Hellbound Heart

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The kind of massive bird or flying creature Elle had been expecting to see was not there. Instead, what she saw was a boy standing on top of a tree branch. There was no bird or any winged creature. Just a boy with bright grey eyes, raven black hair, and... he was extremely handsome.

Elle creased her brows when she caught herself actually trying to search if there were wings attached to the back of the boy. But of course there were none and she could not help but laugh at herself inwardly at the things that were crossing her mind. But she really heard the flappings of really large wings! That means there should be something which had produced that sound. And for it to sound so strong, it must be quite significant in size. Did the bird suddenly disappear or something?!

However, her attention was quickly pulled from the flying creature the moment her eyes met the boy's vivid grey ones. There was no doubt that this must be the nephew Abi had been mentioning from time to time.

One look and Elle could tell that there was no doubt he really was Sebastian's nephew. He could actually even pass as his son! That was how much similarities the boy had to Sebastian's features. It was hard to deny their genetic traits that run through the both of them.

As their gazes held, Elle could not react for a while. The boy seemed to have a gaze so compelling and mesmerizing, it was hard for one to look away. Even in his young age, Elle could feel the impact of his aura. It instantly gave the impression that he would grow up to be someone very influential and mighty in the future.

"Seb... the boy... won't he fall from up there?" Elle uttered as she lightly tugged on Sebastian's sleeve, not taking her eyes off the boy. She suddenly felt a gush of worry for him as the height where he stood was really quite high up for a child like him.

Before she could hear any response from Sebastian, the boy launched himself off the branch he was on, jumping off, causing Elle to catch her breath and place both her hands on each other over her chest.

But he landed so fluidly. Graceful and as flexible as a cat that Elle just stared at him, completely speechless.

Quietly, the boy approached them and halted a few steps from them. His gaze shifted from Sebastian to her and he gave her a polite, respectful nod. He did not speak at all and Elle was surprised because what the boy gave her was a kind of silent greeting only mature adults should be able to pull off.

When he returned his gaze back to Sebastian, Elle finally turned to face Sebastian and what she saw next had her brows creasing. Sebastian looked... he looked so stony faced. He was so emotionless that Elle grew nervous and whipped her gaze towards the boy again with worry in her eyes. She was afraid that the boy would misconstrue Sebastian's statue-like greeting as being not welcoming his presence and would think that his uncle wanted to chase him off.

However, she was once again shocked to see that the boy was wearing almost the very same expression as what Sebastian had on his face! W-what was going on? This could not be how these uncle and nephew greet each other, could they?! Elle kept looking over from Sebastian to the boy, from uncle to nephew, not knowing what to say, until she felt herself becoming dizzy from looking back and forth.

No one spoke as the two just stared into each other's eyes, not looking away, as though wanting to see who would give up and look away first.

Elle waited for Sebastian to say something. But he kept silent, causing Elle to feel like she was suddenly trapped in the midst of an extremely awkward situation. She wanted to tug at Sebastian's sleeve again and gesture for him to speak but she could not bring herself to do it. She did not know why, but she felt as though... Sebastian was going through something internally. He was not trembling or exuding any deadly and extreme killing aura right now, unlike what happened to him last night at the club. But... his indifference and kind of uncanny calmness right now was certainly not something normal!

When no one spoke even after a few more moments, Elle decided that she needed to break the stalemate. Even if the two could go on and not be affected by the staring contest, she could not! She felt as though her heart was about to burst out of her chest with the pressure building around them.

"Hello," Elle smiled genuinely at the boy, bending a little to get closer to him and not tower over him. "My name is Izabelle. What's your name, dear?" Her voice was friendly and calm as she introduced herself.

The boy's attention immediately shifted from Sebastian to her. His completely blank expression changed into what seemed like a little surprise. But it then immediately changed into something else... was he feeling shy or uncomfortable communicating with her?

"His name is Azriel." Sebastian suddenly spoke up, surprising Elle. She did not think that the man-turned-statue would unfreeze and willingly speak. "He can't... talk."

Elle lifted her head up with a start and turned her wide-eyes to look at Sebastian, only to see his jaws clenching for a moment at what he had just told her.

"But don't worry, Princess Izabelle." Alexis was suddenly right behind Azriel, grinning at Elle as he draped his arm around his cousin.

"I'm right here as Azy's interpreter. You want to say 'it's a pleasure to meet your aunt, right?" Alexis asked and Azriel nodded at Elle, confirming what his cousin had just said.

Elle could not help but feel her heart melt at the gesture of how both cousins interacted with each other. It was clear that Azriel had an exceptionally close bond with Alexis. Or else, Alexis would not be able to tell what Azriel wanted to say only by looking at his eyes and body language.

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