At nine every child in the capital must choose their profession. By eighteen the child was forced into independence and demanded by society to do one thing to better the economy for the period of the next nine years.

Bubblebee Bumble was a brand Dawn created when she was eighteen, after just regaining freedom to do whatever she wanted. It was safe to say that her father had not been pleased when she borrowed funds to start up the fashion house.

Before she turned twenty the business has shifted from making clothes, accessories and perfumes to manufacturing Autos, portals and engines. Bubblebee Bumble had taken off and gone international—and suddenly people were after her head.

Of course they didn't know that despite her profession being one of the lesser trades, her father had trained her up as an assassin. This challenge opened up a new avenue for the multifaceted company to expand. Dawn made weapons and created an army of killers to secure her safety.

There was a reason why she was the most powerful woman in the world, but no one besides a select few knew that she was Miss Bumble. If those connections came to light then there would be no doubt about her power.

Being around death her whole life, Dawn didn't really put the fear of it in the front of her mind, but right now she didn't dare to move. She truly was scared for her life.

Even though her fingers were just a command away from activating her defense system, Dawn had a feeling that if she so much as twitched them, her head was going to roll. She hadn't felt this way in anyone's presence before, even when she had been a child faced with the height of her father's cruelty.

"Good girl." A cool chuckle sounded out in the darkness, it seemed to contain praise but Dawn couldn't help but sweat.

The string around her limbs tightened at their words, cutting past her clothes and digging into her skin.

Dawn didn't even know when the attack had started but she couldn't do anything about it. It had come just too fast.

The professor believed that her father hadn't sent her here to die but Rose's words kept repeating in her head. Try not to come back. . .

"Let her go, Eva." Another voice spoke in the darkness.

Just how many are there? Dawn stiffened as the strings lost their strength and fell off her.

"I take it you're a Draekon?" It was the second voice that spoke, the one that had released her.

Dawn nodded, feeling a trail of blood creep down her neck. She figured that if these two could attack her in this pitch black darkness then they could obvious see the tilt of her head. "I was sent here by my fath—"

She found that she couldn't continue, an invisible hand clamped around her neck as palpable killing intent sprung up from the corner by her right.

"Eva!"

This time the pressure the pressure didn't let up, instead it increased. "She's the reason we're here." The first voice spoke in anger. "Can't you see it? It's dangling on her neck."

"Let her explain herself first." The other person didn't deny anything but at least he gave Dawn a chance.

"Thank you." She said, the moment the hold on her was gone.

"Why are you here?"

"I don't know," she answered honestly but hurried along. "My father sent me here after he gave me this pendant."

"The pendant that is the key to our freedom, you mean?" 'Eva' sneered.

"I didn't know." Despite the other woman sounding calmer, Dawn still didn't take any chances. "If there was anything I could do to help you, I would."

"Give me the pendant." The man ordered.

Losing this thing would be much better than dying. Without hesitation Dawn reached behind her neck to unclasp the chain only to find it stuck. Next she tried pulling it over her head but it didn't budge.

"He bonded it to her." Eva announced suddenly, her voice dropping in degrees as though it wasn't frigid enough already.

"The light switch is by your right." The man added, with a light nudge of his power.

Dawn caught the hint and felt around the wall for the indentation that would illuminate the room. When her finger found the little crack, the room exploded with light, all traces of darkness gone.

Now she could see them, the two cells facing each other and their prisoners. Her eyes immediately shifted to the one by her right, fixed to the woman who sat in it.

Eva sat with her legs crossed and eyes closed, her expression tranquil and not at all hinting at the fact that she had almost killed someone twice. What drew Dawn in was not the strings that snaked about her dark skin or the unbelievable beauty of the woman, it was her hair. Hair as pure and white as snow.

It contrasted so oddly with her chocolate skin and it didn't help that her jumpsuit was the same color. If not for her complexion she would have blended completely into the whitewashed steel of the prison walls.

Opposite Eva was the man. Dawn took a moment not to gawk at him. He had his eyes on her, blue eyes that seemed to shift in shade with every second that passed. His hair was longer than Eva's, red plaits that brushed his ankles as he paced the space of the cell. He also wore a white jumpsuit but Dawn could see the outline of his muscular body through it. It was almost skintight.

Why did my father imprison such unbelievable beautiful people? For a moment Dawn was at a loss, wondering what purpose the Lord of the Order had for keeping these two unique people here instead of parading them around Auro and spreading his good name. Then she remembered their power and all her thoughts centered.

The man had stopped pacing and now he was looking straight at her, a wry grin playing on his lips. "Please excuse my wife's previous behaviour, we aren't used to visitors."

Dawn blinked once then blinked again as she tried to process the statement. "What?"

"We have been here for years," he explained, "and your father likes keeping us in the dark so you can imagine why she is so cranky."

"Oh." Dawn genuinely did not know what to say. She never could have imagined that the two of them were together. A part of her wondered what their children would have looked like if. . .

"We do have children and they are beautiful." Eva's soft voice cut into Dawn's train of thought. "And they were made orphans because of your father."

"I'm sorry." The professor slipped the pendant into her palm. "I can't imagine. . ."

But Eva wasn't done. "He robbed us of our powers, our joy, then kept us here, separated. . . Years without being able to touch my love. Try to imagine that."

"I know what it feels like." Despite knowing that it might cost her her life, Dawn still spoke her mind. "I understand too well. . . That's why. . . That's why I know that I can't let you both stay in here!"

"Good girl," Eva cooed, an eerie tone to her voice. "Then let me pry that pendant off your cold corpse."

Dawn instinctively shut her eyes, expecting an attack while knowing that she wouldn't be able to dodge it.

"That pendant holds a lot of sentimental value, so be careful with it." The man's voice flitted passed Dawn's ear, tempting her to open her eyes.

When she felt no pain whatsoever, Dawn finally looked up, shocked to see broken strings scattered on the floor around her.

"Why do you keep saving me?" She turned to the red-haired prisoner.

The man shrugged. "For the same reason she keeps trying to kill you."

Something told Dawn that it wasn't simply because of the pendant around her neck.

Finally she asked the question that had been repeating in her mind. "Who are you?" She had been too afraid to ask before.

"Don't you think I look like my son? Even a little?"

For the first time since she had entered the room, Dawn looked at the man's face for more than a couple seconds at a time. Now she took time to study how his different features merged together to form his unique look, from his chiseled jaw to his piercing gaze.

And then she could see it, the resemblance. The moment realization hit her she stumbled back in shock, aware of how foolish she must have looked to him—to the both of them.

"You. . . You are," the man in front of her could only be one person, "Elton's father."

The man with the river of red hair was Hezekiah Yong.

"And that means. . ." Dawn's gaze shifted to Eva. "You're his mother."

†