"Well, why don't we start with why there was so much division in the family portrait . " Kyera offered and Clovis leaned in nipping her neck gently as a warning, sending a s.h.i.+ver down Kyera's spine . It was thrilling .

Advertis.e.m.e.nt"I told you my grandmother ran away with my mother? Well my grandfather later found them and forced My grandmother, Ren to bring my mother to the palace . There is a festival every year and a sacrifice must be made to the Shadow King in order to preserve the life of the Matriarch and with her life, the life of the tree . If Crystalsa dies, the flower in her chest dies and so does every Snowdrop tree in existence rendering their land baren . Every year either a royal or a n.o.ble if a royal couldn't be found and seldom did the sacrifice return . " Kyera began to explain as Clovis watched rather enthralled . Her eyes seemed to disappear into the history and stories she had been told . There was an slightly detached emotion that, he perhaps didn't expect . However he was pretty sure that wouldn't last long .

"He was asked to offer his youngest daughter, my aunt, because females always returned and men sometimes did not . My grandfather didn't want to offer her so instead he demanded my mother be brought back and sent into the portal . No one knows what happened but the flower in the Matriarch bloomed brighter than it ever has and several patches of land not touching the trees became fertile . My mother returned alive, but there was a cost . She was pregnant with her first child . By eldest brother, Keenan . " Kyera glanced at him to see confusion and curiosity on his face but when he didn't speak she continued .

"After that, every 2 years my mother returned as sacrifice and things got better . My mother bore 5 children in total . After that she brought her children here every year, and we would go through the portal as a family . We spent time with the Shadow King and came home every year safe and sound, till the year my Grandfather and my mother fought . He wanted her to marry . "Kyera took a drink of her water . "She explained to him she was already married and he kicked her out, banished her and us 5 children . It wasn't till she had already left us, and our grandfather died that we 5 were welcomed back . However, my brothers had already been killed . "

"I see . I remember you told me the story of your brothers . I have heard quite a bit about them however your mother… this is the first time you have spoken so much of her . " Clovis pointed out, obviously opening a new path for Kyera to explore for him . She sighed and stood, this being a rather difficult one to talk about . He seemed to sense this, standing Clovis grabbed her hand . She looked back at him in confusion as he pulled her toward him by the love seat . Wrapping his arms around her, he swept her feet out from under her and into his arms . She gasped in surprise as he smirked .

"Perhaps, it is time we took this somewhere more comfortable for us to bond . " he replied gently carrying her toward the bed despite her quiet protests . He laid her down, taking off his s.h.i.+rt he knelt, helping her remove her shoes . "You may continue, lovely . "

"I have no attachment to that woman . If she hadn't caused the separation from our father, perhaps my brothers never would have died . " Kyera replied her body tense as she restrained those emotions .

"Kyera, stop it . Your toning it down, restraining yourself . I didn't marry you so you could hide from me in our own bed . " He replied softly, crawling onto the bed and laying down behind her . His head propped up on his hand as he allowed his body to rest on its side . "What is that emotion, Kyera? Show me, Please?" he whispers softly to her, being as patient as he could .