SPELLBOUND

What just happened?! Did he hear it correctly? It seemed as if his wife had just told him to sleep. Did those words actually come out of her beautiful mouth? Gavriel was a little confused in his mind and held himself quiet and still for a while before he caught Evie's hand that was caressing his hair. He tried to school the look on his face as to not look so disappointed as he stared up at her.

"Wife," he called out gently as his eyes narrowed, "could it be that a certain blabbermouth had come by, telling you that I had been worked out and am tired to death?"

His question made her beautiful eyes widened in shock before she blinked and took his hand off hers and gently placed it on top of his abdomen. "Yes, my love. But even if the blabbermouth didn't say anything, I'd still be insisting that you should take your rest." She stated firmly as she resumed her careful ministrations on his hair.

"Evie, look at me. Do I look tired to you? At all??" he raised his brow and then lifted his hand to touch her face. "I am finally here and seeing you again, but now you wanted me to sleep?" his whispered in a low voice as he continued caressing her cheek. The look in his eyes even changed and he gave her that smouldering, irresistible look. "Could you at least give me something I needed first before putting me to bed?" he then wriggled his eyebrows mischievously at her.

His words were inviting and the way he stared up at her sent an electrifying current that had zapped all around her nerves and was now tickling her inside. God help me… Evie could only mentally roll her eyes and whisper inside her mind.

She opened her mouth and nearly gave in but somehow, she managed to hold her ground. It was because she was still worried. And maybe, she was a little paranoid as well. What if something suddenly happens again? This question was stuck in her mind, and she could not help but feel scared.

Because everything still seemed too good to be true. It was only a few days ago when they got separated, and it had not been even a week yet. Yet now he was suddenly here with her. And it even looked as though he had infiltrated the castle and rescued her so easily. He had even captured emperor Lorcan and took back the city again. Everything happened so quickly and smoothly as if it was all so easy to be accomplished.

Evie grew up hearing stories about wars and strategies. She knew how hard it was to recapture a city. It would have taken so much bloodshed. Even the initial plans they had involved sacrificing some of their own people's lives to succeed to their end goal. Of course, thanks to Evie's plans they could abandon the idea of sacrificing lives and thus came up with the current plans. But Gavriel executed his own plans so quickly and flawlessly, that it was baffling to even think of how he accomplished it.

Though this was something that should be celebrated, Evie felt as though she was afraid to let down her guard or be happy with him again even in this short moment they had together. She was afraid that if she allowed herself to be happy and loosen her guard even for a moment, something bad will happen again and she dreaded that. Especially right now when they are still in a tensed situation. The least that she could do was to make sure that her husband was in his best shape before another round of trouble comes barging at their door.

"My love, are you okay?" his deep voice pulled her attention back to him and before she could form any response, Gavriel let out a deep sigh. "I'm going to kill this blabbermouth for making you worry unnecessarily like this." He hissed.

"Oh no… please don't! You needed this blabbermouth more than I –"

"What did you just say?"

"I… I meant that these are critical times. So, you can't afford to lose him –"

Suddenly, Gavriel's large hand cupped the back of her head and pulled her closer to his face. "Listen," his face became incredibly severe, "it's you I needed the most. More so during these tough times. Do you understand, Evie?" 

The hardness in his voice made Evie swallow hard. But she nodded and Gavriel let go of her and slumped his head back into her lap with a soft groan. He closed his eyes and then sighed again. When he opened his eyes, he was calm again.

"I know you're worried about me, and you have no idea how happy I am that you are prioritising me this way. But my love, putting me to bed is not really the right choice right now." He said and Evie blinked. "You know why? Because I'm still full of vigour right now and I don't think I could even sleep. I would stay awake like this and just end up staring at you and feel the warmth of your fingers combing through my hair. I wouldn't want to sleep and miss out on this moment with you. This is the first time you have allowed me to rest my head on your lap and you expect me to sleep? What I am trying to tell you, my love is…" he paused, and his throat worked, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down and Evie did not even know why she swallowed hard too. "If you really want me to sleep, this is definitely not the right way. What you should do is let me use up all the vigour I have left until I end up collapsing on you in exhaustion and fall asleep in bliss."

Without averting his gaze from hers, Gavriel slowly reached out for her hand before kissed her fingers one at a time. His eyes smouldered through his dark lashes and continued in a hoarse seductive voice. "That, my love, is the best and quickest way to put me to bed. No, that's actually the only way to put me to sleep right now." Gavriel drawled out as he flashed his deadly attractive smile at Evie.