It was odd. It was always Sasha that left, but this time, she was the one alone at the cottage. Elias was gone, and Isaak had gone to bring him back, which had ended up with her sister leaving as well.

“I guess I should have listened”, Sasha sighed.

Her mother put a cup of tea in front of her.

“You did what you thought was best”, Ella said. “How could you have known? How could anyone have known?”

Ella shook her head, still trying to get a grip on the latest turns of events. Yeah, the queen was one messed up bitch. That shouldn’t have been a surprise for anyone.

“I should have given back that orb”, Sasha took the cup in her hands, not in the mood for drinking it, instead of looking at the surface and the small pieces of tea leaves floating around. “Well, I guess we will not be going to Ebenhow after all,” Sasha said, laughing a bit at the last part, bitterness bleeding through. There was no risk of Elias wanting to protect her now. Not after what she had done, not after what she had confessed.

“Would you have done it differently?” Ella said, sitting down next to her.

Sasha thought about it. She wanted to say yes.

“No. I would still have been able to kill him for what he did. I do not feel ashamed. I did a sacrifice and I would do it again. What good would it do lying to Elias and pretend that I wasn’t about to kill the king?” Sasha took a look in her mother's eyes, they were soft, looking at her and waiting for the realization to hit home. Sasha knew, she knew then that she had done the right thing, albeit the sadness she felt. She understood her mother's question. “That I still will, if we can’t cure him.”

“This land, and Ebenhow, needs peace Sasha, and you and Ivy will bring that. Elias is angry now, but he will come around.”

Sasha knew it was not just anger. She had lied to him, she had betrayed him. She had used him. It wouldn’t be easy to forget. And if she was the one to land the rightful punishment, he would truly never forgive her.

“So he is the prince of Ebenhow?”

Ella nodded, a light pink shade coloring her cheeks.

“And you, and the king?” Sasha asked gently.

“He knew it was the only way to protect me and the boy”, Ella said. “I am just an ordinary witch and Elias. We would never have survived the attempts at gaining the crown. And if anyone knew, they would use that knowledge against him. Ebenhow would be just like here, terrorized by Leonard.”

“Not Leonard”, Sasha interrupted. “Anna, the queen is the one responsible.”

“I have a hard time seeing him as innocent. He has been plotting for so long.”

“The king does not care for anything else than the queen. If he has been plotting against Ebenhow, he has been doing to impress her”, Sasha said with conviction. The more she thought about it, the surer she became. The queen did deserve the orb. The king was so obsessed he tried to interpret her every thought and desire. And honestly, the queen had a kind of hate-love relationship with Sasha as well. In the king's mind, that made her a fair hunt.

“I will go down to the march”, Sasha said, raising from her chair. She sat down the cup of tea at the table, still full and untouched, but now cold as well. “I have some thinking to do.”

Her mother took her hand, squeezing it and reluctantly letting go.

“Very well, but don’t go further, and come back to lunch, you are still weak Sasha”, her mother said. “You were too close.”

Sasha nodded. She couldn’t agree more and not being able to kill the king for what he had done tore at her. Her inner devil screamed of justice, of eradicating the one that had tried to kill her. Such a shame that the one that truly deserved to be killed was the very one that had saved her.