Curled into a small ball, she sat wordlessly on the chair near the fireplace. Contrary to her lips, her eyes spoke volumes, brimming with emotions as they gazed longingly into the burning fire, watching the sticks twist and turn, breathing their last before crumbling into a pile of ashes. Every so often, crackling sounds would stir the deathlike stillness of the room, creating small disturbing ripples in the indefinite ocean of a stifling silence in which she had been drowning for the past three days.

She seemed to have disposed herself to this sea of never-ending darkness, leaving herself at the mercy of its waves, barely able to keep her head afloat.

Three days had passed since that ill-fated encouter. Three days since Gabriel sent a letter to the capital in Ares' favour. Three days since Henry was fed that venom through her hands. Three days since she committed two murders in cold blood. Three days since she realised that those weren't the first people to be killed by her. Three days of knowing that Ares was undergoing a trial of her own unfortunate actions.

A long sigh escaped her lips as she leaned back more into the chair, letting her eyes close for a moment.

That night, when she saw the first man's eyes turning lifeless, memories of her encounter with that maid had come swarming back inside her mind.

Her second kill undid the compulsion Ares had placed on her on their wedding night, making her forcefully aware of everything.

'When is he going to come back?'

She had been rotting away at the gigantic castle alone, with nothing but her ceaseless thoughts to keep her a miserable company.

Gabriel had reassured her repeatedly that Ares would be freed from his ordreal very soon, but she hadn't heard any news from the capital since she last received the letter regarding his ordreal by fire.

Waiting indefinitely was proving to be extremely nerve wrecking especially without Henricus at her side.

'Henry..'

The thought of Henry filled her with despair. The image from the moment he parted his lids after ingesting the venom was still as clear as the day in her mind.

His empty eyes were staring right through them as if he couldn't comprehend their presence in his vicinity. All he kept uttering on repeat was a single word, to the point he started scratching his own throat with his nails,

She had never seen him act so desperate and she wished she never had to.

He seemed like an animal at that particular time—an animal with nothing on his mind but hunger.

'God knows what would've happened if Gabriel hadn't given Henry his blood.'

A hazy image was slowly forming before her closed eyelids. Her darkened vision was getting illuminated bit by bit by the hues of a crimson trail dripping down a pale hand, into a small bowl. Soon, she could picture a low splash produced as a lone drop slipped down, inside the pooled scarlet liquid, loosing its existence in it.

Suddenly wild neighing of stallions filled her ears, making her sit upright from her curled position on the chair.

'I specifically asked for no visitors. Who is it?'

Stumbling out of her seat, she hurriedly went to the nearest window, parting the drapes to peer out of the glass.

Her jaw dropped visibly as her eyes witnessed the unexpected scene unfolding before her. In front of the entrance gate, a cloaked figure was stepping out of an adorned carriage. She could feel her breath getting caught in her parched throat as she saw two gloved hands appearing out of the black robe, reaching out to tilt the hood back.

Slowly a mop of black hair was revealed, followed closely by a skin so pale, one could almost count the blueish green veins running haphazardly beneath its flesh.

"Ares."

Glinting emeralds lifted up swiftly towards her direction. Although the glass was tinted, she could visibly feel his piercing eyes staring right at her.

'It's really him.'

Not giving it another thought, she twirled around hastily, wasting no time in running towards the semi parted doors of the library.

Black curls bounced up and down behind her as her bare feet padded loudly against the stone stairs. Against the milky white stuff of her disheveled nightgown, her long locks appeared like serpents waving their path down her back.

"Ah!"

A small sound escaped the back of her throat as her foor got caught in the silky stuff of her nightdress, causing her to shoot her arms out and hold onto the railing to save herself from tumbling down. In her haste, she hardly paid any attention to the smooth material slipping down the side of her neck to expose her shoulder.

Out of nowhere, the feeling of being keenly observed crawled up her back causing her grip on the banister to tighten impulsively. A sizzling stare was travelling up and down her length.

'He's here..'

Slowly lifting her eyes up, she caught the undaunting gaze of her newly wedded husband looking sqaure into her eyes.

He was standing at entrance, in front of the semi-parted doors of the mansion, blocking rebellious rays of sunlight from stepping inside the dark castle, leading them to spread in numerous directions after bending around his darkly clad physique.

"My lord.."

The word left her lips like a gentle breeze, caressing the silent atmosphere surrounding them.

She didn't wait for him to reply as she hurriedly covered the distance between them, barely stopping herself an inch from throwing herself into his arms. In a hasty daze, her hands fumbled to grip his gloved fingers before looking up excitedly to take in the silent lord. Her lips were beaming uncontrollably as she uttered her next words without fully comprehending them.

