Raphael dropped Valerie back in the palace, right in front of her room. He left her with out a word. His lips still taste like hers, and he wanted to kiss again, and again. He is worried that he might end up doing just that. So he left her in the palace, and away from him. In this last one year, he never kissed her. Not even once. He wanted to punish her. This is the first time he learned that her lips are softer than the petals of a rose flower, and her taste is sweeter than honey and very addictive. "Damn, what have I done" he cursed himself. They did not speak anything after that kiss. He was trying hard not to kiss her again, while she looked like she was in a daze. Now, after one hour, he still wants to go back and finish what he started. 'What is wrong with me? I never found it so hard to control myself with a woman before. Then why is it feeling like an impossible task now?' he thought to himself. He is in his cave room. He couldn't stay in his room in the palace, as it i
By the time Raphael came to Valerie's room, it was empty. The guards outside her room are oblivious to the fact that she is missing. Whoever it is, they know everything about the hidden doors inside the palace. "Shit" he cursed and pressed the wall beside her wardrobe. His fingers touched a movable brick. He pushed the brick inside and slowly the wall began to slide aside, opening a narrow tunnel, which is dark and cobwebs can be seen everywhere. But his senses are stronger than everyone, so he can see the pathway without any light. 'Valerie, are you alright?' he asked her as he made his way inside the hidden door. But she didn't reply, which made him worried. He ran through the narrow tunnel as fast as he could, but he is forced to stop when the tunnel split into three directions. He doesn't which direction the intruder has taken Valerie. But every second he is wasting here might cost her life. So he is forced to decide faster. He observed the three tunnels and choose the rig
When she registered her surroundings, she sat up with a start. She remembered what had happened before she passed out. Before she could panic, she looked at Raphael with relief. "P..prince Raphael, he tried to take me into that tunnel. He was wearing a black mask and black clothes. He forced me to follow him by placing a knife at the base of my neck. I don't know what happened, but I began to feel dizzy before I entered that tunnel. I fainted and woke up here" she explained everything before he could ask her about what had happened. Raphael now recalled the single pair of footprints he saw in that room. She fainted and whoever came to kill her carried her here and left her to die. "Are you alright?" he asked her softly. Tentatively she touched her neck where her kidnapper made a nick. But surprisingly, she couldn't feel any wound or ruptured skin there. Only dry flakes of blood could be felt by her fingertips. "Strange" she murmured mostly to herself, which he heard. His gaze f
"For what?" he asked without looking at her.Valerie became sad, thinking that she is repulsing him."For dragging you into this. If not for me, then you wouldn't have been stuck here like this" she whispered while looking at her open palms.He is quiet for a moment."If i didn't bring you to the Raven palace, then you wouldn't have been in this situation, to begin with. I don't know why Cedric is doing all this when I clearly told him that you are innocent. But still, he is hell-bent on hurting you. I will deal with him after we figure out how to get out of here" he reasoned.She turned to look at him sadly. His earlier reaction is still fresh in her mind. She ran the scenario of never meeting Raphael or Irina in her life. She might have never known that he is a very good man. The thought of never crossing his path and lack of his intense attention over her made her feel strangely empty."If i never came here, then i would have missed the chance to meet the raven prince and her highn
"Prince Raphael, sunlight" Valerie pointed out. After what happened between them, an uncomfortable silence descended upon them. This is the first time she opened her mouth and spoke to him after an hour of silence. Valerie wants what he is giving her, and she is not looking for any kind of relationship either. But she doesn't know how to tell him that. She too feels the same kind of attraction toward him, as he feels for her. The thought of a man like him confessing about his feelings flattered her. Her stomach fluttered with butterflies. As they are still stuck in this room, slowly she began to feel uncomfortable as the oxygen supply began to deplete. Raphael is trying everything he can to get them out of there but to no avail. That's when she saw the sunlight. It is so faint and can easily go unnoticed in this dark room. But she saw it. "Sunlight? Where?" he asked her while looking around the small room. "There," she pointed near the high ceiling of the room. He followed her fin
In the Raven Palace, in one of the tunnels beneath the palace walls. "I couldn't reach her. Prince Raphael found her before I could " a man in the darkness told another person who is sitting in a chair. The person who is sitting already knows that much. "Useless, she was there to be taken away, but you couldn't even do that much. Cadmus will not be a problem now. But I want Valerie. The seal I placed on her powers is breaking. I can feel it. If that happens, we can never control her again. I want you to kidnap her as soon as you can. I have to place a new seal to keep her under our control" the person in the chair said angrily. "Yes, I understand. I tried to kidnap her when the Prince returned back to the palace. But she is not in her room. It's empty" the man shared. The person on the chair began to rock in his rocking chair. "I am sure Raphael must have hidden her somewhere. He is developing a close bond with her. But never mind. She will be back in our control soon. I heard
Valerie can hear the footsteps following after her. The person following her tried to catch her in his dragon form, but she began hiding behind trees, bushes, and boulders, and it became hard for him to track her location. So he is forced to shift back into his human form and run after her with the sole intention to catch her. She realized that the intention of the person is not to hurt her, but he wants her alive. She understood that he is working for 'him'. Her fear to escape and not becoming a prisoner again fueled her body and gave her strength to keep going, even though she has been running for a long time now. When you are running for your life, every minute and every second counts. 'Prince Raphael ' she tried again to connect with the prince, but like all the other times in the past hour, it failed this time as well.'I just hope to survive this. Please God, didn't you give me enough hell to last a lifetime? I don't know what my sin was that you gave me this kind of punishment
Raphael is exhausted. He searched everywhere for Valerie, but he couldn't find her anywhere. He shifted into his dragon form and searched the surroundings and the entire Windsor. But there is no trace of her as if she vanished into thin air.He alerted Roland and sent a troop for Valerie. He just couldn't sit still when she might be suffering somewhere. Then, he remembered the house Valerie showed him. The house where she was kept a prisoner for years. He flew near that single isolated house in the middle of the forest. His dragon landed soundlessly on the ground in front of the house before he shifted back into his dragon form.The house is old as if no one touched it for years. Cobwebs, anthills, overgrown trees, and their hanging branches. Nothing about this place is telling him that someone could use it to lock up a girl out of her will.He walked inside and slowly took in the house, which has seen better days. The house is not big, but at the same time not so small either. It ha