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Dilin and I have been strolling the gardens for the last half hour.

I tried my best to fish information out of him since he's Mr. Know-it-all but he shuts me up by holding out his index finger and telling me to brisk in the nature's beauty, no matter however dead the nature here seemed.

On our third round around the castle's front yard, he starts humming a song I've never heard before and rapping his head side to side absent-mindedly.

I watch him from the corner of my eyes. Dude can sing.

His voice is so melodic that I could picture imaginary birds circling over his head singing in chorus to his song. It almost reminded me of Snow white singing with her animal friends and the mental image of Dilin as Snow white in a yellow and dark blue dress and a red headband was too hilarious for me to not be able to conceal the chortle erupting out of my mouth on time.

Dilin's humming stops immediately and he gives me a questioning look, "What's funny?"

"You as Snow white." I say matter-of-factly.

"Snow who now?" He asks, his face resembling a confused Bambi.

"You don't know Sn-"

"You both seem to be having a great time together," A familiar feminine voice comments cutting my sentence midway.

I turn to the source of the sound to find Layla dressed in an ash coloured shiffon dress with a plunging neckline. The gown seemed to be flowing down like waterfalls down her body and dragged along the dead grassland as she approached us.

"Dilin, could you give us a moment?" Layla asks not diverting her attention of off me.

I hold her gaze as Dilin—ever the gentleman he is—nods his head before walking back inside the castle leaving Layla and me to the dead silence of the garden.

"What do you want to talk ab-" I begin only to be abruptly cut off as she grabs my elbow harshly,

"Was Zander with you last night?" There's a crazed panic in her eyes as she stares at me.

I feel my tongue go slack at the question and my heartbeat stop for a fraction of a second before I conceal it with a shake of my head, "What's wrong with you?"

Layla doesn't speak for a long minute. Frozen on spot, she just stares at me, silver eyes trained on my face before her grip on my elbows tighten.

I almost yelp at the shooting pain of her nails digging into my skin but hold myself back the moment I see Layla's eyes start welling up.

Her lips quiver and her voice breaks as she says, "Why do you always do this to me?"

My entire form stills at the agony on her face making my heart clench at the sight, "Ly-"

"Everytime I want something, you come along and take it away from me!" Her voice pitches higher as more tears stream down her cheek and her nails dig deeper into my skin possibly leaving half-moon marks behind.

"My parent's love. My friends. My birthright. My throne. My kingdom. My people. My deserved respect. And now you also want to take away the man I love! Because of you, I ended up with nothing!" She lets go of my hand and rubs at the tears on her cheeks but fresh droplets trickle down.

"I really want him," she sniffles, her silver eyes begging me as she takes my hands in hers, "Can't you just let me have this one thing I truly want after taking away every single thing from me?"

My eyes prick at the desperacy in her tone. It hurt me more than anything to see her so broke and begging.

I've never wanted anything bad to happen to her. I've never wanted to take anything from her. I hate it more than anything that the crown that belongs to my sister rests atop my head. I hate it more than anything that I sit on the throne that belongs to her and rule the kingdom she always wanted to.

I had no choice. It was either let mother slice that dagger over Layla's throat or I take all of the burden upon myself. And I chose her life over everything else.

I didn't want her to die. I didn't want her to leave me. I never wanted anything that belonged to her. And if it wasn't for Layla dying if I gave her the throne willingly, I'd have done it long ago.

I kept making myself believe I'm doing all of this to save my people but part of me knows....knows that somewhere along I want take any chance I can get to give Layla her deserved throne without her dying.

Layla thinks I stole her friends. But the truth was that those people she called 'friends' just approached me because I was a curiosity they ought to find out.

A curiosity.

That's what I've been half my life before I took the throne and showed those idiots their places. Only if Layla knew I did not even want those friends.

Our parents loved both of us the same. I don't why she'd think they didn't. I know what mother did might be questionable but that moment when she was dying was the only time she'd done any partiality. I didn't know why she'd done it, who she promised what, but I knew Queen Mariane did love both her daughters the same.

A tear slides down my cheek as I glance at Layla and see her shattered expression, her striken eyes.

"Layla," I look into her silver eyes, "I'd never wanted to take anything from you. You're my sister-"

"YOU'RE NOT MY SISTER!" Layla bursts out pushing me away from her.

I flinch the exact moment her eyes widen. Her lips part in shock and she covers her mouth shaking her head vehemently as tears streak down her face.

"You're not my sister. Not anymore." She whispers.

Without waiting for my reaction, she turns around and runs back into the castle leaving me all alone with an entire new coldness.

My vision blurs as I slouch down on the ground, my own tears rushing down my cheeks.

Layla hates me. She hates me to the point where she doesn't even want to acknowledge me as her sister anymore.

But Zander....

Layla loves Zander.

A lot.

I've seen it.

It's hard for a person destined to have a mate to easily fall for anyone. The feelings have to be so deep for them to actually be able to push aside the urge to find their mate and be happy with the one they love.

Layla had fallen for Zander before she found her mate. Her feelings must be so very deep.

Maybe that is exactly why she used the love spell on Zander with some witch's help so that she'd get him to return his feelings? Maybe she was afraid he'd not be able to push aside the urge like she did?

And with the love spell nullified and me as his mate now....

