Once again, Evie had another hard time in controlling Titian. This dragon was just as wild as Fir, if not even more so. Though Evie had to smile as she thought of how Titian's temper was as similar as his colour. As Evie reflected on her experiences so far, even though the dragons responded to her call and allowed her to touch them and even let her ride on their backs, they seemed to be refusing her orders no matter how much she tried to concentrate on giving the instructions and attempt to control them when they fight back and object against her orders.

Evie could not even make Titian land on the ground when she had already given the command multiple times, that Zanya had no choice but to fly over and take Evie off from its back.

When Evie and Zanya finally landed on the ground, Evie felt a sudden wave of exhaustion hit her. She then realised that it had been a long day of nonstop training.

"Princess, you've done really well today. This kind of achievement is already beyond my expectations! For now, you must take a rest. It would be no good to overexert and not be able to continue with your training tomorrow. We'll continue this again bright and early tomorrow morning." Zanya advised her and the vampires all nodded, their faces filled with concern for the princess. They could see how she was really pushing herself to train and absorb as much as she could.

Everyone had been watching over the princess the entire day. So, they knew how hard she had been working. The princess is always trying her very best and never wasting a moment to relax and laze around. In fact, they were extremely impressed and their respect and awe for the princess had just gone above and beyond. They were awed at how diligent and persistent she was.

Thankfully, the princess nodded at Zanya's suggestion, and they finally entered into the dark castle. As they were all walking in, the men were observing Evie carefully and saw that though she was smiling and talking to Zanya seemingly as usual, they were quite certain she was feeling down for failing to control Fir and Titian. It was obvious in her smile that was less bright and the slight dimness in her eyes.

…

Zanya had then brought Evie to a special area behind the castle after they had separated from the men. There was a small and beautiful lagoon Zanya told Evie about that was her favourite bathing place back then.

When Evie took off her outer clothing and dipped herself into the waters, she was surprised to find that it was warm. Zanya smile at her, and Evie realized that the light fae had done something to the waters for it to turn out this way with her magic.

After some time, Zanya excused herself and left Evie to soak in the lagoon alone, realizing that the princess wanted to spend more time on her own in the waters to relax and just enjoy time to herself.

Looking up the sky as she leaned her head back along the edge of a slab of the smooth stone surrounding the small lagoon, Evie let out a long and deep sigh. She was starting to feel worried. What if she could not control the other dragons within the limited time that they had? What if it was only Crimson that she could manage to control? She really needed the cooperation and strength of all the dragons here if she wanted to successfully achieve her lofty goals.

It was then that negative thoughts began to flood Evie's mind. She wanted all the dragons. She wanted to control all of them. Crimson alone was not enough.

Evie had seen from the example of the dragon summoned at the battle in Dacria, that a lone dragon can be defeated if given enough time and the appropriate tools and manpower was available. If she wanted to stand against an enemy like the dark fae, she must be able to control more than just one lone dragon – and such a small one at that. If possible, she was aiming for the lot of them, most especially Onyx – the ancient dragon itself. When she was able to do that, it was only then that she would possess the means for her to defeat the enemy.

But it seems as though everything was not going as smoothly as she had thought and planned. Her experience with Fir and Titian made her feel anxious and worried as well as scared that she might end up failing. Especially since she didn't have much time to spare.

What should she do? Zanya had already taught her everything she knew about the way to control the dragons. Zanya told her that it was only natural for the young dragons to have quite a hard time in being tamed and it will definitely take time. But was there really no way to hasten the process? Evie had hoped that it would not take that long, nor would it be more challenging than it actually was.

She buried her face into her palms and stayed like that for a long while. And when she dropped her hands into the water and looked down, the water that was initially crystal clear was now glowing and the face of the man she had been missing for so long appeared immediately in her head. She remembered their intimate moments that night that felt so long ago in the magical lake and her face flushed as it heated up in embarrassment.

Biting her lower lip, she looked up with a smile even as her eyes shone with loneliness. "What are you doing right now? Are you missing me as badly as I am missing you?" she threw out her questions into the sky with a soft and longing voice.

It was strange but the longer this separation between her and Gavriel went on, Evie felt like her love for him was getting deeper and deeper each day. She had thought that her love for him was already far deeper beyond anything she had known, but as days without him went by one after another, her feelings for him still kept growing and growing to a degree she thought was not possible. And it seems that this growing feeling was the very thing that is constantly driving her to never give up and keep going on even though there were failures along the way.

A bitter smile curved on Evie's beautiful lips. "Alright, I will keep going… I will never give up." She muttered as if she were talking to someone. She then took in a deep cleansing breath before her bitter smile turned into something hopeful. "I will show you, Gavriel. When we see each other again, I won't be the same old Evie you had seen the last time. I won't be that helpless princess… who could do nothing but get into trouble and just watch by the side lines. When we see each other again, I won't be standing far behind, but I'll be right by your side … I'll be fighting alongside you, Gavriel. I promise. Just wait for me."