"Do you know of anyone else who practices necromancer magic in Draoidh?" asked Seraph as he floated towards the entrance of the cabin and looked beyond into the forest. The Diumbe were lurking on the outside. 

"I only knew about Circe, Master," Iona replied. 

"Hmm…" he said. The door of the cabin opened on its own and he went out saying, "I will be back soon." 

Iona watched him leave the cabin and merge with the darkness. 

As Seraph walked into the dark forest, he recalled the day he was married to Etaya. It was such a beautiful day. He couldn't believe his luck that a fae princess had chosen him, a demon, a bane blood. He was so proud of her. She had run away from her kingdom to be with him. 

He had introduced her to every person in his kingdom that day when he had proudly presented her to them on the plateau adjoining the palace. She was dressed in all gold and she shimmered like the sun. He was aware that the only person against their marriage was Og'drath, the king's wife. But that was a minor hurdle because his older brother, King Kar'dan, was happy with it. 

Seraph was so much in love with Etaya that he agreed to her terms and conditions of marriage. Just after marriage there was a slight problem in which she had demanded that she get a piece of land from the kingdom, but he had ruled out those possibilities. It was during that time, he met a beautiful demoness, but she was Og'drath's maid. He wanted to capture that girl and put her in his harem but the girl had just vanished in thin air. He could never forget that incident. Who was she? Where had she come from? The shadows who rescued her that day… they were of a man with golden yellow eyes… Was that Ileus? Could Ileus travel in time? He had sent his spies to find her in the Lore, but she was nowhere to be found. 

Etaya was not happy staying with Seraph. An ambitious woman, she had come up with the plan to take over Vilinski. She convinced him that the only way to take over the fae kingdom would be to throw her brother and his wife out of power. And for that the only way was to gather dark forces. It took them more than ten years to finalize the plan and then with the help of sorceress Sedora, Etaya killed him to bring him to his spirit form. His body was well preserved in the basement of Zor'gan palace. She said that his sacrifice would give way to a new era, where the faes and demons would together rule the Lore and then the world. He had willingly given up his life for his wife, for her vision. 

But now… now Seraph wanted to go back. He was tired of it all. He wanted to be with his son. His daughter was killed by Anastasia and Etaya had said that she was ruthlessly killed by her. He wanted to take revenge from Anastasia for killing her daughter so mercilessly. And he would use Iona to take revenge for him. She was too powerful and the best tool he could get hold of. After the last plan failed, he was too furious with her. He had punished her severely. It was like how he always did to her. He would put her to sleep and then ask her to carve her own body with the sharpest tool near her. She had often punctured her stomach, her hands, her shoulders with a fork also. It was Etaya who had asked him to stop. 

He had left Iona to heal in this cabin to recover. The girl had fantastic healing abilities but this time she took longer than needed to heal. Maybe her magic was withering now. In that case it was all the more essential that he used her in the attack against Adrianna and get Anastasia back. After that he would simply throw her away, or kill her, or give her to the dark spirits in the Land of Gaira… though he had never gone that way. It was dangerous for spirits like him because Gaira had a tendency of sucking spirits in its portal. 

Iona was left in the cabin with yet another day of wondering what to do next. For the next few days even as Diumbe watched her and she played them like they were her pets, she simply focused on healing and practicing her powers. This time she didn't let the spirits take over her. It was difficult because the temptation of the dark forces was maddening. The moment they entered her, she would feel immensely powerful. They affected her thinking, they gave her dreams of power beyond imagination, they made her go… crazy… 

It was in the nights that she had started getting these weird dreams. She would keep revisiting the time of her kidnap in her dreams. It was as if someone was pulling her back, trying to recreate the whole scene… Iona would get up with sweat and shallow breath. 

--- 

"Ahhhh!" Dmitri's pained cry made Ileus jerk back to the present. He got out of his cell and jumped out of his chair. They were sitting in their bedchamber in the north wing. 

"Father!" he held his shoulders. He could see the pain on Dmitri's face, which was now ruddy. "Please relax, Father. I know those memories are painful but we have to find her." Ileus was trying to access his memories. After the incident of Iona's abduction, Dmitri had gone into a depression. He had stopped talking to anyone around him for days. He blamed himself all the time for not protecting his daughter. Adrianna had been very harsh and it had taken a toll on both of them. Had he remained with Iona in the carriage, he would have protected her. But what could he do? His mate was attacked and she was attacked by arrows. He saw them jutting out of her body and it twisted his heart. How could he leave his mate in that condition? It was his primal instinct to save her, be with her. His beast clamored him on the inside to protect his mate. 

Adrianna had blamed him and he… he blamed himself for not being able to protect his wife and his daughter. They had searched for Iona everywhere, but they could never find her. It had taken healers over six months to get him out of his condition and helped him suppress those memories. Revisiting them was… painful. And Ileus was scraping them when he was in his cell. 

"Papa," said Ileus. "Open yourself to me, please…" 

Adrianna was sitting on the back, observing the two of them. Seeing how much it hurt her husband, her chest tightened. She walked to him and curled her arms around his shoulders from behind. Placing her chin on his head, she murmured, "I hate to see you in this condition, Dmitri, but please try darling." She kissed the crown of his head. He looked up at her and she kissed him on his lips. "Stop blaming yourself, okay? We need to do this. You can do this." 

Dmitri nodded and closed his eyes again for Ileus to enter his cell. 

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