"I missed you. I missed you so much, my lord."

Instead of clutching the leather of his gloves, her small hands had now fisted the silky material of his sleeve in a desperate attempt to gain some comfort out of him without crossing any boundaries. Every dark thought, every single nightmares, all bad memories, everything was evaporating from her head as unbeknownst to her, she nestled her warm body closer and closer to his freezing built.

'Why isn't he saying anything?'

Slowly, the smile gracing her plump lips faltered as she noticed no change of emotions in his stoic demeanour. He appeared far too intimidating for her liking, standing still with his unwavering eyes fixated on her. It almost felt like she was facing the stoic Ares she had left behind in the future.

"Ar-"

She stopped herself abruptly, correcting herself in time,

"Lord Ares."

No trace of emotion passed through those cold emeralds as he averted them away from her, scanning every visible corner of the gigantic castle with an impassive gaze.

"Where is Henry?"

Just as she had thought he wouldn't acknowledge her greeting, he countered her with an unexpected question.

'Why is he-' She paused her thinking midway as a wild thought crossed her mind,

'Does he already know?'

"Faith, I am asking where is Henricus."

The way he had uttered his question out loud, specifically putting emphasis on her name turned her blood cold in her veins.

"H-He is d-downstairs."

She didn't know why her tongue had chosen that specific moment to refuse cooperating with her brain, causing her to stammer out a too weak response to her liking.

"What is he doing downstairs,"

He paused for a brief moment as he started moving forwards slowly, causing her to match his pace by stepping back until her soft body almost made contact with the hard wall behind them.

"... in the dungeons?"

The remaining part of his sentence startled her, leading her to move away from him hurriedly, almost forgetting the wall standing firmly behind her. Just as the back of her skull was about to hit the stone, he brisky placed his hand behind her head to decrease the impact.

Her eyebrows furrowed slightly as she, for the first time since his arrival, witnessed a tinge of concern passing through his transparent gaze, but it disappeared as soon as she had detected it, a cold look had once again taken its place.

"I am asking you something, Faith. What is Henry doing in the dungeons?"

His hand was still cradling the back of her head as he leaned his face closer to hers, piercing her soul with his sizzling gaze. Not being able to maintain any eye contact further, she turned her head to the side, trying to focus her gaze on the bricks lining the wall.

Sensing her reluctance in answering her question, his leather cladded fingers lightly gripped the back of her neck before swiftly turning her head back towards him.

"Let me rephrase my question, Faith."

He was looking her dead in the eye as he gritted his teeth, uttering his next words coldly,

"How has Henry been bonded to me through a slave contract despite him being a human?"

Her eyes widened to the size of saucers as his words settled inside her mind, knocking the breath out of her.

'How...'

Suddenly a scene from her hazy memories started playing before her glassy eyes,

A silhouette of a man lying sprawled in a crimson pool of blood accompanied by another man with a tall broad stature hovering over him like death,

Her brows wrinkled impulsively as the recollection caused her jaw to almost touch the floor.

'Why didn't I remember it before? Ares had a slave contract with Henry in future. The pureblood had mentioned it on the night he attacked us!'

Her eyes moved side to side with rapid jerky movements as her mind worked on overdrive to derive a sensible conclusion,

'Does that man Ares knew it the moment his venom had entered inside Henry's body?'

"Why did you do it, Faith?"

The deep voice lead her glassy gaze back to the man caging her in his arms. The small red dots in his eyes were now rapidly spreading through the swirling pools of his irises, almost swallowing the mint green in the process.

"Why?!"

He had kept the loudness in check. She could tell he was being careful in not raising his voice above the limit but the urgency in his questions were getting harder and harder to ignore. She knew she had to say something, fast.

"He.. was attacked by the v-villagers."

"That does not answer my question."

She pressed her lips together, not knowing a better way to explain the situation to him.

"W-We were returning from church an-" He cut her midsentence,

"Why did you go to church? Had I not warned you about Gabriel's unforgiving nature?"

Inhaling a large amount of breath, she lifted her gaze to stare up into his bottomless pits peering right into her soul,

"You needed help. Gabriel offered to help."

"At what cost?"

"Huh?"

An incoherent sound escaped out of her lips at his sudden question,

"I repeat, at what cost, Faith?"

His indifferent tone was scaring her.

"N-Nothing."

"Do not lie to me. I abhor liars."

Tears pricked the back of her eyes as she sensed a tinge of hurt in his inscrutable tone. All she wanted to do in that moment was hug him and inform him of everything that had been troubling her for the past few days, but she knew she couldn't. No matter how much she desired to unleash her worries upon him, she was unable to, primarily due to the promise she made to Gabriel in return of saving Henry's life.

