A few days later, Spera woke up in the middle of the night, not sure what had been the reason for it. After a few moments, just laying in bed with her eyes closed, she could feel her body tensing, every instinct in her screaming at her to flee from her position.

Desperately Spera tried to calm down, somehow she knew that at the moment she was still save … until she ‘woke up’.

Finally, after a few agonizing moments of listening to silence but knowing of the danger around, she could hear a small shuffle from the direction of her door. With a small ‘click’ her door was gently pushed open, making as little noise possible, but for Spera, each noise seemed so much louder. Turning to her side, as if still asleep, pushing her bed covers down with her feet, making the chance of her possible escape better, she was now facing the door and opening her eyes a little bit, she could make out the form of two humanoids dressed in all black with small, light bodies that seemed to glide over the floor, their steps making no sound.

Seeing them nearing her bed, Spera closed her eyes again, praying for somebody to rescue her.

But they didn’t seem to move from her bedside.

After a while Spera could hear murmurs that sounded like they were fighting between each other, focusing just on her hearing she could hear a few words.

“... really necessary?”

“... weak … no mercy … bastard …”

“... just a child … nothing wrong …”

“... example … regret going against …”

“... heard … chronic illness …”

“… see! … think as mercy …”

Spera could feel the discussion tilting. The opposition slowly being won over by the person that stood nearer to her bed and that felt more dangerous.

Trying to prolong the inevitable and giving someone the chance to rescue her, Spera moaned and turned so that she lay sprawled on the bed, the covers discarded on the floor and highlighting her beauty.

And she knew that it had worked when the second person said “… cute …”

“Don’t … fool! … Mission …” The first person admonished the other, taking a step closer to Spera but his arm being held back by the other.

“But … look…” The other person said when Spera gave a small mewing sound and curled into herself, dying of mortification inside but her survival was more important … I hope …

“Enough!” The first person suddenly shouted, disregarding their situation. Ripping his arm out of the hold of the other person, he crossed the distance between him and Spera in only a fracture of a second, his hand tightly gripping her chin. Spera having given up the pretense of being asleep at the exact moment that he had shouted, tried to free herself, but the man easily overpowered her.

Prying her mouth open, Spera knew her time was up, so she could only take a gamble, opening her mouth voluntarily, she inhaled deeply and screamed on top of her lungs.

She could hear loud noises from her door and it exploded inwards, showing Warthon standing in the doorway, power radiating from him.

The second man met him in combat as the man that held her mouth was on his own mission.

Immediately the man pushed a small vial to her mouth, pouring a bitter liquid into it while blocking her nose making it impossible for her to resist his strength.

And Spera just knew by the burn in her throat and the way her body started to scream in pain that she had been poisoned once again.

She could hear a roar from Warthon that sounded like an enraged beast as his power exploded from him. Through her tears, Spera could see a dark aura descent over him, his beautiful blue scales and hair started spotting a few black patches.

The second man was flung across the room by that power, falling lifelessly to the floor after hitting the wall.

The man that had given her the poison, immediately turned to flee, seeing that the door was blocked by Warthon he turned to her window and started running towards it, but Warthon suddenly appeared next to him, his punch sending the man sprawling to the floor.

Suddenly Spera’s view was obstructed as a body moved before her sight, warm arms circling around her and pulling her convulsing body into a soothing embrace.

Drawing strength from the embrace, Spera forced her head to lift, seeing her mother before her, tears in her eyes as well as an overwhelming fear. And Spera knew that she had been the reason for that to happen.

She could see her mother glowing, but something seemed wrong as she started to get angry, the glow intensifying before suddenly vanishing, her mother's eyes filling with tears and a helpless expression as she hugged her tighter to her bosom.

Even as the pain racked her body, she could see that her mother's lips were moving as tears spilled over her cheeks, the warm drops landing on Spera's face.

