CHAPTER 44

FROM oblivion to pitch black darkness, Sollel suddenly opened her eyes and abruptly sat up. Feeling disoriented and frantic, she immediately delved into her own memories to remember what happened and to figure out where she was. After the moonrite stone drained me, Zassia used her flame to keep me safe from everyone. Then after that... It was hazy. All she could remember was that when the flame cage disappeared and just as she was waiting for the high-tiers sorcerers attacks, the sky became red, and she lost consciousness.

Sollel focused all her attention on her body, checking if she had wounds or any damaged. A breath of relief escaped her lips when she found that there was nothing amiss in her body. She was perfectly fine.

Then her eyes dropped to her wrist when she felt a foreign object around it.

An exquisite shackle bracelet with an intricate design – it was beautiful, but still a shackle.

In less than a second, Sollel had the shackle in her right hand checked and her eyes narrowed on the little stone on the center of her new bracelet. Her eyes widened when she realized what is was!

A moonrite stone?!

Realizing that, Sollel immediately checked her flame essence. She was more than a hundred percent certain that the stone on the shackle was a moonrite stone, but it was not draining her. Instead, it was limiting her strength. Not too week that someone could pick on her without dying, but not too strong that she could kill a warlord.

Who put this on me and where am I?

Wherever she was, it was dark and dry. Not seeing a damn thing, she flicked her fingers and a flame with the size of her fist floated in the air. The second her surroundings brightened, she quickly realized she was in a cave. Roaming her squinted eyes around, she narrowed her eyes on the corner of the cave when she saw a figure leaning on the cave's wall as if sleeping.

Sollel carefully got up and her flame followed beside her as she walked towards the figure and her lips parted when she saw who it was.

Warlord... Hakkeran.

Sollel raised her right hand to look at the shackle on her wrist and then looked at the warlord again.

He put this on me, afraid that I might kill him? How adorable.

Without making a sound, Sollel carefully kneeled beside Hakkeran to check if he was carrying important that would interest her.

No weapons. No bag. No water canteen. No, nothing. Sollel frowned at the warlord's handsome face before she started patting his leather armor to look for hidden items that she might find useful. When her hands dropped down to the warlord's waist, her gaze was stolen by the item he wore on both his wrists.

A bangle made of pure smiydian, the strongest metal in Azitera that only the dwarves could melt and cast. And in the center of that bracelet, like a filling, was a lava-like liquid. It was beautiful that Sollel couldn't help running her thumb over it.

So, you have it. Sollel thought.

Sighing to herself, Sollel got up when she picked up a sound of a running water outside. After turning one left and one right, Sollel finally reached the entrance to the cave. Commanding the floating flame beside her to disappear, she stepped out from the cave and looked around.

Pure white snow. Everything was covered in ice.

Sollel's eyes widened when she realized where she was. The shivering valley?

Hurriedly, Sollel followed the sound of water and found it just behind the cave's entrance. It was a four-meter-wide straight-channel stream, separating the shivering valley from the valley of bones. Half of the stream was filled with fog because of its cold temperature, while the other half was just a normal stream. It was too strange that it made her frown in curiosity.

This is the stream that Hakken was talking about. Sollel smiled when she remembered teasing Hakken about it. Hmm... A bath would be nice. With that thought, Sollel looked around. After sensing that there was no one present, she took off her damaged cloak, followed by her clothes and took them all to the stream to clean it then dried it with her flame before excitedly dipping herself in the water.

The stream was not deep, only reaching below her breast.

Sollel hissed and flinched when cold seeped through her body, but she didn't mind because a moment later, her blood flame felt violated by the cold that her body started releasing heat, making the water around her boil. For others, even to a high-tier flame sorcerer, the boiling water will scald their skin and inside, but to Sollel, it was a perfect temperature for bathing, and she was enjoying it.

Until she heard rapid footsteps and heavy breathing on the surface behind her.

Sollel didn't need to turn around to figure out who it was, instead, she continued bathing herself, caressing and cleaning her skin and taking a dip, casually swimming, and enjoying the water. After a while, she spoke, knowing that the warlord was still behind her, watching her.

"You like watching a woman bath?"

Sollel was so used to teasing Hakken and seeing his reaction that she was stunned when Hakkeran answered her straightforwardly without a hint of embarrassment.

"If the woman was you, then my answer is yes."

