Calla watched the direction Blaise went, knowing his room was next to Gwydion’s and the closest to the washroom. Out of everyone, Blaise seemed the safest to get close to. Since arriving, he had done nothing outside of warning her about the others and grumbling about her being useless. She wasn’t sure if he didn’t like her or what his issue was. All she knew is that he didn’t touch her inappropriately or had thrown a knife at her. Blaise also answered her questions about magic without looking too confused about her lack of knowledge of the magical world she lived in now. She nodded, making up her mind as she got to her feet and walked towards his room.

She fixed her skirt, standing before his door when it suddenly opened inward. Blaise was midstep, feeling like it was in slow motion as the realization hit him that Calla was standing before him. The two ran right into each other, Calla giving a small scream as she fell backward.

“H...Hey!!” Blaise let out as he fell forward. It seemed that he instinctively grabbed her as if attempting to stop her from falling. With a loud thud, the two were suddenly on the ground. Calla had closed her eyes, her head hitting the wooden floor rather hard. She whined a little bit, opening her eyes. As she did, Blaise was also opening his eyes, slowly pushing himself off. Her face grew hot with a blush as she realized he was right on top of her. His green eyes looked down at her a bit angry at first before the realization hit him, his expression becoming one of surprise, and then flustered, a blush running across his face.

“Are you okay?!” he exclaimed before his brow furling. “W...What were you doing outside of my room?!”

Calla just blinked, wondering if this was a bad idea. Her eyes were wide, staring up at him. “I...I…!” she tried to say.

The two were interrupted when there was a snicker from the doorway to the kitchen. Gwydion was peeking out into the hall, a huge grin on his face.

“Oh my~! Blaise, I’m so proud of you!” he exclaimed. Blaise darted a glare at him.

“SHUT UP GWY!” he yelled. In a swift motion, he scrambled off of Calla, grabbing her hand. She was pulled onto her feet right away. Well, feet was not the right word as Calla didn’t even think her feet touched the ground as Blaise pulled her into his room, slamming the door behind them.

Blaise grumbled, pulling her over to his bed and pushing her to sit down. Calla was surprised, looking up at him unsure of what to say. “...Blaise, I…” she started only for Blaise to shush her. He stood before her, searching her face a second before touching her head.

“How bad did you hit your head?” he asked sternly, touching the back of her head. “Are you bleeding at all?”

Calla blinked at his questions before frowning. “N-No… It’s fine” she replied, moving to rub the back of her head. Blaise seemed to relax at that, sighing and pulling away to sit on the bed next to her. He rubbed his closed eyes, muttering to himself.

“Man, you are accident-prone,” he muttered before folding his arms and opening his eyes to glare at her. “What were you doing by my door anyway?”

Calla frowned at that, looking off embarrassed. “I...um… I just…” she started before sighing to calm down. “I wanted to see if there was anything I could help you with… I mean you were the one who said I should.”

She felt Blaise’s eyes staring at her before he groaned at that, getting to his feet. “You took what I said seriously, huh,” he muttered, turning to face her. He scanned her face for a while before huffing a little. “Well, I guess as long as it keeps you out of trouble, I don’t mind…”

Calla perked up at that, staring at Blaise’s slightly flustered face. He wasn’t looking at her, his eyes still slightly glaring. To be honest, it was rather cute and made her smile softly. She gave a nod. “Okay… so, um… what do you do?” she asked curiously. Blaise turned his attention back at her before sighing.

“Normally I would be carving staffs from the elder tree in the back, but I finished that the other day. So I was just planning to train for a bit,” he said before giving a huff, oddly not at her though. “There is a spell that has been giving me a hard time lately.”

Calla got to her feet, thinking it over. “How am I able to help you with that?” she asked, frowning. He blinked at that as if he hadn’t thought about it before his brow furrowed.

He shrugged. “I mean, you are welcome to watch.” he offered. She thought it over before nodding with a smile at that.

“Okay,” she said cheerfully, making Blaise grow a tad flustered again. She figured he would head to the door to go outside, however, he walked over to the window in his room, opening it. He glanced back at her.

