Athena was staring into Dante's eyes and searching in her mind for something to say back to Dante. Her mind was blank. She couldn't form words, let alone sentences. It didn't help that Dante looked so handsome and he had no shirt on too. Her desire to make out with Dante was quite powerful. She wondered if Dante was finding her as desirable as she was finding him to be in that moment.

Dante spoke playfully " I asked you a question my love. I demand answers. Did you miss me so much that made you leave your room before it was time for me to pick you up? Or is it something else that made you wonder off? But maybe i need to use some persuasion to get an answer out of those sweet lips." He winked.

Athena came out of her dazed state and cleared her throat " Dante..... I .... I think .... I shouldn't have called upon you so early. I didn't know you would be still in bed. Why don't you now get off me and send me back to my room so you can get some sleep."

Dante raised an eyebrow " Hold on. Lets go over this. You wake me up by leaving your room and raising the castle's security alarms. Then, i hear you threaten me that you wont kiss me for a month if I don't get you out of the darkness of my castle immediately. Well, I have to ask you this Athena, who's fault was that you were locked out of your room? Not mine. But never mind. Here comes the more interesting part. I ignored your threatening words and still sent the candle light guides over to you. Then you show up here and you have the nerve to demand to leave immediately. Tell me my love. Is this part of some kind of plan? Answer truthfully. Were you you trying to tease me by orchestrating all this? We're trying to get back at me in some way and you chose to play games with my heart? Because if you were, I tell you now that is a dangerous game to start. Dont ever try to play with my emotions or you will regret it."

Athena spoke with disbelief " What? What are you on about? I am not trying to tease you? How can you even suggest that ? ...."

Dante narrowed his eyes " Really? That's hard to believe. You are looking so stunning in this red nightdress, I can hardly control myself from landing my kisses all over you. This tells me you are here looking so beautiful just trying to raise my hopes that the love of my life is finally willing to volunteer to spend some quality time with me and make the first move in this relationship. You called upon me so I get you, then only for you to leave me all alone. Say it Athena. Admit, how cruel you are my love. What have you got to say in your defence? Confess. You are here to show me what I can't have. You are here to mess around with my heart."

Athena gasped " How can you say that? i am not like that. That is nonsense. There are no plans or schemes. I don't even know how to deceive anyone like that. I could never be that dishonest Dante. I wish you had more faith in me. The truth is much less complicated. I was just bored. I had nothing to do in that room and I couldn't sleep. That's why I called upon you and ..."

Dante interrupted " Woah. You cant really be surprised that I suspect you of trying to play with me. Our relationship has been on rocks ever since the first day we met my love. You are the one who has been running away in this relationship and I have been seeking you. But its an improvement that you missed me. I guess being apart is hard for both of us even when we love in the same castle but separate chambers. The sooner you give me some kind of sign that you are ready to become fully mine, the sooner we would marry and we can be together for real."

Athena was looking at Dante with her mouth open " You have a vivid imagination. I did not say I missed you. Stop making assumptions ...,"

Dante smirked " You said you were bored and of all the things you could do, you called me. So you admitted you missed me. That is all I wanted to hear." He then leaned over and kissed Athena's forehead " I think I want to get back to sleep..... But I want to hold you like this pinned to the bed beneath me while I do that."

Athena protested " You can't do that. We are not married yet. We can't ..."

Dante sighed " Let me repeat and clarify. I am just going to hold you now and maybe plant some kisses on you. That is all my love. Nothing else will happen. Well I want to do much more than that but we are not married yet and you haven't given your heart to me completely. But tell me one thing. Why are you so defensive so suddenly? Are you afraid of something? Perhaps you are afraid of enjoying being close to me too much and you don't want that of course. Your aim is to find ways to hate me and this makes you love me more. Am I right? Tell me."

Athena was irritated. "Seriously Dante, have you heard of personal space? Get off me?"

Dante chuckled " I am right. Aren't I? It scares you doesn't it? Being so close to me makes you fall deeper in love with me. You want to hate me but being intimate with me throws everything out of the window. Don't fight your feelings my love. You could hurt yourself. The more you resist me, the more painful your life would be. You need me to be truly satisfied as much as I need you. I can't live without you. Neither can you live without me. The thought scares you for sure but don't fear it. You are my blood match. We are meant to be."

Athena argued " You think you know everything. Do you? You have no idea what I Am feeling right now."

Dante spoke " But I do. My love, the pace of your heartbeats that's getting faster and faster is telling me you are falling in too deep just like how I am falling hard for you. You are attracted to me. You are enjoying my touch as much as I enjoy yours."

Athena looked away and remained silent. She pressed her lips avoiding giving Dante an answer.

Dante used the opportunity and leaned over to Athena's neck and planted kisses all the way down to her collar bone. Athena was shocked by the sudden waves of pleasure and shivered. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She welcomed the feeling of Dante's hot kisses up and down her neck but she didn't want to admit defeat. She didn't want to confess to Dante how much she enjoyed the feeling of his touch.

