drayce told her he had already memorized the path. She merely bowed as they headed back to where the others were.
With Drayce holding a torch to light the way, the pair of husband and wife walked the long dim passage, lost in their own thoughts.
Seren spoke after some time.
"It was strange but I felt like I knew both of them."
"You must have come across them," Drayce replied calmly.
"From what I know, I have always been inside the tower since when I was a newborn baby. I wonder if they ever came to the palace secretly, or if I saw them whenever I sneak out to the market with Martha."
"As they have been protecting you, they must have been shadowing you, guarding you in secret for many years. Maybe you caught a glimpse of them by accident."
"True."
After that, silence enveloped the two once more. Only their steady footsteps echoed within the passage.
Seren recalled her husband's unusual behavior earlier, and even now, his quiet tension didn't go unnoticed by Seren. As they walked, she reached out and squeezed his left hand, the hand not holding a torch.
"What is bothering you, Dray?"
Drayce heard it and looked at her with a tranquil face. "Do I look like I am bothered?"
She shook her head. "But I can feel it."
He offered her a light smile, not letting her see through him. "How can I not be bothered and worried when it is something related to my wife?"
"So you are worried about me?"
"Isn't that a given?"
She nodded though she still had doubts. "If something else is there, you can trust your wife and tell her your worries. I may not be able to help, but I can at least listen."
"I must say my wife is not only getting smarter at dealing with people but is also getting sharper in observing others," he commented with a light chuckle, squeezing her hand back.
"Umm, it's not that I'm smarter or sharper," she said, her purple eyes soft as she gazed at her husband. "It's because of you, Dray. You are not others. And though my eyes and thoughts tell me otherwise, my heart says that you are not fine."
As they reached outside after crossing that secret pathway, everyone was there- King Armen Yorian and the two knights. They looked like they were waiting for the two and only then Drayce realized they were gone for long.
Drayce walked Seren towards the stone chamber, "You should rest."
Seren nodded as she didn' wish to be in same place as her father and didn't want to look into his eyes which showed worry for her. She simply was not ready to accept it yet and feared that she might get angry at something as she was being so sensitive to anything these days.
She had started to feel some kind of change inside her and she knew it was not her but something strange was happening with her to make her lose her temper so soon. Initially she thought she was mistaken and it was the effect of getting abducted and she was being over sensitive but somewhere she knew, she was wrong. Today, the way she lost her temper in front of the two of her protectors, she was alarmed about herself and needed to think over it.
Leaving her to rest inside, Drayce came out. King Armen was waiting to talk with him.
"How was it? What happened there?" King Armen asked as he wondered if Sierra revealed herself to their daughter though he doubted it already.
Drayce explained to him the plan of keeping Seren inside the ice cave which King Armen was already aware of.
"Anything else other than this?" King Armen asked.
Drayce gazed at the king for a moment before replying, "She didn't get to see her mother."
King Armen understood, "I see." As expected of Sierra who said that she didn't wish to reveal herself to her daughter. She lost this chance and he didn't know how she would make up for it.
After King Armen and Drayce talked for a while. Yorian and Drayce walked away as they needed to talk about something important and their previous talk was left unfinished as well.
"Who did you meet inside?" Yorian asked, it was normal question but his curious gaze showed he was waiting to know something interesting.
"What do you think?" Drayce countered.
"Someone was there, who, I am somewhat sure of. A person whose familiar energy I sensed thought she tried to hide it," Yorian answered and observed Drayce who was trying his best to be calm and composed.
"Queen of Witches," Drayce answered to satisfy the curiosity of this elf who he was sure that aware of the things already, "the one you said before, someone named Evanthe."
"Someone who is your mother as well," Yorian said, only to make Drayce look at him.
ραпdǎ Й?νêl(сòm) Yorain chuckled, "You should not be surprised to think I know it. If you connect the things which we have talked about till now, there are so many things which point towards that conclusion."
Drayce simply nodded, "Yes she is there. She is one of Seren's protector."
Lorain looked at the secret ways carved in the wall of cave, "She seems to know I am here as well. Now I wonder when she would let me meet her."
"Maybe soon. We will need your help as well."
Yorian nodded, "That is why I am here," and then looked back at Drayce, "Doesn't seem like you two had mother son talk."
It didn't affect Dryace, "We don't have time for that now. Seren is the priority."
"True. But I wish everything between you two goes well," Yorian said with genuine concern, "just know that Evanthe's life was not so easy and she had to carry the burden and pain of so many things," he sighed, maybe it's the price to pay for being one powerful being."
Drayce didn't say anything on it as he simply stared towards the water around the rocky surface. He didn't know what exactly he would talk about when it was time for him and his mother to talk about the things between them.
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