Sollel turned her head and looked at the warlord over her shoulder. Sollel was not surprised to see the warlord's eyes on her back. Her long, vibrant red hair was draped on her shoulder, baring her back to the warlord where her mark of flame was located. A mark of a deity's blessing. Inked in her skin.

"You see something you like?" Sollel asked again in a teasing tone.

Hakkeran's eyes were still on Sollel's back. "Yes."

Sollel smiled, pleased. "You like the flame on my back?"

"What's not to like?"

Sollel chuckled and dipped her body to cover her breast before she turned to Hakkeran and raised her wrist above water to show him her beautiful shackle. "Do you really have to put this on me? Afraid I might kill you since we're enemies?"

"Something like that," Hakkeran sat on the ground, facing Sollel, his eyes never leaving hers. "The moonrite stone is too small to drain your strength, but it'll be enough to limit your flame."

Sollel nodded like she understood why Hakkeran did it. "And?" Sollel dipped her hands back into the water. "What happens next?"

With no hesitation, Hakkeran answered. "You are my prisoner, and I will drag you back to the empire."

"Hmm... But we're already in the shivering valley." Sollel spoke calmly as she cleaned her hair. "We're too far away from the empire."

"I will meet up with the General of Treterra in the hallowed valley, from there, we will ride my gryphon to the empire." Hakkeran said without an ounce of emotion on his face. "I won't let you escape me this time."

Sollel happily swam around the water where Hakkeran could keep an eye on her. "Say, warlord," Sollel looked at Hakkeran, "since I have no way to escape and we'll be spending a lot of time together, how do you like me to address you?"

"Anything you want, Your Highness."

"Hmm..." Sollel acted like she was thinking, and she looked so adorable while doing so that a small smile appeared on Hakkeran's lips, but he immediately wiped it off. "How about I call you 'my lord'?"

"Whichever you prefer, Your Highness."

Sollel looked at Hakkeran and inwardly sigh. He's no fun. Ah, I miss my Hakken's reaction already. He's much more fun than this man.

Sollel continued bathing. Truthfully, she still had a question for Hakkeran, but she wanted to loosen his guard down a bit, so she kept swimming, enjoying the water before she fired another question.

"I don't remember much about what happened in the valley of bones, but were you the one who took me to that cave?"

"Yes." Hakkeran was still guarded much to Sollel's disappointment.

"I remember the sky going red," Sollel leaned her body back to stare at the sky. "What happened?"

"Someone unleashed a powerful attack. I need you alive, so I picked you up and took you here."

Sollel raised her wrist above water again. "And this is the only moonrite stone you got?"

"I got a big one, you want?"

"No. This is fine." Sollel stared at her shackle bracelet. "I just don't like shackles. Brings back bad memories."

Hakkeran didn't reply, so Sollel passed her time enjoying the stream. Not even once did Hakkeran asked her to finish bathing. He just let her be until she was satisfied and for that, Sollel didn't feel like she was a prisoner as Hakkeran puts it. It was more like Hakkeran was putting up with her and it intrigues her.

"I'm coming out of the water now," Sollel announced while waiting how Warlord Hakkeran would react.

Hakkeran got up and out of nowhere, a cloak appeared in his hand, and he handed it to her. "Here. Use it to cover yourself"

After Sollel accepted it, Hakkeran turned around to give the queen her privacy.

After covering her body with Hakkeran's cloak, she put on her now dried and cleaned clothes and when she was about to take off Hakkeran's cloak to replace it with her saviors' cloak, she heard Hakkeran speak.

"Keep the cloak, your old one is already in tattered."

Sollel looked at her old cloak before carefully folding it. "I don't want to part with my old cloak."

Hakkeran sighed and walked towards Sollel. "Give it to me."

Sollel listened to Hakkeran just to see what he's going to do. When she placed the folded cloak on his hand, it disappeared without a trace. And that's when Sollel saw his ring. "Is that an item enchanted by the Druids?"

"Yes. It's kind of my bag. Sort of."

Sollel nodded and smiled. "I'm glad they're still living peacefully."

"Not really. Some were sold as slaves, some were extorted and taken advantage of."

Sollel froze. "What...?"

