Daryn smiled. "We can meet him tomorrow at Ensmoire. In fact he is eager to meet you because you are his king."

Caleb pursed his lips. The 'king' responsibility was giving him jitters.

​​

"That won't do Caleb," said Daryn, understanding his brother well. "You have to shoulder the responsibility as soon as possible. In fact you should take Elize over there. Unless of course you have to show her to the doctors over here."

Caleb took a deep breath and exhaled. He leaned against the door and said, "Doctors have given up on her…" His heart sank.

"Then don't wait. Just go for it!" Daryn urged.

"I will," he replied. Tomorrow he will tell more about his world to Elize.

At night he gave medicines to Elize after she ate light. Her appetite was going down drastically and she only had a few spoonfuls of chicken stew. Caleb wrapped her in his arms and the two went off to sleep. He got up very early in the morning, as he had to accompany Daryn to the Ensmoire. He had never been to the enchanted forest. The idea increased his excitement.

The brother shifted in their werewolf form and loped toward Ensmoire. When they entered the forests, they found Quetz sitting in front of Canton and staring in his eyes. While Daryn walked to him after shifting back to his human form, Caleb's mouth fell to the ground. The forest was beyond beautiful. He was so engrossed in gawking at the pink Eobens that he forgot what mission he was there for. The trees whispered amongst themselves at the new guest. They covered themselves with branches not liking the new entrant. Caleb swallowed his saliva. "These trees talk?" he asked with bewilderment as he turned to see Quetz.

Daryn watched how Canton was in a trance. "Release him Quetz!" he said.

'Can't a dragon have fun?' said Quetz and got up to stretch his limbs. He looked at Caleb and nodded at him.

Caleb was mesmerized. He nodded back in acknowledgement. Dawn was such a blessed woman to be a dragon rider.

Not understanding what Quetz even said, Daryn tilted his head and repeated, "Release him Quetz before his head gets fried like popcorn!"

'You know how to ruin fun Dawn's husband!' Quetz said and blinked his eyes.

Canton gasped. The mental tug that was holding him captive to the dragon snapped. He scrambled away from Quetz. "That is one dangerous dragon," he said with fear.

In order to scare him more, Quetz flared his wings fiercely.

The priest shrieked as if the dragon was about to attack him and ran to hide behind the nearest man, who in this case was Caleb.

Quetz grimaced and took off to air. 'Such a wuss!'

Daryn coughed and said, "This is my older brother, Caleb."

Realizing what he was doing, Canton immediately came in front of Caleb and bowed him ninety degrees. "My king!" he dared not even stand up until the king acknowledged him.

"Hello," Caleb said in a careful voice. He didn't know how to react to this.

Canton straightened up and looked at his king for the first time. He was more handsome than his younger brother without a speck of doubt. And the aura he had on his face… it was unbelievable.

Caleb raised his eyebrow at the man who was staring at him, feeling uncomfortable as hell. "Well…?" he said dryly.

"My liege, when are you coming to Ixoviya? All of us are eagerly waiting for you to claim your title. Please you must come."

Daryn, who was standing only a few feet away was most surprised at the way Canton sounded. It was such a desperate plea. "What is the hurry?" he interrupted because he knew that Caleb was totally at unease.

Without turning to look at Daryn, Canton addressed his king, "My liege, the kingdom is without a head at the moment. I can already smell dissent within factions. After queen Sedora, the revolt is slowly surfacing. She was quite a cruel woman who used to throw the revolutionaries in the dungeon and guard them with her spells. We used to hear gory stories about those who ended up in the dungeons. None of us have gone to that side after queen Sedora has vanished. So that is why now that isn't there, people are raising their heads to revolt against you. If you delay, you will have to face repercussions." Canton stopped for a breath as Caleb tried to absorb this information. "It is time you claim the crown and have a talk with all of them. You see Ixoviya is kingdom where sorcerers live. Their combined magic can be… horrifying."

There was no one better than Daryn to understand the magic part. While Caleb grimaced, Daryn was convinced. "But Caleb's powers are rudimentary," he pointed out.

"I agree. We can teach him and help him realize the powers once he is on the throne."

Caleb walked away from both of them. He looked up at the sky, raised his hands and crossed them behind his head. Everything was going at the speed of a torpedo. He closed his eyes and then focused on the purpose of his visit. "Look, I have come to understand things about me… like what Daryn said… So maybe you should help me with that. What if I don't have the magic? Where will that put me?"

None of them had thought of the possibility. There was a worried look on Canton's face. He didn't want to even consider that it could be a possibility. "In that case my liege, we need to start immediately and today I will be focusing my attention on you."

Daryn took the cue and said, "I will go back then." He scanned Caleb with his gaze if he was okay with it.

There was an awkward silence amongst the brothers.

Caleb nodded to assure that he would be fine. Daryn left.

When he came back to the mansion, he found his wife still sleeping in the bed. She was so warm and so naked that he pulled her closer to him and she wrapped his cold body with hers. "It's too cold outside hubby," she said as she absentmindedly kissed him. "You should rather stay in bed."

"Mmm…" he replied and slid down to suckle her breast as he kneaded the other one. A moan escaped her lips and she wasn't allowed to get out of the bed until her Lykae husband was satisfied.

When Caleb came back, it was almost 11AM. He didn't know that magic overflowed in him. He felt like a vessel of magic and now that it was tapped, he felt that every damn movement he did could result in a spell. Canton wasn't surprised, he was stunned. He would teach him one spell and Caleb would end up casting two more—unknowingly. He hadn't even started and his energy was drained, but he was excited. He was bouncing on his feet when he reached his room, but stilled when saw that Elize was lying on the floor. "Elize!" he shouted and rushed to her to pick her up. He settled her on the bed and found that she was burning with fever. All his excitement burst like a bubble and panic set in. He called the family doctor immediately.

"Dawn. Daryn," he shouted, hoping that someone was still there.

He looked at Dawn rushing in the room. She was petrified when she saw that Elize was unconscious and she was even more horrified when she saw the paleness on Caleb's face.