“Are you coming with me or what?” he asked with a huff, turning and climbing out the window. Calla watched confused. Sure, the cottage wasn’t that tall so it was not as if he would have gotten hurt jumping out his window. She just didn’t expect it. She moved to the window to see Blaise was waiting for her.

She just gave him a bit of a look. “And why aren’t we taking the door like a normal person?” she asked him to which Blaise just rolled his eyes.

“I don’t want to deal with the others,” he answered with brutal honesty. She sighed at that before carefully moving to climb out of the window. As she sat on the window sill, swinging her legs around to climb out, she felt Blaise’s hand on her sides. She blushed softly, looking at him in surprise as he helped her out of the window. Once her feet were on the ground, she looked up at him with a shy smile.

His eyes looked her over before he pulled away from her, scratching his head with a blush on his cheeks. “I just… figured you needed the help,” he said softly before turning to walk towards the training field.

“T-Thank you,” she called after him, making him wave her off.

“Yeah, yeah,” he muttered, moving into the center of the arena. Calla watched him a moment before following. She stopped once inside, moving to take a seat on the more grassy side of the arena.

She watched in amazement as Blaise raised his hand, waving it around. The rock before him quaked before growing into a large stone-fighting dummy. She was shocked by what she had just witnessed, wanting to ask about it but figuring he would think it was a silly question. She hummed, watching him as his hands began to glow with fiery sparks that danced around his fingertips like embers over a fire. It still surprised her when she saw them using magic, a part of her not believing her eyes.

“Hey Blaise?” she asked after a while. Blaise was busy sending a small whirlwind of fire towards the dummy. He didn’t look over.

“What,” he answered, eyes focused on what he was doing.

“Raven said on your last trip to the other realm, you got into some trouble with werewolves. Is that why you’ve been training so much?” she asked curiously. Blaise paused at that, nearly stumbling before sending his attack to the rock dummy anyway.

He glanced her way before giving a small huff, folding his arms. “So that was what you two were talking about,” he muttered in annoyance before shrugging. “Werewolves aren’t shit. Especially not a bunch of overgrown pups who don’t know better than to pick a fight with a warlock.”

Calla frowned at that. “Raven said he felt you were strong enough to beat them alone, but you ended up needing help because of… something. I don’t quite remember,” she admitted with a shrug.

He scowled. “That’s only because my aura is tied to my emotions, when I get angry, it wavers,” he explained. He sighed, looking at the dummy before seemingly deciding not to continue for a moment, moving to sit next to Calla on the ground. He leaned back, propping himself up on his arms. “They pissed me off by bringing up the fact that I was not born magical.”

Calla seemed surprised at that. She had assumed all of them had been born into the other realm. “You’re not?” she asked curiously. He glanced back at her before sitting up, resting an arm on one of his raised knees. He seemed to scan her before his eyes met hers.

“Not all warlocks are born magical,” he explained before sighing. He looked away, the arm on his leg lifting to run his fingers through his curly red hair. “The other three are, I was born a non-magical and became a warlock when I made a bond with Gwydion. I’ve only been doing magic for five years.”

Calla hummed in thought at that. “So, can any non-magical person become magical if they make a bond with one?” she asked before a thought hit her. She pointed to herself. “Could I become one?”

Blaise seemed to eye her but his look was distant as he seemed to be thinking over her words. He searched her eyes a moment before he frowned. “I mean, it takes a non-magical who is sensitive to the other realm. As for if you could, I’m not the one to ask. Marick was the one who saw I was able to become one.” he explained calmly, though with a little bit of disappointment in his tone at his inability to tell.

She hummed in the thought of that before turning herself more towards him. “Out of all of them, why did you pick to make a bond with Gwydion?” she asked with a frown. “Especially since you seem to hate him.”

Blaise sighed at that. “I don’t hate him. I just don’t like how he’s been acting around you,” he muttered, rolling his eyes. “You would think that a guy like that would know how to act around a girl.” He huffed before he glanced at Calla again. “As to why I picked him to make a bond with, it’s because of his healing ability. Gwy may be a complete man-whore, but he is a master in healing.”