Concentrating all her remaining energy to her mother she could finally make out her voice over the whooshing sound that was filling her head, beckoning her to just let go and fall asleep, she had done enough, she had endured enough …

“… sorry … my love … sorry …” She could hear her mother's heart-wrenching words through the fog that started to descend on her mind.

No! I can’t leave them! I finally have somebody that loves me! They need me!!!

Spera clinging to these thoughts and drawing strength from them, that even she didn’t know that she was capable of, and finally started fighting against the drowsiness, each of her mother's tears that fell on her face giving her new motivation, something warm blooming in her chest and slowly filling her body, the strength returning to her limbs and the cramps starting to lessen in their intensity.

When she finally had enough strength she lifted one of her arms, her mother overjoyed at her slow recovery, cautiously looking at her daughter for any indication that her condition would once again take a turn for the worst.

Raising her hand to her mother's cheek, she weakly wiped one of her cheeks, her mother immediately leaning into her touch, one of her own hands covering Spera’s to press her cheek firmly against it, making them both smile at each other with affection.

A noise behind her mother, made Emerthelil turn around revealing the situation in the room. Her father stood next to her bed talking with Jeanne, fury in his face, but something told Spera that he had also shed a burden, hope could be seen in his eyes and a smile graced Jeanne’s lips indicating that something good has happened.

Confused Spera looked at the chaos, her ears still filled with a buzz that made the obvious loud and chaotic room look like a silent movie.

Letting her gaze wander, she took note of her room being filled with all her loved ones, as well as Tiang that had finally left the confines of his library which shocked Spera and made her stare at him, resulting in him giving her a reassuring smile and then vanishing from the room as if he had never been there.

Given that nobody else had seemed to notice him, Spera filed this away to the back of her mind, knowing that it was just one of the questions she would ask him at her next visit.

Looking to the side, specifically the wall the first man had been thrown against, she could see Leon and Samuel standing over his still form discussing in hushed voices, but for all, she knew they could also scream at each other.

Her gaze wandering further, she could see the second man, slumped against another wall, his body struggling against restraints that had been forced upon him.

Just before him stood a figure, on the first glance Spera couldn’t even believe that this was the Warthon that she had come to know and love. The dark energy that had manifested when he had barged into her room still hung around him, less than before but it still changed his looks and made him feel terrifying to Spera, the aggression that came with the energy pulsing off him in waves. Spera had to look twice to be sure, and only because of her fragile looking aunt that stood before him, trying to sooth Warthon by gently touching his chest and arms, running her hands in a slow motion while her mouth moved, Spera could only guess that she also tried to calm him with her voice. And it seemed to work, after staring at both of them for a few moments, she could see that the energy was visibly diminishing.

Emerthelil having seen the look of fear in her daughter’s eyes while looking at Warthon in his battle state, gave her a little shake, making her focus her attention on herself once again.

“Baby, I want you to try and not fear him…” her mother’s voice soothingly broke through the buzz in her head that slowly started to recede.

“But he is scary …” Spera answered with a small voice, the aftereffects of the poison making it painful for her to speak.

“Yes, that is true.” Emerthelil conceded, no point in trying to deny something obvious, but her daughter should still understand the most important point. “But only to others. You see, Warthon has this power, to protect. And only then he will use it. Look at him.” She suddenly said, knowing the situation, she knew that her daughter had to see the next part. That was only fair to the man that protected her since they got to know each other.

Following her mother’s instructions, Spera looked up, just in time to see the moment when Warthon came out of his ‘state’, the energy dispersing and his scales and hair regaining their beautiful blue color. His body lost his energy as if somebody had cut a string attached to his body, making him slump against Mesanas shoulder, her arms coming around his waist to hold him, even while she struggled under his own weight. Slowly the strength returned to his body, but still the vision of fatigue overlapped with his as Spera saw him giving her aunt a tight hug, lifting her slightly off the ground, and then walking to her father, his features tight.

They talked for a few moments, Mesana never leaving his side until he looked at Spera.

