-HIM-

'The only way you can help me is by forgetting me and leaving Somirea forever and never looking back. Would you be able to do that?'

Her words pierced my heart like a burning knife. They acted as fuel to the turmoil that was already going on inside me. It was as if she was giving me an ultimatum. Though there was no way, I was going to accept this. Even though she wasn't telling me anything, I wasn't going to give up.

Why was she doing this to me? Why would she want me to forget her? Why did she want me to leave Somirea?

I wish I could have asked her that, but I knew that I would get anything but the truth from her. I had to return that night without anything, but there was now a new flame inside me— I had to take things into my own hands. Instead of lurking and waiting for things to happen, I needed to make them happen myself.

The next day, I was distracted for a good amount of time, replaying our interactions from last night. I met with Theresa in the morning but didn't pay much attention to her. I was expecting to see my mate, but I knew it was better for me to get used to being disappointed because she knew how to avoid me, and she often did it too well.

In the afternoon, we were again discussing the problem with Zuncans. I mostly kept to myself as the others argued about their ways to deal with it. Despite yesterday's incident, Theoron looked more confident and prideful with his plans. It was starting to get harder and harder for me to tolerate him. I could feel others mirroring my feelings as well.

"It's tonight," Khazar told me when he briefly found me alone after the meeting. I raised an eyebrow at him. I wasn't expecting them to do this so early.

"That was quicker than I had thought," I couldn't help but comment.

"I don't like wasting time. See you there at midnight,"

~

In the dead of night, I left the place with Lars. Since Theresa had already taken us to the mountains, I was familiar with the way. We rode there, taking the path on the capital's outskirts to avoid having any attention.

When we reached the mountains, one of Khazar's men was already waiting for us. He led us to the lonely grave of Theoron's sister. The grave was located on the top of the hill. I took a moment to look at the place properly.

The digging had already begun. The gravestone was carved out of black marble, but it looked too simple and bland to belong to a princess of high rank. Apart from that, there was a small shrine nearby. It was clear from the vines growling all over it that the last time it had been visited was only at the time of its construction. As the digging went on, I stepped inside the shrine. It was empty except for a small statue of a virgin goddess, which had collected thick layers of dust.

When I went back to the grave, Khazar looked excited while Nanda was still looking a bit reluctant, even though the digging was halfway.

"What's the matter with you?" Khazar asked him.

"I don't think Theoron would let this go if he finds out," Nanda commented.

"In that case, he would need to explain how a person can be alive and dead simultaneously," I spoke.

"What was that!" Khazar exclaimed as soon as he saw his men stop digging. I took this moment to step beside the grave. I was surprised at how deep it was.

"It's a coffin," Someone replied from beneath. After unearthing it completely and putting in some effort, the coffin was finally brought to the surface. The wood used for the coffin wasn't poor, but it wasn't of the quality to bury a princess in either. I watched like a hawk as Khazar's men cleaned the dirt off of the coffin before opening it.

Everyone was holding their breaths as the coffin's cover was lifted, but as soon as the light of lanterns fell on the contents of the coffin, it left everyone rather surprised and more confused than ever.

Inside the coffin was more dirt. Without waiting for the next command, Khazar's men started to scour through the dirt in search of some bones or anything but... there was nothing. The silence of the night thickened as everyone froze in their place and stared at the coffin full of dirt.

"No," Khazar gritted. "This can't be it. I'm sure she's buried here. Dig deeper!" He commanded, and his men instantly got into it. They dug for another hour but found nothing.

It was sometime around dawn when we didn't find a single bone in that grave or the nearby places. This made things even more complicated. Everyone had been expecting to get some surety tonight, but after digging the grave, the only thing we found apart from that coffin full of dirt was more questions.

"What does it mean?" Khazar asked, defeated. The sun was starting to come out, and his men were back at setting the place in order and making it look like it hadn't been dug up last night.

"It means Theoron had been saying the truth all this time," I gritted.

"No!" Khazar shot instantly, finding it hard to believe the reality. It was the same for me. "It can't be this simple! There's more to it. Maybe, this is just a fake grave, and she is worried somewhere else! This is one of those old tricks in the book to keep the gipsies from stealing Royal corpses. I'm sure she's buried somewhere else,"

I could hear it in his voice that he was trying very hard to convince himself about it, but this was preventing him from seeing reality. As it often happened— hope clouded judgement.

"Or maybe, she's alive," I breathed, thinking about Theresa.

_