Calla remained quiet as she watched him look off in thought. He sighed. “I grew up in a very poor village along the fishing route. My father was a fisherman, my mother died in childbirth. I lived with my aunt until I was old enough to work at the docks with my father. My aunt worked for the church in town and I saw nothing but death and pain as she tended to the ever-growing sickness in the area.” he said softly, his eyes swimming with the memories. “It got worse when the tides changed and the fishing boats began to come back with less and less food. The village entered a famine and so many people began getting sick… the church had to turn the cemetery into a mass grave pit.”

Her eyes softened as she listened, seeing the pain in his face. “I’m… I’m sorry to hear that, Blaise… that sounds terrible to witness…” she said tenderly, reaching out to touch his shoulder. That seemed to snap him out of it as his eyes widened, his attention turning to her before he just looked off, in his best attempt to look tough.

“I was able to handle it,” he stated with a huff but soon enough he sighed and looked down. “Growing up, I always felt different… been able to see things that were not there and to sense when things were wrong. Still, I always felt so helpless that I couldn’t help anyone… to save my village from its fate.” He looked at his hand again. “I left when my father died… hearing stories of people with incredible power, one who could heal anything. So yeah, I’ve been here ever since.” He glanced back at her and frowned. “The others are born magical, so they don’t always understand how strange their world can be. I might not be as knowledgeable about any of this, but I will at least answer any questions you have.”

That had been a lot to take in but his last few words made her smile softly and nodded. “Thank you,” she said before sighing. “And you are right. This world really is strange.”

He rolled his eyes. “You haven’t seen the half of it,” he stated sharply, laying on his back to look up at the sky, resting his head on his arm. “Just wait until you see the other realm. That’s when the real madness starts.” He gave her a look over before looking off with a small blush on his cheeks. “I mean… when you are able to go that is.”

Calla stared at him a moment before a thought hit her. She turned to sit on her knees, leaning to look down at him. “Yeah, about that. Since you were like me, did you have the same issue to deal with, or is that just because I’m a girl?” she asked seriously. He raised a brow at her.

“Calla, I worked around fishermen for years. All those guys do is drink, work, and locate every red light district in every coastal village we went to. I was far from a virgin when I joined the coven.” he stated in a matter-of-fact tone. With how easily he said it, she couldn’t help but blush and look off. Blaise sighed and sat up, making her lean back as he did. “It didn’t mean that those in the other realm didn’t give me a strange look when I first arrived there. I had already been a warlock for a year and I still “smelled” like a non-magical. It would have been just as dangerous for me if I had been pure, regardless of gender.”

Calla frowned and looked down at that. So it wasn’t just some kind of plot, they were being serious about the danger she was in. “So there really is no way around it, huh…” she muttered softly. Blaise watched her a moment before moving to pat her head gently.

“Trust me… if this was just a stunt, I would have told you,” he informed her in a low voice. “There are a lot of magicals who see non-magicals as nothing but things to use. And then, of course, the creatures we share our world with feed on non-magicals.”

She sighed, looking up at him. “I guess my life really isn’t any different from where I started,” she said sadly. She was surprised to see Blaise give a huff at that, folding his arms.

“Do you honestly see us in such a bad light to compare us to the man you were sold to?” he asked, looking a bit annoyed at the implication. “Look, I know Gwy and Raven can be a bit much, and Marick is a bit of a dick, but we would never put you into any situation we couldn’t handle.”

She frowned at that. “But why? What do any of you gain from protecting me?” she asked, her mood turning a tad angry as she looked into his green eyes. “You wanted to leave me to die when I was caught in the cottage. When did that turn into promising to keep me safe?” She looked off, her anger fading as she did. “What makes me so special?”

They were quiet for a moment before Blaise lightly hit Calla on the head, making her blink in surprise and look back up at him. He was frowning, trying to look tough with a blush on his face. “Man, you are a pest,” he stated sharply before sighing and getting to his feet. He stretched once he did before looking back down to Calla. “Did you ever think that maybe you're special because you are ordinary? Most magicals are unaware of how strange and interesting their world is. You wouldn’t know, but you being here has actually brought a lot more excitement than there has been in a long time. When you are able to do the extraordinary, the extraordinary becomes ordinary. Dull and boring.”

