Chapter 134: Chapter 134

Sara remained under the water until her lungs protested for air, her mind and body were drained but she wasn’t given any chance to rest, her training wasn’t advancing either because her body was exhausted, and she badly needed to sleep.

Stepping out of the tub, Sara dried herself before walking to her bed, not bothering to put anything on for she was too tired to even do that.

Curls so lush and beautiful, red like the sky of dusk, gathered in a beautiful up do with few loose strands left to contour her beautiful face, her blue eyes sparkling like sapphires as they looked up at a pair of rubies, shining with equal happiness, his body, tall and proud, dressed in black as if the color was created for him, towering over her delicate frame in the beautiful white dress, they stood face to face, too close, and then the sinful lips descended slowly, almost torturously slow, and landed on the innocent soft lips that welcomed him like a rose petals, they kisses so slowly, so passionately, and so lovingly, while everyone around them started clapping, everyone was congratulating the couple, the kiss was so long, as if they were lost in it, and then, he broke the kiss as his lips moved to her ears and he whispered ‘Mine’

‘I love you’

‘Forever’

Everyone was clapping, shouting, all congratulating the newly married couple, a mighty lord and a beautiful legitimate princess, the king, the ice queen, the nobles, and her, who watched the seen with bleeding heart, her entire being aching, it was wrong, something was wrong, but when she tried to move to move forward and stop it, stop whatever was causing her that immense amount of pain, she couldn’t, she tried to tell them to stop, to call her sister or even Eren and tell them to stop, that she, Sara, was there, but no one heard her, and when she looked down at herself, she noticed that she was nothing but a shadow.

Waking up to a light knocking on her door, Sara uncovered her head, groaning annoying as she barely had enough sleep, especially with that annoying dream that made her more angry, sitting down, Sara rubbed her eyes while yawning, the knocking didn't stop yet she didn't have any energy to walk all the way to the door, telling whoever it was to come inside instead, Sara laid back on the bed, too exhausted to uphold a sitting position, she guessed it would be either Nara or one of the maids, she didn't want to see neither, and not anyone at that, however, the voice who spoke made jump right back to her sitting position.

"Are you okay?" Eren's concern couldn't be more obvious on both his voice and his face, he stared at her, studying her carefully, his eyes moving from her face to look down at her chest before quickly returning to her face, something dark clouding them.

"What are you doing here?", Sara on the other hand couldn't be more surprised at the unexpected visitor, not only he was too early for his meeting with the king and the ice queen, but he was also in her room, while she was in bed, wearing nothing...

"I came to check on you..." Eren offered her a gentle smile, there were times when she acted normal around him, usually the serious times when the situation demanded her full concentration, those times made him forget how she really felt about him, and there were other times, where she acted either too careful or too aggressive, reminding him that his sins were not to be easily forgiven.

Sara stared as Eren stepped inside her room, closing the door behind him and walking to her bed, she wanted to protest, kick him out but then she remembered her stupid careless words, "come in..."

Pulling the covers over her to hide her bare shoulders, Sara waited for Eren to take a seat, she needed him to know that if he wanted to marry her sister then he had to do it over her dead body, however, she knew deep inside she didn't have to go to that extent, although she couldn't forgive him, she knew he regretted everything he did to her, she knew he had a soft spot for her, he claimed it was love but she couldn’t believe that either, however, she knew he would not marry her sister if she asked him to, and even without it, Eren was not the kind of man to be intimidated by others, he was too proud and strong willed, not to mention uncompromising and stubborn, for him to marry her sister whom he had nothing in common with just to strengthen his alliance with the human kingdom didn't sound like something he would do, but again, the man in front of her had proved her wrong many times, what if this one time was one of those times.

"You are sweating...", Eren noted as he stared at her pillow, Concerned, he placed his palm on her forehead and closed his eyes, searching her mind, trying to see if anyone tried to sneak inside her dreams once again.

Surprised, Sara slapped his hand off her forehead with an annoyed expression, she didn't appreciate the informality between them, she barely started getting used to his presence with her in the same place without wanting to kill him, let alone allowing him to touch her so casually, in her room, in her bed, while she was not wearing anything.

Hurt flashed through Eren's eyes for a brief moment before he hid it under a serious frown, however, Sara's eyes were fast to see it before it was covered, something steered in her heart, a little pinch of guilt that she tried to brush off, the shadows lord's feelings were not something she planned to worry herself about, but somehow, for some weird reason, she did.

"Did you dream about them again?", After clearing his throat, Eren asked, focusing on the matter at hand.

"No!", Sara could not help but wonder why would the shadows’ lord think about that, after all, her last experience with the Gods proved to her that they were not taking her existence lightly, and the fact that she woke up on her own without anyone filling her lungs with water didn't match with what she knew about them.

"You were sweating while sleeping."

"It is water, I bathed."

"It is sweat, I can smell it!", Sara almost chocked at how blunt he was, wondering if she needed another bath.

"I...ahum, I think the exercise exhausted me after all, to the point where my body is still...recuperating."

"Your body has been recuperating since dawn, Sara."

"So?! It is barely ten in the morning..." Sara hesitated when she saw Eren's deep frown "Isn't it?"

"It is dusk, Sara..."

"No, this can't be, I barely slept for an hour..."

