<h4>Chapter 217: Bad Luck</h4>


    Savira, the head healer, had headed straight for the dungeons the second she was done with the binding ritual for the king.


    Checking her life experiments to ensure that none of their lives were in danger, before heading to her office to ensure that everything was in order and record all the effects of the ritual she had recorded.


    Having been the one to clean up the room and the residues of the materials she had used to ensure that no one would be able to use it against Zyren—her king, but also someone she considered more like family, since he treated her like one.


    But she had just gotten to the door of her chamber in the healer’s wing, pushing it open when she froze, sniffing the air with a frown on her face when she realized that someone had sneaked into her office.


    It was a smell she didn’t recognize, which made the frown on her face deepen even more as she instantly headed for her precious locked jar, relieved to find out that it was still safe and hidden.


    The relief had barely died down when she instantly began to check everything to figure out what had been taken, only to look and look and still be unable to figure anything out.


    But that didn’t mean that she would give up. Her second thought had been to chase after the indivisible, since their smell still lingered, only to wait until she figured out whether or not what had been taken was important enough for her to dedicate her time to such a stupid person who dared to underestimate her.


    Savira was slow and steady as she reached her table and pulled the drawer open, ensuring that she followed the particr way she arranged her things, when she suddenly paused—realizing in a split second that the drawer on the bottom left had been disturbed.


    Moreover, the book she left under it had also shifted from its original position.


    Pulling it out, she lifted the book to her nose and eyes, picking up a bottle whose contents she tossed over it to see the pages that had been riddled with the most.


    Savira saw it and chuckled in response—a chuckle that soon became a full-blownughter as she leaned her head back andughed her heart out until tears settled in her eyes.


    "The fool!" she gasped, even as she settled in her chair, shaking her head as she continued to chuckle in pure delight.


    Someone wanted the exact ritual I did for Zyren!


    "Fool!" she barked out again inplete and utter delight, shaking her head as she did, especially since there was no way she wouldn’t carry her most important things with her at all times.


    "This should be interesting though!" she said aloud, as she leaned into her chair and closed her red eyes like she was about to fall asleep—but clearly wasn’t.


    "Copying a page of the ancient vampire ritual. Even I don’t know what the effects will be! Chasing the person would be akin to chasing a dead person who is destined to die!" Savira said out loud, confident that even if the person didn’t die, he or she—whether vampire, human, or werewolf—was bound to go insane.


    Picking up the book and reading the conclusion written under it in the ancientnguage, which she—a vampire that had lived for more than a century—barely understood.


    {Ghe aer segue ieict}


    "The ritual has never seeded."


    ************


    The only relief Aira felt when she woke up was the fact that her body didn’t seem to ache from being tussled back and forth the night before, as she instantly pulled away from the strong arms wrapped around her waist—only because he let go.


    "Sleep a while longer!" he told her, with red eyes that looked like they had not slept a wink, with no hint of drowsiness. Eyes that made Aira wonder if Zyren ever let his guard down, even in his sleep.


    "Are you thinking of killing me in my sleep?" he asked, to Aira’s shock, as she failed to mask it—which only made a sly smile appear on his face as he continued to lie on the bedpletely naked, with no intent of covering up.


    "We have a bond. I can feel your emotions depending on how strong they are!"


    "I can’t feel yours!" Aira responded, even as she scrambled to cover herself as she stood up, walking towards the bathroom without waiting for a response, since she didn’t expect one—only to suddenly almost trip.


    It was the emotion of lust that assaulted her from all sides, that almost made her trip.


    It was so intense that Aira had no doubt that it could be used as a weapon to distract an enemy if wielded properly, even as she turned around to re at him.


    "You want nothing to do with me. Unlike you, who’s closed off to me... I’m quite open!" he said, even as Aira headed into the bathroom, closing the door behind her, aware that he was lying to her again.


    If she was indeed closed off to him, then how had he managed to figure out what she had been thinking about?


    Aira took her bath quickly, aware that to ensure that Harriet continued to live she still had ten debts of carnal flesh to pay—and it hung over her every time Zyren was nearby.


    Quickly she bathed and dressed up in clothes suitable for fighting, like the shirt and pants she had worn at the arena but without the armor. Heading out, ignoring the fact that her hair was still a bit wet. Shocked to step out and see Zyren still lying naked on the bed, with no intention of getting up.


    "Yes, I’m king—but as king I can also take a day off!" he said with a drowsy expression on his face, one that Aira didn’t believe wasn’t there mainly for her to see.


    "Those creatures... shouldn’t you... shouldn’t you be hunting them?" she asked, as she recalled the image of the monster right before it exploded—only for her to hear him chuckle as he shook his head.


    "How? For all I know you could be a monster. The only way to know for sure is to slice you open and find out!" he said, and Aira was already heading out, realizing that the world was a safer ce with him lying there than him heading out. But she had just ced her hands on the door handle to step out when she heard him speak.


    "The temple will approach you. I expect you to ept!" he said, in an utterly serious tone—different from the one he had been previously using—even as Aira left without responding to him or looking back.