She blinked in surprise at that, staring up at him as he continued, “When things become too dull, the coven takes trips to non-magical villages or the other realm for entertainment. To feel special. This coven is highly regarded for our skills and outside of the werewolves that decided to pick a fight, no one dares to take us on like they would other covens. They have nothing to gain by even trying.” He explained, folding his arms over his chest as he stared off in thought. “Your wide-eyed curiosity at everything we do is a reminder of how remarkable our powers can be.” He frowned a little, seemingly trying to figure out how to explain it better. “The best example I have is when you bring a lady aboard a ship. The men are starved for attention and try harder in the attempt to gain her affection. The only difference is the danger. You don’t run the risk of having a group force themselves on you.” He stated, his expression growing dark at the thought. “Because if anyone tries, I’ll kill them.”

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She watched his expression for a while before smiling softly. It seems he was just the protective type. What he said made a little sense and hadn’t been what she was expecting. She didn’t know anything about how they were before, and just assumed they were just a lively group, to begin with. Then again, Raven had said something similar to her when he mentioned they were a group that didn’t gain any kind of pleasure from being in the presence of other men.

Blaise gave a sigh as Calla saw him glance back at the stone dummy he made. “Now then, I should get back to practicing,” he muttered bitterly. He sounded like she had been the one to waste his time but she had nothing to do with him taking a break.

She looked between the dummy and him before humming in thought. “What’s it like?” she asked softly, before blushing at the question, especially when he glanced back at her wide-eyed and blushing. She waved her hands frantically, not wanting to give him the wrong impression. “I-I mean using magic! What’s it like doing magic!”

Blaise’s expression changed from shock to slight embarrassment and he nearly face palmed his face red. “Be more specific when you ask questions please,” he grumbled, clearly flustered. It took him a moment to calm down before he seemed to think it over a little. A thought hit him and he glanced back at her.

He looked away stubbornly, holding his hand out to her. “I can… show you… since you are so interested…” he said softly, trying to sound like he didn’t care. Calla hesitated a moment as she looked up at him before slowly taking his hand. He looked back, helping her to her feet before leading her over to where he had been standing before the dummy.

As he turned towards the dummy, he pulled her to stand before him, facing the same way. Calla blinked in surprise as he moved his arms so that they were right against hers, his fingers sliding over the back of her hand and between her fingers before clasping down.

“Keep your palms open and your arms lose. However my body moves, follow it,” he said, though his tone was not as demanding as his words seemed to be. Calla nodded, looking forward as with Blaise’s movement, their arms were held out in the position Blaise had them in the first time he had summoned the small fire whirlwind.

She couldn’t help but feel her heart race with being so close to him. She had never noticed how strong Blaise’s arms were. Then again, he said he used to work on ships so it made sense as to his body being tough from experience in that line of work. However, she quickly moved that thought from her mind, wanting to focus on what was going on.

“Now, this may feel a little strange at first,” he stated with a sigh. Calla nodded at that.

“I trust you,” she said softly. She felt Blaise’s arms tense a little at that before he relaxed, muttering something to himself before moving his leg to get her to take a step towards the stone dummy. She moved her body as he did, eyes on the dummy once again, even when Blaise brought their arms before them.

All at once, Calla let out a gasp as her body seemed to ripple with energy that was flowing from Blaise and through her. She could feel his strength, his incredible power. For a second, she remembered what Raven had said about Blaise being far from weak, and at this moment, she seemed to understand that clearly.

“Relax your body. If you stay tense, my spell will hit you instead of going through you,” he stated sharply, which had Calla become aware of how tense she had become in the presence of his power. She took in a breath and let it out slowly in an attempt to calm herself. Blaise sighed as well. “Try and picture yourself as if you are floating in a large body of water. That’s what helped me when I first started using magic.”

Calla nodded at that, closing her eyes as she tried to picture herself in a large body of water. As she did, she felt herself becoming relaxed, weightless even. His power wrapping around her instead of holding itself inside her body. Once he felt her relax, Blaise shifted their hands again. Calla opened her eyes to see the sparks of embers dancing over their hands. It felt strange to see them flowing through her hands. Her eyes widened as the energy around them focused before them. In between her hands, the sparks formed into a small fire whirlwind. Being so close she could actually feel the heat from it. Once it was formed, Blaise moved their hands to face the target, sending the whirlwind towards the target. Unlike before, upon contact with it, the stone dummy exploded into rubble.

