The Devil's Cursed Witch

As Ember watched the entire thing unfold over and over again like a broken nightmare, she was struck by the same resonating pain, and she wanted to reach out to her.

Was it out of pity? She had no idea. All she wanted to do was to comfort the woman. She felt like she could do something to lessen the pain of that woman...

Ember didn't just have tears, soft cries gradually left her mouth as she sobbed at the suffering of the green-eyed woman bound in chains. And when the bolts of lightning struck her, causing her body to perish--

"No..."

Her hands clutched on the blanket covering her, as if she too was trying to resist that scorching agony, yet her entire body was unable to move, paralysed beyond her control.

It just so happened that her servants, Reya and Clio, entered her chamber to check on their master at that moment. It was already evening, and given that Ember had slept for an entire day, they were somewhat expecting her to awaken around this time. The Head of the Witches predicted that the completion of the bond might have taken a great toll on Ember's human body; thus, even though they weren't sure when she would regain consciousness, they had to check on her from time to time.

"I think Miss is awake?" Reya felt hopeful when they suddenly felt the movement in bed. However, the two elves were immediately alerted upon hearing the sounds of sobbing and they hurried towards the bed. They saw tears rolling down Ember's closed eyes.

"Miss? Miss, are you alright?" Clio asked worriedly but there was no response.

"Is she having a nightmare?" Reya asked as she looked at her cousin. "Shall we wake her up?"

Clip leaned down and put her hand on Ember's hand that was clutching the blanket. "Miss, can you hear me? Please wake up. Miss, it is Clio..."

"No!!!"

As she yelled that out, Ember opened her eyes and sat up in bed, catching her breath as if she was yet to realize she had woken up. For several seconds, nobody inside the chamber moved.

Ember then blinked before looking at her worried servants and the surroundings in confusion. A moment ago, she felt like she was somewhere else, a place that was very different from where she was, one so beautiful yet so terrifying than anywhere she had ever seen in her life.

"Miss, it is us. Please stop crying, "Reya said as she reached out for Ember's hand like an older sister. "Everything is fine. No matter what you saw, you left it behind in your dreams. Everything is but a bad dream..."

Ember closed her eyes briefly as she was still not out of it and didn't know what to think about it. All she did was let out an exhausted sigh as her equally exhausted body fell back to bed.

Her servants quietly waited for her to say anything.

When she had calmed down, Ember opened her eyes again, and she gave her servants a small smile of apology, causing them to give a collective sigh of relief. Clio passed a cloth to Ember for her to dry the streaks of tears on her face. Just as Reya was about to say something funny to change the mood, an awkward sound beat her to it.

It was the sound of a certain human's stomach growling in hunger.

"Uhm, I am starving?" Ember said as she looked at the two servants with an embarrassed face.

Fortunately, her body gave her an excuse as she wanted to avoid answering any of her servants' questions about why she was crying in her sleep.

The servants were considerate enough to no longer ask, simply proceeding to serve their master.

"Miss, I will immediately bring a nice warm meal for you," Clio said as she left.

Ember wanted to sit up again, but felt her body was so weak to even move an inch.

"Miss, let me help you." Reya went to her side and helped Ember to sit up, but she had a crumpled expression on her face as she lifted her upper body. She could not help but groan in pain.

"Miss, what's wrong? Are you injured somewhere?" the servant asked as she observed Ember's expression while arranging the pillows to support her back.

Ember closed her eyes and breathed deeply. She felt like she had done some heavy labour beyond what her body could handle. Her legs felt like they had no strength in them and then she realized that a certain place between her legs was aching badly.

Reya didn't ask any more questions and went to get water for Ember who had buried herself in the comfort of the pillows stacked behind her. With her eyes closed, she tried to process what she had seen in her dream.

"Miss, have some water."

Ember opened her eyes and accepted the glass from Reya. She had a few sips of water which she swallowed slowly. Her free hand moved to rub her empty stomach. It felt like her stomach really needed something to fill it in.

Reya smiled at her gesture. "Miss, I am sure you must be starving. You have slept for an entire day. You have not eaten anything since last evening. Tsk, don't worry.  Clio will return soon as food is already prepared for you. Your body needs proper nutrition as you must have exhausted yourself after completing your bond--"

Ember was simply nodding along the elf's chatter when her mind caught the words 'bond'. Right! That strange dream almost made her forget about it.

The completion of the mate bond.

She recalled everything from the previous night--the things that she and Draven had done. Despite her feeling weak, her heart began to pound loudly at those embarrassing memories and her cheeks turned bright red.

Fortunately, Clio returned with her meal, causing her other servant to be distracted. Reya immediately arranged the footed tray so Ember could eat in bed,and Clio placed various dishes on it for Ember to eat.

Seeing the delicious food, Ember forgot everything else. All she wanted was to put out the fire of hunger in her stomach first, or she was sure she would go crazy.

'I'm so hungry!'