(Amaia)

"A fair face but a foul heart!" The quote surfaces in my brain as I disgustedly stare back at her.

So glossy, such beauty and yet brimming with venom and hatred. It exudes from every pore of her body.

I straighten myself against the wall as much as I can with my hand chained to the floor. There are bookshelves behind me. I keep my head high, facing her boldly. She is not going to get the satisfaction of seeing me terrified.

I try to pull against the chains and summon my magic. But I can’t feel it, as if I don’t even possess it, never did. I try to open the mindlink but all I hear is static.

"It’s of no use. You can’t use your magic or call your mates. I have restricted everything with my magic and the potion you drank. No one is coming to help you."

She mercilessly smiles, her beautiful face twists into something ugly, shadowed on one side by the light in this room.

Rigel and Alnilam must have already gone out of Orion so I can’t even reach them through the mindlink but twins are here and yet I can’t connect. I can’t even feel them through the bond.

Similar to Istrale, she has messed with our mindlink.

"You thought, you would replace the dolls with fakes, steal from me and I won’t notice. Now you will pay on behalf of all your mates."

I ignore her, I know she is only trying to rile me up. But I have to keep a level head, to think and escape here before she kills me and hurts my mates.

"Where is Saiph? What did you do to him?" I question, ignoring the venomous words she has just hit me with.

She tilts her head towards the door without tearing her eyes from me.

My head whips in the direction she has pointed and I see him. Standing like a statue, with eyes vacant, expression cold. Hands folded in front, scythe glistening at the back.

"Saiph!" I softly call him, trying to reach him but he appears deaf, not even glancing in my direction. Staring straight.

"He can’t hear you. He is under my control, always has been," her derisive voice comes. "How do you think I always knew of your and my sons’ every move?"

I tear my eyes away from my mate. The hatred in my heart burns like an ember in my chest. My gaze focuses on this rotten being in front.

She has been using him as her errand boy and I think she is the one who turned him into a bird. He wasn’t born with it. I am now sure of it.

"Release him."

She snorts, waving her curled carmine hair left and right. "Where is the fun in that? I am just beginning."

"Why? What do you gain from all this? Hurting your sons, your stepsons. You even cut off Alnilam’s wings. What kind of monster does that to a newborn baby?" The thought of how Alnilam must have suffered in those moments wants me to inflict a mountain of pain on this woman.

She throws her head back and lets out a maniacal laugh.

"I hate faes, I want them gone from our world. You all are roaches to me which I want to crush under my shoe." The red heels she is wearing, she stomps on the floor just to make her point.

"You think I was thrilled that I had to carry a child with Fae blood in his system? I didn’t even want to carry a child with Orion but it was necessary. The pathetic man with Fae ancestry," she says with regret clinging to her voice.

"What do you mean?" I question her. So it means King Orion has Fae ancestry. Alnilam inherited it and was born half-fae and half-werewolf. He has Fae magic not warlock magic, as we all believed.

"Don’t you get it. Orion is not my mate. Natianu is." Her words fall like lightning on me and my mouth falls open.

"I only married Orion because we needed a stronghold here where the most Fae lived. We couldn’t kill them all without a plan. So mine and Natianu’s parents made a plan to control Orion and other states. You see, I am the strongest witch in existence, born with multiple powers."

She raises her index finger at me.

"First power, to curse others and make them my puppets. I cursed all the supernatural kings apart from Hathial Kane. That man is hard to control."

I listen with my breath coming out heavy. So she controls the king and others too.

She viciously smiles. "Since I couldn’t control him, I had other plans for him. I cursed his mate. He never recognised her and fake-mated her to Orion."

She is speaking about Queen Adrnia, Rigel’s mom. A gasp leaves me at this news.

"And then you already know what I did to their sweet son and your mate," she mocks, revealing her ugly teeth to me. How did they suddenly turn yellow?

My body goes taut against the chains as I try to fling myself at her. The rage entirely consumes me at the mention of Rigel.

How dare she mention him after everything she has done.

She hysterically laughs at my reaction. "Look at you, weak and helpless without your magic. You can’t even defend yourself, how will you defend your mates? Especially the losers like Rigel."

"Stop lying. I know Rigel and Saiph are twins and they are Queen Adrnia and King Orion’s sons," I blaze at her. My wrists ache from the force I am applying at cuffs holding me back. I try to summon my magic, but there is nothing.

She shakes her head at me, a smirk jots down her lips. "Oh, please. You know nothing at all. Ever heard of heteropaternal pregnancy? Where a woman is impregnated by two men instead of one?"

My mind reels. Where is this woman going with all this?

She steps away from the table and approaches the window, staring out. The constellation of Orion can be easily seen in the sky.

"Let me explain for your simple mind. Hathial never stopped loving Adrnia. She was strong and fought against my curses a lot and at times she would slip out. But, once Hathial visited our kingdom. Adrnia and Orion just had a baby-making session. Under my command, Adrnia went to Hathial’s room and did the deed with him too. Vampires have low morals, he didn’t say no to his old lover. And, surprise surprise, she became pregnant with twins."

She points to Saiph. "One, over there, belongs to Orion while the other, Rigel, is Hathial’s biological son."