SPELLBOUND

Chapter 646 Sweetie

　　Vera stilled and then blinked before she turned behind her, looking if there was anyone else following after her.

　　"I'm talking to you." Azrael sighed.

　　"What? I'm not a princess." Vera's eyes widened when she realised that Azrael's 'Your Highness' was referring to her.

　　"Oh, but you already are. You're Gideon's mate, are you not? So by relations, you're a princess now. And from here on out, you will be my princess. I will be under you and stick with you in this war whether you like it or not."

　　Silenced, Vera approached him slowly. She remembered that this man was the second dark fae she had ever met. And for some reason, since the first time she had met him, he had been so nice to her.

　　"You're not joining the war because – "

　　"Ah, what I told the king was not a lie. I will avenge Kione. However, with you here, I can't focus my sole attention on that. I plan to watch over you and make you my top priority.... Ah, don't be too emotional on that, Princess. I'm going to do this because Kione and Gideon isn't here right now. That only means one thing, I'm the only one left to take care of you now." Azrael rambled on. 'I'd be dead if I don't watch over the woman both my idiot brothers have madly fallen in love with! And even if I die and meet Kione in the afterlife, he might kill me all over again if I can't even do anything to protect you. Ah, what a pain in the ass – '

　　Azrael just continued his self-monologue in his mind when Vera suddenly lunged over and hugged him.

　　Wide-eyed, Azrael grabbed Vera's shoulders and gently pushed her off him. "Don't hug me so casually like that, I'm not your brother." His head whipped around as if to look for anyone who had seen what Vera did.

　　Vera smiled at him. "I never had a brother, but I just feel like you're the brother I have never had. You seem to be the best big brother one could ever ask for." Her comment was sincere and shone forth from her eyes.

　　Those words reminded Azrael of Leah. His sweet little sister. Leah had always told him he was the best brother in the entire Under Lands. Vera always reminded him of her somehow. And that was probably one of the biggest reasons why he could not find it in himself to ignore this girl.

　　"Thank you for the compliment but I don't want any sister at this point, princess. I'd rather you make me your knight than a brother right now." he said seriously, "Oh, I think you should do it now. Make it known or your dragons might turn me into an ice block if I try to approach you during the war."

　　"I am going to give you one to ride, Azrael." Vera said.

　　Azrael looked shocked and his eyes that was initially filled with sorrow gleamed a little. But he quickly looked away and sighed heavily.

　　"That's tempting but I don't think it's a wise thing to do, Princess. I don't have any time to practice controlling a dragon. It might only cause more trouble than help."

　　"Are you sure you don't want it? I really wanted you to ride one, Lord Azrael. And I think you can easily control one of my dragons, I'll give you the most obedient one. I promise!"

　　"I've trained with Queen Evie's fire dragon the last few days but it's hard to control them. It's hard for dark faes to control them in general." Azrael rubbed the back of his head a little sheepishly as he admitted to that.

　　"I think you will find that the ice dragons are different. They might listen to dark faes easier." Vera insisted.

　　What she said made a lot of sense in Azrael's ears. That was right. What if a dark fae could easily control the ice dragons? He had heard that the ice dragons were already dragons experienced in wars unlike the fire dragons – except Onyx – as they were only hatched after the era of wars.

　　"Alright. I might as well try. But I really don't have time to train with them, so if I feel that it won't work, I'll give it up. Is that alright with you, Princess?"

　　Vera nodded and immediately lead Azrael to a wider space away from the tents. Then she called the first ever dragon she rode. The one she randomly named 'Sweetie'.

　　The dragon answered her call in an instant and sailed over before landing gracefully before them.

　　"Her name is Sweetie," Vera gently stroked the dragon's snout and introduced it to Azrael.

　　The man nearly choked as he heard that. "What? S-sweetie? Why would you give such a cool dragon that name?!"

　　Vera tilted her head slightly before shrugging. "She liked it."

　　"Impossible. I'll change her name to something cooler." Azrael mumbled as he approached the dragon and climbed on it without any preamble.

　　"Please take care of him, okay? Listen to him." Vera whispered to the dragon before giving it a small kiss.

　　"Alright, my cool dragon. Time to fly." He said in a loud rumbling voice. But the dragon did not move an inch.

　　"Use her name!" Vera yelled in a commanding voice and Azrael could only force himself to use it. He scrunched his brows as he called out.

　　"Fine! Fly up S-sweetie!" Azrael even squeezed his eyes close as he called out the name Sweetie. He could not believe he had to call out such a name for such an amazing ice dragon.

　　And the dragon spread out his wings and flew up as Azrael yelled the words, "Oh damn! Princess! I beg you! Change her name please!" the dragon made a sudden dive as if she did not like what he just said. "W-wait a moment! Don't go too fast like that!"

　　The dragon did not listen to his pleas and continued swerving and diving intensely, until Azrael had no choice but to use the dragon's name again. "Slowly down… Sweetie!!!" And the dragon finally obeyed as she slowed and stabilised her flight, allowing Azrael to breathe out a sigh of relief.