(Amaia)

Dinner passes smoothly without any crossing of words. King Orion remains quiet but he doesn’t berate me or Saiph further. I am not sure I could have taken any more insults.

Saiph doesn’t join us for dinner. He excuses himself, stating he has an errand to run.

"We are thrilled that Guild Leo has been chosen to represent Orion in Istrale," the queen says while dipping her spoon into strawberry sorbet.

"Victory will be ours and we will show them they messed with the wrong people," Alnitak fumes from my side.

The emotions are running high because of Jamina’s passing.

"Don’t let your emotions control you. Think wisely, make a strategy according to the situation before diving into it," King Orion shares his wisdom with us.

"Candidates from Istrale will have full support of the Dread Army. They will have home advantage and they never shy away from cheating," Alnilam says with controlled rage.

My eyes find him and there is so much resentment and hatred he carries for them.

The discussion continues with everyone pitching in their say.

"Good luck and may you return victorious," Queen Esmelda gives her blessing.

After the dinner, the five of us are excused. Alnilam wants to have a private conversation with his parents.

"Let’s show Amaia the palace. We couldn’t last time because of the attack," Mintaka suggests and everyone agrees.

"Yes, let’s show her the playroom where we used to play during our childhood," Rahria says and Alnitak takes my arm. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

"Let’s do it."

We move through various corridors, decorated with expensive decor and paintings, until we arrive outside a closed yellow door with a toy wind chime hanging outside.

"Our playroom," Rahria rubs her hands together in excitement and rushes to open the door.

"Come," Alnitak pats my hand and leads me forward.

We enter the room, one after the other and I seem to have stepped inside a nursery. The overhead chandelier brightens the place.

Shelves and shelves of wooden toys, dolls, stuffed animals, blocks and games line the walls. The place is carpeted with one wall made of glass to filter in that natural light.

The spare wall has different toy guns and wooden swords hanging from it.

"Wow, is this where you guys used to play? Seems like a haven for kids," I comment, stepping forward and picking up a blue and white stuffed dolphin.

"Yes, it used to be our favourite place," Kacir answers and points towards the dolphin in my hand. "That used to be my favourite."

I wave it towards him. "You have great taste."

He broadly smiles at me before getting busy observing the other toys.

"Remember this." Mintaka picks up a wooden toy car, painted red and shows it to Kacir. "We used to fight over this."

Kacir laughs. "Yeah! All three of us loved this car."

Alnitak has removed the two swords from the wall and tosses one towards Rahria, both of them begin to spar.

"Whoosh! Whoosh!" They make sounds while swords clank.

I smile at the four of them. So much shared history and beautiful memories they share. Some days I feel extremely lucky to be part of them, just like today.

I hold the stuffed dolphin to my chest and watch them from near the window. The dolphin reminds of Mr Tumbles and I can’t wait to get back and hold him more before we have to leave for Istrale.

"Here, we don’t know where it came from but we all loved playing with it." Mintaka brings me a carved wooden black rose. It’s heavy, has no stem and fits into my palm. Instantly, it reminds me of the rose Rigel has given me.

"It’s beautiful, carved with such perfection."

"Yes, I knew you would like it," he softly says. His knuckles brush against my cheek. "Keep it."

"I can’t." I don’t want to take away anything from here, everything holds precious memories for them.

"It’s alright. I want you to." Mintaka smiles, easing my fears and wraps my fingers around it.

We linger in this magical room for a while before exiting. Alnitak safely shuts the door behind us. We cross through a few other corridors until we reach a deserted and dark corridor.

Only one torch burns there and I can see a closed door at the end, which is painted black.

"What’s that?" I question, halting. Something makes me stop, something I can’t explain like an intuition.

Alnitak is right beside me. He stiffens.

"We have been forbidden from going there. Father holds that place sacred."

I turn to watch him curiously and everyone around us pauses.

"Sacred? Why?"

Alnitak shares an awkward glance with his twin before continuing.

"It belonged to his true mate. After her and our half-brother’s passing, he forbade anyone from going to her chamber."

My eyes widen in shock.

Half-brother? That meant they had a step-mother.

"You had a step-mother?" I ask, confused.

Alnitak solemnly nods.

"Yeah! Our mother is not our father’s soul mate but a chosen mate. They stayed married for many many years but couldn’t have children. Our mother loves children. Then one day at a festival, our father met his soulmate. Out of respect for our mother, he wanted to reject her. But..."

Alnitak pauses and I hold my breath.

"Our mama didn’t let him. She believed he could have children with his soulmate only. That’s why they couldn’t have kids. On her insistence, our father accepted his soulmate, marked her and made her his second wife."

Alnitak halts and Mintaka picks up the story from there. I turn to watch my other mate with an agitated heart and my mouth almost hanging open.

"It’s a well-known story in Orion but out of respect for the royal family, no one talks about it. Right after mating, our stepmother had a son. He was two years older than Alnilam. Here." Mintaka points towards a portrait hidden in the shadows. Alnitak brings a torch and illuminates the life-like portrait on the wall.

Mesmerised, I watch the woman in the painting. Luscious midnight black curly hair rests elegantly on her shoulders. Piercing but intelligent sea-blue eyes stare back at me. She holds a smile, a smile very similar to someone else. A necklace rests on her chest, which is very similar to one Mintaka wears.

In her lap is a boy not older than 2-3 years old. Black hair, same blue eyes, she possesses—exact sharp features as she has.

I can’t help but stare at him.

"What’s his name?" Words are out of my mouth before I can stop them.

"Rigel Orion," Alnitak quietly answers and the ground slips from under my feet.