-HER-

I was shaking with vengeance on our way back to the palace. My emotions were clouding everything. I couldn't think straight for a moment. I felt like a volcano ready to explode with every second I spent in the carriage.

"What is it?" Arke had the nerve to ask me. Though I could see on her face that she regretted it instantly after meeting my red, angry eyes.

"What were you trying to keep me from?" I asked her calmly, yet my heavy voice gave away the chaos that was starting to unfold inside me.

Arke gulped.

"What do you mean?" She asked, trying to look clueless.

"You know what I mean, Arke," I told her, "what were you trying to keep me from?" I demanded.

"I... I don't know what you're talking about," Arke stuttered, shifting in her seat hesitantly. The air in the carriage was sizzling with tension. Even though Doria was pretending to look outside, I could sense the tension in her body as well. Her chest was rapidly rising and falling as if she had been running for miles.

"If you say that again one more time, then I'll—"

"—look, I was doing what Vittoria told me to do! I don't know anything!" She shot, sounding breathless. Beads of sweat were starting to break out over her forehead. I thought I was about to explode when it finally dawned upon me...

"Of course, she knew...," I growled.

~

I almost jumped out of the carriage even before it could stop and went straight to my old wing and locked myself in my room. I had never felt so restless yet clueless in my life before. I couldn't think. I couldn't feel what was happening around me anymore.

Vittoria knew...she had known this all this time! Just this realisation made me want to dig my heart out. I had never felt so betrayed in my life before. Even though she had always been clever like a fox. I still trusted her. I couldn't believe how stupid I had been to do that.

Though none of this hurt me as much, the main thing that disturbed me was... Herran had been right about her all this time!

It felt like my reality was choking me again, but this time. Everything that I believed in was now proven wrong. Every illusion had been shattered, leaving behind the ugly, naked truth. There was no other way to accept it but to face it... but how was I going to do this now? I was left with nothing...

Or was I?

It was sometime before sunset when I snuck inside my brother's wing. I was hoping he'd be there. I needed to see him as soon as possible. I needed to warn him about Alexandros. I knew he had something planned after listening to him last night. I cannot let him shoot himself in the foot just because Herran tells him to.

After all, he was my little brother, and I was supposed to look after him.

I was hoping that he'd be in his wing. Although it seemed slightly unlikely at this hour, still, I could wait for him. His wing was silent when I entered it. I didn't know why but the feeling of dread washed over me. There was something in the air that hung thick in the wing— it was making my instincts scream.

Quietly, I went further inside his wing, checking all the places— the courtyard, the garden, his study and other private rooms but he was nowhere to be seen. The more I stayed inside his wing, the dreadful feeling inside me grew stronger and stronger. His bedroom was the last place left to check. As I headed there, my heart raced faster in my chest while my hands turned cold.

A chill ran down my spine when I touched his bedroom door and slowly crept it open. My blood ran cold from what I saw in front of me.

My brother was lying in bed, looking unconscious, while Krifaris stood at the foot of the bed, chanting something under his breath. I didn't know what exactly he was trying to do, but the swirls of black smoke emitting out of Krifaris' body and then entering my brother's body didn't seem like it was something good.

Krifaris was deep into his work to have noticed me right away. It took me almost a minute to wrap my head around what was happening there.

"What are you doing to my brother?" I growled. Krifaris' eyes instantly snapped open before his head turned towards me. I thought he'd at least act as if he had been caught off guard, but instead, he looked quite smug with himself.

"Making him weaker," He laughed, looking proud. I didn't waste a second and lunged at him with my dagger. He was taken by surprise due by my sudden moment. He failed to move at the right time, receiving a stab in his arm. He growled out loud in pain before he kicked me in the stomach, throwing me against the wall.

"You look like you need to be shown your place again," He growled out loud before throwing fire at me. It nearly hit me, burning a few inches of my clothes. I rolled away, feeling a sharp pain in my back due to the fall.

"I will not let you get away with what you were doing, Krifaris!" I yelled, standing up and lunging towards him again. He tried to do a freezing spell on me, but it didn't work. It took a second to register on his face that his magic wouldn't work on me. I took this moment to deliver a deep cut to his torso, making him fall back in pain. I went to stab him in the chest, but he clutched my neck with his hands in an attempt to choke me to death.

I could tell he was still weak from whatever dark sorcery he was doing on my brother. I could see the energy draining out of his face as he tried to choke me desperately, but it wasn't as effective. Without wasting a second, I stabbed him in the chest, pushing my dagger deeper and deeper into his chest until I was sure it was lodged into his heart. He started coughing up blood while his hands dropped from my neck.

I pulled out the dagger and stabbed him again and again, multiple times, until I saw his dead eyes. Before I could truly grasp what I had done, I smelled smoke. When I turned back, I found half of my brother's bedroom was on fire. The bed was starting to catch fire as well, and my brother was still lying on it, completely unconscious.

Instantly, I got up and got him off the bed, dragging him to the window. The room started to fill with smoke in seconds, making my eyes sting. I reached for the chair and lifted it to smash the window open with it. It was harder for me to do it because my stomach was aching. I managed to break the window somehow and drag my brother out into the open garden. By then, his whole room was on fire.

I was still covered with Krifaris' blood while I ensured my brother was still alive before disappearing for the rest of the night.

_