"So you were right, she did come back," said General Marcellus.
"And you didn't believe it," Ciaran said triumphantly.
"How did she even get in and out of the palace without the guards noticing her?" Marcellus wondered.
"I was interested too, but she didn't tell me," replied Ciaran.
"What did she say when she came back?" Marcellus asked.
"That I can't expect her not to try to escape when I'm holding her here against her free will," Ciaran replied.
"Your Highness. General Marcellus." one of the soldiers that General Marcellus had sent to find Amaya and bring her back came to them. They just came back. "You should see this ." He handed them a book bound in red leather. "We found it in the inn where the terrible tragedy happened. Look who the last guests were."
Ciaran turned to the last page covered and sighed deeply.
⸸
"Miss Amaya, it's time for you to get ready for dinner with the royal family." Mareena gently woke her up.
Amaya lazily opened her eyes. "Do I have to?" she said in a small voice. "Let His Highness say that I do not feel well. He can lie one more time."
"Please, miss, you have to get up," Mareena begged her.
"For you, Mareena, I will," Amaya said, getting up from the bed reluctantly.
It was Mareena's responsibility to outwardly tame Amaya's wildness, caused by her background and the kingdom in which she grew up. Amaya let her. She didn't fight back. She loved what miracles she could do with her. After she finished with her, she often didn't recognize herself in the mirror. She was a hunter and a warrior and Mareena was able to turn her into a princess.
She dressed her in a black sumptuous dress embroidered with silver threads and decorated with pearls. She slipped a black glass crown into her hair.
As Amaya looked at herself in the mirror, she felt torn between the persons that made up her entire being. She wanted to be all of them at once.
"I'm glad you're back, miss," Mareena told her.
"I'm glad too, I'm just not sure if Prince Ciaran is as well," said Amaya.
"His Highness is only unhappy because you ran away," Mareena replied. "He likes you, but you're going to have to earn his trust back."
Prince Ciaran and General Marcellus were waiting for her in the reception lounge. Mathias was also sitting there with them. He and the prince stared at each other. It was a silent war without words or shouting.
Amaya finally showed herself to them. Ciaran and Mathias looked at her with a sparkle in their eyes. Mathias hugged her and she hugged him back.
"You look stunning," he told her.
"Thank you." she gave him a sweet smile.
"You look like an evil queen from a fairy tale," Ciaran told her.
Amaya laughed. She laughed heartily. "Maybe it is on purpose," she said.
"Then you did it perfectly," said Ciaran.
"Can we go to dinner?" Amaya said. "I'm quite hungry."
"We still have time," said Ciaran. "I want to ask you something, Amaya."
Amaya didn't like tone of his voice. That sounded serious.
"A couple of corpses were found in an inn three days' journey from here."
General Marcellus laughed. "It was more like pieces of corpses," he said. "Supposedly they were so torn that it was not even possible to recognize if they were people at all."
"And according to the two of you, I have something to do with it." she looked offended. "Tell whatever you want, but I don't know anything about that."
"This book says otherwise," said the general, placing the red book on the table. "You were the last to be accommodated there."
"Amaya, you admitted to me that you have a murderous shadow. The evidence screams that it was you," said Ciaran.
"What does she have?" General Marcellus said in shock.
"Okay, I admit I might have gotten a little carried away," Amaya admitted.
"Just a little?" Ciaran raised an eyebrow in question. "A little more, I think."
"You don't have to explain anything, Amaya," Mathias said, giving the prince a murderous look. He was protective of Amaya.
"When I had to listen to everyone in Deira calling me a witch, I could bear it, but when I heard..." Amaya stopped in the middle of a sentence. She didn't want to finish it. She didn't want it to seem like she cared about Prince Ciaran more than she should. It's enough that she came back.
"You couldn't bear to hear what?" Ciaran demanded an answer.
Amaya was silent.
"Amaya?"
"I couldn't bear to hear them say they wished you dead," she answered after a long moment of tense silence.
Ciaran stopped. He wanted to say something, but he couldn't find the words. They all crumbled into individual letters before they reached his tongue.
Amaya headed for the door before Ciaran opened his mouth.
"Let's eat," she said. "I am hungry."
They came to the dining room. Ciaran offered Amaya his arm so they could walk in side by side, but she turned him down. She walked in with her head held high like a girl who won't be broken by the prison. The entire royal family was already in the dining room, Ciaran had six brothers and one sister, together with King Edric and his wife, Queen Semiramis. Princess Neila immediately took Amaya into her arms.
