The Devil's Temptation!

The next day, Calista made her way into Draekharm village like she said she would, in search of the owner of those blue eyes that constantly haunts her, except her soon-to-be husband had chosen to escort her on the way, leaving her with no other choice but to agree, based on the fact he had been effortlessly kind to her.

“Where do you intend on going?” Archer popped a last minute question the moment the carriage brought them to the busy market of Draekharm, and Calista could recall seeing the owner of those blue eyes here after getting past Arlow the other day.

But she can’t go around searching if Archer continues to trail her every move. They weren’t even married yet and he was already portraying the habits of a clingy husband.

“I hope you don’t mind waiting here? I promise I won’t take too long.” She requested nicely, leaving the blonde-haired man sitting beside her to arch his brow in inquiry.

“I don’t mind as long as you inform me of your whereabouts, so I know where to look for you in case you don’t show up anytime soon.”

He was thoughtful on that aspect, but then again, Calista doesn’t think she was a child who can get lost easily, most especially in Draekharm.

“I just want to get something.” She opened the carriage door, “I’ll be back before you know it.”

“But take the guar–”

.....

The door was shut even before he got a chance to utter a word of retort. Archer just shook his head while keeping himself seated in the carriage, but his mind was eager to know what she came all the way here to buy that she couldn’t possibly get in the palace.

Making her way through the busy crowd, Calista partially covered her face with a purple scarf, leaving only her warm blue fox-like eyes visible to the gaze of everyone and of course, Calista was a beauty that couldn’t be comprehended with.

“Miss, what’s a beautiful woman without beautiful ornaments to compliment her beauty even more?”

“Young Miss, I have the finest dresses for pretty women like you, come take a look!”

Despite hiding her face to lessen the attention, her eyes gained many admiring stares as she was called to come purchase something, but it was still a lot better than revealing her whole face to the crowd.

Walking to and fro, Calista searched for the familiar blue eyes she always sees in Draekharm. She felt stupid for even doing this despite knowing her fiancee was waiting for her in the carriage. She had someone whom she’s bound to get married to, but now she’s here in search of another man.

If she even see’s this person, what will she say to him?

‘excuse me sir but I can’t seem to forget the blueness of your eyes, mind helping me out?’

He’ll think she was some crazy stalker, and as she tried to convince herself that this whole thing was pointless, she continuously kept searching for him as though her body was opposing the thoughts in her mind.

Suddenly, she spotted someone in a red cloak, hiding in the shadows of the busy street and to her quick surprise, no one seemed to even notice the presence of someone there, they just walked by without even glancing or even bothering to steal a look in that particular area.

Curious, Calista took a few steps towards that direction and fortunately, the person who hid there with his arms crossed hadn’t noticed her presence, and when a ray of light flashed through his direction, Calista’s eyes widened and her heart thumped for some reason.

“It’s him.” The moment she whispered it, a carriage suddenly rode past her, blocking her path and when the carriage left, the stranger in a red cloak disappeared from the shadows, leaving Calista to blink in disbelief and she pointed at him.

“Wait!”

She instantly followed him, taking to her heels as she went after the man who was currently walking through the many crowds, but how come he moved faster than her who was basically running to catch up with him??

And most importantly, he seemed to be after something, or someone.

“Mr.” She called out, but he just kept moving until she saw him step out of the crowds and strangely followed a more secluded path ahead.

Calista stopped in her tracks, seeing the guy in a cloak make his way through the forest path and it got her curious. Wasn’t all forest paths banned from being stepped into for the meantime?

“Where is...he going?” Callie thought to herself as she stopped running to catch her breath, she couldn’t remember the last time she ran this fast, and this far too.

Any normal person would have turned back and avoided the forest path, but Calista was determined to meet that man, else she might not be able to get rid of him from her head.

Taking a deep breath, she followed the secluded path and ventured into the forest. As she walked with quiet steps, the trees grew thicker and taller by the last minute that it left Calista thinking she made a wrong choice by agreeing to take this direction.

What if they were thugs around, or even Demons?? What if he was a thug??

Crossing her heart over her chest, she was ready to give up on finding that man. She had turned around to leave the forest when something caught her eyes at the last minute.

It was the sight of a red cloak and her eyes widened after seeing the being hold out his long silver sword, and before him was a lady who trembled.

“Your highness!–”

“Shut up!” Azazel’s tone made the trembling Freya keep shut, his face was hidden under the cloak and Calista, who hid in the bushes, couldn’t believe what her eyes were seeing.

“Listen to me, I_I have s-something to say.” Freya began in a stammering tone but as she looked up to meet Azazel’s stare, the look in his cold silver blue eyes made her flinch like someone who just got poured with cold Arctic water.

“You work with Luderick now, trusting you is the biggest mistake I’ll find myself making.” The distaste in his tone was so menacing that even Calista trembled, as though he was talking to her.

Was he really a thug? But then what is this energy she senses around him??

His grip against the hilt of his sword tightened, and he was more than ready to stab the low demoness with it when Freya said it out.

“If you kill me here then you won’t be able to figure out Luderick’s plan and what he plans on doing to Anna.” She revealed almost immediately, leaving Azazel’s glistening sword to stop mid-way before it could even pierce her heart.

“What?”

“Anna?!” Calista got to her feet out of impulse, hearing Anna’s name being mentioned by these two strangers but when both eyes turned to her direction, she realized she had said it a little too loud.

Azazel looked at the woman who’s pretty blue eyes widened in shock as she equally met his.

“It’s you.” Azazel sounded surprised himself, but due to Calista’s presence, it gave Freya the opportunity to escape as she instantly teleported herself elsewhere, but it was too late to stop her when Azazel recovered from the lady’s presence.

“No! Damn it!” Azazel cursed after realizing she had escaped for the umpteenth time today. She was saying something about Anna but what was it??

Turning his attention to the lady who had ruined his chance of getting the truth out of her, he saw she was already fleeing from the scene, which was obviously a bad choice.

Calista barely knew what happened over there, it felt like some sort of unbelievable dream had been played in front of her. How did the girl disappear?? Who were those people??

“Ah!” She tripped over a twig that was ahead and fell to the ground with a little cry. She wasn’t even done recovering from her fall when a pair of black boots stood before her.

With her heart racing in rhythm, she slowly lifted her gaze up only to meet the pair of blue eyes glaring down at her.

“Nosy humans!”

“There she is!” Came the words of a guard who had spotted Calista make her way into the forest and no sooner, Archer joined, only to see his future wife in the hands of a stranger and his eyes widened.

“Calista!”

“Archer!”

Before he could reach her, Azazel instantly grabbed the human by her hand and vanished before anyone could get to them.

“No!!”