Athena was looking at Dante with a worried expression and was hoping for a response. But of course, it was not that simple with Dante to get direct answers. Dante gave her a victorious smile and spoke indifferently "Why would you like to know my love. Its not like you love him in the same way that you love me." He then waved his hands and made the black rose cage dismantle. The branches and roses quickly separated themselves and were pulled away to different corners of Dante's botanical weapon room. Athena took a deep breath as she felt free again but her heart was beating fast and there was so much sorrow within her that she couldnt describe. She spoke "Dante .... You have to tell me where he is? I need to know."

Dante closed the distance between them by taking a few steps "But you dont need to know anything else. He is alive. I thought you would be jumping up and down in joy by now that I have spared his life. I know I told you, I didnt kill him so I can see his miserable state one day as I take over the world and marry the woman he loves right in front of his eyes. But, the main reason I didnt kill him was you, Athena. Dont get me wrong. I get a kick out of making my enemies feel miserable. But the true reason I stopped myself from taking Donavan's life was due to the fact I knew you would be mourning his loss for years to come. So here we go. I didnt want you to suffer. But tell me my love, dont I even get a thank you kiss for not killing your insane admirer? I think I should."

Athena pleaded " I dont even know if he is alive. I need to see him Dante. Tell me where he is. Its all my fault that he is hurt. I cant live with myself. I need to know......".

Dante narrowed his eyes "Would you give it a rest. Why cant you just forget him? You are mine only. Dont make me regret sparing him. Now I think its time for you to get back to bed and rest. We have a long day a head of us. I will wake you up when its time for breakfast." He then grabbed Athena's arms and teleported them away to Athena's room.

As they touched the ground, Dante let go of Athena and was about to leave but Athena quickly stopped him by wrapping her arms around his neck. Athena spoke quickly "Dante, wait. You cant just tell me about Donavan and leave me to think about all kinds of horrors he could be going though right now. Please tell me where he is?"

Dante looked quite pleased and held his stare on Athena silently. Athena kept staring at him expecting an answer but to her surprise none came. Athena gronaed "Speak to me."

Dante sighed "You actually made a move to hold me and I dont feel any waves of reluctance. Another improvement. Maybe you are warming up to the concept that we are meant to be. Now since you insist, i will show you Donavan. But after that I dont want you to mention him." Dante then wrapped his arms around Athena's waist slowly and then moved his lips closer to hers. He warned "But you still owe me a deep kiss for sparing him."

Athena looked hopeful to find out about Donavan's fate. But she actually didnt feel forced to kiss Dante. She actually felt so grateful to Dante and moved her lips close to his and drowned herself in the deep kiss. Dante of course loved the feeling that his blood match was not holding back. He loved the feeling of Athena's soft lips againt his and wanted the moment to last forever. But he knew the moment wasnt going to last long due to him granting Athena's wish to see Donavan's state. As Athena was kissing him, he gently teleported them away into the great depths underneath the castle of spears. As they touched the ground, he felt Athena trying to pull away but Dante didnt let her and deepened their kiss by moving his lips against hers with more force and deepening their passionate moments by running his hands up and down Athena's waist with a tight grip.

Athena felt so much pleasure from their contact she was totally lost in their passionate moments she had forgotten why the kiss was initiated in the first place. Neither did she notice Dante had teleported them away to a different location as her eyes were closed as she was kissing Dante. Then suddenly some immense familiar waves of sorrowful emotions and pain overwhelmed her. Where were these devestating pains from? She stopped the kiss and pulled away and whispered the only word on her mind that she could link to the waves of pain"Donavan" and opened her eyes

Athena's heart sank as she took in her surroundings. They were in a dimly lit room that had black walls. there were no windows. To her surprise, Dant let go of her "You want to check if Donavan is alive. Here is your chance. He is in the far corner right behind you. We are in one of my prison cells underneath the castle of spears."

Athena swallowed hard and turned around and she was mortified at seeing Donavan looking so broken and in pain. He was laying on a bed with the same clothes from the battle which were now bloodied. He was staring right at Athena silently with so much pain that made her heart shatter a thousand times.

Athena walked towards Donavan but then a force stopped her from getting to him when she was only a few steps from the bed. She turned around "Dante. What have you done to him. Why is he silent? Why is he not moving? Please remove the barrier so i can heal him. He seems in pain."

