Sedora tore her gaze away from Dawn. "The rules of the third task are very simple." She flicked her finger and red and orange flames crackled from her hand, which swirled around her fingers. She turned the flame around her fingers lazily and played with them as if playing with a child's toy. "The four contestants will have an hour, and in that one hour they have to bring gifts for my son Daryn." She pointed at Daryn with her flamed finger. 

Suddenly she threw her hand forward and as if the flames were gaslighted, they swooshed through the gold cage, into the arena and started circling over the head of the contestants at about twenty feet above them. 

​​

The silence of the crowd was deafening as if they knew what was to come. 

The four girls looked up. Fear overcame their otherwise confident persona when they saw that the flames divided into four rings of fire like Dante's rings of hell and punishment. Each ring of fire hovered over their heads high up in the cage. The heat emanating from them was so high that the gold of the cage started becoming hot. 

Sedora continued, "Daryn is going to examine the gifts and will choose the best one by eliminating the least favorite one by one. The two girls whose gifts he would not like will have to lose their life." She looked at the flames above them. "And the two who will be left…" her voice drawled again. "The winner will have to mandatorily behead the loser."

There was a gasp amongst the audience. A murmur erupted as to how unfair the queen was. 

Daryn's jaw fell. Over the last two days Dawn had been fighting the opponents bravely, with all her might, killing them to win—but the last task was too vicious. He had to decide as to who would die based on the gifts? His face paled at the thought. 

The crowd started shouting:

"We want Dawn!"

"We want Dawn!" 

"Daryn, you better lie!" 

Sedora chuckled over the loudspeaker. "Tsk, tsk. My fellow Ixoviyans, only if it was that simple to lie." She walked over to Daryn and went to stand beside his throne. He stiffened as she wrapped her arm around his neck. She lifted his head with her hand and tapped his chin. A white wisp of light entered his mouth. "Daryn can't speak lies." 

Sweat trickled on his forehead. He looked towards Dawn and then his eyes traveled to Pia who was standing with a huge grin. 

The crowd once again fell silent. The contest had turned too much even for their liking. Many girls had already started shipping Daryn and Dawn since yesterday after he had shouted her name from the throne and blasted those demons away. Some of them were of the opinion that the remaining contest should not be conducted and Daryn should choose Dawn. 

Sedora walked back to her throne looking impressed with herself. "You can go anywhere to bring the gift, but you can't leave Ixoviya." She waved her hand in a dismissive way and said, "Your time begins... now." 

As Volara and Pia hurried to find the best gift for the prince, Dawn stood at the center of the ring along with Brenda. She fought back a pang of tears. She looked to her left and found Brantley sitting in the first row, his muscles tense as hell. Ileus? Well he was nowhere to be seen. 

Brenda went to her and held her hand. "My Luna, this is not the time to think. I told you that I am ready to lay my life for you. Just think what Daryn likes the most." 

"No Brenda, you don't understand. Only one person is going to come out alive from here today!" Her palms were clammy. More murders. She hated Sedora with all her might. 

"Hurry up Dawn. We don't have time to think this," said Brenda. 

Dawn bit her lip and then sprinted out of the arena along with Brenda. 

On the stage, Sedora sat with a goblet of wine, which the servant had offered her. "Let's see if your mate knows you well. If she isn't able to procure you the best gift, then she truly isn't your mate. You would be happy that she is dead." 

Daryn growled at her. The servant walked to Daryn who also picked up the wine. Fear gripped his mind and he wished he were drugged today. 

Over the last two days, Emma had been coming with a large vial of a potion that could drug ten horses in order to drug the Lykae. She would inject the potion in his arm just after he got dressed for the tournament. However, today in the morning she hadn't come. It was quite a shock but he walked out of the tower feeling good and normal for once in so many days. He didn't know that this was what he was about to encounter. Daryn gulped the goblet down in a go and the servant gave him another one. 

Still, all the females around him looked like Dawn. He looked at her exiting the arena along with Brenda. 

When she reached out, she found Ileus waiting for her. "Where the hell were you?" she lashed at him. 

"Hunting," he replied and pursed his lips. 

Brantley joined them. "Damn it Ileus! Is this the time to sport?" 

Ileus turned to Brenda and asked, "What are you planning to give him?" 

Brenda sighed. "I haven't decided, but I have something in mind, which can be procured from the market here." 

"Ah!" he replied and pursed his lips again. 

"I better get going," said Brenda and dashed out. 

Dawn was extremely fidgety. She paced around them thinking what would be the best gift for her husband. She knew him so well that she had a thousand options that bounced around her head. All at once her eyes shone bright and she gave a knowing look to Ileus. "Let's go hunting!" 

"What?" Brantley said with a shock in his eyes as his eyes became wider than the arena. "Are you guys jesting?" 

Dawn held his hand. "Let us go! We don't have much time." 

The ground beneath them rumbled. This time the reverberation was so loud that for a moment they thought that the earth would split. 

"What is happening?" Dawn asked, bewildered at the recurring number of rumbles that were taking place. 

"Nothing to be concerned about," said Ileus as he walked past her. 

"Where the hell are we going to hunt?" asked Brantley. "And what are we seeking?" 

They reached the periphery of the enclosure and then Ileus looked around. "Let's go to those lonely streets and beyond," he said pointing to the left. The cobbled street over there meandered through the hillocks, into the jungle. There were very few large bungalows, which were located at long distance from each other on the hillocks. 

The trio loped off to the jungle. 

When they reached the border of the jungle, Dawn could feel that it was a labyrinth of roots and branches and thick trees and… magic. And they had to navigate through this maze to find the gift. 

As they walked inside, sunshine became scantier and fresh air turned to a woody smell. It became eerily quiet disturbed occasionally by the sounds of wild animals. 

Dawn felt like shifting and her instinct to shift were so strong that her wolf washed over her. She shifted into her grey wolf before they went deeper. Her wolf instincts took over and she just ran, tearing through the thick grass, fallen and decaying undergrowth. She felt she blended right into the darkness of the Amazon jungle.