The First

Hawisa and Osanna knocked on Adeline's door at 5 AM. Normally, she would have been reading books when her maids would come knocking at her door. But today, Adeline was very exhausted from yesterday's celebration and the late night talks with Nigel and Theodore. So she was still sleeping.

When she heard the knock, she reluctantly opened her eyes and got up from her bed. She was able to get only a few hours of sleep before she had to wake up for her daily training routine. She dragged her legs lousily towards the door while yawning, and then opened the door for her maids to enter.

"You were still sleeping Your Highness?" Hawisa asked with a surprised tone because the Princess had never overslept in years.

Adeline yawned again and spoke drowsily, "Yes, I slept very late yesterday."

Osanna elbowed Hawisa and gestured her to keep quiet. Then she looked at Adeline and said in a cheery voice, "Adeline if you are still feeling sleepy then you can sleep again. We will prepare the bath for you and wake you up."

"Ah! That sounds good. I'm still feeling sleepy." Adeline went back to her bed and tucked herself inside the blanket.

The maids went to the bathhouse to prepare the bath for the Princess.

Adeline felt as if someone was tugging her blanket from behind her. She turned her head to see why her maids were disturbing her when she had just gotten inside her bed. But a soft gasp left her mouth when she saw Theodore lying by her side.

Adeline shouted instinctively, "Theo…" but she immediately lowered her voice and whispered, "Theodore what are you…"

"Shh… let me sleep with you for a while." Theodore wriggled towards Adeline until his body was perfectly spooned with Adeline's. He placed his arm around Adeline's waist and closed his eyes.

Adeline could feel Theodore's breath brushing over her neck. Though she was angry with him a few hours ago, Adeline forgot all of it when Theodore embraced her. She did not bother throwing his hand away or getting up and causing a scene because she liked the warmth she was feeling. She lay down quietly. The only sound that could be heard by both of them was Adeline's heart thumping rapidly.

A smile appeared on Theodore's handsome face. "I think your heart likes me very much. Every time I am close to you, it beats so melodiously" Theodore whispered in Adeline's ear.

He felt happy that Adeline did not protest at all. And above all that, he also loved the warmth and closeness with Adeline.

Adeline would have loved to stay in that position with Theodore for a bit longer but she had so many questions for him. And she wanted to get the answers as soon as possible. She changed her side to face Theodore and kept on staring at the God's beautiful creation for some time.

Theodore's eyes were still closed and he was still hugging Adeline. With his eyes closed, Adeline felt that he looked very serene. "How can someone who looks like this be the Devil?" Adeline thought to herself.

Adeline softly touched Theodore's face with her tiny hand and whispered "Theo".

Theodore opened his eyelids to reveal his beautiful golden eyes and smiled at Adeline. "Did I just get a nickname from my woman?" he whispered back in his enchanting voice.

Adeline could not help but blush when he called her his woman. There was something magical in those words. She took a deep breath to calm her untamed heart and then proceeded to ask him questions, "Theodore, what did you mean when you said you transferred some of your demonic power in me?"

Theodore puckered his lips and completely disregarded her question, "I like it better when you call me 'Theo', keep calling me that."

Adeline smiled and said in a childish voice, "Theo, please, you promised me that you would tell me everything today."

Theodore tucked away a few strands of silver hair that was on Adeline's face and then grinned at her. "How can I deny it when you ask me so sweetly?"

Theodore paused for a while as if he was remembering all the details and his face started to turn grim. He looked into Adeline's sapphire eyes and asked, "You still remember that you were kidnapped when you were three years old right?"

"Mhmm" Adeline nodded her head slightly.

Theodore started to explain the reason behind why he had given her his powers, "Well you had an invisibility spell on you when you arrived inside my cave. And after I thought of returning you back to the Palace, I removed the invisibility spell.

But the spell was too powerful for a normal human being. And if the person that was after you was that powerful, I could not just return back. I had already liked you by then and I did not want you to be harmed again.

That was the reason why I transferred a very small amount of my power in you. It was done in order to keep you safe. When my power flows inside of you, no one's magical powers can touch you, unless it is stronger than my own."

Adeline nodded with a smile. She now knew that he had done so. He did it just because he was too worried about her safety.

But she wanted to know more about the power that was flowing inside of her, "You said that this power that is inside of me makes me stronger right? And I can also see you through your veil. What other effects are there? Is there anything that I need to be worried about?"

Theodore contemplated for some time as to whether or not he should be revealing other side effects. But he had already promised her that he would tell her everything that he knows, so he gave in.

And so he started explaining, "As the power that is inside of you belongs to me, it wants to be closer to me and vice versa. In other words, a special bond has already been created between you and me. Because of that we will want to stay closer to each other. And I can also feel it in my heart if you are in trouble, I can feel your pain. I don't think you need to be worried about it though. It's not that bad."

Adeline sprung up on her bed and whispered aggressively, "It's not bad? It was bad for me Theodore. Do you even know how much pain I was in when you did not show up for a decade? And all of that pain was because of this power… that created a bond between us?"

Theodore also got up and towered in front of the Princess. Then he placed his hands on her shoulders to console her, "Adeline, we liked each other even before I had given you my powers. Weren't you the one to hold my hand first? Didn't you say that I was beautiful?"

Adeline pushed Theodore's hand away and took a step back. "I was a child back then. How can you bring that up right now?"

Theodore had wished that it would not come to this. But it did. He took a deep breath in and said in a melancholic voice, "If you are so unsure about your true feelings then I can take my powers back. I will not visit you ever again if you don't want me to. Back then I did that to protect you. And now, I am sure that you will be able to protect yourself from any harm that might befall you on your own."

Adeline was devastated because of his words. "How can he say that so easily?" She thought.

Adeline felt a throbbing pain in her heart when Theodore said that to her. And so did Theodore. But Theodore did not know whether he felt what Adeline was feeling or it was what he was feeling or both.

Nonetheless, the pain that Theodore felt was a hundred times worse than what Adeline was feeling. He grabbed his chest and grunted in pain, his golden eyes had turned burning red.

Adeline panicked when she saw Theodore that way. She was not afraid of Theodore like she was yesterday, when she saw his blood red eyes. But she was genuinely concerned for him. "Theodore, what is happening?"

But Theodore did not say a word. He just kept on grunting and breathing heavily, his hand still gripping over his chest.

Adeline's eyes started to fill with tears. She had never seen Theodore in such a pain. She thought that as he was a Devil, he was invincible, but apparently even he could feel the pain.

Adeline moved closer to Theodore, and held his hand and whimpered, "Theo, what is going on? Please say something… I am sorry if I said things that hurt you."

Adeline did not know what else she could do so she just hugged Theodore very tightly. She whispered while crying, "I don't want you to vanish from my life again Theo. I just got you back. I'm sorry!"

Theodore's eyes slowly turned back to its original color. The pain in his heart started to lessen. And he also hugged Adeline back firmly.

The pain that they both were feeling had now disappeared. Theodore pulled himself back to see Adeline's moon-like face. He stared at her with longing eyes and slowly leaned towards the Princess.

Theodore's hungry lips pressed on Adeline's soft lips. He started to kiss her very passionately. His hands were roaming freely around her waist and down to her voluptuous hips. Adeline could feel fireworks in her head and butterfly in her stomach. And so did Theodore, only a hundred times more.

Theodore had never felt this ecstatic feeling in his long lifetime. And that was true for Adeline as well.