Back at Prena the whole castle of Praestolatio was in an uproar.

The young princess had suddenly fallen ill at night. Some talked about an assassination attempt, others questioned the princesses health. Saying that it was no wonder that she was so weak. She had the cursed elven blood running through her veins.

In the castle the Queen of Praesto and Mother of Spera, Emerthelil was just moments away from an emotional breakdown.

Just yesterday her beautiful baby girl had run around and babbled happily to everyone that wanted to listen or found themselves in a position where they had to listen to her. Now her daughter lay still in her bed. Sweat running down her entire body and tremors rattling her still form. But she did not utter even a sound.

Emerthelil had woken up to her daughter’s scream at midnight and had found Lorain kneeling next to her daughter who had curled herself up on the floor. Her cries had almost ripped her heart out.

When she finally was at her daughter’s side, she had already lost most of her consciousness. Her beautiful red eyes swam in tears and she could see that it cost her tremendous effort to focus. And then her last words before she fell unconscious.

Just thinking about her daughter crying out to her and her husband in such pain brought fresh tears to her eyes.

Even now she lay still in her bed, Lorain tending to her and wiping the sweat of her body which seemed to appear just as it was wiped away.

But this was not the time for tears and self-pity. Her daughter needed her.

She was almost certain that the Dragon royalty had something to do with this. Ever since Spera’s birth, they tightened their surveillance. They were the only ones that could have known that at midnight today was the first time that the protective detail had lessen.

Just yesterday one of the shadow corps had been taken out since he had been compromised. Because of that just for a few minutes last night there had been none of Mesanths personal shadow corps stationed in her room.

One doctor after the other was summoned and under the scrutiny of the King and Queen performed tests on their baby’s body. But they could not find what was wrong with her. All of them said the same. Her daughter's body was fine except her Mana veins, which in an infant's body should not even have developed, seemed to have received some sort of impact. And all of them gave the same treatment method: Giving the Princess the time to heal herself.

After the fifth doctor told her that Emerthelil sacked into herself. If not for her husband hurriedly catching her and holding her upright she would have knelt on the floor. At that moment she did not care for the pretense they had always upheld and she leaned herself unto her husband's strong chest. She knew if she lost her daughter it would kill her.

And she blamed herself. If she had just been more careful while pregnant, if she had just not attended the Dragon Queens ball and instead had given birth at home. The what if’s circled around in her head and a tear slipped from her eyes.

Just as the doctor left and the door to the princesses bedroom was still open, a beautiful young draconian woman entered the room. Her blood red scales and long, straight red hair shimmered under the light giving her a warm halo around her body, but her cold green reptilian eyes that seemed to look at Spera’s body as if she had seen her prey, betraying her real objective.

She gave a seductive smile to all the common maids and butlers that either escorted visitors or cleaned the premises. All of them Loyalists to the Draconian Crown, recognizable by the bow they gave the lady, right hand on their heart their head tilted to the right, baring their throat to the lady. Only Lorain and the King and Queen looked at her with hatred and disgust in their eyes.

“Lidiana, what are you doing here?” The queen straightened her body and placed it in the way of Lidiana so that she could not see the princess anymore. The meaning clear, if you want my child you have to go through me.

“Oh deary, why are you so tense?” She asked, tilting her head to the side and letting a predatory smile spread on her face, sharp teeth making her looks turn instantly dangerous.

“I will only ask you this once again … why are you here?” Emerthelil could feel her tension building and her restrain loosening. She so wanted to hit this woman senseless, this overgrown deceitful snake.

“Well, well, are you finally growing a pair? I would be careful if I were you, you know these little things travel fast hahaha “

And with that, it was as if she had poured a bucket full of ice water over her head.

She stood frozen, her hand trembling and curling into fists at her side, biting her bottom lip so that she would not utter another sound and make this dangerous situation any graver.

“Oh, now, don’t be such a Sissi.” She shrugged her shoulders, making it seem like the last few moments hadn’t happened. Emerthelil looked up and couldn’t stand to see her so nonchalant. Looking around everyone was averting their eyes, giving her once again the proof that she was surrounded by enemies. The ones she trusted had her back. Glancing over her shoulder she could see Mesanth standing next to Spera’s bed, his body slightly vibrating from the emotions he had to hold inside. Next to Spera’s bed, Lorain still sat like she was frozen on the chair only moving when she wiped her daughter’s body. Love and concern radiating from her eyes but her face an impassive mask. She could even make out Jeanne in the shadows next to her husband, and she knew that she could only see him since he let her.

She turned her head back to Lidiana and after taking a deep breath smiled at her.

“Miss Raziel, could you please enlighten me as to what I owe the pleasure of your company.”

“Much better” she said her smile turning predatory again.

“Well, to put you out of your misery, the Queen just gave me the message that your grace period has been extended, thank your little weakling of a daughter. Given the situation, the queen has expressed her disappointment that the elven heritage has left such flaws in the late Kings heritage.

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And I also have to personally thank you. Originally the Queen has ordered me to live on this Godforsaken island until your daughter reaches the age of her awakening ceremony, since that is now seen as unlikely the Queen has allowed me to return to after the princesses 6th birthday, if she can live that long,” she said ending in a high pitched laughter. Turning around she left the room, her hips seductively swinging from side to side making all the males on the normal staff turn to look after her as she vanished down the hallway, her laughter and the sound of her heels still haunting Mesanth and Emerthelil moments after she had already left their sight.