And Spera could see the fear in his eyes. Not understanding why he was fearing her, she looked back at her mother, who herself was watching Warthon with a gentle expression.

“Mommy?”

“Yes, darling?” She said, looking down at her daughter who had an adorably confused expression on her face.

“Why is he fearing me?” She asked which caused Emerthelil to be so proud of her, it indicated that she could read people and that made her feel less afraid of the possibility of her being conned later on.

“Because, my love, you are very dear to him. If you care about somebody, you feel pain if they are afraid of you. You see I also made the mistake when I first met both your father and Warthon when they were fighting their enemies and protecting me, to show my fear of their strength. I didn’t even realize how much I had hurt them.”

“But why would it hurt them?” Spera asked, inclining her head to the side.

“Because it indicates that you don’t trust them to not hurt you. If you are absolutely sure that they would never hurt you, you wouldn’t fear them even if they display their might or do something that isn’t nice to other people.”

“But … I can’t help it. It was the energy that was making me feel uncomfortable not Warthon …” Spera said, defending herself.

“I know sweety, I know. I just wanted you to understand that sometimes, even if you don’t want to, you can hurt the people closest to you with your reaction to certain sensitive situations, this one included,” Emerthelil said, hugging her tightly. She didn’t want her baby to grow up, but she had the feeling that she couldn’t prevent it so it was better to give her as much advice and assistance so that she could handle everything that was thrown at her in the future.

Looking over her daughter’s head to her husband and his best friend, she could see both of them smiling at her, a certain weariness still in their eyes that she blamed herself for, but at least her daughter hadn’t reacted as badly as she back then.

Seeing that everything had been resolved, Lorain and Mesana came to the bed, inspecting Spera. Even if both of them were no doctors, they had enough experience to at least tell them if a doctor was needed. If they saw it necessary they would get one, even if that would alert the opposition of their failed plans and would make it impossible to finally resolve the issue.

Spera still felt very warm, at some moments almost too warm but she had the hunch that this was her life-saving blessing from Muwa at work, trying to counterattack the poison in her system.

Falling asleep under the prodding and magic invoked by Mesana and Lorain to monitor her body, both women could only find the slight fever to be abnormal.

They had already interrogated the living assassin and had found out that they had tried to poison their princess with a high concentration of Hishmak and Zumbelt, two poisons that with Spera’s heritage should have killed her on contact.

“How is she?” Mesanth asked, knowing that his daughter had been poisoned with Hishmak making it impossible for him to get near her at the moment.

“She is fine brother,” Mesana answered soothingly, standing directly before him and staring him in the eyes to underline her statement. She knew that if it came to his family, Mesanth would be so crazy as to get near his daughter, which would poison himself in return, if he wasn’t sure that he could trust their diagnose.

Seeing their princess asleep, everyone slowly exited the room, leaving only Mesanth and Emerthelil with their daughter.

Emerthelil sitting on the bed, her daughter sleeping next to her, and caressing her daughter’s head, looked up to her husband, which facial expression almost screamed that he also wanted to stay with them.

Giving him a small smile she said, “Tell me when you have everything ready. I want to see her one time before her death.”

“Sweetheart, you don’t have to …” Mesanth tried to persuade her but was immediately rebuked.

“That woman …” she spat out, internally wanting to call her many names but restraining herself since she was still in her daughter’s presence, even if she was asleep, “... tried to not only physically harm my daughter, but she also cursed at her, gave her information she was too small to be able to endure and now tried to poison her. I damn well will see her before she bites the dust … are we clear?” She asked with a dangerous undertone in her voice and a glint in her eyes that reminded Mesanth that he stood before the most beautiful and powerful predator he had ever encountered.

“Of course my love,” he said, giving her a kiss on the forehead and leaving the room to take care of his ‘problem’.

A few hours later, Mesana came back to the room, exhaustion clear in her features but also a feeling of being free of a burden she had carried with her.