I'm yet again a barrier against her happiness. And I don't want to be that. Not again.

If being with Zander would make her happy then....so be it.

The decision bought a dull ache to my heart and something seemed to claw at my being telling me I was being utterly ridiculous here but I ignored it.

Wiping away a stray tear with my palm, I solidified what I had to do. Because....

Family comes first. It's always been like that.

.

.

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Layla's palm swiped against her cheeks harshly as she stormed into the castle. Her feet made three steps into the dark dull confines after pushing opening the main door when a masculine voice halted her on her steps,

"You're manipulating her," The person said, his tone slow and deliberate letting the siren take in every word.

Layla snapped her eyes to Dilin's form leaning against the wall near the entrance, his eyes shut as if in concentration.

She saw him flutter those gold eyes ever so slowly and stare straight at her with an unnerving gaze,

"You know you can't win his love without the love spell. So you want to manipulate his mate into giving up on him so that he'd have nowhere to go than come back to you, right?" A sly smirk pulls at the corner of his lips as he sees how still Layla had gone at the mention of the love spell.

Layla's eyes fought against widening and giving him any hint he was right. Her lips twisted into a snarl as she seethed, "What do you think you're spewing?"

"The truth, obviously." Dilin raises a brow as if amused when he was anything but, "Although have you wondered what if Zander is already in love with her and doesn't let her go so easily?"

He doesn't wait for her to answer, "Come to think of it. Does Marilla know she's going to die giving me the throne I'm supposed to pass to you? Does she know I'd die too if she did that?"

Layla's face lost all of it's colour at that.

Dilin tilted his head to the side and shot her a fiendish smile, "You think I wouldn't know? Out of a hundred suitors present in that room, you chose me—the one you favored the least—for your sister. For the first time, it wasn't because of jealousy. It's because you knew. You knew if Marilla and I got married, she and her supposed husband would both die because of the curse on the crown. Your mother's blood oath was never a bigger threat. You knew if it was just the oath, you could've killed Marilla and taken the throne long ago. The main problem is the crown, isn't it?"

She'd made sure all the suitors thought they'd be becoming the king of the seven seas by marrying Marilla. She'd made sure they didn't know they'd be signing a death sentence by agreeing to the match. And if Dilin actually did know about it, then why was he still here? Why didn't he run at the first chance? Although how did he even know in the first place about the oath and the crown's curse.....

It was placed years ago by the person who carved the crown whoever it was.

The curse of the crown was such that one was bound to it forever. If someone kills the bearer of the crown, they would die themself as well while doing so. Which means, if Layla killed Marilla, she'd die herself too.

Layla had found out about the curse of the crown after experiencing an excruciating pain the first time she stabbed Marilla at the age of fifteen on that on-ground sea castle. It was the reason why Layla had only acted as if she wanted to kill her sister all thos while but hadn't really done it.

Although recently after centuries of searching for a way, she'd discovered that if the crown was given willingly to someone, the one wearing the crown would die since the crown's curse won't allow the bearer to live after handing it over. It would also not allow the one it was given to wear it hence killing both of them.

But there was catch here.

When both of the giver and taker die, due to the crown being bound to the bloodline, it'll directly pass on to the next of the bloodline. And if the supposed next in line wears it, it'll not kill them. As well as it won't ever be taken away from them so easily.

Which means if Marilla gives her crown willingly to someone, not only her but even the one she's giving the crown to will die. And after they both die, the crown would automatically pass to Layla since she's the last of the bloodline.

No one knew about the curse on the crown. Not even Marilla's oldest historians. Layla had made sure it remained that way. . .

Dilin's gaze was still on hers as he dusted a non-existent flint from his shoulders before focusing back to his talking, "It was a nice tale you spun in front of Marilla about wanting to acquire the throne without risking her life, by the way. No matter how false it was. But I suppose, you'd always been good at this. At...." Dilin's lips stretched into a smile that resembled a cunning fox, "Lying."

Layla's face heated up with anger. She should've known better than to allow a researcher into her castle. She hadn't liked the man one bit from the very start. And that was one of the reason she had been too joyous thinking how he'd die by the end of it all. What a grave mistake she'd done. She should've known better.

"You know about the crown's curse, don't you? The blood oath is nothing in front of it. You were actually worried the curse of the crown might kill you if you killed Marilla yourself. But if Marilla got married, handed over the crown to her husband and becomes the cause of her own and her husband's death. Then the crown would have no choice then to accept the last of the bloodline. Which to all our demise, is you. In a twisted way, ofcourse." He muses seeming to be in his own world.

Layla took a step back stunned by the gravity of truth he knew. She hadn't told a single soul about it. How did he figure out her plans?!

She couldn't fathom from where Dilin even knew about all this within a span of two days?! She needed to throw him out of here. He knew way too much. She couldn't bare for him to know a cent of anything more than this. It was already risky as it is with the information he knew.

Dilin straightens himself of the wall as if reading her train of thoughts and deciding not to irk the siren anymore. But he couldn't stop himself from saying the next words,

"By the way, that was a good last minute save earlier. Although. . ." Fixing the non-existent creases in his clothes, Dilin approaches Layla only to whisper into her ear, "Thank you for letting me know Marilla's actually not your sister."