Athena opened her eyes and turned to Dante " Dante. We need to stop. I don't want this. This is too soon. This is happening too quickly. This is too overwhelming. You need to give me time to adjust."

Dante pulled away and sighed in frustration " Can you stop being so difficult? I just want to be close to you, to hold you and to kiss you. You are my blood match. Why do you treat me like a stranger? We are meant to be. Just let me have these moments. Come on Athena. Trust me to take care of you. Trust me to protect you. I would never hurt you ... Unless you hurt me. Why do you try to avoid my touch. I am finding your protests rather irritating. Now let me hold you and try to let go of your inhibitions. You know what I mean."

Dante slowly leaned close and kissed Athena softly on the lips and pulled back " Damn your lips taste heavenly my love. You don't know what you do to me. If you knew you would have never left your chambers voluntarily. If you knew half the things I am thinking of. If you knew what I wanted to do with you my love, you would have never volunteered to encounter me in my chambers of all the places." He then leaned close and this time had a prolonged kiss on her lips with Athena and to his surprise Athena responded. Dante was overjoyed and overflowing with passion in that moment. He moulded his body with more pressure into Athena's and put more pace behind his kisses. To his astonishment Athena didn't push him away. He didn't want to push it too far so Dante held back his other more intense urges about doing things that he knew would have made Athena go totally defensive on him. For now he had to satisfy himself by only holding his loved one and placing gentle kisses on her.

Athena had indeed tried to finally let down her defensive walls. Maybe Dante was slowly convincing her to let go and lose control. She had let her heart do the thinking rather than her brain. Dante's company was not so had when he was being gentle and he did not utter any cruel words. But again there were clouds of doubt around Athena's mind that were holding her back from getting into too deep in their passionate encounter. Nothing changed the fact that Dante was a heartless conquerer who was set on destroying the world. He was still the same man who showed his most caring and loving side only to Athena.

To Dante's annoyance the moment didn't last as long as he wanted as Athena pulled away and spoke while breathing hard " We have to stop. Dante. we can't do this. Not while we have many unresolved ... Disputes."

Dante let out a frustrated sigh " Of course. I knew your willingness to accept my touch so willingly was going to be short lived. But I am willing to wait ... For now." He then reluctantly waved his hands and cast a spell at Athena.

Athena's eye lid felt heavy " Dante... what spell is this?"

Dante spoke"I am putting you to a deep sleep" he then got up reluctantly from his position on top of Athena and he murmured sarcastically " If you can't get used to me, then at least get used to my bed." And those were the last words Athena heard before closing her eyes and falling deep into sleep.

When Athena opened her eyes next, she didn't know how many hours had passed and how long she had been asleep on Dante's bed. She looked around curiously. Dante was no where to be seen. All around her there were blue rose petals and a massive vase of blue roses on the right hand side of the bed. He wasn't wasting anytime to tell her she was his of course by placing those symbols of possessive love in every room she walked into.

Athena gasped as she was looking around the room. Amongst the portraits hung on the walls in Dante's room there was a picture of her. It was the same picture as the one she had left in the cabin in Australia but it was different. Her parents were removed from the picture and it was just her smiling. She walked to the picture and looked suspiciously at the picture's frame that was made of an elder tree wood. That wood radiated intense strange magical waves and she didn't know why. As she ran her hands over the frame, she was teleported with a great force to a different place.

She found herself in the most unlikeliest place. She was in Dante's throne room in castle of spears. Dante was sitting on his throne and throwing around light spheres and striking the. Dante looked so cold this time. He spoke " Word of warning my love, do not touch anything you have no knowledge of when you are in my room. You never know where you might end up in the castle. I stopped the elder tree frame pulling you to my ...... special room behind my bed chambers. I would have been very cross with you if you had walked in there without my permission. Don't ever let me catch you exploring my castle. When I trust you enough I will show you around."

Athena slowly walked towards Dante up the steps leading to his chair on the throne " There is no need to over react. One minute I am your blood match and the next a prisoner. Make up your mind Dante."

Dante waved his hands and made his light spheres disappear. He choked " A what? A prisoner? Don't you dare complain about my treatment of you. I would like to think of you as .... Under surveillance. You can't blame me to not want to let you out of my sight. The last time I turned away, you ran and left me." He then grabbed Athena who was now in front of him and sat her down on his lap and wrapped his arms around her waist.

Athena sighed " Let me get up. We can't be this close. We don't want a repeat of last night. I don't want to .... Lose control again."

Dante whispered in Athena's ear " I cant help it. Here i am sitting on my throne with you in my arms. I rather feel comfortable. How about we have breakfast right here. I would like a poached egg and some honey drink. What would you like."

Athena gasped " You can't be serious " We can't eat like this."

Dante rolled his eyes " Fine you have the same as me then."

Athena had enough and put her forcefield up and made Dante let go. She levitated herself from the throne room and looked around the room for the door. " I have had enough. I am not ready for this. You are making me confused." She then ran to the door at the far corner of the throne room on Dante's right hand side.

Dante warned " If you open that door I will make you regret it. Stop refusing me" But Athena ignored his warning and reached for the handle.