SPELLBOUND

Elias couldn't deny his reasoning, but he also could not agree with his master offering to assist his wife like a maid! "You might be right, but you can't just offer to take over the job of a maid like that. You're not a bloody maid Your Highness! Please think of your position."

"I'm her husband. And that is not an issue. Helping my wife out is my responsibility." His gaze sharpened, causing Elias to sigh, knowing that it won't be a good idea for him to say more. 'Good Lord,' he could only think inside him.

"Go prepare something for her to eat." He ordered and Elias immediately moved.

A deep sigh escaped Gavriel's lips as soon as Elias was gone. Crossing his arms in front of him, he leaned his head back against the door.

"Evie?" he called out a long while later when he thought that his wife had taken too long.

"Yes. I'm almost done." He heard her soft voice and he finally pushed himself away from the door. He walked towards the foot of the bed and sat there as he waited for her to come out.

Evie was already dressed in a royal blue gown when she emerged from the door. She was as beautiful as always, the colour of her gown a breath-taking contrast against her porcelain skin. And her… and her long silvery blond hair had darkened, wet and tangled. Her cheeks flushed as their eyes met before she immediately looked away.

"I… I told you, I can manage to bathe and dress myself." She said a little proudly, her eyes wandering around the room and then stopping on the mirror. She moved a little awkwardly, obviously so conscious of his presence and sat on the little stool in front of the mirror.

She picked the brush and when she gathered her damp hair to her side, her back came into view. Gavriel stood, approaching her.

Evie saw him approaching through the reflection on the mirror and she straightened. Blinking, she watched him bent behind her. "Let me," came his pleasing voice and she felt his fingers button up the ones she missed on her dress. She gasped almost at the same moment her brush snagged in her hair.

She deliberately yanked harder to free it and also to pull her attention away from him. As she did that, she winced at the slight pain on her scalp.

But suddenly, Gavriel's hands covered hers. "Let me," he said again as he stared into her eyes through the mirror. Before her mind could work, her body reacted first by releasing the brush and she dropped her hand.

The moment Gavriel fingered a strand of her hair, Evie's heart thudded hard. Her body became stiff as she chewed the inside of her lower lip and telling herself she should protest. He wasn't her maid… he was a prince… he was her…

Gently, he pulled the brush through, so painfully careful, as if her hair was some precious and fragile thread that he was afraid to damage. The protesting voice in her head was shoved away into the darkness as her eyes fell to the mirror and watched him taking on his task so seriously. She could see his enviably long and thick lashes curling from currently hidden smouldering eyes and the strands of his velvety black hair touching his forehead. And she found that she couldn't tear her eyes off him – not that she wanted to. And that thought shocked her more than her inability to stop staring at him.

The little devils at her shoulders were whispering her to just sit back and enjoy the feel of her husband's fingers against her hair, her scalp and against the nape of her neck. The feeling was unbelievably soothing she felt like she was dreaming. She never thought she'd be feeling this way just by him merely brushing her hair.

Before she knew it, every thought and reluctance banished and she actually sighed and relaxed. This was probably the most relaxed moment she ever had ever since they met…no, ever since she found out she was marrying a vampire prince.

"Why… are humans not allowed in this place?" she heard herself ask.

When Gavriel lifted his gaze, a slight smile curved on his lips at the sight of her relaxed face. She had her eyes closed and she seemed to like what he was doing. It pleased him, so incredibly.

"Because the vampires here vowed never to treat humans as their food or slaves." He started. "Since the beginning, this place is secluded for that reason. Vampires here never fed on human blood. And they even passed a law since a long time ago to ban any human from entering this city. So even with the rampant slavery that is happening in the entire empire, there would not be any reason for the vampires here to succumb to temptations of drinking human blood."

The explanation shocked Evie in a good way. In all the possible reasons she, her father and their comrades had come up with, this was not one of the possibilities they had even considered. She suddenly felt ashamed of herself. "R-really? So that's the reason why…" she looked at him and their eyes met.

"Yes. Human blood is addictive to the vampires. It only needs one taste and the craving for it cannot be erased. Here, human blood is treated as dangerous as an addictive drug. That is why it's forbidden and illegal. And that's why you're safe here, Evie." He assured.

"But… won't my existence here become a temptation to them?"

His hands on her hair halted and a slow smile curved on his lips. He caught his lower lip between his perfect white teeth, and something gleamed in his eyes that made him even more terrifyingly magnetic and even more tempting to Evie.

"Yes. That's why I don't have a choice but to send those maids away and stay with you at all times."

"But… you're a vampire too. Won't you also be tempted to…" Evie trailed off, rendered speechless by her own words and silenced by the look in his eyes.

Gavriel bent closer, his lips near her ear as his gaze locked onto hers through the mirror. "Yes, you'd be the greatest temptation to me… but it's not your blood, Evie… it's simply you …" his whisper trailed off, evoking tiny shivers that started at her neck and travelled down her back, leaving pleasurable tingles.