Thanks to meditative consultations, Amanda was able to position the princess to be more loyal to her mother’s death, allowed herself to find the strength to look at the attitude in Princess Thea from a completely different side, because she was not initially her enemy, but circumstances turned out that both girls hardened towards each only because of one harmful the link that was Raphael.

But would it be possible to make yourself fall in love against your will, or would you have the courage to destroy the nascent feelings between two lovers?

Giselle spent a lot of time in silence and semi-darkness and her thoughts worked like gears, remembering every moment of her free life outside of prison.

She laughed ironically at herself when she realized that her thirst for love had led her to such a plight. Giselle was even ready to kill Thea just to get her out of her way, but only now did she realize that Raphael would not love her anyway.

It wasn’t about the Riliya princess, it was about Giselle herself. It’s just that Raphael never saw her as his girlfriend.

This series of senseless, stupid and thoughtless actions to the end led to the fact that now she was an orphan with a living father who did not seem to worry at all about his daughter, who still had not come to save her.

And instead of relying on her parent, Giselle was able to find solace in those people who caused her such a humiliating situation.

Her whole world turned 180 degrees at once.

- Duke Parmont? - Giselle perked up anxiously when she saw Dexter coming down the stairs carrying a tray with fragrant food in his hands and her mouth was filled with saliva.

Despite the fact that with good care from Amanda, Giselle recovered, she had to spend the last two days without a crumb in her mouth.

She did not know the reason why she was put back on a starvation ration, but fortunately for her, there was still clean drinking water in the decanter and she divided it into portions to stretch it out for longer, since there was not a single thought in her head about when she would be fed again.

- There are some urgent matters. – he answered her unspoken question, which could be read on her face. – I brought you food and water, next time we will try to prevent such a situation from happening again, where you would be without food.

Her hands trembled as she took the tray from the Duke’s hands.

On the first day of her forced hunger strike, she did not feel any discomfort, but on the contrary, there was an unexpected surge of strength.

But the second day was given to her with difficulty, her stomach rumbled, twisted and squeezed everything, causing slight pain, and to the desperate attempts to understand the reason for such a sharp change in attitude towards her, weakness and drowsiness were added.

Therefore, she slept for almost the entire second day and this was the best solution to conserve energy.

- I thought Her Highness was coming to visit me. – she said softly, holding a crust of bread in her hand, which she wanted to put in her mouth and savor this diversity of tastes of freshly baked wheat bread, but it was uncomfortable for her to eat with the duke and she continued to endure.

- Her Highness won’t be able to visit you for a while. If you need anything, you can contact me. – Giselle pursed her lips, remembering how Amanda promised to bring her a cake, but she did not dare to voice this thought.

- I don’t need anything, thank you. I just hope that Her Highness is doing well and she will soon be able to find an opportunity to visit me and save me from the torments of loneliness and oppressive silence.

- Certainly, as soon as she gets the chance. - Dexter replied, about to leave when Giselle called out to him.

- Your Grace, I... - she hesitated, considering her question. – I wanted to know if my father had been in touch?

Her words sounded quiet and as if without hope, but shaking his head negatively, the duke completely cut off the last thread in her heart.

- I’m sorry, but all we know is that your father is on the run.

Giselle already knew about this from Amanda, but the mere idea of it caused her to have a fit of sardonic laughter. What kind of coward was her father?

The king of a great country, who has always been famous for his authority, turned out to be a worthless creature in the face of fear, before reality, which pushed him forehead to forehead with the recognition of the existence of vampires. He abandoned everyone, saving only his miserable skin.

- Well, I guess I got my answer. - She managed a timid, forced smile.

- Bon appetit. - Dexter said and left the room where the Adamanian princess was being held hostage to go to another place where malicious criminals and rebels were being held.

The old rusty steel door resonated in his ears with a nasty creak. The basement smelled damp, musty, and hints of old dried blood. Moss covered the stonework of the walls with a fluffy carpet.

Dexter passed through two long narrow corridors, on both sides of which there were numerous empty prison cells, before he stopped and saw two cells separated from each other by a reinforced metal structure and a stone wall.

He looked around at the unconscious man lying on the rough wooden bench before focusing his attention on the frightened, frail, disheveled girl.

He froze when he remembered that it was this girl with hair like a fluffy dandelion that he had seen back in Eastheve, when Raphael almost killed her in an attempt to provoke the witches.

- What’s your name? - his voice was loud and demanding.

The girl, huddled in a corner and shivering either from the cold or from fear, opened her parched bitten lips to answer.

- Nicole.

- I want to know what you meant when you said you knew our king and Princess Thea?

Dexter was skeptical of Milos’ words when he told why he left the girl and the guy alive.

Anyone could say they knew King Abion, but that would have a dubious advantage over the possibility of dying. It was only when she mentioned Princess Thea that Milos stopped his attack on the witch and allowed her to live until they interrogated her or the werewolf.

- I wasn’t lying. It really is. I am personally familiar with them. - Dexter laughed at her words.

- Knowing my king, I doubt he would have made friends with a witch. – he objected. – Moreover, if my memory does not change, His Majesty almost took your life once before and at that moment you did not look like acquaintances.

– When Thea escaped from Abion, she ended up in Eastheve, the coven of witches accepted her, and that’s how we met. There was also a male werewolf with her, Klaus.

Dexter narrowed his eyes when he heard the name again. Raphael assigned him to look after Thea, but instead they both ran away on that ill-fated day, causing Raphael to lose his temper.