SPELLBOUND

"Now shall we make a move? I believe you're in quite a bit of a rush, my dear daughter in law." Evie blushed as she remembered how King Belial had teased her. Although she had married Gavriel, and thus, making King Belial her father in law, the term still caused her to feel a little shy.

However, she shook her head and focussed on the present and at the task at hand. Turning to the rest of the light faes who were waiting a few steps behind her, she announced that they will be accepting King Belial's help to break the barrier that was surrounding the tree of light.

"My queen, are you very certain about this?" Zirrus came close and asked Evie with a lowered voice. The light fae looked very torn and hesitant and Evie understood his concerns.

The light faes were intimidated by Belial. They found such a dark and strong creature a threat and she would not blame them. She was not expecting them to simply trust strangers when these light faes had experienced the betrayal of someone from thousands of years ago.

"I am thankful for the concern, Zirrus.. Do not worry, I am not asking anyone of you to trust him. However," her gaze became firm and kind of severe as she swept her gazes to all the light faes near her, "I am asking everyone to trust me." 

There was silence and then everyone nodded, making Evie smile.

King Belial who had seen this nodded in approval. His piercing fiery blue eyes brimming with pride as he looked at her authoritative aura presiding over her people.

In no time, everyone was back in the castle. Evie led Belial to the veranda overlooking the tree of light.

As they stood there and looked at the tree, Belial suddenly removed his cloak, and he grew wings. Large wings akin to the wings of the male light faes sprouted from his back. The only difference is that Belial's were smoke dark and visibly larger.

He spread it and he flew close to the barrier. Evie watched him touched the barrier and then his own dark and strong magic overlapped it. The darkness became so thick in the air and then, the dark magic seemed to waver shakily and started to dissolve the barrier. He did not break it like how Onyx did. It seemed like he absorbed the magic from the barrier until there was nothing left.

Impressed, Evie gaped in awe until Belial returned to her side, his wings disappearing behind his back after landing to stand next to her. That was fast!

"I can't express how thankful I am with your help, King Belial." Evie said, her eyes brimming over with gratitude. Then she looked down. "Even though I am the queen of the light faes, I am still not strong enough." A wry smile curved on her lips.

She was surprised she had actually said that aloud. Maybe because no light faes were with them right now and that was why she was expressing her disappointment towards herself.

To her surprise, a large warm hand landed on the crown of her head. She looked up and King Belial was patting her head gently as he looked down at her with fondness.

"You are wrong, dear child," he said in a serious tone. "You are strong enough. Believe that. My son is very strong, he might even have surpassed the likes of me now. You might not believe me but only I can break this barrier he created. Otherwise, why would I, the king must be the one to leave the Under Land just to go and break a barrier? And yet, you broke the prison barrier yourself. You say that it was the dragon's doing. But I don't think so. Without you, the dragon will not do anything about it, much less break it. In short, it was you who did that. So, lift your head up, young queen. You are powerful. Very powerful."

Evie could not help but smile. And then, she had the sudden urge to hug him.

"Thank you." she said, "May I hug you?" she asked a little shyly.

Belial did not answer but hugged her tight in response. "My wife will be jealous of me once I tell her about this." He said cheekily as if bragging about this 'privilege'. The he patted Evie's head again before letting go. "I always thought my son is such a poor and unfortunate child. Fate loved to make him suffer, but now I have changed my mind. He's not that totally unfortunate because he has someone like you. He's lucky to have met and gained you, and I think that's all that matters." Belial said. Somehow, meeting this young queen made him feel a lot better. He had sometimes thought that his son suffered too much just because of a girl. But now he realized that she was worth his son's sufferings. She is totally worth it. And the thought gave him such a great relief. Because if Gavrael had been and is still suffering for a woman that was nothing like this one, he might get angry.

"Thank you." was all she said, looking quite emotional and yet trying her best to remain calm and collected. He remembered his wife and he could not help but smile indulgently, thinking that this one was perfect for his stubborn and wilful son.

"Also, you'll become even more powerful from now on, young queen." He said and Evie smiled as she looked towards the direction where tree of life was.

"I hope so. This tree of light might make me stronger as well."

Belial shook his head. "No child. Well, the tree of life will certainly help but…" he looked at her as Evie faced him with questioning eyes. "The reason why I came here isn't just to help you out with the barrier alone. I came to remove the restriction that I had previously put on you."

Evie: "?!"

Before Evie could process all that he just said, Belial stretched out his hand and put his palm over her chest. Then suddenly, a delicate and ashen smoke-like dark magic began to curl and twist out of her body.

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A/N: Don't forget to vote spellbounders, if we stay #1 this whole month in golden ranking, i will give 10 chapters mass release this november 1.

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