An hour later, when she couldn't take it anymore, she walked down to the lobby to ask about Ileus.

"Anastasia!"

She turned her head sharply. Shawn, who was sitting in the salon, strode in her direction. He was holding another letter. "This came for you."

The color from her face drained. Staring at the white envelope, she asked in a shaky voice, "Wh- who gave it to you?"

"Liltte was sitting here for the night. She said that just before dawn a child came here to deliver it and said that it was for you," Shawn replied. "But why have you become so worried? Is something wrong?"

"It's nothing," she said. "A child delivered this?" her eyebrows raised.

"Yes." He nodded. "Are you okay?" he asked. "You look so pale."

Anastasia swallowed saliva down her dry throat and weakly said, "I am. Th- thanks."

"You are welcome," he replied with a frown and then went back to the salon.

Confounded as hell, she climbed the stairs to go back to her room when all of a sudden her eyes caught movement. Darla had come to stand at the landing of the stairs. She hid the letter behind her back immediately.

"So you came back," Darla said acerbically.

"I did," Anastasia replied in a low, careful, strained voice. Only one thought troubled her-if Darla was not behind the letters, then who was it? Since she didn't know the change of Ileus's plan, she was thrilled to see the letter and must have been thinking that things were falling in place.

"Aren't you shameless?" she snapped.

Anastasia took a step up. She narrowed her eyes and replied, "I am not but I think that you are trying your best to come between us, and that you should stop this."

Darla laughed without humor. "It is you who has come between us and destroying our world. We were doing so good... together!"

A frown appeared on her face. "Really? Darla, I want to ask you one thing, and you have to reply to me very honestly." Anastasia's eyes flickered silver behind her irises. It was as if she was trying to hold her attention, trying to not let her speak a lie.

The flicker in her eyes bothered her, but she leaned against the rails of the staircase and crossed her arms across her chest. "If you want to ask how much I love Ileus-"

"Did he ever kiss you?" Anastasia cut her.

"Of-"

"On your lips?"

Darla stared at her as her mouth snapped shut. She licked her dry lips thinking of one instance. "No! Why would he kiss me on the lips? I never initiated that. How would he do it?"

"But he kissed me... on the lips... and we have done much more..."

Darla blinked her eyes rapidly as she brushed her neck with her fingers nervously. "You aren't the first one to be kissed by him on his lips."

Even though a pang of jealousy stabbed at her heart, she knew that that was Darla's precise purpose-to make her feel miserable. It was as if she was feeding on her misery because she herself was unhappy. Darla wanted to derail her line of thoughts but at least she was answering honestly. "I am talking about you," she steered the conversation back.

A shaky breath left her lips and she turned her head away fighting the sting of tears in her eyes.

"When will you understand Darla? He is not meant for you," Anastasia said in a low voice.

"Shut up!" she snapped. "Shut the fuck up!"

But Anastasia continued, "From what I can see-and trust me if I say that then any person on this earth can say, because I have zero experience in these kinds of things... From what I can see, you should consider Aidan. That man loves you, otherwise he wouldn't have gone this far to save you from the catastrophe that took place at Virgine Falls. He not only tried to save you, but he tried to save you from shaming yourself in front of your old friend Ileus. But it all came at a heavy cost-we lost Zlu and Carrick." Anastasia stopped speaking and an awkward silence hung between them. "And it is high time that you realize it. No one in the group has told you anything, and I seriously wonder why?"

Darla shook her head. In a hoarse voice she said, "I won't... let you take Ileus from me."

"Ileus was never yours to begin with. And now that I am here, I won't let you come between us, and that is not a threat Darla. If you like, you can test me!" Anastasia's voice was like steel. "This is my only and final warning to you. After this I won't listen to a word from you about Ileus." The silver in her eyes swirled like a storm. "In my opinion, look around. Look at Aidan. Why do I feel that that man came on this mission because of you?" Saying that Anastasia climbed to the landing. She wanted to pat her shoulders out of pity, but curled her hands into fists. She hesitated to say more, but seeing Darla's hunched shoulders and face that was red with fury mixed with realization, she walked away to her room.

As soon as she reached her room, she tore open the letter. It read:

'I am waiting for your reply. Will come to meet you tomorrow evening, if you don't reply.

--Aed Ruad'

Anastasia's body shook as tremors passed through her. She bit her bottom lip as her mouth became dry. With shaky knees she staggered to the bed and sat down on it with a thud. She pinched the middle of her forehead and closed her eyes.

The door opened and she looked up sharply. "Ileus!" she gasped. With trembling hands she gave the letter to him.

He read the letter and then crushed it. He tossed it in the fireplace, as anger gripped his face and a muscle in his jaw ticked.

"Where were you? she asked.