Roman cringed, looking at the old man whose chest was heaving up and down.

It messed with the other image that was stuck in his mind, the image of the girl who was ready to devour him, her chest also heaving up and down.

Roman shook his head. "Ahem. I was just helping her, your highness." He cleared his throat again and tried to explain, lest he was afraid, he might just be murdered on the spot.

Hmmm… Cadmus hummed, his eyes scrutinizing the man in front of him, standing awkwardly with his shirt ripped off.

"Don't talk about what happened with anyone." Holding Sylvia gently in his arms, the old man then disappeared back into the royal palace.

Roman blinked, wondering why he had received such a strange warning.

He had expected something more along the lines of 'Stay away from my granddaughter' or 'I will kill you brat'.

He stood for a while, staring in the direction where the two of them had disappeared.

He had come here to help her and that didn't go too bad.

He let out a deep sigh, turning around to leave.

He tried to shift and move, but he could still feel a dull ache in his bones. Fuck. Just how strong is she…

The next morning…

Sylvia woke up, her head feeling very groggy, but that was not the only thing that was different about her.

As soon as she took the first breath, she could tell that something was weird. Weird good.

She could feel it.

She could sense it in the air that she breathed.

For some reason, she felt so much more complete. Not that there was a piece of her missing before.

It was just different.

She felt more like herself, more stable, more grounded, and less restless.

She stood up and drank some water, but her head was still throbbing with a vague pain.

How could one feel so good and terrible at the same time? She was left puzzled.

"What happened yesterday? Did I drink too much wine?"

She only remembered being angry, angry about something. She had never felt angrier in her life.

But after a couple of seconds passed… The tutor… the snake… the wolf… and herself…

Everything came crashing down all at once.

Sylvia shuddered, holding onto the wooden edges of her bed. She now remembered everything.

Roman's words were still fresh in her mind, his voice ringing loud and clear. He had called her a pathetic weakling and a coward.

Just thinking about it again arose a pang of fury within her. Her emotions were all over the place.

Sylvia closed her eyes and took a couple of deep breaths.

"Focus." She muttered under her breath and tried to really concentrate on the only part of the evening that mattered.

She raised her hands that were gripping the wood firmly and looked at them.

They were lean, pale, and soft with long fingers.

But that was not what they looked like yesterday night. She remembered them being sharp and steel-like.

She felt as if she could tear through anything. In fact, she remembered digging into Roman's body… pushing him down…

Sylvia sighed. "I will apologize to him in person." She felt guilty, but she was not really sorry about it.

He had provoked her and she actually transformed.

She didn't think that something like this could actually work and so easily, but apparently, it did.

It was just that easy.

All she needed to do was get angry and the beast within her was ready to come out and wreak havoc.

And anger was something that she didn't lack.

Still gazing at her hands, Sylvia walked to stand in front of a tall full-size mirror.

She looked at her reflection, at her slender body, her blue eyes and her silver hair, and then back at her hands.

She closed her eyes and took a couple of breaths. She once again tried going to that dark and desperate place.

She thought about how weak and pathetic she was and how she had begged him… No that's not what she wanted to think about.

She tried to think about the prison cell, the pain, the cuffs and shackles that bound her but once again a familiar face flitted across her mind, a face that she did not want to ever think about.

Sylvia bit her lips in frustration. This was not working.

She gulped down another glass of water and tried again, but this time really focusing on just one particular thing, on a particular person, the high council mage Eric.

Sylvia instantly felt her heart and mind becoming turbulent and her body boiling with rage.

Her breathing turned ragged and strained and everything heated up.

She felt a strange strength coursing in her veins, but at the same time, her knees wobbled as if they were about to give away at any second.

Holding on to that feeling tightly, she looked up to see herself in the mirror again.

Instead of her clear blue eyes, now a pair of golden eyes stared back at her.

Sylvia took a step back in shock.

She had read about it. Other people had told her things, but this was the first time she was seeing for herself.

She was herself, but she was someone else. Her eyes were bright golden. A pair of curved silver horns popped out of her head.

And…

She looked at her hands again, this time she saw the same sharp metallic claws, most of her hand covered in shimmering silver scales.

But that was not all of it.

Her body was still changing, albeit more slowly than Mrs. Gruger's or Roman's.

When they had shifted it was instantaneous, but for her, it was more slow and gradual.

As she touched the scales and felt their soft and sharp steel-like nature, suddenly her back itched and a searing pain shot through her spine.

RIP!

The robe she was wearing gave away and two small wings popped out.

Thud.

Sylvia stumbled and fell back, her knees finally giving away and her face etched in utter shock.

"W… Wings?"