Isidorus narrowed his eyes when he looked at Adrianna and Haldir. Adrianna had clutched the nearest table with one hand and her other hand was gripping the fabric over her stomach. She was panting. There were sweat beats on her forehead. Her pale lips were parted as exhaled shallow breaths. Haldir on the other hand had sunk his knees to the ground. His eyes were fixed on the ground.

Isidorus took his sword out and kept it at the nape of Haldir. "What happened over here? Tell me now or your neck would roll down." His nostrils flared.

​​

Haldir didn't look up and kept rooted to the ground.

"It is none of your concern, Isidorus," said Adrianna in a hoarse voice. "Remove that sword."

"Yes, my Queen," he replied and encased the sword in its sheath.

Mihr went to Haldir. He held his shoulders and gently helped him to stand up. Adrianna sat on the nearest sofa. Isidorus snapped his fingers and a few servants appeared with beverages to calm down the nerves. As Adrianna took the glass of green fuzzy liquid, the servant wiped her forehead with a clean cloth.

"Would you like anything else, my Queen?" he asked.

"No, you may leave."

The servants disappeared and the four of them sat down to talk about what to do next.

"Isidorus, I want you to go to the human realm and meet Niiya. Talk to him about the treaty and remind him everything in it." She turned to Mihr. "You have to get Rhys safely in and out of the Wizard Kingdom. I want to meet him tonight."

Haldir seemed so pale. He was resting his head on the sofa. But he knew what the queen wanted. He simply waved his hand and one of the Mozias who were stationed outside Ziu's palace appeared.

The Mozia bowed and reported, "My Queen, Ziu is currently in the palace. Haldir had cast a spell for us to detect whether he would disappear from inside the palace premise. However, till so far, he hasn't. We are keeping a close watch on him."

"Okay," Adrianna replied and Mozia left.

"I will be leaving the kingdom for two days under disguise. Mihr, Haldir and two Mozia will go with me." She looked at Isidorus. "I need you to keep a watch on the kingdom for these two days."

"Where do you plan to go?" Isidorus couldn't let the baby get in any danger. "You are not well."

"Just pack my stuff nicely for me. Rest I will take care," she replied. She meant that he should pack blood for her.

Isidorus took a deep breath. He wasn't convinced. "What if someone detects you?" I can't take the risk. You should tell me what it is and I will arrange."

"No, I have to do this and no one else can. As such we don't have much time." Adrianna took a deep breath and took out a long exhale. "Whatever it is that Niiya is doing, stop him for two days. Threaten him if possible, but stall him."

She smoothed her dress and then grimaced, "If nothing works, tell him that I have requested that he listens to me."

"It would be nice if I know your plan," Isidorus was angry.

Adrianna didn't utter a word. "Arrange everyone in the south gardens of the palace near the big fountain. We would vortex from there." Saying that she got up and went to her bedroom. She changed into black leather pants and jacket. She reached her table and picking up a glass of blood from the table, she started to write a letter addressed to Dmitri. Once the letter was written, it folded itself and entered a yellow envelope. The envelope slipped inside the drawer.

She walked to the balcony and gazed at the vast expanse of starry sky under which the Wizard Kingdom had brightly lit. She smiled at the thought of how her people trusted her and vowed that she would do all she could to maintain the trust.

The curtains moved in the soft breeze and her broom flew right outside the balcony. Adrianna climbed the parapet and mounted the broom. Immediately the broom took her to the south gardens. There was darkness everywhere. The lamps had been switched off. Everyone was waiting for her. She alighted the broom.

The five people held each other's hand and along with their brooms, were sucked in a vortex.

---

Next day Dmitri reached the hospital in the early hours of the morning. He saw Fleur. She looked disheveled and Howard was standing with her. There was only one more person in the lobby. A nurse was sleeping behind the nurse-station.

"Did you stay here throughout the night?" he asked quietly.

"Yes," Fleur whispered.

"How is he?"

"Yesterday, the doctor had said that there was a sharp injury in his lungs since a bone of the rib cage had pierced the upper part. They had operated upon him and removed the bone from the lungs. He has lost a lot of blood." Fleur looked away.

"What happened? How is he?" Dmitri asked in fear.

Howard stroked his daughter's back and said, "The problem is that Liam has shown extremely good improvement overnight. Being a werewolf, his lung has healed tremendously."

Dmitri sucked in a quick breath. He was so overwhelmed that he felt that the room was closing in. That was one good news in the past forty-eight hours. "Isn't that nice?" he said excitedly.

"That is indeed very nice, but we would like to take him back to the Werewolf Realm before the doctors conduct the X-rays. They will surely see the improvement in his condition and this would lead to other issues," replied Howard.

Dmitri laughed. "Do what you can to get him out of here. If you need my help, let me know."

"We do," replied Fleur. She snapped her fingers and Dmitri turned into the doctor who was attending Liam.

Dmitri shook his head.

"You know what to do," she smiled.

Dmitri walked to the nurse-station, woke the nurse up.

"Sir!" She woke up with a startle. "I- I am sorry. I don't know when I slept."

Dmitri sized her up and then said, "Give me the file of yesterday's emergency patient, Liam."

The nurse sifted through the various records and gave him the file.

"Prepare his discharge papers."

"B- but he hasn't recovered," she opposed with a stammer.

Dmitri stared at her and frowned. The nurse bit her cheeks inside. "Sorry doctor."

It took her exactly ten minutes to prepare the papers. Dmitri signed and the patient was discharged. Liam was taken out of the hospital before it was 7AM.

---

Niiya had set up a meeting with the military. But he wanted to talk to Adrianna urgently. He knew that Ziu's spies and his father monitored all his movements. There was no way he could get past them. It was almost 9AM in the morning and the meeting was called at 11AM, when suddenly his phone buzzed.

"The Supreme Alpha of the Werewolf Realm has called upon an urgent meeting. They have also asked Dr. Tanaka to join you," one of the officials informed.

A smile wormed on his lips. "Okay. Ask them to meet me at 10AM."