CaraAnd only I can protect her ,the words echoed relentlessly in my mind.Without knowing what I was doing, I jumped out from where I was hiding behind the wall, at the staircase. I did not care that they now knew I had been eavesdropping. Ivan had probably already known."Protect me? Protect me from what?"Both men turned to me. Ivan's dark grey orbs were glued on me. As always, I felt stark naked under his stare."It's difficult to explain," answered Ivan. He pursed his lips, avoiding my eyes as if they burned his own."Try. Explain." Enough was enough. I was adamant on getting the answers I wanted."There's a witch. She will stop at nothing to...harm you. She wants to...to kill you," he faltered. Surprisingly, my father did not even flinch.He knows."She attacked Liza and if you do not get away from here, she will strike again." The world suddenly feel in, the room closing in on me. Ivan rushed to me but I stepped back, refusing him to touch me.What I got from his statement wa

CaraThe water felt like ice on my back. I turned up the knob, increasing the pressure at which the water poured down on me. The water came down on me from different sides - it was one of those multihead showers.I grabbed the shampoo and applied some of it on my hair. A soft honey scent spread in the air. I rubbed the shampoo into my hair then washed it out and did the same with the conditioner.The shower cleared my head and rid it of the harsh memories of my most recent nightmare. The dream had given me quite a shake. It had been so vivid. So real. Every moment had felt real and for a moment it felt like... I was looking into the future.Without even dressing up, I secured the towel around my body and took my phone from where I had kept it in my luggage bag.The first thing I saw upon unlocking the device was the my screensaver, a photo me and my father smiling, eating pancakes at this diner we used to go to before we moved to California. I remembered that day. It was the first day

IvanMy heartbeat was thunderous in my ears, my chest unbearably tight. The air in my lungs felt incredibly compacted. I clenched my fist, wondering why my body was acting the way it was. I became unnaturally nervous as I stared at my beloved. Her eyes remained focused on the gold and black tie I wore but she wasn't really looking at the tie itself. She was thinking. I knew it by the familiar look on her face that she was deep in thought.Upon informing her about my kingdom and my position in it, she had said nothing. The wait was killing me. Her silence was tearing me to bits.I realized then that the heightened senses, the weight in chest, the great discomfort, they were all due to anxiety. I was scarcely ever anxious or nervous - if at all - and so I was not well accustomed to whatever was happening. Not even in times of war, when I knew my enemies were drawing closer had I felt this way. This woman, standing right their drew something from inside me. She was able to reach into me

CAUTION : mature content ahead. If you are easily offended by such, kindly skip over the scene.KogoMy feet tapped against the stone floors as I waited impatiently outside Keith's chambers. It was known that he and his wife kept a few energy stones with them and if my plan was going to work I needed a stone.Still I had no idea how I would do this. I couldn't just barge in and demand that he give me a stone , I did not have a stone carrying permit. Operating and handling an energy stone required licensing these days, since the amendment of the laws due to Zoladie's recent terror in our land. As a result, all witches were charged to hand in there stones for 'safekeeping'. My only hope now was to steal it.Steal it , I decided inwardly. It would not be an issue, I had done this a few times in my youth. When I was younger, my friends and I had enjoyed stealing strong elixirs and potions from the shops in the town.The tall heavy doors burst open all of a sudden. There stood Keith, dress

IvanThe wind hit my face with impeccable force but I did not falter. My form wound between the trees at a high velocity as I relied on only my powerful God-given vision to see.My target's white shawl blew through the air as she ran faster and faster attempting to get away. The tired moans of my warriors decreased in volume behind me until they were silent. That was how I knew they were death. More victims claimed by the merciless sorceress. But they were only a decimal of the throngs of people that had fallen at her hands."Ivy..." came her taunting voice again. And the white shawl disappeared. " Catch me...if you can."She continued to mock and taunt me, ridiculing my every move. She was there, until you tried to grasp her, then she evaporated in your hold. It was like chasing the wind. You knew it was there but you'd never catch it.Her shriek-y laugh boomed through the woods and I felt the snow begin to melt under my feet. The white substance resumed to fall from the sky, coating