************Emily POV************

“It’s so beautiful!” Emily proclaimed in amazement. She watched as children ran across a street that was paved with glistening shells and thousands of pebbles molded together with a magic Emily herself didn’t understand. The street was smoothed for those who walked barefoot like Ron, and the sunlight made the street shine like stars.

To Emily’s surprise, there were hundreds of people. Homes were built like apartments and rose up to three stories. People were trading at stalls set up in what looked like a town square of some sort. Men and women alike were working and laughing together, but they quickly fell silent when they saw Ron and Emily approach.

“Oh good! Ron, I made this for you last week. I was planning on delivering it to you personally but since you’re here I can give it to you now,” a woman said with a smile. She started walking in the direction of a group of houses when Emily noticed the sway of her hips.

It almost looked as if she was flirting. Something clawed at the back of Emily’s mind but she pushed it away and turned her attention to the rest of the village. People had slowly started going back to their business but continued to glance at Emily in interest. Whispers raced through the crowds of people.

“Here! Just like you asked, but I’m not sure about the measurements. She’s much bustier than I thought,” the woman said as she walked back with a dress in her hands.

She walked right up to Emily and handed it to her. Emily looked at her in confusion, but the girl only smiled and hugged her.

At this point, even Ron himself was caught off guard by the woman’s actions.

“Welcome to our home, little one. My name is Analicia,” the woman said when she pulled away. Emily couldn’t help but smile and bow slightly to her in thanks.

“My name is Emily, and I thank you for your welcome.” Analicia grinned even wider before turning back to Ron.

“If you need anything else, don’t hesitate to ask. My door is always open for you, my lord,” Analicia giggled before bowing to him and turning just as swiftly to go back to her house. Ron was smiling fondly at her as she ran off.

“She’s always been very kind about helping others, and when it comes to making clothing she has become the village’s head seamstress. She’s been very excited about your arrival,” Ron added. Emily could only nod.

Ron took Emily all around the village and showed her where everything was and where she would be able to go to bathe and gather vegetables and certain fruit from farmers. With everything coming at her so fast, the one thing that came to Emily’s mind was how badly she wanted to nap.

By the time that the two of them had gotten back to Ron’s cottage, Emily was beyond tired and hungry. She naturally kept her mouth shut like she was taught whenever her body wasn’t reacting like she wanted and forced herself to pretend like she was normal.

Emily gave a small squeak of surprise when she felt hands around her waist and shoulders, then she was lifted up off the ground with ease. She held the dress in her hands tightly as Ron carried her into the house and to the table. He used his feet to push a chair away from the table and carefully sat Emily down on it.

“What was that for?” Emily stuttered. Ron’s expression was blank as he turned back to the kitchen and started to take vegetables and meat from the basket he had received from one of the farmers and started to cook.

Emily sighed when she realized she wouldn’t be getting an answer from him and instead started to examine the dress. It was beautifully made and looked like the top might be a bit snug, but it should fit. It was a powder blue color with lace threaded through the hip area to be tied. The design was simple but perfect to Emily.

“Here, eat this. There are sleeping clothing for you in the bottom drawer of the smaller dresser in your room,” Ron said as he set a plate of food in front of her with a glass of water. Emily felt her mouth water from the meat’s aroma, but forced herself to eat slowly.

He had made a salad out of the lettuce and carrots he had been given, and the meat was cooked with what tasted like salt and pepper but she didn’t know where Ron could have gotten it from. Ron sat at the other end of the table and ate some salad himself but didn’t take any meat.

“How did you make this?” Emily asked. Ron glanced up and noticed what she was indicating to. He set his fork down and walked to the cabinet above the counter nearest to them. He opened it and pulled down a bottle.

“Arturo gave this to me before we left. He told me to use it on meat items, so I tried that tonight. Was it bad?” Ron asked curiously. Emily shook her head and took another bite. She assumed Arturo had told him about how to use salt and pepper but she still couldn’t tell how he knew how much to use.

When Emily finished eating, she felt herself grow more and more tired. The first thought that came to mind was how she needed to take her sleeping pill, but when she had finished cleaning her dishes and went into her bedroom to grab a pill, she realized there were none. The vials were gone.

************Ron POV************

Emily’s cry of alarm made Ron jump from his seat. He ran into her bedroom and saw Emily shuffling through her clothing in a panic. She suddenly seemed wide awake by how anxious she was while looking through her stuff. He knew exactly what she was looking for, but he kept the vials hidden under the wooden floorboard in the living room where he also had put her weapon away.

“Where did it go? I know it was here, I swear I put it here!” Ron felt sympathy for her, and as she grew more and more upset he gave in and walked up to her. He wrapped his arms around her and pinned her arms to her side as she struggled in his grasp to continue looking.

“Emily, calm down. You don’t need them, please just trust me,” Ron begged as she continued to struggle. She slowly calmed down in his grasp, which made him notice she was crying.