They stood still for a moment before Calla’s expression lit up with a huge excited grin. As soon as Blaise let go of her, she spun around, nearly jumping with her excitement. “That was amazing!!” she squealed in delight before she looked at her own hands. “It just blew up!!”

Blaise just stood there, watching her as she went on in her excitement about what had happened. He blinked in surprise. It seemed even he tended to forget how impressive his power was. Seeing the delight on Calla’s face. His expression soon turned into a smile before he looked off, covering his mouth to try and suppress an amused laugh.

“It’s not that impressive…” he said as he did. Calla paused to look at him before she smiled with a blush. She had never heard Blaise laugh before or seen him smile. She was surprised how it made him look more his age. After all, he wasn’t that much older than her. It was good to see him acting less serious.

Blaise glanced over and grew flustered upon seeing Calla smiling warmly at him. He grumbled a little, looking off before folding his arms. “Stop looking at me like that,” he muttered, trying to sound annoyed. He gave a sigh and walked towards the window to his room. “Stay here. I remembered I forgot something in the kitchen.”

Calla nodded, watching him go before looking back at the crumbled stone dummy again. Her mind was filled with thoughts as her heart raced with excitement. She had never wished she were able to use magic more than she did right now.

Blaise jumped through the window to his room, rubbing his forehead with his eyes closed. He let out a long sigh, stopping in the middle of his room. “Why does she have to be so damn cute…?” he asked himself, only to hear a small chuckle in the room. He opened his eyes to see Gwydion was seated at the only desk Blaise had in his room.

“It makes things difficult, doesn’t it?” Gwydion answered, making Blaise frown. He turned to him, clearly not too surprised to see the older man in his room.

“You know, a normal person wouldn’t spy on others,” Blaise muttered in annoyance. Gwydion waved off the comment, glancing out the window towards Calla.

“An adult would not act like a schoolboy with a crush.” he shot back with a playful smirk, not needing to look over to see Blaise’s face growing flustered. Gwydion sighed a little. “You know you don’t need to say mean things to her to get her to like you. The two of you have a lot in common, if anything, the rest of us have to do more to get her attention than you do.”

Blaise paused at that before looking down in thought for a moment before sighing and turning to head towards the door of his room. “...Don’t bother her while I’m gone,” he muttered, only to hear Gwydion chuckle lightly, making him stop just before opening the door.

“And ruin your special alone time with her?” he questioned before shaking his head. “I may be a lot of things, Blaise, but cruel is not one of them.” Gwydion sighed and rested his head on his fist, looking out the window again. “I only came to observe your practice. Nothing more.”

Blaise glanced his way for a moment. He knew Gwydion well enough to know that the man was telling the truth. After a moment, he nodded, turned, and headed towards the kitchen.

As he entered the kitchen, he noticed Raven was boiling water. Clearly to make tea. He glanced around the area. “Raven, have you seen the bucket?” he asked, not seeing it in the brief scan he did.

Raven glanced back at him before he gave a hum in thought. “I do believe it was under the sink,” he mentioned, motioning his hand towards the cupboard under the sink. Blaise nodded and moved over to open it.

Raven gave a bit of a smirk, his attention watching the kettle. “Having fun out there?” he asked after a moment. Blaise grabbed the bucket, standing tall again to give a slight glare at Raven, frowning.

“What are you getting at?” he countered, narrowing his eyes. Raven chuckled a little before flashing an innocent grin toward Blaise.

“Just sizing up the competition,” he answered, to which Blaise rolled his eyes. As much as he respected Raven’s skill and leadership, he found the man to be a spoiled child when he didn’t get what he wanted.

“This isn’t a game, Raven… and she’s not some toy.” Blaise snapped to him. Raven, however, just smirked.

“I am aware,” he said calmly before turning his attention back to the kettle. “But that doesn’t mean I will stop trying to win her affection.”

Blaise gave him a huff, giving the man a look over before turning to leave the room. “Some of us don’t have to use manipulation abilities to get ahead.” he shot toward him as he left the room. He didn’t stick around to see or hear what Raven’s response to that was as he soon moved to head back outside.