Dante spoke "You call him silent. He is screaming very loudly actually on the inside. I made him lose the ability to speak after he started insulting me non-stop when I brought him here. I thought, if I let him speak then he would make me angry to a point that I would kill him. Well, as for him not moving, well, cant you guess why? he is in pain and his body is healing. he is too weak to move. And my love don't you hear yourself? You actually want to go to him and heal him when you know there is no way I would allow my woman to touch another man beside me. I guess you forget that now you are in an official relationship with me. You asked me to see Donavan to see if he is alive. I granted your wish since you asked nicely. But all you are allowed to do is to see him."

Athena shook her head "You are truely heartless Dante. How can you lock him up in such conditions? The images you showed me of the cell my parents were locked in looked much more like a real room. This is a dungeon cell with nothing but a bed inside and no windows. At least tranfer him to another cell like the one my parents are in. Please Dante."

Dante spoke in a thretaening tone " Darling. You are in no position to make demands. Why should I grant him the same privilages as your parents. The hate I hold for Donavan is incomparable to what I feel towards your parents. Donavan is not an ordinary prisoner. He is madly in love with you. Thats even a bigger crime than being a traitor and an enemy of Arkansas. He is after your heart. I have already allowed him more than he deserves. He is getting special treatment already as it is."

Athena gasped "You call being held in a dim cell with no windows and no companion, special treatment. You havent even allowed him to have remedies. You have even taken the right away from him to speak."

Dante surprised Athena by chuckling "Seriously Athena? Is that what you think? Well I think I must show you the Ronas dungeons one day and show you how I treat my ordinary captives. They are hung upside down and tormented for hours everyday and they dont have beds. Even the refreshments they recieve are poisoned to add to their agony. Obviously I am not treating Donavan that way. He has non- poisonous refreshment spheres in his room hung from the ceiling and I dont torment him as much as my other captives are tormented. I think he should be grateful for this treatment. Now Athena look at him one last time. Say your goodbyes. I am not bringing you down here again."

Athena was just speechless with Dante's outrageous words. She looked back at Donavan and now tears were threatening to come out. She was trying to hold back tears to not give Donavan more reason to feel so sorrowful. His waves of painful emotions and agony were really strong and got even stronger as Dante approached her from behind and embraced her. He whispered "Are you ready to leave my love? I think the longer you stay, the more you would make him break from the inside. He is watching you in my arms and its killing him not to be able to move. He wants to run to you and embrace you. He wants to take you away from me. But he wont succeed as long as I am alive."

Athena spoke "Please, let him speak. Lift the curse. I need to hear his voice. At least let him say goodbye."

Dante whispered into Athena's ear "Thats not a wise request Athena. If he insults me I would punish him. You would cause him more pain if he uses his tongue to throw his usual colourful words at me. I dont forgive. But if you insist I would grant you the wish since I think you earned this chance to say goodbye to him after you gave me that deep kiss so willingly. It makes me shiver in pleasure as I think of those passionate moments we shared." He then waved one of his hands and cast a spell. But he didnt let go of Athena and didnt let her leave his arms.

Donavan took a deep breath and started coughing "Athena ..... dont ..... give in .... please.... whatever you do......dont ..... marry him..... you can be free ..... from him .... one day ........He does not deserve you...".

Athena shook her head violently. She wanted to say comforting words to Donavan and express how much she cared for him but she had to be wary of Dante's presence right behind her. He was not going to kill Donavan but she could turn this prison into hell for Donavan if she displayed affection Dante did not approve of. He could be as good as dead if Dante wished it. She spoke with a heavy heart "Dante is my bloodmatch. Donavan give up on me. You would find your blood match one day and you would understand....."

Donavan shook his head "You are holding back your words for what? So he wont kill me? Don't compromise because of me. A Ronas scum like Dante musnt have a pure hearted angel like you in his possession. Dont do this .....".

Dante sighed "Thats it. He has to pay for this." But before he could cast any spells, Athena turned around and without hesitation touched her lips to Dante and kissed him fiercely with passion that Dante didn't know Athena even had. She whispered " Please. Take me away." Athena was feeling a heavy guilt on her conscious but she didn't want Donavan to be tormented in front of her. If she couldn't break him out of this prison cell, she was determined to at least not to add to his pain. The last thing she wanted was for Dante to lose his temper and give Donavan a round two beating. She sighed in relief as Dante nodded and agreed. As he started teleporting her away she heard Donavan's pleading voice that held pure agony " Please don't give into him. I beg you Athena. It would kill me if you become his."