"I finally get to know you," she said excitedly. "Ciaran was hiding you from me."
"He's just caring," Amaya replied. "I haven't been feeling well for the last few days and Ciaran was just worried about me."
"You have to sit with me and tell me everything."
Amaya wasn't even given a choice. Neila took her hand and sat her next to her. Mathias was sitting next to her on the right side. Prince Ciaran sat opposite. He stared at her. Anger and sadness were mixed in his eyes.
"What it's like to be blessed by the gods?" Neila asked her.
"It's more of a curse most of the time, but I wouldn't change it," Amaya replied.
"Why the curse?" Neila did not understand. "I thought it was an honor to speak for the gods among you in Amorite."
"She was always forced to do the will of the gods," replied Ciaran before Amaya spoke. "She had no control over her own life."
Amaya did not contradict him. He was right. She always had to do the will of others until he kidnapped her and set her free. Now she had a choice.
"But I've learned to bend the rules," Amaya remarked.
"And how?" asked Crown Prince Enzo.
"After all, I am blessed by the gods. I can say anything and people will think it's the will of the gods," Amaya said with a mischievous smile.
Mathias looked at her worriedly. "How many times have you done that?" he asked her.
"Only a few times," Amaya admitted.
Prince Enzo laughed. "You probably won't be as nice as you present yourself," he said.
"She fulfills the will of the gods, which the sacrifices demand. She can't be nice because that would be a weakness," said King Edric.
"For someone to marry such an old king, everyone has to be strong," said Neila.
"She must have a strong stomach," said one of Ciaran's brothers.
"He could be her father," said another brother.
"Grandfather rather," said the third.
"Even the son of King Damon, Prince Tristan is older than me," Amaya noted.
"She certainly didn't mind becoming queen," King Mael spoke.
"The crown isn't everything," Amaya said. "But if I had to choose, I'd rather marry Prince Ciaran than King Damon. It's more fun trying to kill him. He is a formidable opponent."
"Did you try to kill him?" Neila was horrified.
"Only a few times," said Ciaran.
"And yet you live," Amaya said.
"Honestly, with her reputation, we didn't even expect you'd live long enough for tomorrow's wedding, brother." Prince Enzo said maliciously.
"Apparently, you're all wrong." Ciaran returned a wicked smile.
"Obviously," replied Prince Enzo.
"Miss Amaya, did you hear about the Shadow King offering the king of Amorite help in exchange for you?" Queen Semiramis spoke up.
"However, King Damon refused. He values you so much that he will not trade you for his help," said King Edric.
"The Shadow King is only a myth," said King Mael.
"It isn't," said Prince Ciaran. "Amaya knows him personally."
Everyone at the table turned their full attention to her. When she looked at Mathias his eyes reflected the disappointment that Ciaran knew so much about her. How is it possible that he knows about her that he doesn't? How much did she tell him? Silent questions were written in his eyes.
"Arawn and I have a shared past," she admitted.
⸸
The morning was dangerously close. Amaya's thoughts kept her awake. She didn't know if she was so freaked out by yesterday's mention of the Shadow King or if she was just feeling anxious about the upcoming wedding. She wondered how the vortex could have swept her away so quickly. She knew her way and suddenly found herself in the dark with no clear destination.
She decided to go for a walk in the gardens hidden under the cover of night. She couldn't stay inside. She felt as if the walls were coming down on her.
"Where are you going, Miss?" the guards asked her as she walked out the door.
"Don't worry, I have no plans to run away," Amaya said. "Definitely not in this and barefoot."
She was wearing a white nightgown with thin straps. She didn't even have her dagger with her.
"Then where are you going, Miss?" they asked her.
"I just need some fresh air," she replied. "If you don't believe me, you can come with me."
The guards gave her space and let her go alone. It was clear that she had nowhere to run dressed like that.
Her bare feet touched the cool grass. The cool breeze caressed her exposed skin. Wind silently whispered in the treetops. She walked through the night landscape. She felt the distant eyes of the guards watching her. She breathed into her lungs the scent of flowers that opened only in the moonlight, listened to the divine silence echoing through the night landscape. She lay down in the grass and watched the stars. Thousands of tiny dots, shining like jewels, high in the heavens.