“Everything ready?” Emerthelil asked, not looking up but focusing on playing with her daughter’s hair, her nervousness slowly disappearing as the soft stands of red hair flowed through her fingers.

“Brother said you can have her. They got everything they need.” Mesana said quietly, not wanting her niece to wake up at this topic of conversation, her tail swishing left and right behind her, betraying her excitement about what was to come.

However, Spera still woke up, sensing the presence in her room.

Scrunching her nose and trying to push her mother's hands from her hair, she slowly opened her eyes, yawning cutely while sitting up in bed.

Seeing her aunt, she gave a smile and stretched her hands out to her for a hug, snuggling into her embrace.

“Seems like I am not needed here …” Her mother said with a small pout but her twitching mouth corners betraying her affection.

Still, a bit muddled because of the fever and just waking up, Spera slowly looked at her mother, giving her a bright smile and slumping forward to lay on her lap. Chuckling Emerthelil helped her sit up again and gave her to Mesana who embraced her and cuddled her tightly.

“Baby, I have to go for a moment, but I will return soon. Alright? Be nice to your aunt, ok?” Emerthelil said, giving her a kiss on the forehead, and after getting a head nod from her, slowly walked out of the room with a warm smile on her face.

However as soon as the door closed behind her, the smile fell from her lips and a feral look took over her beautiful features.

No one saw her, but if they had been in her presence they could have felt the power that threatened to burst out of her with each step she took towards the stairs, walking through a hidden door that revealed a staircase that led into darkness.

Walking down the stairs, the air became stale and it reeked of mold, blood, and death.

She stopped at the end of the stairs, finding herself before a massive door that looked unbreakable.

Lifting her hand before herself, she murmured a small phrase and a sharp wind flowed over her palm, drawing blood and slashing it against the door, which turned dark-red and opened for her.

* caution violence and gore ahead *

With a sneer she walked into the room, which held a few cells, each encased with metal beams that glowed in the darkness, a sign of them being strengthened with Mana, making it almost impossible for anyone to break out of them.

Emerthelil paused a moment to appreciate the construction, thanking whoever was listening for the hidden treasures this castle held for her family.

She walked to the end of the room, coming to a stop in front of the only cell occupied at the moment.

A sorry creature could be seen slumped on the floor, and Emerthelil could almost feel pity for her. Almost.

“Well, well. What do you think about your new accommodations? They are a bit… gloomy don’t you think?” Emerthelil asked in a quiet voice talking as if she had just met an old friend and was discussing the weather not the interior of their cell, but in the otherwise silent room, it reached the person without a problem.

The creature looked up, revealing a face full of blisters, one eye bleeding and the other having a dark green discoloration around it. Looking at Emerthelil with hatred but also acceptance of her situation, it sneered at her in an answer.

“Oh my!” Emerthelil exclaimed, seemingly surprised at her state, one hand supporting her chin as she looked down upon Lidiana, the coldness in her eyes and the sneer on her mouth betraying her state of mind.

“It seems like you didn’t want to talk. Dear me, why would you be so stubborn? If you had just told the truth from the beginning they would have given you an … almost … painless death.

And you had to give Daphne so much work. How will you compensate me if she comes to me to complain.” Emerthelil said looking at the blisters that not only appeared on her face but also on her limbs, evidence of Daphne having touched her too long, for her body to suffer from an extreme case of Mana-overload. As she surveyed the damage she also saw the cuts that graced her skin, as if someone had traced her Mana-veins with a knife.

“I see Leon also had his fun …” She said, which earned her a feral scream from Lidiana, that seems to have also suffered damage to her windpipe. Knowing that this could have only occurred after the information had been extracted, Emerthelil scowled. She wanted to hear the vile creature beg for her life … should she heal her? Looking in the eyes of the woman, and seeing the acceptance in there, even if hidden under pain and fury, she knew that even if she healed her she wouldn’t hear her beg.