"You didn't, the maids even tried to wake you but you were not waking up, they thought you were still suffering from the after effects of the poison, they don’t know about the other dangers you are facing, and therefore left you to rest..." Eren explained, he himself didn’t know until Rima informed him, making him rush towards the castle to see if something was wrong with her, but except for he general tiredness, there was nothing wrong.

"I can't believe I slept that much without realizing, the training must have drained me..."

"Sara, The training was exhausting indeed, you almost passed out at some points because your body wasn't quite used to the energy flow, However, your regeneration ability should have healed you by now, but it didn’t, May I?" Eren asked if he could touch her temples this time, it hurt him that she was repulsive toward him but he still respected her desire to not be touched without her consent, after all, it was him and not another who brought it on himself.

Sara stared at the man skeptically before nodding her head with a sigh, no matter how much she hated to admit it, she needed his help.

And his touch on her felt so right in the most wrong way, she thought as she remembered her dream.

Placing his finger tips on each side of her temples, Eren closed his eyes, focusing on Sara's mind, his touch was warm on her skin, making her instantly relax as the feeling of safety washed over her, combined with the knowledge that he was there, and not somewhere else, her sister’s bedroom for example.

What was happening to her?

On the other hand, Eren sensed the uneasiness in Sara’s mind, it felt as if something was digging holes into her head, in a fast and annoying pace, and with him uncovering it, the feeling became uncomfortable, not painful but disturbing and unsettling to the point where she had to clench her teeth and her fists to prevent herself from slapping the demon's hands off her.

Opening his eyes, Eren retraced his hands with a troubled expression that he couldn't hide, Sara noticed it right away and she knew he had bad news for her... Big surprise...

"So?", Sara's whispered question could have been described as anything but patient, she stared at the demonic eyes that terrified her once, looking for answers, but all she found was worry.

"When I saw you in the tower, it was through the demonic gate, I used it to connect myself to you and then seep into your mind and control you, I wanted to use it to make you come to me, or maybe awaken your powers so I can use them, but they were completely dormant at the time and I couldn’t do anything."

"So, you deprived me of sleep, turned my every sleeping moment into a nightmare, tricked me then tortured the life out of me.", Sara rolled her eyes, wondering why would the shadow lord bring up such memories.

"Someone is trying to do the same."

Sara remained silent, perplexed to no limits, Eren, who saw it in her eyes, resumed his explanations "Someone is trying to get inside your head, Probably the Gods as there is no one else I can think of, unlike me they don't need a demonic gate, however, your mind barriers became stronger, and unlike last time, they couldn't directly infiltrate into your head, your mind blocked them, and they had to try harder, that is why you are exhausted Sara."

"That is not everything though, is it?" as if it wasn't enough, Sara knew how bad that was, after one single attempt she was that exhausted, what if it continued?

"There is something else, two things actually, the first is the fact that your mind barriers are becoming too weak to resist them, and the second..."

"The second is your engagement to Nara isn't it? " Sara said angrily, not able to keep her cool façade any longer.

"What? " Eren was totally lost, not understanding what was she talking about, however he leaned forward towards her as she leaned back, trying to recreate the distance he was eating with his sudden approach, until her head hit the headrest, Eren did not stop though, he kept on getting closer, leaning on his hands which rested on each side of her body, Sara was fully caged, his arms on the sides, the headrest behind her, the bed underneath, and the handsome demon facing her, approaching her slowly with an enigmatic emotion, his eyes were a mystery themselves as different shades danced in those pools of blood and rubies, his scent, like the forest, thick and fresh and tempting.

"What are you doing? "Sara asked in a whisper, her voice lost due to her surprise as she felt his lips on her earlobe, brushing it, his voice, just like her, whispering dangerously as his scent filled her nostrils, steering her guts.

"Are you jealous, My fair Lady?", a shiver ran through Sara's body, not knowing whether it was his voice or his words, she placed her hands on his firm chest trying to push him off her but that only made things worse, there was no strength in her arms to push him away to begin with, not to mention how sensual it felt to touch him, the way his hard chest flexed under her touch, the slight rise in his body temperature, and hers as he continued to brush her earlobe with his sinful lips, the lips her mind decided to remember how good they tasted, like a sweet sin, she thought as his hot breaths hit her neck, making her already heavy eyelids feel heavier.

"You are blushing..." Eren said while touching her neck, before pulling away abruptly, making her whimper with the loss of warmth.

"They are targeting your emotions, they are playing with your heart.", Eren took Sara by surprise as he said this, she was still in that weird state so it took her few seconds to take in what he said.

"What do you mean?"

"If this was any other day, you would have dug your fist in my chest for coming so close to you, However, you were blushing, you were affected by me, your enemy, the one you hate, and earlier, you were not acting like, Well, Dahlia, you were easily agitated, less composed and more emotional, Normally I would have liked that, but this is not normal, I think, now that your mind is stronger, they will mess with your heart, your emotions, and you would be a fool if you thought it was not as dangerous as targeting your body or mind, you should know best about it."

“Oh I do, thanks to you” Sara saw the pain flash in Eren’s eyes, combined with guilt and deep regret but she didn’t care about it, she was so angry at the way she reacted to him, she couldn’t understand herself, and the things he said, that it was all because of someone else making her feel a certain way, it didn’t convince her fully, and that only made her angrier "So, what to do..."

"You should...", Eren stopped talking suddenly as his eyes became distant and dark, as if he froze for a second before he muttered under his breath a very hushed..."Fuck..."