Gabriel's grim voice from that night was ringing inside her ears.

A lone tear trickled down her rosy cheek as she let out her next words with greatly mustered up courage,

"I'm not lying. He offered to help you in return of saving his daughter's life."

"How did you know about the vial? I never told you."

"You.. did. In future."

The lie was forced out through tightly clenched teeth.

She could hear him mutter some incoherent words underneath his breath but she was unable to comprehend their meaning due to his low volume. Suddenly his gloved fingers that had been grazing the back of her neck gently moved away from her skin as he stepped back from her hunched figure, putting some distance in between them.

"What happened afterwards? How did the villagers attack a moving carriage?"

He was leaning against a wooden table with his arms crossed in front of him, staring blankly at her.

"The carriage wasn't moving,"

She paused for a second, remembering the gut-wrenching pain she had experienced that night in the carriage,

"Henry had stopped it after hearing my screams."

She watched as, for a mere moment, a green tint kissed the red painting his irises,

"Why were you screaming?"

Her body felt naked under his scrutinizing stare. Impulsively, her hand went up to lift up the gown dangling down her shoulder to cover it up from his burning eyes.

"My back.. hurt."

"Why?"

"I don't know."

She had a fuzzy recollection of memories from the night the maid died at her hands. She knew she had injured her back at that time, but there were no wounds the next morning, probably because Ares had given her his blood before leaving for the capital.

She had no idea why her back hurt that time while returning from church. So much had happened that night, it had turned her pain quite insignificant in contrast to everything else going on in her life. There were times when she did want to find out the reason behind her inscrutable pain, but the thought of a servant accidentally walking in on her bare back scared the daylights out of her. She couldn't bear to have another person's blood on her hands.

"Do I have the permission to observe the markings on your skin?"

With a sudden whoosh of air, he was standing right in front of her in the next moment, almost making her racing heart jump to her throat.

There was an edge to his voice as he presented the query before her. Although he had asked that in a dangerously low tone, something told her that he wouldn't go against her wish if she refused to comply.

'I'd be safe if it's Ares.'

Without letting any other sound out, she simply turned her back towards him. Her hand reached behind to move the long raven curls in front of her right shoulder, letting them flow down the front of her chest in a scattered heap of locks.

For some moments, she could detect no movements from his side making her more and more nervous with anticipation.

'What is he-'

The chain of her thoughts was broken abrupty as a cold shiver travelled down her spine making her breath hitch in her throat. A large hand was crawling up her back. Although their skins were separated by layers of silk and leather, it did nothing to prevent his cold skin from desperately seeking her warmth.

"Excuse me."

"Huh- Ah!"

A little squeal escaped through her mouth as he bent down a bit to scoop her up in his arms.

"What are you doing?"

Her hands shot out to clutch his shoulders tightly whilst her body shook with small movements as he continued travelling up the stairs quietly.

"Do you want me to undress you at our doorstep?"

Her heart leaped at his audacious reply, racing more so at not missing his use of the word 'our.'

Having no idea how to answer his rhetorical question, she mumbled a low 'no' in his neck. Accidentally, her soft lips lightly grazed his pale skin in the process of speaking causing him to gulp down his saliva inaudibly. Her widened eyes mesmerized by the view were forced to follow his adam's apple bobbling up and down in reaction.

'He's so beautiful.'

Bewitched by his enchanting looks, her gaze refused to move away from his features. She only came back to her senses when she heard a small click causing her to snap her head away from him almost hurting her neck in the process.

Muffling her screech between her tightly sealed lips, she forced herself to pay more attention to their surroundings rather than the dull throbbing pain in her neck.

'Where's he taking me?'

He was entering inside an unfamiliar room. It was insanely dark inside. She could barely see a thing, but that doesn't seem to be a problem for him. He was moving around comfortably as if he were perfectly aware of every nook and cranny of that never ending blackness.

'Where are we?'

A little surprised sound escaped through her mouth as he bent down abruptly to place her back on her feet. Before she could question him about the room, a cold pair of lips lightly grazed her burning skin letting out a soft whisper into her reddend ear,

"I know you cannot see anything. Wait here, I shall light up the torches."

The cold breath was gone as soon as he finised uttering those words.

After that, all she saw was a black blur speeding around the room, leaving lightened sconces in his path causing her to whirl and twirl in every other direction to follow his haphazard trail. In a moment or two, the darkness was swept away and the solitary room was engulfed in a blanket of warm yellow glow causing her jaw to drop down an inch or more.

'It's the same room I woke up in after the pureblood attack!'