“I’m scared to sleep without them, if I don’t I’ll have night terrors and my magic goes out of control because of it!” She wailed. Her legs gave out below her, but Ron caught her and lifted her up quickly. He knew she had become addicted to them, Arturo had warned him beforehand about what they had done to her. It was him who asked Ron to break the addiction.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

Ron sat Emily on the bed and cleared it of her stuff. Emily was sniffling when it was done, and when Ron laid her down on the bed and dragged the covers above her, he decided he would stay with her to make sure she was ok when she slept. She shivered as Ron tucked the blankets around her and curled her up on the bed before slowly lowering himself down besides her.

He wasn’t sure if it was the smartest idea to try and break the addiction so soon, he had a feeling she would hate him the next day. The idea hurt him, but he forced himself to stick to it for her own good no matter how much it hurt. Emily’s breathing soon relaxed as sleep forced itself on her. Ron stared at her fast asleep with tear stains on her face, then grabbed her carefully and pulled her into his arms.

She seemed to sleep better, and as Ron drifted off himself he felt her snuggle closer to him.

Screaming. Ron was jolted awake and estimated it was around one in the morning. Emily was jerking around in her sleep and screaming uncontrollably. Dark magic was building up around the bedroom, but Ron easily destroyed it with his own. He was exceptionally stronger than Emily in the terms of magic, so when he felt a sudden jolt of magic start to build up he quickly crushed it from escaping.

“Emily, Emily calm down I’m right here!” Ron growled as he pinned her down so she couldn’t flail wildly like she had been. She could only scream at that point.

It took a few minutes but the screaming soon died down. She was whimpering again but wasn’t trying to move anymore. Ron was sweating from worry, but as Emily slept he calm. Ron sighed and kissed her forehead before laying down again.

It took a moment to realize what he just did, and a slight panic ran through him as Emily’s breathing changed. To his relief, all she did was turn over and fall into what seemed like a deeper sleep.

************Emily POV************

Emily had gain slight consciousness when she had finally managed to throw the night terror away. She didn’t have the strength to open her eyes or even speak, it was like she was in a forced coma. She could hear Ron whispering for her to stay calm, and the sound of his voice helped immensely.

She was finally drifting back to a calmer sleep when she felt him kiss her on her forehead. Her heartbeat had picked up at the touch but she forced herself to stay calm. She pretended to be asleep and carefully turned over on her side.

When her heartbeat had finally calmed down, Emily immediately started to think back to that day when she had first met Ron. She remembered how she instantly been attracted to him by how he was calm and kind to her even though she had marched right into his territory when he could have simply killed her. She even thought back to when she had kissed him and how she felt then.

Ron wrapped his arms around her and carefully pulled her into his embrace as he fell back to sleep. Emily blushed and forced her breathing to stay normal, but she let him hold her and enjoyed the feeling. She never did date anybody, she had been so carefully focused on her training that the thought had never crossed her mind, so his touch made her feel almost special.

She decided to let herself drift to sleep, and drifting away curled up in his arms chased away the demons that attacked her mind throughout the night.

When she had finally managed to wake up the next day, Ron had already woke up. Emily could still feel the warmth from where he had laid, so she stayed in bed for a few more minutes until she decided it was best to get up. On the dresser was some clothing that seemed to be something the villagers wore. Emily looked at them for a few seconds before picking up the light shirt and changing into it.

Emily folded her clothing before walking out into the kitchen area. She heard plates shuffling and light whistling that came from the teapot Ron kept on the stove, so she knew he was making tea. When she walked out, Ron glanced sideways and saw her. He greeted her with a smile and handed her a cup of tea.

“Today, I will show you what your job will be each morning and what you will do throughout the day. I didn’t bring you here for nothing, you know.” Emily nodded and took a sip from the cup. She relaxed and smiled as Ron cleaned the dishes.

“Come, you are going to fix something you messed up the last time you were here,” Ron said with a sly smile. Emily couldn’t tell what he meant as they walked out to the forest area.

It took about five minutes to reach the edge of the forest Emily had gotten lost in. She looked up at the thick hedge of trees and smiled at how it suddenly felt safe on the side she stood where it was clear.

“Here. Stop and look down at your feet,” Ron said. Emily glanced down and all she saw was what looked like a tiny flower bud.

“What am I looking at? What is it?” Ron started laughing and knelt besides the small thing before lightly tapping its head.

The flower suddenly bloomed, but it wasn’t a flower. It was a creature, and Emily immediately recognized it as the same one she had killed when she first came. The difference was it was a baby.

“I had to regrow it from what was left of it, but I want you to raise it. Teach it how to fight, care for it, and make sure it grows strong. He is yours to care for,” Ron said. Emily looked up at him, and then back at the creature. It was making little noises like a baby bird would. It’s leaves were a bright orange and blue, and even though it had no eyes Emily felt like it could see her.

“I’ll name him Carlin,” Emily finally said as she knelt down and carefully stroked the soft petals of the creature. It almost seemed to purr as it rubbed against her palm and made the same crying noise.

“Here, you can feed him with this. He likes his meat raw,” Ron said with a laugh as he turned and started to walk back to the cabin. Emily watched as he left and felt her heart grow more warm to him. It was only the second day out of four years, and she was suddenly excited to see where things would go, but she had a feeling wherever it went, her brother might not like it.