(Amaia)

Larissa lets me go with tons of instructions and vials of the juice she has made me drink.

Kacir has come to fetch me so she hands all of them to him.

"She needs to drink one daily. Ensure she does it along with lots of fluids."

"Don’t worry. I will make sure she drinks it daily." Like a gentleman, Kacir takes me to our room.

"Rest," he instructs, putting away all the vials on my side table.

"Yes, Sir!"

I change my clothes, freshen up and slip under the blanket.

"Heading out for my chess match. I will come back soon," Kacir informs me. I raise my thumb at him.

"Good luck!"

Once the door closes behind him, I grab the book Alnilam has left me from my drawer, and begin to read.

Zille zooms inside from the window and lands straight on my lap, letting out a happy chatter. He rubs his head with me and I pat his soft feathers.

"Have you eaten?" I tenderly ask and he lets out another croaking sound and settles in my lap. His feathers fluff and his eyes close. He feels at home with me.

My hand keeps patting him while I read. Complex instructions and hand gestures fill this book, used by Faes throughout history.

There is an excited knock on the door.

"Come in," I call out.

Opening the door, Alnitak enters with his goofy grin while carrying two plates of food.

The smell of food mingles with his, creating this delicious amalgamation.

"Hey! Larissa told me she let you go so I brought us food."

Quickly I close the book and return it to the drawer. "You are a lifesaver."

Alnitak extends my plate towards me and sits near my legs with his own.

Prawn rice with gravy and boiled veggies.

Absolutely yum combination. My mouth salivates as I fill up my spoon and pick up a few peas from it. Putting them on my palm, I extend them towards Zille.

He opens one eye and quickly pecks on the pea.

Alnitak’s eyes land on Zille and he chuckles. "Strange, your guardian bird didn’t attack me today. I swear, he is out for my blood whenever he sees me."

"Don’t tempt him," I warn with a snort while Zille lets out an angry grunt making both of us laugh.

Alnitak stuffs his mouth with rice and chews loudly.

"Remind me again how you are royalty and still eat like a savage?" I ask. Although inside I am happy that he eats like me.

"Oh, believe me it’s just here that we can be this wild. If my parents see me eating like this, they will disown me." He flashes his perfectly white teeth at me.

"I can imagine the disappointment on their faces. They will be like," I change my voice for the last words. "We didn’t raise this monster." I wink at him, making him laugh with his mouth still full of rice.

"You will see the day after tomorrow." That does fill me with dread. Meeting the parents of my mates is going to be challenging and I need to make a good impression.

"Looking forward to it." I offer a few grains of rice to Zille and resume my eating.

"So are you feeling better?" Alnitak’s eyes dip to my neck and stay. I can sense this surging jealousy from him every time he is reminded of Rigel. For now, he doesn’t know that the bracelet I wear on my wrist belongs to him, too.

"Yes, much better."

He places the spoon back on the plate and his goofy smile disappears.

"How is this going to work, Amaia? If you turn out to be my mate. I won’t be able to share you with him."

His heightened jealousy completely jams the bond between us.

"I don’t know Ali. This all is very new for me too," I truthfully say, circling my food with the spoon.

"We will figure this out soon. But keep this in mind, if he ever tried to hurt you, I will fucking kill him," he says in such seriousness that his eyes flash all shades of blue, purple and black.

Every part of him is on a mission to just fight it out with Rigel. I know it’s not going to be far when they are going to be at each other’s throats.

But my heart hurts at the thought of either of them hurting the other.

"He won’t hurt me, and no one is killing anyone else," I say quietly but firmly, and Alnitak opens his mouth to say something else.

"Can we not talk about this? Please." Hearing my saddened voice, Zille turns towards Alnitak and begins to screech loudly.

Alnitak sighs, letting his huge shoulders drop. His eyes return to normal.

"Okay, okay!" He tries to silence him with his hand gestures. Zille hops towards Alnitak’s plate and grabs an asparagus stick from it and flies away. He lands in his wooden house and hides inside.

"Thief, thief," he accuses but Zille gives him another horrifying shriek and remains hidden.

I shake my head. "Both of you are such babies."

We eat in silence for a while when I am reminded of Mintaka. Since he opened up to me about his past, I know it’s safe to speak to Alnitak about it.

"Umm...Min told me something..." I awkwardly begin and Alnitak instantly halts his eating.

"...Ohh!"

I lower my head. "I didn’t know Kayla was his mate."

Alnitak sighs, painfully. The agony crawls into his gorgeous eyes as the features of his face harden.

"Yeah, the pain of her death almost took him too. I am his twin, but at times, I don’t even know what to do when he breaks down." Alnitak stares at the floor but I know he is looking at nothing in particular.

I reach out and place my hand on his arm, squeezing gently.

"I am sure you did your best. You are an amazing brother, but I want us to spend time with him, too. Involve him in our chats, so he won’t feel left out. What I gathered from his conversation was, he feels alone. Let’s not let him drown."

Alnitak’s head turns towards me and he offers me a big smile which reminds me of a teddy bear.

"Oh! Amaia, you are always so thoughtful. That’s why, tonight I am going to eat you like my favourite candy. Get ready. Erebus has been asking about you."

Now that’s not the path I had imagined this conversation to take.

But then the blinding pain of betrayal starts in my belly and this time, it’s not Alnilam.