The Demon's Bride

Tied In Faith Since Birth

When the night arrived, Elise felt uneasy to sleep that no matter how much Mila read her night tales, she couldn't close her eyes. When he closed her eyes, the image of bodies overlapped in her mind, making her hand tremble. Nearly finishing the last page to the book, Mila noticed the corner of Elise's lips sliding down and offered her something to relax her out.

"Do you want honeyed milk? It's good to have a warm one before you sleep." Elise shook her head in return, pulling her quilt to cover half of her lower face she heard Mil proposing another offer, " then, do you want to hear a lullaby?"

Elise became a little intrigued. She faces up to pull the quilt that brought her bandaged cheeks, making Mila look sadly on her wound. "What is Lullaby?"

"It is a song for children to hear so they could sleep, dear. This one is called The Silver Moon, do you want to hear it?"

"I do," Elise replied and felt Mila's hands caressing her head forward and backward. Between Mila's lips, a delicate voice filled the silent night.

The moon besides the clouds,

Oh, where are you hiding at?

Playing hide and seek with the clouds,

Lighting the green field in the night.

The flower glowing under the moon,

Purple in color, beautiful to see.

Faeries flying with their wings,

Jumping to a step and twirling to dance.

Mermaid singing to the Sea,

Covered the ocean with their voices.

Mother's voice was soft and pure,

Bringing land to see for the boy.

It's time to go back to your sleep and wish a good night to the moon.

By the end of Mila's lullaby, Elise had gone to her dreamland, having her game to play while flying to the moon with Mila's song. Mila stood beside, taking the candle and whispered, "Good night, Elise." She blew the candle and exited the room.

Ian came back to White's Mansion by midnight. His hair was disheveled by the harsh wind that blew over his hair. He swept his hair to the back and took off his coat to the servant beside him. The White's Mansion had a lingering scent of blood of the Black Annises and servant who lost their lives in the massacre. Stains on the floor and walls seemed to have been erased by the other maids, however, traces of blood couldn't disappear that easily.

"Milord." Austin bowed to greet him from the entrance.

"Where's the girl?" Ian walked forward to ascend the staircase languidly.

"In her room, Elise had finally slept. It seems she is very frightened of what she saw this afternoon."

Ian opened the door of Elise room and entered alone. In the middle of darkness, the pair of red eyes glowed in the darkness, stopping when he arrived at the bedside. Elise whimpered in her sleep. Ian placed his cold hands over her forehead and sunk into a thread of thoughts. Black Annises couldn't possibly breach through the magic shield that he planted on the Mansion.

Being the strongest sorcerer of the Empire, there was only one suspect who could be working with the Black Annises, the dark sorcerers. He tapped his hand and walked out of the room to have his raven flying over to his shoulder. He glanced over his shoulder away from the raven to the large moon. The night has begun and it was the time for the girl to leave, he thought silently.