The Devil’s Cursed Witch

Ember reluctantly raised her head and saw his black-gloved hand in front of her. She accepted it without saying a word. He helped her get up, but even before she could stand steady on her feet, her feet were up in the air–she was in his arms.

This time, her small face turned red once more but for reasons she couldn’t understand.

Was it fear, or something else?

She didn’t resist his actions and quietly let him carry her. Without her noticing, she wrapped her arms around his neck as if it was the most natural thing to do, causing him to flinch before resuming his usual cold face. When she looked at his handsome face, it was without any emotions, making it difficult for anyone to guess what he was thinking.

‘Is he disappointed that I am so clumsy? Does he think I’m a bother since he always needs to help me?’ she worried, but then her thoughts were distracted by the masculine scent coming from him. She could not help but take a deep breath. ‘Why does he smell so good? It makes me want to get close to him. It makes me feel calm and comforted…’

The embarrassment she had inside had vanished as she continued to stare at his chiseled face while his gaze was fixed ahead. He carried her inside one of the nearby pavilions and made her sit on the stone platform inside it while he kneeled in front of her.

His red eyes met her green ones.

“Where are you hurt?”

His voice was firm and devoid of any emotion, and his red eyes were the same. Usually, a normal person would have replied promptly, probably with a stutter, but his little mate simply stared at him, not answering his question.

‘So bold,’ Draven frowned and moved his face closer to hers. “Are you ignoring the King’s question, human?”

Only then did she snap back to her senses and backed her face away from him. “Ah? I didn’t mean to, Your Majesty…Apologies–“

“Where are you hurt?” he asked, increasing the distance between them as well when he realized he had subconsciously come too close. During her second fall, he had already noticed something was wrong that was why he didn’t hesitate to carry her in his arms.

“Umm, I am not hurt. I just scratched my knees a little, but I can walk, Your Majesty. I apologize for bothering you. I will go back to my chamber–“

Her words were cut off as Draven moved her skirt up till her knee to check.

“No, Your Majesty!” she cried out in a fluster. “It-It really doesn’t hurt much!”

She held her skirt down, pressing the fabric back to cover her legs.

Her reaction caused the King to scowl, and as his red eyes silently stared into her emerald green ones, she remembered a horrible memory–before the first council meeting, this scary red-eyed man entered her house and tore all of her clothes when she didn’t comply with his orders.

‘Oh no, is he angry? Will he punish me–‘

Ember was distressed by the situation, but she didn’t know the man in front of her was struggling more than her. Due to the bond, everything about Ember–from her smallest actions to the faintest changes in her emotions–would cause severe impact to her more sensitive dragon mate. From his instinctive urges to his worries and his anger, they would all be enhanced when it came to her.

How much was he affected by her scent alone? Being this close was sweet torture to him. It was as if every fiber of his being had come alive, and it was difficult  to hold himself back from not giving into that seductive scent coming from his mate. All he could do was distract that urge by focusing on his worry about her wellbeing, or else he would have pounced on her like a wild animal.

That heavy silent stare from him made her gulp, and she resigned herself to letting go of her skirt.

Since she did what he wanted, he turned his attention towards her knees. With her burn scars almost all healed, Draven could see the fair delicate skin of her legs that was hidden under her. She was wearing white stockings, but due to her repeated fall, they were ripped along her skirt.Both of her knees were scratched and bruised, but they were fortunately not bleeding.

‘It’s dirty,’ he thought.

Draven removed the glove from one of his hands and tried to brush away the crumbs of dirt from her bruised knees, only to hear her let out a whine despite touching her as gently as he could. He realized it was not bad and let go of her dress.

When the King was observing her knees, Ember’s gaze landed on his black hair  being messed up by the passing breeze. Pitch black hair that seemed silky soft to touch, and she was tempted to reach out and test if those silky strands were as soft as they looked..

She felt her heart beating a little faster as she hesitated, and her breathing turned shallow. She felt something different, one she had not felt before. Her hand involuntary moved towards his head to touch it but–

“Ask your servants to apply the Wood Elf healing elixir on it once you return.”

His voice pulled her out of the trance, making her hand stop midway.

Draven looked at her hand that was approaching him and then towards her face that looked puzzled as if she didn’t know what she was doing. Even Ember herself felt confused when she noticed his red eyes looking at her.

“I…” She didn’t know how to explain why her fingers were mere inches away from his face and was about to pull her hand back when Draven held it to stop her.

Ember was startled, but what shocked her more was the moment he held her hand, it was as if her world lost all sounds, and in this exhilaratingly quiet world, only the frantic beating of her heart could be heard.

Draven stared deeply into her eyes as he moved her hand closer to his face. He made that delicate palm touch his cheek.

A gasp left her lips as she stared at her hand cupping the man’s face, feeling something she had never experienced before–something wild and overbearing come alive inside her chest.

How could touching someone feel like this?

It was a fleeting feeling, but there was a flash of realization, as if what she had with the man in front of her was a connection deeper and infinitely larger than anything she’d ever known, as if…as if…

However, she struggled to find the words to describe what she was feeling.

Draven was mesmerized. A single touch of his mate was enough for him to feel as if the thousands of years he spent living without her was a bland dream. It was as if he was breathing for the first time, feeling sunlight for the first time, tasting what it meant to be alive for the first time. He wanted to close his eyes and enjoy her touch, but at the same time, he wanted to stare at her just like this.

‘When the bond is complete…I wonder if she will feel the same way I do…’

His thumb caressed the back of her right hand that he was holding. Before any of them realized it, their faces were merely an inch apart, the tips of their noses almost touching.

His hot breath fanned against her cold skin, and this made her body shiver as if it was craving their growing intimacy. Instinct was telling her that everything was falling into place, and as her hand caressed the angles of his face, as her fingers traced his high cheekbone down to his jaw–

“Miss Ember, are you around?”

Their intimate bubble burst, and reason came flooding back to the pair, along with the sounds around them–the chirping of birds, the rustling of trees, the distant sound of footsteps and voices–all resounding slaps to their stunned faces that Draven and Ember had never been alone in the first place.

“–hey, have you perhaps seen Miss Ember? I can’t find her, and it’s already way past meal time.”

“Try asking the others,” another voice responded. “I haven’t seen Miss all day today.”

“All right. I wonder where the Miss went…”

Ember recognized the voice belonging to one of the servants assigned to her, and this caused her to completely awaken from her trance-like state. Her hands flew to her chest, and she felt her heart still racing under her palms. She licked her lips, and only then did she realize her throat felt parched.

‘W-What was that?’ Her puzzled eyes looked at the red-eyed man who had moved away from her. ‘What was I doing with the King? What were we–‘

Under her confused gaze, Draven stood up as if nothing strange had occurred and kept proper distance between them. With his senses heightened, he knew the offender who ruined the moment was now roaming the garden.

‘That elf, it is one of her servants.’

Draven waited for the elf to reach the gazebo while he glanced at his mate who still looked to be completely out of it. Ember remained sitting, trying to calm herself and rubbing her hand over her heart as if asking it to stop being like this.

‘It’s not the right time,’ he inwardly sighed. ‘Let her get used to it.’