Ariana’s pov
I pace around my room after having left the office.
Spies! They had spies around the palace.
I didn’t know what to make of the new information. It meant that they had known that something was wrong for a very long time, and that they hadn’t been able to do anything.
Something has to be done about this, even though they don’t know who’s responsible. It may not be Andria. It may be someone else.
That information has my shoulders sagging with relief. My sister may not be accountable for this. I know Andria never liked me, but she is still family. We came into this world together, and I’m hoping we stay together for as long as possible, even if we spend our time hating each other.
I hear a knock on my door before it opens to Nate. His face looks pained, his forehead creased, his eyes glistening with an emotion I can’t read. He steps into the room, his fist clenching and unclenching around something.
“I have news about our sister,” Nate’s words take a moment to filter through my mind, but when they do, I walk towards him, meeting him in the centre of the room. My heart pounding in my chest as my palms break out into a sweat. I hope it’s good news, even though Nate’s expression makes it look like the opposite.
“What is it?” I ask.
“We found a witch lurking near the palace. One of our men is bringing her here,” Nate says, his hands clenching around something.
“What are you holding?”
Nate looks at a pale yellow bag in his hand before looking back at me, his lips going thin, “They think the witch is crazy. She gave them this.”
Nate hands me the small bag, its contents spiralling around the satchel. I open it and pour some of its contents onto my hand. It’s a powder. A bluish-white powder. I frown as I spread it on my hand before I look up at Nate and ask, “This is?”
“It’s the drug. It’s lethal in high doses. It can distort your memory or make you hallucinate.” Nate continues, his hands tucked in his pockets, “We suspect that the witch was taking it herself, or she was giving it to someone.”
Someone. It doesn’t take a genius to guess who that someone could be. She may have been drugging Andria or even Will.
“What’s it called?” I ask about to take a sniff of the powder in my hand when Nate pushes my forehead back. He gives me a glare that could kill me as I force out a sheepish smile.
“Don’t do that.” His voice is calm even though I can feel the anger behind it as he snatches the sachet out of my hand, “It’s called euphemism.”
“Has anyone tried questioning the witch?” I ask.
“No. Not yet. We’re waiting for their arrival.” Nate says, his arms folded against his chest.
“Does this mean that Andria’s innocent?” I ask timidly.
Nate shrugs a faraway look in his eyes, I wait for him to respond, but when he doesn’t, something snaps within me. “Don’t you care? Don’t you care about what our sister has got into?” My voice gets louder with each word I say, was he so careless about our sister?
He lets out a heavy sigh before walking towards the window, a heavy silence descends around the room as he ponders on his response, “Andria always got what she wanted. Ever wondered what she would do if she didn’t get the mate she had always wanted.”
Nate lets the silence speak after his statement as he leaves my room. A draft chill falls into the room, he couldn’t possibly believe that. She wouldn’t go so far, and mate bonds were sacred. Nobody could ever temper with those. Even the moon Goddess herself cannot destroy a mate bond once it’s created.
I look out my window, my head leaning against the wooden panel as I stare at the white, snowy mountains.
I spent my whole life thinking that I was a blight in the world because I was born with a mark that gave me the devil’s power. That allowed me to turn the world into chaos. No one I ever knew loved me for that mark. The only person who truly ever cared was Nate. But I’m starting to wonder if he is the bigger devil than me, as he willingly accuses our sister.
He has no evidence. No evidence that will prove him right, even though we both know of our sister’s nature.
I breathe out loud as I walk across the room and pull a book from the bookshelf. It’s the only way I can stop my mind from thinking about Will, my sister, and everybody else
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