The reindeer shone a brilliant golden. Rays of light emerged from him lighting up the entire forest in the vicinity. It seemed… surreal. The reindeer stared at her for a long time, and then… knelt on his forelegs to bow to her. 

Her mouth fell. Anastasia had this urgent urge to go and pet him. She took a step forward when suddenly in the corner of her vision she saw a grey-skinned man with red flinty eyes with bat-like wings. It flew past her, flapping its giant wings. She gasped. The reindeer disappeared into the air instantly, leaving the forest into darkness. And the winged demon looked in her direction. 

Her stomach churned and her insides quivered. She had never seen such kind of people in her life. Was it a demon? She had read about various types of demons in the library. Winged demons were one of them. In order not to scream, she bit her fist hard and stumbled back. She pressed her body to the wall on the side. The fire had died leaving the red embers behind. She hoped that the invisibility spell was still working. 

The demon stopped right in front of the cave's entrance. His feet hovered a meter off the ground, strong wings working powerfully sending that feted smell towards her with gust. He seemed to pierce his eyes inside the cave. Her nose crinkled and she suppressed the vicious urge to gag as pressed herself desperately against the cave's wall. For what seemed like an eternity, Anastasia continued to stay in that position. She heard a strong flapping of wings and the demon flew away in the oblivion of the night. 

Anastasia sagged against the wall with shaky limbs and breath. Sweat ran down her spine and dropped the blanket on the floor as she sat down with her back against the wall. She gasped to control her ragged breath. 

That was certainly a winged demon. Her hands began to shake as she raked her fingers through her hair. The timing of its arrival couldn't be worse. Ever since they had come back from Evindal, she missed Seashell. Had he been with her, none of these creatures would have come near her. Theodir had decided to keep Seashell in his realm for a few days for he had grown a liking for him. 

Her mind went to the golden reindeer that had knelt in front of her. Who was he? The winged demon must have sensed its presence and followed him here. But what was a winged demon doing in Ivorpool? Were they also rogues or were they onto something else? Nothing made sense. Perplexed as hell, she got up and started to walk towards the fire. She sat down in front of the embers and curled her hands around her knees. A thousand thoughts bounced in her head. Sleep was impossible. She waited for Ileus to return. 

It was not long after that she felt a cool gust of wind and shadows caressing her from the back. 

"Anastasia?" he said softly in the darkness. 

She spun towards him, wrapped her hands around his chest and pressed her head against his chest. 

"Why aren't you sleeping darling?" he asked with worry in his voice. How come his spell didn't work on her? 

"I— I saw something bizarre," she said, feeling comforted in his presence. 

His jaw clenched. "Did anyone harm you?" He had put the invisibility spell on the cave. There was no way it was visible from the outside. She shook her head, but he could feel her shaking in his arms. 

"There was a spirit here… spirit of a reindeer… I think it sensed my presence." 

Ileus froze for a moment. Then he made her sit in his lap and stroked her hair to soothe her racing heart. "Did it come inside the cave?"

"No, at first I thought I was dreaming but then I woke up to the noise of birds chirping. I walked to the entrance of the cave and saw the spirit." 

That was the forest spirit. Never in his life had he known that it bowed to anyone. But it bowed to Anastasia? That was astonishing. His neck tipped back as he gazed at his fae wife—descendent of the creators of the Lore. His lips kicked up. He curled his fingers beneath her chin and said, "That was the forest spirit. It came to honor you, Anastasia."

She blinked her eyes at him disbelieving his revelation. 

"Yes darling. The spirit thinks that you are close to being a goddess." 

She let out a nervous laugh. "That's ridiculous!" 

"If the spirit sensed that, then it certainly isn't ridiculous." He pressed a kiss on her eyes. "Are you in fear because of that?" 

"Oh no! It was so beautiful! But something strange happened after that. I saw a wing— a winged demon!" 

"What?" Ileus' hair on the back of the neck stood. "How is that possible?" 

"I don't know!" she replied in a flustered manner. "I simply can't wrap my head around this. What was a winged demon doing in Ivorpool?" 

"Beats me!" His chest tightened with unease and fear. "Did it sense you?"

She related the entire incident to him. "It couldn't see me, but I suspect that because of what the spirit did, they might know of our location." 

He tilted his head. "Winged demons are not related to us in any way. I am sure this was just a coincidence." He dismissed it. "Nonetheless, now I need to visit my mother, just in case…" 

"Why?" she asked. What was the relation between her sighting a demon and visiting his mother? 

Just before Ileus had come to Tongass, Theodir had asked him to retrieve the jāmbiya from his mother. "I think she should know of their presence in Ivorpool. Long back she had fought with the king of winged demons, Kar'den and had defeated him. Honestly, I am hearing about them for the first time!" 

"But isn't your mother unhappy with you," she said as guilt panged in her heart. 

"Don't worry so much Anastasia," he replied with a lilt in his voice. He looked out towards the entrance of the cave. "I think in an hour, it will be dawn. I will go to Draoidh and come back in less than an hour. Do you think you will be okay?" 

"Ileus," she whined. "I don't want to stay here. What happened at Yelgra? Did you find your group?" 

He pursed his lips. "I couldn't…" Why was it that everything was suddenly turning against them? 

"There are so many issues that have surrounded you because of me, Al?" 

"No darling. I did what I had to. I do feel that our union is a thorn in the eyes of not just one person or one kingdom. It has had a large effect on many people's lives." 

"But they will all keep coming looking for me." 

His amber haze met hers. "Then we are just going to have to face them together. We won't ever break darling, never." 

She relaxed in his arms. Her hands went to his face and he leaned in them. "I love you…" 

"Not more than I do…" And then he kissed her passionately. 

Later when he had made sure that she was sleeping, with one last look at her, he left to retrieve jāmbiya. That was the only dagger that could kill the winged demons. 

When he came back—

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