The snow was falling slowly from the dark clouded sky.
Deep in the forest in front of the castle, Cyrus stood impatiently with his panthers standing by his sides and Arthur and Katherine in front of him.
"I can not leave her with you!" Katherine half yelled at Cyrus who was staring at her with boredom.
"Do not be stubborn milady," Arthur who held her by her arms behind her back, told her playfully.
"Let me go! I am not going anywhere!" Katherine screamed on top of her lungs struggling from Arthur's grip but he was stronger than her.
"And why is that?" Cyrus asked dully.
Katherine wanted to reply but he interrupted, "To protect her?" He chuckled deeply and shook his head.
"How unfortunate," He sighed and glared at Katherine whose eyes widened in fear.
"W..what are you going to do to her?!" Katherine screamed.
Cyrus titled his head to the side and scanned the water mage from head to toe. She was useless to him but would also be an obstacle to the plans he had for Sage. It was clear that she was a very dear companion to Sage yet he had no reason to kill her and he didn't have plans to return her back to Credia.
"Your friend is a pain in the neck but do not worry, she is unsafe in my hands," Cyrus spoke calmly.
"W..what!" Katherine screamed and struggled even more from Arthur.
Just as she was about to use her powers, Cyrus appeared very close to her and flicked her forehead allowing her to fall unconscious in Arthur's arms.
"Take her to River and come back before Sergio returns from the south." Cyrus commanded Arthur who nodded and carried Katherine into his arms.
"She's calmer than the parrot," Cyrus added staring at the unconscious water mage.
"Are you sure it is a good idea to take her to prince River? The period is critical, don't you think so my king?" Arthur asked worriedly.
"Do I look like i care if she dies or not? She will be River's problem," Cyrus turned away and walked away into the forest with his panthers behind him.
...
Sage stood in front of the fireplace thinking endlessly about what she had seen in her vision. She wished the nine-tailed fox could speak so it could respond to her inquiries about why he unexpectedly triggered the vision and what it was about.
Her emerald eyes mirrored the flames, her thoughts were jumbled, and she started to understand that her aunt Lia was correct. Lia had warned her that leaving Credia and entering the ice dragon's kingdom would be like entering a completely different universe.
Sage always protected her kingdom from fire-breathing dragons but had never ventured beyond the large forest that lay outside Credia.
She sighed and clenched her fists, feeling more and more compelled to murder Cyrus. The man was a pain in the neck, rude and his aura only emanated danger.
"You are not asleep?" A masculine cold yet soothing voice asked behind her.
Sage wasn't startled; instead, she was furious, but she didn't turn to face him.
"Go away," She scoffed.
"This is my bedroom, Parrot," He whispered calmly, annoyance lingering in his voice.
"I have never seen you sleep here, have I?" Sage questioned arrogantly.
"You are relaxed, not afraid that I will injure you," Cyrus suddenly said and that was when Sage looked at her palm to her scar.
"What did you do?" She asked and turned to him to see him sitting on the bed with snowflake on his laps.
"Ever since I met you, you ask the stupidest and unimportant questions just like yourself but now you are getting smart," He stared at her with severe hatred as he spoke with a composed demeanour.
Sage's eyes twitched. "Do not speak to me like that?!" Sage yelled angrily.
"You unfortunately do not deserve respect," Cyrus hissed, placed snowflake on the bed and walked towards fuming Sage with his hands dug into his hair that was packed into a loose ponytail style. "You are married to me, you will bear my name, you will live with me, which means, your soul, mind, spirit and most especially your body is mine," He ended his words with a deep whisper, leaned his face close to hers and loosed his hair letting it fall on his shoulders.
The man in front of her was irresistible but she felt nothing but hatred for him.
"I am not yours, I will never be yours." Sage growled through her teeth.
His ice blue eyes blazed with silver, his lips pulled up and he grabbed her wrists staring at her palms. One had and scar and the other didn't have a scar.
Sage folded her hands into fists and tried to struggle away but his grip was tight. She glared at him looking into those ice blue eyes that exposed nothing but an empty void that was capable in sucking souls.
"Do you want to know how the scar disappeared?" Cyrus asked wearing a sinister smile.
Sage frowned deeply. "Release me." She growled.
"You do not want to know?" Cyrus asked increasing his grip around her wrists until she unconsciously cried out in pain.
"What are you doing?!" Sage yelled, fire bursted out of her hands but Cyrus only increased his grip triggering Sage's fire to increase.
The fire reflected in his icy blue eyes that slowly turned into their silver reptile like form.
"I want to hurt you," Cyrus replied flatly. "I have the ability to heal another but I left this scar to be permanent, so that you will be able to remember me. I do adore seeing a prefect deep frown on your face." He added, chuckled deeply and increased his grip earning a whimper of pain from Sage.
"Let me go!" She screamed directing a fire blast at Cyrus's face but he released her wrists just in time, dodged and blasted her fire blast to turn into nothing but water that splashed on the ground.
Sage heaved for air and stared at her wrists to see that it was red and circled marks that Cyrus had made. Her skin was milky white, as pale as Cyrus's and delicate. Little injury looked huge on her skin.
"It is time I make another mark," Cyrus unexpectedly uttered.
Sage was still staring at her wrist trembling in rage.
"I hate you!" She screamed and raised her head to look at him.
He looked enraged, appeared close to her grabbing her shoulders and in a blink of an eye, she felt her back meet the soft bed with Cyrus hovering over her with his gorgeous face dangerously close to hers.
"Of course you do," Cyrus hissed seductively.
Sage's eyes widened in shock, her chest rose and fell as the atmosphere became heavy and strange.
"W..what a..re you d.. doing?" She asked terrified.
Cyrus looked extremely amused at her question. He smiled darkly, some strands of his hair fell at the side of her face as he leaned his face closer.
Diverting his face to her ear, she heard him whisper, his cold breath fanning her ear made her shiver, "I want to hurt you, in a pleasant way,"