Lucas immediately nodded and glanced at Kyle, waiting for the young prince to nod as well.

  Kyle understood that it would be dangerous for them to stay this close to those two immortals who were battling it out without any awareness of the people around them. It was only his brother, who was the only one fully capable of protecting himself against them if anything unfortunate did happen. None of the rest of them could even dream of standing against a fatal attack of a half dragon, much less surviving it.

  He looked at Lilith who now had her eyes fixed on the back of Zeke. A while ago, she was so quick in getting them out of that place. Kyle was utterly distracted and shocked at the sight of her that he had actually failed to notice the upcoming danger. To tell the truth, it had surprised him – and not just a little. And he bit his lower lip with some embarrassment at the thought of how she had just saved him from trouble with such quickness. Was not the prince supposed to be the one to save the princess?

  Suddenly, he picked her up while she was still not paying attention to him. He would make it up to her.

  Lilith’s eyes widened as her lips parted in shock.

  Knowing that a protest was coming, Kyle did not give her the chance to speak before he quickly took a step and already began to leap. "Let me be the one to take you away from danger this time, Lilith." He said, there was a smile in his voice as he winked mischievously at her.

  "But there’s no need for you to that…… I can –" Lilith protested with a little grumble. Kyle thought it looked cute as she pouted that way.

  "I know. But I just wanted to hold you again…… like this." There was a hint of sadness in his voice. But Lilith noticed that his eyes and expression was not as expressive as before. "I know where Queen Alicia is so if you want me to bring you to her, bear with me and let me carry you. Deal?"

  He smiled and Lilith felt her face warming up from his words and smile. How could she forget how many times this vampire prince had made her face turned into red tomato within just a few short hours she had spent with him?

  She realized that his smile was not as innocent as before as well. The moment she saw him inside that building, Lilith had felt it immediately. She was not the only one who had changed so much during the past one month. This boy whom she thought she would never meet again changed too. A lot. He felt as if he had grown so much in just a span of a month’s time since she last saw him. And she could tell clearly that she was not the only one who had become stronger. Kyle did too. In fact, she could feel the huge change in his presence alone.

  They were silent as Kyle leaped slowly, taking his time. The two of them were both unable to think about what they should say to each other to get some kind of conversation going. But the silence was surprisingly not awkward. This made them think back on the trip they made back to the Black Forest. And for some reason, they felt like that memory was something that happened many, many years back.

  Suddenly, Kyle landed on top of another building.

  He put her down but did not release her waist, leaving one arm lazily curled around her.

  Looking down at her face, Kyle’s hardened gaze just stared at her. Lilith thought that he was no longer the innocent boy she met that day and so was she. They both could see the huge change in each other’s eyes.

  Now both had an a.d.u.l.t’s gaze that did not quite match up to their young age in terms of their own species. Though their body remained young, it was like they both aged – both in spirit and in mind – during the last month. They now looked like a.d.u.l.ts trapped in a teenage boy’s and girl’s body. It was truly not a big surprise. Because they could feel that they had both learned how to kill and take another’s life. They were aware that the moment they decided to spill another individual’s blood, their innocence would be lost.

  And Lilith could tell, just from his gaze alone, that Kyle had killed far more creatures than she had. How many he had killed just within this month to be able to have this sharp edge to his presence and that hidden killer instinct? Lilith noticed how his smile looked different as well. It was like he had not smiled for a very long time that he began to resemble his scary brother quite a lot now. His gentle eyes had become a little more stoic and cooler too.

  Who would have thought so many things would have happened in just a short period of time?

  Kyle could not stop staring at her. It was not like silver hair and eyes did not suit her, in fact, she looked even more like a pristine heavenly creature now. But he had dreamt of that flaming gorgeous red hair and sparkly green eyes for so many nights that he could not quite believe that she no longer had those distinct features. Part of him wanted them back. Because right now, she looked even more out of reach to him, even more looking forbidden than ever before. And the thought of that scared him even more than losing her.

  "Did you miss me, Lilith?" those words just tumbled out of his lips. He could not help sounding like a desperate and foolish boy. And he could no longer contain his longing for her anymore, that before Lilith could even respond, he had already bent his head and his lips were suddenly trapping hers.