Siora resisted. It wasn't easy to take the demon queen down so easily. She twisted her hands and, in a flash, the two guards who held her were down. She jumped behind one of them and snapped his neck. He slumped to the floor. Anastasia rushed to the side and covered Iona with her wings. Taking advantage of the situation, Siora pulled the sword out from the dead guard's sheath and swung it towards them. She arced her sword to slice Anastasia's wings, but her sword met with another sword. 

Ileus lunged from his place while taking his sword out. He met Siora's sword before it could crash in Anastasia's wings. Mad in rage, he pushed her sword with his with so much force that Siora stumbled on the ground, her foot catching the side of the dead guard making her fall on his body. He towered over her with his sword's tip on her neck. Anger was flashing in his eyes that were hot and bright as freshly stoked flames. "Are you seriously going to take that chance?" he asked.. "Anastasia vowed to the Lore to let you live, and you are trying to take her life?" He pressed the tip in her neck and blood trickled out. "If it was up to me, I would have seized you already and thrown you in front of Rolfe, but my wife— my wife is too kind." His eyes were like shards of heated glass. "You abducted my friend and now you tried to kill my wife? You have guts, Siora and I am yet to see a woman as sick as you!" He spat on the floor right beside her hands, as if trying to spit his hatred out. "Now, get up slowly and we will walk to Rolfe's room." 

Siora's chest was going up and down heavily. Knowing that it would take only a moment for Ileus to kill her, she put her hand up in the air and said in a hoarse voice, "Anastasia has vowed to let me live. You can't kill me because she would be bound to protect me." 

"Who said I will kill you?" Ileus sneered. He pressed the sword's tip a little more. "I will keep you alive because from now on you are the official blood slave of Rolfe. Whenever he would be in need of blood, even for slightest wounds, he will feed blood off you. Imagine your life from now on. Anastasia will have nothing to do in it because I am not killing you. In other words, she is letting you live!" 

Siora gulped as she became stunned into silence. Her body shuddered at the thought. She had come to make a deal and things were soon turning around. She had to quickly do something. "Okay, I am getting up," she said. "I would like to go to my son's room. It is getting late I guess." 

Ileus narrowed his eyes at how quickly she agreed, but he gave her a tight nod and she got up when he retracted his sword. When she started walking towards a passage, he asked her to, she realized that his sword's tip was sharp against her skin on the back. 

Iona guided her to Rolfe's room. As soon as they reached, Iona pulled her to Rolfe's bed. She took out the dagger Anastasia had given. She pulled Siora's hand over Rolfe's mouth and sliced the skin with the dagger. Drops of her blood trickled into Rolfe's mouth. A few moments later when the blood reached inside, Iona saw that Rolfe was stirring a bit. His lips had parted and now his tongue darted out to find more of it. Feeling desperate for Rolfe to feed, Iona pushed Siora's wrist into Rolfe's mouth and was surprised when his mouth grabbed her wrist. 

Iona could see how fast the effect of blood was. The gaping holes in his chest had started stitching themselves together. Flesh and skin started forming, filling the small dips and hollows. Relief seeped in her chest, but relief was a weird feeling. It was as if all the tension that she had suffered from for so many days—it felt betrayed. Her eyes became watery and her lips quivered. Ileus went to stand behind his sister. He knew that she needed his support. As soon as he placed his hands on her shoulders, she sagged against his chest. 

Rolfe lapped up the blood hungrily. Soon, when he must have felt senses returning, he held her hand tightly against his mouth and lapped in whatever he could get. When Siora started fainting, the healer intervened, "His wounds have almost healed up, princess. You have to urge him to leave her, else Queen Siora may become unconscious forever and we may never be able to use her again." 

Iona nodded in silence. Anastasia gestured to the guards to take Siora to the dungeons of the fortress for now. Though she wanted to throw her in the dungeons of the palace forever, there was something that prickled at the back of her mind. 

The guards pulled up a semi-conscious Siora and dragged her out of the room. When the door closed, Iona sat beside Rolfe. She cupped his face, which had color on it again. Over the past few hours, he had gone pale like a ghost and now he looked like a, "Sleeping beauty," she muttered. And both Ileus and Anastasia laughed. 

Anastasia stood against her husband's chest as he wrapped his arms around her warmly. "Thanks," she whispered, craning her neck to look at her disheveled Dark Prince. 

He leaned over and kissed her temple. "I need a good bath, wife," he whispered back and Anastasia's cheeks singed with heat. They both looked at Iona who appeared extremely happy. They knew that she needed alone-time with her mate and they too needed to be alone. It was a long night and they had to really make up to it. 

Ileus extended his hand to stroke his sister's hair. "He will be fine now, Iona," he said softly. 

She chuckled and her tears rolled out. She nodded as she tried to push the lump down her throat in order to speak something. "He is—" was all she could manage to say. 

"He will be absolutely fine by the morning, princess Iona," said the healer. "You should also take a rest." Then he looked at Ileus and Anastasia and repeated his request. "Please take a rest. You both need it." 

Anastasia giggled. "I know why you are saying—you don't want more patients, since your hands are full." 

The healer gave a sheepish smile. A groan from the next room boomed. "They are cleaning Kaizan's wounds. It will take some time for us to disinfect him and bandage. I have already given him a sleeping draught to ease his pain," he informed. 

Ileus closed his eyes as he settled his chin on Anastasia's head. His wife, his sister and his friend—all were around him… He was happy like the new spring bud that had finally thrown a colorful flower after a long winter. The path from here was not going to be smooth, but he was filled with hope. Kissing Anastasia's ear lobes, he said, "Come baby, I need your help." 

"With what?" she asked with a frown. 

"With a bath," he replied brazenly. 

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