Hakkeran stood up in front of Sollel and fixed her cloak like they were not prisoner and jailor. "They're suffering, Your Highness. Always praying for Queen Gatria's blessing and protection, but to no avail. When the four queens disappeared, it was their race that got destroyed by the humans first after Yther's downfall. The humans value the Druid's ability to enchant items, but they don't like to work alongside them as equals."

Sollel clenched her fist. "Humans again."

"Is there any other race greedier than humans, my Queen?" Hakkeran held Sollel's hand and slid a ring on her finger with a tiny moonrite stone before he took off the shackle bracelet on her wrist. "If this ring brings back bad memories too, informed me right away. I have a necklace with moonrite stone too, if you want."

Sollel looked at the ring as a lava-like liquid swirled in her eyes. Afterward, she remembered the king of Druids, one of the races that was loyal to Gatria. "King Tirac... Is he still alive?"

"I believed so." Hakkeran finally let go of Sollel's hand after securing the ring on her finger. "As far as I know, he's imprisoned in hallowed valley too, since his ability to enchant object surpasses any Druids. After the Kingdom of Treterra became barren, enchanted items became the kingdom's bread and butter."

Anger boiled inside Sollel that her flame covered her right hand— but a flame didn't manifest on her left hand that had the moonrite ring. But her anger dissipates when Hakkeran held her right flaming hand like it was nothing and placed a hand chain on her wrist and slid the ring connected to the bracelet on her finger.

The hand chain had a firestone on the center of the bracelet shaped like a crown. The ring connected to it had the same design. And the chains were made of smiydian, the strongest metal in Azitera.

But that was not the thing that shocked the Mistress of flame, it was the fact that the warlord wasn't burnt after touching her. Is it because of the bangles on his wrist? It accepted him? But, how?

And the stone... Was that a firestone?

Sollel stared at Hakkeran who was still carefully fixing the hand chain on her wrist, as if he wanted it to look perfect and beautiful in her hand. I'm sure he knows that I can absorb the essence of the firestone to strengthen myself. Is he testing me?

Sollel sighed at Hakkeran. "Am I really your prisoner?"

"Yes, you are, my queen."

Sollel raised an eyebrow. "I feel like you're spoiling me though."

"Can't I spoil my prisoner?"

Sollel blinked at Hakkeran numerous times. She was lost for words. Really lost.

"Prisoners don't usually get important and expensive items," Sollel was talking about the hand chain on her wrist.

"You must have stayed in the wrong prison then. If it was my prison, I will even give you the whole world if you asked." And for the first time, the warlord smiled and Sollel just stared at him, a little dazzled by that smile.

Then, the warlord lost his smile and became expressionless again. "Anyway, smiydian is usually a very tough metal, even your normal fierce flame can't melt it. Though your blood flame is a different case. It can melt smiydian in no time. However, because of the moonrite ring on your finger, your blood flame is limited."

Sollel gaped at Hakkeran in disbelief. She couldn't understand what the warlord's thinking. He put a moonrite ring on her left hand, and then he put a hand chain firestone in her right hand, as if he wanted to balance the effect of the moonrite ring on her? He's not a madman, is he?

The moonrite will keep draining her strength slowly, while the fire stone will recover her lost strength.

Sollel was curious to hear the warlord's answer, so she asked as she raised her hand with a hand chain. "What's the use of this? Why did you put it on me?"

"I have my reasons." Then he motioned his hand towards the cave. "Night is falling, and shivering valley is known for its blizzard at night, so we better go back inside."

Sollel silently listened to Hakkeran and went back to the cave. As she sat on the ground, she thought of Zassia, Grath and Hakken. She was certain that Hakken was fine, but Grath and Zassia? She just hoped that Hakken would take care of those two until they see each other again.

Sollel turned her head when she saw Hakkeran entered the deepest part of the cave with a lamp in his hand. Then in silence, he started working on the corner of the cave, the part where the soil was leveled. And by working, Sollel meant taking a pillow, a single-sized mattress, and a blanket from his enchanted ring and then offered the whole set of bed to her.

"You can rest here," he said. "I'll stand guard."

Sollel didn't know what to say. She was beyond speechless at that point that she just silently gets into the bed, covered her body with the provided soft blanket, and sleep on the soft and very comfortable pillow.

Now, she was certain. She was not a prisoner. How could she be, when her jailor treats her like a queen?

CECELIB | C.C.

SAMPLE OF HAND CHAIN FROM PINTEREST.