With a frozen mind and tongue, Tymir walked inside the store. It was a long room with ventilation near the ceiling. And Tymir… he recoiled. There was not a single sack of grain inside the vast room. The place was empty as if there wasn't anything over there, ever. His knees wobbled and he staggered as he took another step. His face became pale like that of a ghost. "Wh— where—" his mind was so swollen at this sudden change of event that he couldn't complete his sentence. He looked at Arnik who was glowering at him.

Arnik crossed his hands across his chest and said in an angry voice, "Was this supposed to be a joke? You have wasted my time. You have spoken a lie to the king. Not only that you have made the queen look like an idiot in front of your solution. So what is it that you are playing at, Tymir?"

​​

Tymir's mouth fell to the ground. So Arnik knew what he was trying to do in front of the king a while back. His throat became dry as desert and his breathing increased. A thin line of sweat covered his forehead. If Arnik would tell this to the king, he was sure that Brantley would give him a heavy punishment. He shook his head. "I don't— I just don't—"

Arnik put his hand up in the air to stop him from speaking. "It is not for me to decide what to do with you. The king has to decide." Saying that he turned on his heels and stomped towards his horse.

Tymir ran after him. As soon as he caught up with Arnik, he said, "Look I think someone has stolen my sacks. It was all there and I have no idea what happened! In fact I am extremely sure that someone has stolen! Otherwise do you think I am a fool to go to the king and declare that I have the stock when I really don't?"

Arnik shrugged. "Don't think that I don't know about how much you dislike the queen."

Tymir's face blanched for the second time. "This is absolutely untrue. I don't dislike—"

The General placed his foot on the stirrup and swung his other leg over the horse to mount it. Ignoring Tymir completely he waved a hand in a circle in the air to his men to wind up and go back. Tymir saw them all galloping away, and he walked back weakly to his store, feeling as confused as a chameleon. He was scared as hell to think as to what would happen now. Suddenly fearing that Arnik would pour in half-baked information to the king, he rushed back to the valley. And when he reached there, his eyes became as wide as the meadows of the valley. There was a long line of tables in the center of the festivities laden with food and people were bee lining to get their picks. Where the hell did all this come from? Shocked to the core, his heart plummeted to his stomach. His pace became slow as he noticed that the head cook was bringing one plate after the other and hollering the servants to fill in the empty dishes.

Tymir pressed his hand to his mouth. He was so confused. Not only had he sabotaged the stores of the palace causing it to flood, he had also set the makeshift ones on fire. He had ensured that every bit of grain was damaged. Then what was it that he was seeing in front of his eyes? Was it an illusion?

He stopped a servant and asked, "How— where did the feast was arranged from?"

The servant frowned. "From the king's stores," he replied with a shrug and walked away in a hurry.

He was confused as hell. "Wh— " His eyes caught a soft laughter. When he looked in that direction, he saw Bianca nudging the king with her small hands over something. Jealousy flared and he felt like slapping her tight across the cheek. Suddenly, Brantley's head turned in his direction and he noticed… chill… danger… His heart pounded against his ribcage. Without wasting a second he bowed to him and then fled from there… to hide till the night. And then he would open the cage of the neotides.

It was twilight and Bianca sat on Brantley's lap as they watched a group dancing. She had witnessed so many wild sexual encounters over the past six days that each time it was a shock. And each time Brantley would go on to explain her more, and then in the end he would offer, "We can do the same."

This afternoon when he had whispered her the same, she had nudged his chest. "Get lost!" she had laughed.

Right now she was too tired and was sitting in her husband's lap almost about to drift off to sleep, but the loud music and cheerful group wasn't letting their queen sleep. She got up to relieve herself. "When I am back, we are going back," she said and he nodded. She rubbed her neck that was corded with exhaustion. She desperately needed her husband's massage. She remembered the look on Tymir's face and chuckled. With a smile she opened her eyes and found herself staring in the red eyes of the man from the cage. Blood rushed to her brain. In a split second she thrashed the flap shut and turned to run but banged into the other one from the cage.

He hissed. "Tonight, you pay for what Dawn did to us!"

With a hitched breath Bianca stumbled back, as confusion, fear and panic hit her mind. "What do you mean?" she asked. Who freed them? How did they know her mother? What had mummy done to them?

Jason stepped closer to her, bared his fangs. "Because of your mother, we ended up as Lazarus's slaves!"

"Wh— who are you?" her eyes widened with apprehension.

"I am Jason and that is Azura."

As soon as she turned to see the man behind her, he slapped her tight across her cheek. She stumbled, her skin burning. Bianca was about to scream but a strong hand from behind clutched her mouth and the next she knew was she was being dragged to the forests that lined the valley. She kicked and struggled against the grasp, but the two neotides were too strong.

The night had fallen and the moon was crescent shaped, pale yellow, barely able to cast its light over the dense trees. The stars dazzled the sky like diamonds sprinkled randomly, but even their shine wasn't enough to penetrate the thick canopies.

Was this her end? She didn't even know what these men meant. She thrashed her head and using every bit of her Lykae energy, she shoved her elbow into the groin of the man holding her. Growling with pain he dropped her immediately and cupped his groin. She took the chance to run away from there to alert Brantley, but the other man leapt to her feet and yanked it, making her fall on the ground. He pulled her to the forest with her feet.

"Leave me!" she shouted at him. She was so far from the festivities.

"Sure!" he said, pulled her with her feet in the air and threw her towards the trees.

She fell with a thud, but before she bounced again on the ground, to her shock, she found herself shifting into her wolf.