A figure covered the starry sky. Ciaran appeared there. Amaya sat down. Ciaran threw his jacket over her shoulders. She immediately felt warmer. He sat down next to her. She rested her head on his lap. Together they looked somewhere into the black distance.
"Can't you sleep?" Ciaran cut through the silence.
"I have too many thoughts in my head," Amaya replied.
"Can the mention of the Shadow King for that?" Ciaran wondered. "I saw your face."
"I'm more worried about whether I won't regret my decision to come back here, but the fact that he's trying to get me back is disturbing," Amaya said.
"What actually happened between you and him? You know his name. You shudder at the mention of him."
"Oh." Amaya sighed. "So many questions. Why do you care so much?'
"I'm just trying to get to know you," Ciaran said.
Amaya held out her hand, but Ciaran looked at her suspiciously. That made her laugh.
"You don't have to be afraid. I have no plans to mess with your head," she told him. "You asked me a question I can't answer with words, so I want to show you."
Ciaran tentatively placed his palm in hers. That's when the picture before them changed. They were no longer in the palace gardens. It was dark there. It startled Ciaran. It was something unusual for him. Amaya knew how he must have felt. She was also scared the first time it happened to her.
The memory took its contours. There was Amaya and Arawn, the Shadow King. He held her in his arms. With a gentle touch, he brushed unruly strands of hair from her eyes behind her ear. He kissed her and she kissed him back.
"Be my eternal queen," Arawn told her. "Together we will emerge from the shadows and take back what the gods have taken from us. We will take everything and rule together."
Amaya jerked away from him. "So I'm just another pawn in your plans. You want me to help you get out of the shadows."
"You can't deny that the power doesn't appeal to you. Don't you want to take revenge on the gods for what they did to you?" Arawn said.
"I'm not going to play this game of yours," Amaya snapped. "You won't manipulate me."
"You've changed since you survived, Amaya."
"Maybe I can just see that you've been using me all along."
Amaya snapped at him to leave, but Arawn grabbed her wrist and pulled her back to him.
"You will do as I ask of you, Amaya," he told her. "Trust me, it will be better for you if you cooperate voluntarily."
"Never," she snapped. "Why should I share power when I can have it all?"
Amaya tried to pull away from him, but his grip was too tight. She could use her powers against him, but Arawn was stronger. She couldn't beat him.
"You'll change your mind." A mischievous smile bloomed on his lips. "Maybe you can't die, but you can be dying over and over again."
Arawn threw Amaya into the flames. Tongues of fire caressed her body. She felt their hot kisses. They burned her skin, flesh, and she healed immediately. She suffered in agony. She couldn't stop the screams from her throat. Hot smoke burned her lungs.
Arawn made one mistake. The rope with which he tied her burned and Amaya broke free. He didn't even realize it and she was gone. She managed to come out of the shadows at the last moment. Dawn came and closed the gate to the world ruled by the Shadow King.
That's where the vision Amaya showed Ciaran ended. The surrounding gardens have regained their original shape. The night sky arched above their heads. There was a strange silence between them. Amaya was afraid to say anything. She gave him space. Ciaran was silent because he was afraid that any words would be wrong.
"You loved him and he betrayed you?" he finally asked her.
"No," she replied. "It was the power that drew me to him. I was tempted to have everything I never had. He offered me freedom. But then I found out that it was just a trap to lock me in another cage."
"Is he the reason you never want to go back to Amorite ?" Ciaran wondered.
"Little bit. Let's just say I found out the price of what I want. What he wants." Amaya said. "When you stormed the monastery with the soldiers, I saw an opportunity to escape and took advantage of it."
"But you didn't plan to come to Deira and become my bride," Ciaran remarked.
"No," Amaya acknowledged. "Not even that I will like you in the end. "
"Do you like me?" Ciaran smirked.
"Of course, otherwise I wouldn't come back," she replied.
"In that memory, the Shadow King asked you if you wanted to take revenge on the gods for what they did to you. What did they do to you?" he asked her. "What did he mean you survived?"
"It doesn't matter." Amaya looked away.
"You don't have to hide anything from me, little goddess," Ciaran assured her.
Amaya made to leave but Ciaran stopped her.
"Amaya."
"Don't pretend Ciaran. Don't lecture me on my secrets," she told him. "Just because I'm not digging into your head to find out the truth doesn't mean I can't see through your mask. You yourself have secrets that you don't tell me."