Calla glanced up when she saw Blaise climbing out his window again, this time with a bucket. She seemed slightly confused by the sight but figured he needed it to hold water. He seemed to catch her confused look and huffed a little.

“It’s a bucket. It’s for water,” he said as if she were stupid. She frowned at that with a little glare.

“I got that much,” she stated. Her glare actually made him sigh to prevent him from smirking at the sight. Not that Calla knew as he walked over. She watched as he looked between her and the stones in the center of the arena.

“Alright, well, I need to seriously focus on my spell casting. You can stay and watch, ask questions if you have them, but don’t get upset if I ignore you,” he stated seriously before pointing to the fence. “What I was doing earlier was a warm-up, the real spell I am working with is a lot more intense and for your safety, stay by the fence.”

She looked towards the fence before looking back to Blaise and nodded. “Oh, okay,” she said softly before moving off to stay by the fence as he said. She sighed, looking back to see that he was watching her a moment before turning to begin the setup he needed.

He waved his hand over the bucket which looked to fill with water as he did before he set it down by the broken stone dummy before turning to other rocks in the area. She watched in amazement as he seemed to summon tons of the stone dummies around the area with a single wave of his hand. She sighed a little, sitting down as she just watched.

A thought hit her as she watched him, frowning a little. “Hey, Blaise? When you were warning me about the brothers being manipulative. What did you mean by that?” she called out to him. It had been on her mind since he told her, but she hadn’t known when it would be the best time to ask.

He glanced her way, moving to each stone dummy, tracing a symbol on each with his finger. He frowned. “Those who are magical born have a special ability that only they possess. All three of the others in the coven have a special ability but only the brothers possess types that are manipulative in nature,” he explained as he did, pausing to think it over for a second. “Raven’s ability messes with the emotions of others. He can make people feel however he wants them to. However, I have never seen him use it for negative emotions. Most of the time he uses his ability to keep people calm.”

Calla frowned at that. “And you think he’s been using it on me?” she asked. Blaise just rolled his eyes.

“I know he has,” he noted bitterly. “He’s been using his power since you first woke up to keep you from freaking out. I warned you because I wouldn’t put it past him to use it to make you have a positive experience around so that you trust him.” He moved to the next dummy. “As for Gwydion, his power is similar. He can send good feelings through the body of those he touches. However, it works differently against non-magicals, adding a pleasure element to it. Which doesn’t help given that his power has an addictive quality to it. I don’t think I need to explain why I warned you about him.”

She looked off at that before giving a sigh. Thinking back to how she felt when Gwydion touched her, it made sense now. She shivered a little.

“As for Marick,” Blaise continued, making her look back at him. He gave a frown as he folded his arms and looked off to think. “His power has something to do with taking life from others. I don’t really know much about it, but I know that’s why his age is unknown.” She blinked in surprise at that. It seemed Marick was a bit of a mystery to the others, or perhaps just Blaise as he was the newest.

She would watch him for a while as he began to train, the symbols he had placed on the stone dummies causing them to move and attack him as he moved about. It was a sight to see as she sat there, trying to keep her eye on him as he moved about, sending a spell she couldn’t even comprehend towards the stone dummies, a few disintegrating upon impact. It was clearly a higher-level spell than what he had been using before, making her wonder how much he held back when he was showing her his power.

The memory made her blush a little, remembering the feeling of being in his arms. It made her heartbeat increase as she looked off. Still, he always tried to sound as if he was annoyed with her, making her question sometimes if he honestly found her annoying or what his problem was. She looked up when she saw the last stone dummy disappear. Blaise was panting. She could tell from where she was that he was covered in sweat and looking exhausted. It made her wonder how much energy magic used when it was cast. Then again, he was also dodging hits from stone dummies, which didn’t help.

She watched a little concerned as he walked over to her, taking off his shirt to dry the sweat from his face as he sat down next to her, his breath already calming. She frowned a little. “Are you alright?” she asked as she looked him over, blushing slightly at the sight of the strong, shirtless guy next to her.

He glanced her way before nodding. “Yeah, I’m fine,” he said, taking deep breaths to come down from his exercise. He used his shirt to remove more sweat from his head, Calla blushing a little and looking away so as to stop staring at his strong body.