Walking closer to the cell, Lidiana tried to pounce on her, only to fall flat on her face, bloodying the skin on her face, arms and legs further, filling the air with the scent of fresh blood. Looking down, Emerthelil could see that her feet dangled at an unnatural angle and their form also seemed to be a bit off. Looks like Samuel had his fun too. But it also said something about the loyalty of the woman and her perseverance that she had to suffer under all three of the siblings, most prisoners only endured two at the max.

Seeing the broken woman before her, Emerthelil couldn’t help herself and asked.

“Was it worth it?” which made Lidiana lift her head with the last of her strength, sneering at her, which was quite grotesque, her gums bloody and some teeth missing as well as a yellow substance tickling down one corner of her mouth.

Emerthelil lifted one hand, a light shining around Lidiana’s throat as she healed her. Even if she didn’t want to, she did want an answer.

Feeling the pain in her throat lessen, the first thing Lidiana did, was laugh at her, the sound like someone was dragging their nails over a sandpaper, making the hairs on Emerthelil’s neck stand up. Suddenly Jeanne appeared next to her, out of the darkness, making her flinch, but he just ignored her reaction, dragging her a few steps away from the cell while giving her a reprimanting look, but keeping silent, still positioned between the two woman.

Inhaling deeply, Lidiana glared at them both through her ‘good’ eye.

“You have no idea what you provoked! Do you think that your husband didn’t touch us, just because he didn’t have the evidence? You are so blinded to the truth, I will enjoy knowing that you have now signed your own death warrant.”

Furious Emerthelil lashed out to her, part because of what she said, but also because she knew that her husband kept secrets from her.

“How can you say that! You attacked a child! Do you have no compassion or common sense? My daughter did nothing wrong.”

Which made Lidiana sneer even bolder at her.

“You don’t know, do you? O,h how sweet and cruel his highness is … speaking of your child, that child wasn’t even supposed to be born! How is it wrong to end an existence that shouldn't exist! Nobody with that cursed blood should be allowed to live …”

She said slumping to the ground as her outburst had robbed her of her remaining strength.

“What.Do.You.Mean?” Emerthelil screamed, lunging at the cell, her hand coming in contact with the bars and the magic in them activating, burning her palms slightly. Jeanne having reacted a second too late, immediately pulled her from the bars, inspecting her hands, wanted to drag her out of the room towards a healer, the downside of being a healer making it impossible for herself to her own wounds, but Emerthelil resisted for once showing her true strength as she glared at the man that took a step back at her power and bowed on the cold stone ground.

“What do you mean?” Emerthelil asked once again, this time more subdued but glaring at Lidiana.

With a smile the woman just uttered the words “Ask about Tenebris …” she said falling silent, closing her eyes and letting her head fall to the side in exhaustion.

Unsatisfied with her answer, Emerthelil’s power flared up, making Lidiana scream as if her body had been lit on fire. Emerthelil knew that given the Mana-overload that she had suffered any exposure to strong Mana would make her boil from the inside out

However she didn’t get any answers, even if she made her experience the feeling for more than half an hour, the only thing she got were screams upon screams.

Feeling a bit fatigued after using her Mana at such a high level for so long, Emerthelil stopped for a moment to breathe deeply in and out, making Lidiana fall unconscious.

Before she could begin once again Jeanne interrupted her.

“My Queen …”

“Yes?” She snapped at him. It was clear for her that he also kept secrets from her and at the moment that was a sore spot for her.

“His Highness would like for you to attend the happening in the great hall,” he said with a bow. The Queen was even scarier than his wife, even if he would never admit that to somebody else.

Giving one last look at the sorry figure of Lidiana in the cell, Emerthelil sneered and turned around walking out of the dungeon without another word.

Seeing that Jeanne wasn’t following her, she turned back around and raised one eyebrow prompting the man to hurry after her.

Closing the door behind her, the dungeon once again descended into silence.