She didn’t have to hope for a soft landing. Giselle’s body literally slammed into an invisible wall in front of her eyes, causing her to flatten out in a bizarre shape. She gasped, shuddered, squeaked, and immediately fell back, faced with the force of the counteraction.

She still had a lot to realize in this incomprehensible and terrifying world, but she breathed a sigh of relief when she realized that she was still alive, and that the portal had not torn her apart. That was good news.

Straightening her dress, she hurried to get up. Her hand shot up and touched the invisible edge that separated her from her intended target, Castle Marro. And how was she supposed to get inside?

Shaking her head from side to side and trying to find some clue, an entrance, people or something, she was surprised at what a grandiose structure the palace towered behind this impassable barrier. A magnificent sight that she had never seen before.

Moreover, she had never heard before that someone could live even more luxuriously than her native country, but how wrong she was. Like, in other things, and in everything else.

All this time, her eyes were tightly covered with an impenetrable cloth, which her father forbade her to take off, protecting her from the whole truth, from this amazing and at the same time dangerous world.

"This is not the time to admire, Giselle, pull yourself together." - she muttered to herself and trudged along the wall of the palace, trying to find an entrance. She walked as fast as her weak body would allow, but she couldn’t stop thinking that she had to hurry.

She even chuckled to herself at the thought that she had changed so much in the time she had been a hostage. She was able to survive, but it was not her merit, but those people who allowed her to survive. And among them, of course, was Raphael himself. Why didn’t he kill her? Why did he let her live?

Giselle did not justify his actions, still considered him a guilty, cruel monster in many ways, but she felt a sense of gratitude that he did not take her life. Therefore, she promised herself that no matter what, she would find him and give him Artemis’s words. And again, she did it solely for her sake, because it was Artemis who released her from this terrible damp dungeon without a single ray of sunlight, where even the sounds from outside did not penetrate through the many meters of thickness of the earth.

Finally, noticing the guards guarding the main entrance in the distance, she clutched the fabric on the skirt of her dress with slight excitement before approaching under their gaze and wands pointing in her direction.

She took another step so that she wouldn’t have to scream when she tried to explain to them who she was, but her forehead bumped into an invisible barrier again. Squeaking, she rubbed the bruised area, noting that the male guards were beyond her reach.

- Who are you? - A stern male voice sounded, and a blue haze was already sparkling at the tip of the magic wand.

- I’m Giselle Pegins, Princess of Adaman and daughter of King Christopher... - a booming laugh made her frown and be offended.

- Then I’m the Faerie queen myself. - Another man laughed out loud, attacking Giselle sarcastically.

- Well, I’ve never met you, so I dare say you look great, Fairy Queen, and your thick stubble adorns your peach-ripe skin wonderfully. - She returned his sarcastic smile with a clumsy curtsy.

The men immediately straightened up and the wave of laughter stopped.

- If you’re done, I’d prefer you to call King Abion here, I have an important message for him that requires no delay. - She held up her index finger, telling the men not to interrupt her. – And if you ignore it, we will soon see how he personally cuts off your heads.

- Oh, you are insolent scoundrel.

A bright magic tourniquet whipped Giselle’s arm before wrapping her arms around her elbows, locking them in a death grip. Next, her entire body sank into a state of complete paralysis from the tight ligament.

The men were whispering about something, nodding alternately and pursing their lips before one of them left.

- If that’s how you ask for an audience with the vampire king, he’ll be informed. However, don’t expect me to let you go any further than you’re already standing right now.

Giselle pointedly lifted her head and took it to the side, remembering how she had done it before, personifying an extremely arrogant and arrogant figure. This simple guard has no right to talk to her like that at all, let alone make fun of her.

***

Another wave, crushing the walls of the maze, trembled underfoot. The witches’ cries of invocation rang out all around, angry, cursing. The loud crackling of falling trees, accompanied by incomprehensible loud explosions or blows, added unnecessary excitement, since no one could go outside and see what was happening.

Vampires were in a position where waiting was more painful than a quick death.

Artemis leaned her hands on the stone ledges of the observation tower, her brown hair fell from her shoulders in a scattering, fluttering in the strong wind. She did not take her eyes off the slowly smoldering maze and this was a direct answer to the question "was Lillian on the other side?".

- There’s not much left. - she whispered it, but every letter, every word was heard too clearly by the vampires.

She leveled off abruptly and touched the crown adorning her head. She still hadn’t drawn the power of the elven artifact, but now she needed all the power she could get from all sorts of sources. And she will take advantage of it.

Warmth enveloped every finger of her hands as she drew all the strength from the artifact, feeling a pleasant rush throughout her body, lightness and the complete erasure of the boundaries of fear. She wasn’t going to be afraid anymore.

Magic, as if coming to her from all sides, penetrated under the skin, enriching and nourishing it. The sky was covered with dark clouds, it turned sharply cold, and the birds were noisily beating their wings, trying to fly away through the barrier that did not let them out.

Amanda was holding the hand of a little vampire girl when, in an instant, a strong gust of wind almost tore the child’s hand away. She hugged the child closer to her and darted a glance at the observation tower, frozen with horror at the concentration of power that was now in one place and penetrated Artemis’s fragile body as if into an inexhaustible vessel.

No normal person could have taken such a force into himself without consequences, it was something out of the ordinary, something beyond fiction. It was so similar to the force when madness took over Raphael, when he stopped controlling himself. But surely Artemis would not have deliberately taken such a step?

This was the signal for action and Amanda, holding the crutch in one hand, pulled the girl in the opposite direction from the main entrance to the palace.

- It’s going to be problematic, don’t you think? - The strange voice sent chills down Amanda’s spine and she immediately turned around, covering the child with herself.

- What the... - she widened her brown eyes in shock, refusing to understand what she saw in front of her.