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Neera noted the store, and memorized the man’s voice, promising to deal with him when she returned.

She took a long alley down to a road opening to the front of an abandoned building. Neera stared up at the horror, dilapidated roof, windows gaping like soulless eyes, and the front door that creaked with an ominous sound. The building was a welcome to the rest of the street’s view, it was quieter, and lonelier, and even animals didn’t skitter by.

She stopped and looked around, now wishing Lydia had been more specific with her directions. It looked like she was being swallowed into a labyrinth of creepy houses and occasional haggard men who stared her up and down. She was sure she was going to be robbed by one or two of them on her return back.

When Neera turned, Lydia was in front of her.

Neera jumped back in fright. “How did you get here?”

“I have been following you, my dear,” Lydia purred. Unlike Neera, she wore no form of disguise and was a shining beacon of wealth waiting to be pillaged by the men who passed them, eyes shining at the worth of her outfit and her beauty.

Neera studied the real person she had been conversing with in the mirror. Lydia reminded her of Freya more than Zavian.

“You look terrible,” Lydia said. “I wouldn’t be surprised though, as tomorrow midnight is actually when you are supposed to die.”

.....

Neera coughed a little, the wheezing returning. “So you were going to kill me off? Then you would have also lost.”

“Or I would have just found someone else to carry out the task for me.”

Neera stared hard at her, the lie evident already. No one was that close to Zavian other than she was, unless Azriel, and he was bound to the King like a brother.

Lydia produced a hand. “Give it to me.”

Again, Neera could feel the gust of something twirling in her, and she didn’t know if she was the one holding the sensation back with her power. It seemed to directly affect her power source.

“Where is the cure you have for me?” Neera asked, clutching her finger around the vial.

From the light of the moon, Neera could make out a quirk on Lydia’s lips.

“You don’t trust your mother-in-law? It’s a shame Neera.”

“Give it to me first.”

Lydia’s hand disappeared by the side of her gown, and soon, she was stretching out a small bottle of liquid. Neera eyed it warily.

“You are going to work on that trust, dear,” Lydia said. “After all, family takes care of family. Take it. I haven’t gotten all night.”

Neera snatched it from her palm, and she held out Zavian’s blood, waiting for the strange wind to thrum on her powers. Nothing happened, and the vial was in Lydia’s hands. If eyes could produce lights, Lydia’s own lit up the darkness.

She tucked the vial away and gave Neera a big smile.

“I believe we would meet again, Neera,” Lydia said.

Neera looked again at the bottle in her hand. “How will I know...”

But when she raised her head, Lydia was already gone.

Quickly, Neera set on the road back home, and just before she could reach its gates, she had enough patience of questioning the medicine Lydia gave her. She stopped in the middle of the road and swallowed every single drop of the medicine. It tasted diluted, like water and vinegar mixed together, and Neera could feel the swell of anger and the scam she had just drunk.

If nothing works, she was going to kill Lydia.

She might have thought of that too soon, because a sudden sharp pain sliced through her, sending her knees to the ground. Neera screamed and clutched at her belly, but the pain spread everywhere. She was sweating, her body trembled, and her eyes had a peppery sensation to them.

It all intensified, and if Neera thought she couldn’t feel a worse pain, she was wrong. It made her dizzy, and soon, the lightheadedness gave way to darkness, and Neera could feel her spirit slipping away as her entire world went black.

....

Lydia waited, and she was growing restless.

Had his power weakened? Was it harder for him to come to meet her? He had made mention of exhausting almost everything he had to get what he wanted, and she could sense it was taking a toll on him.

So she sat by the entrance of her house, staring at the vial of blood, a grin fixed on her face.

After so many years.

She looked up when she heard a bit of noise. A squirrel scampered past, disappearing up an oak tree. Seconds later, a screech came from the leaves, and a squirrel dropped dead on the ground.

“You don’t have to make such a dramatic entrance, you know?” Lydia chuckled to the night.

A darkness began to brew, a swirl of smoke clouding around her. It ate away at the growing length of grass, shriveling them off their lives. Lydia smiled as the shadow took form, and two glowing orbs were staring at her.

Those glowing orbs fell on the vial in Lydia’s hand.

“And now, we begin,” the figure said.

....

When Zavian awoke, he didn’t see Neera next to him. He questioned his servants, but none of them had seen the Queen.

In a flash, he recalled the last memories of her missing only led him to find out she was dead. He tried to shake the fear from his mind, convincing himself that after Jasmine, no one else wanted Neera dead.

But then again, she was nowhere in sight.

Zavian summoned a guard who rushed to him. “Tell everyone of you to search the castle grounds for the Queen.”

His pulse raced as he too began to search. It was unlike her to be missing in the day, especially early in the morning.