Xiran had a meeting with Mazitine, he wanted to make sure everything was arranged for the upcoming peace meeting they had in three days. He didn’t want to leave Aselia alone so he called Frila and Carios to come and stay with her.

It was early in the morning and Aselia was still sleeping, he watched her sleep for a while. With every breath, there was a slow rise and fall of her breasts. He could just watch her all day. But he had other duties and this saddened his heart that she would be leaving soon, especially with what he had planned. She might be leaving in an angered state, but that needed to be done.

He gave her an affectionate kiss on her forehead, she stirred but kept sleeping. Xiran left the bed and headed down. After changing into fresh attire he walked outside the house. Frila and Carios had arrived.

"Take care of Aselia. She is sleeping, so don’t wake her up, she will do it herself. Make sure she eats on time. Cook some meat for her, she loves eating that. I will try to return as soon as possible," Xiran gave them strings of instructions in a serious tone.

"Don’t worry, Señor, we will keep her safe," Frila answered in reverence.

"Sire, you will be leaving alone?" Carios inquired.

"Yes, I want you to stay here, I can take care of myself," he responded as Carios handed him the keys and a white mask before nodding.

Xiran hid his face with the mask and headed for the car, Frila and Carios watched him leave and made their way inside.

Once Xiran’s car came out of the tunnel. He noticed that the temperature was extremely cold today, the sky was overshadowed by the clouds that matched his eyes. It would start to snow soon.

He rolled down the car window to sniff his surroundings and keep an eye on it. The stinging smell of blood wafted to his nose and his senses became alert, he knew he needed to check it out.

Stopping his car, he made his way to the cluster of trees some distance away from the road. The smell was originating from there. He carefully approached the trees and sensed a slight thumping of a nervous heartbeat.

Though the smell belonged to a dead fox that was lying between some trees with its insides removed as if it had been devoured recently, the heartbeat became louder. Xiran’s senses became alert, he knew something else was there too, hiding.

He glanced up the tree and something instantly flew off, Xiran wasted no time and opened his wings before following it. The creature was fast but not faster than Xiran and as soon as Xiran set his eyes on it, he knew what it was.

Although the creature had masked its scent to remain undetected, the dead fox gave it away. Its small bat-like wings flapped hard to take its ugly bony body as far away from Xiran as possible but he caught up to it in no time.

Extending his hand Xiran grabbed its right wing and pulled, the creature screeched in pain as it tried to free itself from Xiran’s iron grip. A growl escaped Xiran and his other hand went to the creature’s throat and he began to plummet it toward the ground. The creature had wrinkly brownish-yellow skin and a hairless body.

Their eyes met and Xiran held a deadly look while the creature’s beady yellow eyes were wide open in shock at what Xiran was about to do it.

"Shift," Xiran shouted at it as they neared the ground. It screeched and writhed to free itself but it was in vain, soon they would hit the ground and its bones would shatter to pieces.

Unwillingly, the creature shifted and Xiran hovered inches above the ground with him in his chokehold. If only a glance could kill, the naked man Xiran held in his hand would be dead.

"I am going to give you a slow merciless death," Xiran growled at him, his whole body shaking with anger he felt at the man who trembled from head to toe. Before he could speak, Xiran punched him in the temple and knocked him out, throwing him on the ground like he was dirt.

Disgust filled him and bitter rage coursed through his veins, knowing how close his father was to get his hands on Aselia. Xiran clutched his hair in frustration and pulled them so hard, a maddening scream escaped him and echoed loud and wide.

Taking a few deep breaths he calmed himself down and called Carios, after finishing the call, Xiran grabbed the man’s hair and dragged him to his car. Opening the back door, he threw him inside and drove back to Rivan’s hideout.

He reached the tunnel in no time. His senses were so heightened that he drove recklessly. Reaching the villa he skidded the car to a stop and threw his door open. Carios was already waiting for him with a long piece of sheet.

"Cover him and tie up that piece of shit, I don’t want Aselia to see him naked," Xiran ordered banging the car door shut. Carios nodded and hastened towards the back door of the car with curious eyes.

Xiran took long strides and entered the house. Spotting Frila in the living room, he inquired in frustration: "Is Aselia still sleeping?"

"Yes, Señor," she observed how frustrated he looked and this worried Frila.

Xiran took two steps at a time and reached her room, he stood behind her door and took a deep breath before opening it. He needed to be calm.

Aselia was still sound asleep, her arm over her face, her lips parted.

The raging tempest in his heart halted as soon as he saw her, a small smile crept up on his lips as he approached her and whispered: 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"Leia," she stirred and removed her arm to peek at him.

"Xiran, weren’t you suppose to attend your meeting? Or are you back already from it while I slept," she asked rubbing her eyes.

"Something came up, I brought you a trophy," he whispered leaning in to kiss her lips and she smiled.