SPELLBOUND

Upon arriving at the entrance of Crescia's dark gate, Onyx was seen lying in wait there at his usual post. His fiery amber eyes stared hard, not at Evie but at Gavrael as soon as the duo arrived and stepped into his territory.

"Onyx!" Evie cheerfully ran towards the dark dragon the moment Gavrael set her feet on the ground, as if the massive creature was her pet waiting for her return. She immediately circled her arms around and hugged the dragon's snout and caressed his shiny scales fondly as she had missed it so much.

Watching her, Gavrael stared back at Onyx cautiously and the dragon then rose and issued out a rumbling growl. Evie was startled at the sudden dangerous sound Onyx made and she immediately realized that his eyes was currently fixed on Gav.

Her eyes flew towards Gavrael and her mouth dropped open at the sight of him glaring back at the dragon aggressively as his darkness was starting to swirl and gather around him again. Oh, no!

Hastily, Evie let go of Onyx and strode towards Gavrael, throwing herself at him as she wrapped her arms around his lean hips. "Gav! Hey, look at me." She urged as one of her hands cupped the side of his face and applied gentle pressure to make him look down, so he could focus his gaze on her instead. "It's fine. You don't have to worry about Onyx. He is… he's my dragon, Gav. He's definitely not an enemy to us."

Gavrael fixed his gaze on her frantic face, and he slowly breathed out, realizing that he had alarmed her. Of course, he knew that this guy was her dragon.

He also knew that even back then, he had been jealous of this particular dragon because of Evie's fondness of him. And now he could not believe that of all things, this was one of those things that had not changed about her. She had changed so much from the Evie he knew in the past, and yet he could still see that she had not changed one bit in her affection and attitude towards Onyx. Somehow, this caused Gavrael to somehow be unable to hold back his displeasure because of the realization that perhaps this time too, this dragon was going to take all her attention away from him, just like back then. Gavrael scowled as he thought back on how he had been neglected every time this blasted dragon came into the picture.

Back then, Gavrael remembered that he had to always try to fight for her attention when Onyx was around and that caused such a sour disposition to exist between them. He also knew that unlike the other dragons, Onyx did not seem to like him just as how he felt towards it. Gavrael thought about it before that the dragon's reaction toward him was perhaps because it had felt his darkness, or maybe because the dragon could sense his immense and dangerous powers and that was why Onyx's reaction right now was not a surprise to him at all.

However, despite their obvious dislike of each other, Onyx had never really attacked him. Back then, all they did was glared at each other just like what they were doing right now. The air of hostility was also heavy with pressure that it could suffocate anyone who come within a five-feet radius from them. However, that was about the worst that had happened between them. There never had been any physical altercation as they knew that Evie would be saddened if any of them were hurt.

With another long, drawn-out sigh, Gavrael pulled back on his darkness and said to her. "I know he's your dragon."

"Then why are you…" Evie was confused.

"Well…" he paused and tilted his head slightly. "It's his fault. Look at him, growling at the sight of me. Of course, I'd glare back. Or were you expecting me to smile back at him?" Gavrael responded in a complaining tone.

Evie was speechless. Now that she looked back at Onyx, she could not help but realize that the two of them were actually kind of similar to each other. Right then, they were both dark and brooding… Evie actually thought that if Gav could shapeshift into a dragon form using his magic like one of those tales she heard when she was still a child, she was almost certain that he would most definitely be a carbon copy of Onyx.

The thought made her giggle as she suddenly thought of Gav and Onyx's relationship which was going to change from being enemies into one of friends very soon. She just could feel it and the thought of it made her think of how cute they would be together once they became friends. As she could already picture it in her minds, she could not help but giggle even more.

"What is so funny?" Gavrael raised a brow at her, and Evie cleared her throat before composing herself. She knew better than to share that thought with either of them as it would only cause more drama and friction between these two hard heads.

"Nothing," she grinned slyly before turning to face Onyx. "I'm sorry I forgot to introduce my companion to you." she told the dragon. "This is Gav, my husband."

Instantly, Gavrael stilled, feeling like his body had turned into a statue. Her words 'my husband' echoed over and over in his head, like a clanging gong and cymbal.

"So… be nice to him, okay?" she added entreatingly and then Onyx looked away, as if snubbing Evie's request. Evie could almost see him pursing his dragon lips and pouting at her.

The dragon's reaction made her want to burst out in laughter, but she refrained. She managed to tamp it down and released it as a small giggle. "Alright, would you bring us to the castle?"

Onyx seemed to glare at Gavrael as Gavrael finally snapped out from his momentary daze.

"He does not seem to want or be willing to escorting us, so I guess you shouldn't force him. He should stay here at the gate to keep watch." Gavrael held on to Evie's waist possessively as he smirked at Onyx.

The dragon growled and then it turned around, leading the way forward.

"Oh, he agreed!" Evie pressed her lips tight, holding in the laugh that was threatening to bubble out with the slightest provocation, as she heard Gavrael tsk-ed.

Evie then dragged Gavrael to climb on the back of the dragon along with her, but Gavrael refused.

"I don't ride on dragons, Evie. I can travel on air if I want to." Gavrael said, causing Evie to raise a brow.

"Oh, alright. Whatever you prefer." She then let go of his hand and climbed onto Onyx's back, leaving Gavrael standing aside them, scowling.

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