The last time that King Ophire had seen this etcher was when he had commanded his guards to keep him safe.

However, today his steward had come with the news that the etcher had been missing.

This news made him frown as he stared down at the servant who had been assigned the duty of looking after the etcher until Draco could get back to the Palace.

The young Prince had gone out on some purpose unknown to the men in the Palace and all they had information about the elusive prince was that he was to return soon.

"Draco will be here tomorrow and now I hear that the etcher meant as a gift for him has been missing?" King Ophire roared after the servant arrived.

He was seething with anger since the plan to surprise his beloved brother upon his return would be thwarted due to someone else's incompetence.

The servant who was in charge of the stables for this week felt his knees get weak when he heard the anger in the King's voice.

Everyone in the Palace knew of the love that the King had for this brother of his, whom he had taken care of from the moment of his birth was incomparable.

The tales of how the then Crown Prince Ophire had taken up the responsibility of caring for the newborn Prince was something that most citizens in the Kingdom knew about.

Hence, the servant was not surprised to see the dark clouds surrounding the King after this news was revealed.

"Y-your Maj-esty…" He stuttered while trying to find his words.

The steward knew of the King's hatred of stutterers and stammerers and was worried that he might incense the King further.

"Form a proper sentence!" The King snarled at the man who was trembling before the throne.

Not only the servant but also the steward was terrified upon hearing his ferocious words.

'I need to calm myself!' King Ophire decided when he noticed them flinch at his voice.

Taking a deep and cleansing breath in, he exhaled out loud and glanced at the man who remained with his head lowered.

"Now tell me what had happened when you arrived at your post this morning." He reiterated his sentence in a calm voice.

The soothing voice of the monarch had a magical effect to it which made the servant nod as he began narrating the events that had taken place today.

As usual, the servant had woken up ahead of time and had made his way towards the stable.

For the past two days, the etcher that had been sent as a tribute to the King had refused to consume any solid food and had only survived on water from the trough.

Though the beast had been served with the best of foods from the Palace, it sneered at the servant and turned away.

The large build and the scary appearance of the etcher made it hard for him to move closer to the beast so that he might force it to eat.

He had been worried that in case the beast had taken ill due to not eating anything then the blame might fall on his head.

Therefore, he had woken up early and had determined to get the beast to eat something by hook or by crook.

However, when he had reached the stable that had been emptied for the etcher's stay was deserted with no horse inside.

He looked everywhere inside the stable but found no trace of its presence.

The chances of the beast escaping its chains were low yet it had managed to break free from its chains as all he found in the stable were broken shackles laying on the ground.

He then hurried to the gardens, the grazing fields, and even the hunting grounds in hopes of finding the etcher scouring for food to fill its empty stomach.

He had spent hours in the wilderness behind the Palace that acted as the hunting grounds yet found no trace of the massive and terrifying beast.

This was when he had gathered his courage and decided to confess about the mishappening to the steward as this was the last resort.

The events that followed are already known and now he stood before the King after he had completed his detailed narration.

"Hmmm…" King Ophire fell into a contemplative trance after hearing the words of his servant.

He was sure that the man had not spoken of any false or misleading words as doing so would cost him his life.

Now that he knew what had happened he wished to know what had occurred after the beast had managed to escape its bounds.

The fact that they had captured and bound an etcher was already a feat unimaginable to men until now.

Finding an etcher and forming a bond with it were all matters concerning fate and no human meddling would affect the end results.

Yet, King Ophire had chosen to keep the beast captive as he was sure that Draco was worthy of being chosen by the etcher once they met.

But now that chance of that happening was dwindling low as the beast had escaped the Palace premises.

"Shadow guards!" Ophire uttered those two words in a soft voice.

Even though the words that escaped the King's mouth were not too loud, the very next second two men appeared before the throne.

Dressed in black from head to toe, the only part of their bodies that were visible were the grey eyes that shimmered.

The men were down on one knee as they showed their respect to the King who had summoned them.

"Find the etcher that belongs to Prince Draco and make sure that it is back before my brother gets here." He gave them their orders which were accepted with a bow of their heads.

Just as quickly as they had appeared, they disappeared at the same speed.

The steward had witnessed this scene on numerous occasions thus he wasn't as surprised as the servant who had seen the shadow guards for the first time in his life.

'I need to make sure that Draco gets to see his gift upon his safe arrival. He wasn't too happy when he left.' King Ophire sighed when he thought of this little brother of his.

He loved the young boy immensely but at times his way of expressing the love was causing problems between this pair of siblings.

He had wished that this gift would ease the recent tension that had been prevalent since their last conversation.