Chapter 25: [Bonus chapter] Surely His Sorcery

The water around them seeped in the ground, leaving a chill, leaving them drenched and with mud splotched all over their clothes and skin. Elize wobbled her way to a gnarled root that was jutting out of the soil on the side and perched atop it. She looked down at the dirty water that was churning over some pit and disappearing slowly. A chill swept over her as she stared at the water, thinking how her skin felt and how she thought she would die.

Caleb's concerned gaze was on her. Her chest rose with a shallow breath as rage brushed across her skin. She rubbed her neck to ease her throbbing heart. "I am not going to be a part of any deal," she said to Auril. "I will go to my apartment and retrieve my things, and then—" her throat bobbed. Her gaze met Caleb's and she stopped mid-sentence, their eyes locking.

"There are people who are after you," Caleb said as he took a step forward and perched on the gnarled root below hers. "If you go there alone, you won't be safe."

Anger seeped in her heart and came out in her snappy tongue. "You don't have to be worried about my safety. I can find my way out." She couldn't stop there. "And who gave you the permission to abduct me? How dare you do that? Who the hell are you to determine my life's direction? Don't you think that you have done more than enough to jeopardize everything I held close to my heart?" She closed her eyes, as she tried to find the calm that eluded her and also not wanting to see the hurt in Caleb's eyes. But her angry mind was racing like a rising volcano. "My father died because of you, my family deserted me because of you, and yet— and yet, it doesn't go through your head that you have only hurt me? I can't stand it anymore. Please, Caleb, please. I beg of you to just stop chasing me. I want to fade somewhere…" She was too exhausted to even speak now. She leaned back. "I don't want—" she shook her head, as her lips quivered. She was his captive for more than two weeks and not again… not again…

Auril whimpered. His gaze flitted to where Caleb was sitting.

Caleb watched her as if she was his world. Her words felt like a whip on his skin. His anger flared, yet he was too controlled to not lash his anger out on her. What went between them strained the silence to a painful level and it became too awkward for him.

"Elize, is there way I can ever convince your life was in danger earlier and is in even more danger now," said Caleb in an exasperated voice that was tinged with remnants of his fury.

"You should have let me die!" she retorted.

Caleb snapped his mouth shut. He didn't want her to spend her energy fighting with him. He wanted her to conserve her energy and suddenly her paleness bothered him. "That is one thing I can never let happen," he replied after a moment's pause. Saying that he got up from them strode to the opposite side where he sat over a rock that was jutting out of the wall.

The day went by too awkwardly for neither of them spoke with each other. Auril would quip once in a while, but he too became quiet later when both of them refused to speak.

The two hadn't been this close in a long time and despite all their hatred for each other— How could she feel attracted to him after all he had done to her?

She lifted her eyelashes and gave him a side glance. She was not going to think of how firm his lips were or how chiseled his shoulders and arms were. Had he become thinner? She was not going to think about his hard chest muscles when she woke up against him. As if her thoughts were read by him, he whipped his head in her direction and his breath became shallow. He rubbed his hand over mouth and she shot him a go-to-hell glare. It was surely his sorcery that was working on her. She turned her head away and tried to count the number of roots in the pit. Gods, they were so less! How about the branches?

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Auril was a mute spectator to their non-verbal dual or whatever it was.

The day transitioned to the evening soon and Auril used his magic to make a small exit from the cage they were set in. Thankfully, he had made the cage around them that mimicked the same pattern as her mother's or an anomaly in the pattern would have triggered a reaction from her. And she would have sent the soldiers.

They climbed up the pit and Auril waved his hand for the woods to weave back. "Lord!" he exclaimed when he found his stag waiting for his master just outside. The stag trotted to his master and pranced around him in a happy dance, making a chuffing sound. Auril stroked him and said, "That's my ride out of the forest but don't worry, he can get his friends for you."

Elize intervened, "I have to retreat my things from my apartment. I need my phone, my clothes, my cards, and other basic stuff. You can drop me out of the forest and I will go on my way."

Before Auril could respond to her, Caleb snapped, "Nonsense! You can't go to your apartment. Besides, I will use a portal to get out of here." He looked dubiously at the stag. He would definitely not allow his wife to ride a stag when he was there. She would have to ride him.

"No!" Auril said loudly. "Do you think I can't create a portal? But that kind of energy will alert my mother and then it would be exactly five minutes before she would put us back in the cage. We need to exit this forest as quietly as possible."

"But it is going to be—" Caleb said.

Suddenly—