Mesanth could feel his emotions vibrating in his body, fear, love, protective instinct, they all swirled in his mind, but he knew that he did not have the luxury to show it. It was one thing if the “weak elven woman” showed emotions. But if he let them go, he knew that he would sign the death warrant for his whole family and all of his friends.

The first thing he did after his daughter lost consciousness was summoning Jeanne from the shadows.

The former assassin and now “shadow master” of the castle as well as head-butler, was one of the strongest dark mages Mesanth had the pleasure to meet. And not in a good way. He was the only one that had survived attempting to assassinate him. After trying continuously for three years they had started to form a sort of friendship since both had respect for the other one’s skills. After a while, Jeanne had stopped trying to kill him and just observed him until finally pledging his loyalty to him after two additional years. If anyone could find out what happened to his daughter, Jeanne could do it.

Jeanne appeared only a second after Mesanth called for him through their connection, a handy tool that their loyalty oath had given them, his body manifesting out of the shadows. His black hair and black eyes contrasting sharply with his white skin, the shadows forming Panther ears and a tail on his body, proof of his half-beastman, half-vampire heritage.

“What did you find?” Mesanth knew that he did not have to specify his question, Jeanne knew what he wanted to know.

“I am sorry master, but there was nothing and no one that entered the princesses bedroom prior to her collapse, and everything she came into contact before entering her room has been analyzed. If someone did this intentionally I can find no clue of their presence.”

“How is that possible?” Mesanth asked, rage coloring his voice as his hairline started to darken, proof of his mana willing him to enter his berserker state.

Even in her own emotional pain, Emerthelil calmed her husband down by laying her hand on his arm and infusing his body with a bit of her light magic.

He looked at his daughter. Pain seared through his chest and he tightened his hold on his wife in his arms. He had heard from some of his companions that the death of a child could devastate the father and kill the mother.

What should he do if she never woke up?

As his thoughts started spiraling down a very dangerous road, a very light cough echoed through the room.

Everything stilled until the silence was once again shattered by a light cough that came from the direction of the bed.

Everyone whirled around and stared in shock at the young princess whose body was wracked with a coughing fit that let her chest leave the bed and fall had back down.

Emerthelil was the first to come to her senses, ripping Mesanths arms open and running to her daughter’s side. Mesanth stood in shock for just a second before following his wife to the bed.

Spera was still coughing, her hand coming up to her throat as if she was choking on something but did not have the energy to move. Emerthelil hurriedly lay her on her side, letting her daughter cough out a dark blob of fluid that immediately vanished as it fell to the floor.

Silence ensued as she tried to regain her breath, her gasps filling the silence of the room, nobody wanting to disturb this miracle.

Slowly she opened her eyes, tears flowing out of them and her eyes not properly focusing. She tried stretching out one hand but it instantly fell powerlessly next to her body.

Emerthelil took her hand, the warmth of it calming her heart and letting tears of joy fall from her eyes.

She brought Spera's hand to her cheek and rubbed it against it, smiling while in tears. She was just so happy that she woke up. It didn’t matter to her that she had a weak body.

She just wanted her baby to be alive.

Spera slowly recovered her senses.

Suddenly she felt like she could not breathe.

Didn’t Deli say that she would only die in about ten years? Why would she now suffocate only moments after she finally came back?

She still could not feel her body but the need to survive forced her to pressure her airways and could finally force out a bit of what blocked it. Finally, a small breeze of air brought comfort to her lungs, but just as it helped, the feeling of suffocation returned and she coughed once again. After three to four tries, finally, someone had pity on her and turned her on her side. The next cough dislodged what was stuck in her throat. It flew into her mouth and she could taste something familiar to the bloody taste she had when she licked at a small cut she had a few months ago when Lidiana conveniently bumped her against a small table one of the times she could get her away from her mother. Just as she tasted it, the sensation revulsed her and she spit out whatever was in her mouth.

Finally she could relax, a comforting sensation flowing through her body and with a sign she eased all her muscle, waiting for any other feeling coming back to her body.

Just as the sensations of her body came to her again, she knew why Deli had smiled like that.

It seemed like her whole body was pricked with needles. Just trying to move a muscle caused these needle prickles to intensify into a piercing pain that crawled up her limbs to her brain.

And that wasn’t even the best part.

Deli had told her that parts of her memory would come back. She just didn’t tell her that it would be combined by a massive headache.

What she wanted to do was just hold her head and trash around in her bed.

But that she couldn’t do since her whole body hurt … what a way to find yourself between a rock and a hard place.

Finally, when she felt like she had enough strength for it, she forced her eyes to open. At first, it was just a blurry mess, then she could make out different color which slowly became silhouettes. The first person she could make out, even if not clearly was her mother. Just behind her, she could make out a red and a black shape. Her guess being that it was her father and since he was always in her father's vicinity the black shadow could only be Jeanne even if she didn’t have much interaction with him the past year. A moment later a light brown figure in a black dress entered her vision. That must be Loraine, even if she could not make out her green eyes and her slightly sharp ears. For a moment she wondered if Warthon was in the vicinity. Normally he was right next to her father his blue coloring amplifying her father's imposing aura unlike his soothing effect to Mesanas aura … speaking of Mesana where was her aunt? She hoped nothing had happened to her, given that normally they had to force her to leave her side.

Coming back from her musings to the present she started to finally regain the focus on her vision.

One of Spera’s hands was rubbed against her mother’s cheek. Her azure-blue eyes were full of tears and her blond hair was rumbled as if she had run her hands through it. A smile bloomed on her face as a tear slipped from her right eye.

Emotions made Spera tear up. She was finally home.