“Hey Calla?” he asked after a while, making her jolt a little and look back at him. He was staring at her with a serious expression. “Can I ask you something?”

She frowned a little but nodded. “Yeah, sure,” she answered, her eyes focused on his.

“If things had been different and you never ended up in the non-magical village outside the forest, where did you see your life going?” he asked calmly. Calla paused at the question before looking down a little.

“You say that as if you don’t understand how our world treats girls,” she said softly before giving a sigh. “The only reason I ended up with the lord of the town not far from here was that my sister refused to be his maid and ran off with a lover she had gotten pregnant by. If my sister had ended up here, my parents would have still married me off to an older man with money. So to answer your question, my life would have seen me married to a man I didn’t know or even love, spending my days tending to the house and children…”

He was quiet as he listened to her speak before he sighed. He leaned against the fence before looking back at her. “You were from the village across the river, right? I think I heard people talking about how you were brought in by ship,” he asked before she gave a nod. He looked off again. “Maybe you could have run away. Snuck onboard a ship at the harbor and saw the world.”

Calla almost rolled her eyes at that. “To be honest, I’ve always known where my life would end up and I never bothered thinking about the future.” She admitted. The two sat quietly for a moment before he clicked his tongue.

“A life with the coven may not be too bad, you know.” He said softly, making her look over at him. He shrugged. “I mean, I get that you kind of have to stay with us, but… at least you might like it here…”

She stared at him for a while before frowning. “Sure, what’s not to like living with two guys who harass me every chance they get, and the other two glare at me-!” She started only to be cut off when she was swiftly pulled onto Blaise’s lap. Her face became bright red as she realized her front was pressed against him, her hands on his strong chest. He wrapped his arms around her back, holding her close as he looked her dead in the eye. The seriousness of his expression nearly took her breath away.

“Fine. Then how about this?” he started in a stern tone of voice. “I vow to act nicer towards you and protect you if you vow to stop lumping me in with the shenanigans of the others and treating this like it is anything like the life you left.”

Calla was surprised by his words, thinking them over before sighing and nodding. “Okay…” she said softly, attempting to pull away only for his arms to remain firmly in place. She looked back at him as he scowled a little, a small blush on his own face.

“When you make a vow, you seal it with a kiss, or else they are just words,” he said, trying to sound stern but seemingly a little more awkward. Her blush turned a darker shade as she looked at him wide-eyed.

“I….um…” she stammered. Blaise scanned her a moment before rolling his eyes. Removing one of the arms from around her back, he touched her chin, slowly guiding her face closer to his.

“Do you trust me?” he asked her with a tenderness she wasn’t used to hearing from him. She hesitated a moment before nodding slowly.

“Yes… I trust you,” she answered. Her heart was racing as she leaned forward, eyes closing as her lips met his.

Blaise wrapped both arms around her again pulling her close as he kissed back. His kiss was tender but slightly eager as he held her close, neither wanting to pull away.

When the kiss did break, both were blushing a deep red, Calla looking off a little while Blaise watched her tenderly. He cleared his throat a little. “T...There… now the vow is bound to both of us…” he said softly before he sighed a little. Calla looked at him again. His eyes were a lot kinder towards her but he looked a bit awkward about being so gentle. “Hey...umm… would you just… lay here with me for a moment longer? You know… just so when we go back inside people don’t start asking questions about why we are so flustered...”

Calla blinked in surprise at his question. However, with how fast her heart was beating, she had to admit she would be okay with the tender moment with Blaise lasting a little longer. She gave a nod, moving to lay in his arms, resting her head on his chest as he hugged her close.

From within Blaise’s room, Raven and Gwydion watched on. Raven seemed slightly jealous, while Gwydion just smiled warmly at the sight.

“Since when are vows only validated with a kiss?” Raven asked before glancing at his brother. “That sounds like some silly story you would tell someone, Gwy.”

Gwydion just gave a lighthearted chuckle at that, leaning back in the chair. “You know he just wanted to have a reason to kiss her. You would do the same.” Gwydion teased softly. The two just turned their eyes back at the two outside. Gwydion’s eyes softened a little. “Getting close to her will be good for him… she might help keep his anger under control.”

Calla’s relationship with Blaise has increased.

Continue the story by going to Chapter 7