(Amaia)

The king, queen and Mintaka are present in Alnitak’s room when Alnilam and I enter.

Alnitak is lying on his bed, still unconscious.

The queen is sitting beside Alnitak’s head, grazing her fingers through his hair. Worries cloud her face. The king is sitting on a chair near Alnitak’s bed while Min is pacing the room. Saiph is missing. I don’t know where he is. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Their gazes simultaneously lift towards us.

Mintaka appears relieved to see me. King and queen, not so much. I can clearly feel a little tension. Although they refuse to say anything.

The Queen’s eyes sparkle with undetectable emotions when she takes me in. My mates have told me that she, just like her husband, doesn’t hold a very high opinion of Faes.

She also appears stressed because of Alnitak but the king holds resentment in his eyes when he stares at me. I have to harden my heart and bury every emotion while facing them.

I don’t trust either but I am not going to let it show.

"How is he?" I ask, stepping forward towards my mate.

"He is not conscious yet. Healers said it might take days. They don’t know...." Queen’s voice trails off, focusing her eyes back on her son.

Alnitak has this calmness about him, like he is sleeping instead of being unconscious. My heart aches seeing him in this condition.

I extend my hand to touch his face when King Orion’s voice comes, stern and firm.

"Don’t disturb him." I understand it’s related more to what I am than it is to Alnitak’s rest.

"How is her touching him considered a disturbance? He is unconscious and she is his mate," Alnilam counters on my behalf. He never shies away from standing up to his father.

"Oh! Alnilam, this is such a difficult time. My baby is in a coma, please don’t fight with your father." The queen gracefully stands up and approaches Alnilam with tears glistening in her eyes. She takes her son in.

"Your father told me what they did. My heart is in so much pain." She embraces him, sniffling into his chest.

Quietly, Alnilam places his arms around her. "It’s nothing. What else can we expect from Istrale?" He doesn’t tell them that I have restored his hair as I had expected.

"What happened?" Mintaka comes closer. Confusion makes his forehead crease.

"They cut his hair and locked away his magic. They also took away his status as an Enforcer. As the crown prince, this is a disgrace," his father blurts out, beyond angered.

Mintaka’s jaw tightens at the words. An annoyance flitted across his face at the truth. With deep concerns, he watches his brother. "How dare they?"

But Alnilam’s enraged eyes are focused on his father.

"The only disgrace is you still licking their boots after everything we witnessed," Alnilam retorts, making his mother gasp while King Orion opens his mouth in shock.

"Don’t speak to your father like that. I didn’t raise you like this," she reprimands, taking a step back.

"You didn’t stop him either from destroying my life or stopping him from taking all those terrible decisions against the Fae people," he rages.

The veins in his neck go taut. The bond in my chest heaves with his wrath.

"It’s because of her." King Orion angrily points towards me. "From the moment he has accepted her, all his focus, all his ideology has shifted to only Faes. We don’t exist for him anymore."

His words deeply cut through me but for the sake of my mates, I stay quiet. My speaking will add fuel to the fire when Alnilam is already taking a stand.

"That’s enough. Don’t drag Amaia into this and please act like adults. Istrale is the enemy and you keep fighting among yourselves." Mintaka comes and places his hand on my shoulder. Our saddened eyes meet.

"I am sorry you had to hear all this," he apologetically says to me. I offer him a broken smile. If it hadn’t been for Alnitak and Rigel, plus the truths I seek, I wouldn’t be here, accepting all this nonsense from their father.

"You have nothing to apologise for, Min. People need to accept me. Even if they don’t. I no longer care as long as you guys are with me."

"We are always with you." Mintaka offers my shoulders a gentle squeeze. I appreciatively nod at him.

"Amaia, we should leave," Alnilam fumes and I know he has heard enough from his father.

Stepping forward, I bend down and place a loving kiss on Alnitak’s warm forehead. "Return to us, to me," I murmur against his skin, taking in and storing away his scent.

I leave with Alnilam and their parents watch us with slight resentment.

Once the door closes behind us, Alnilam says. "That was more difficult than I had imagined."

"I agree. Let’s go find that diary and get out of here." Alnilam agrees with me but every feature of his handsome face appears stressed.

He takes me towards Queen Adrnia’s room. Quietly, we take a double-take, ensuring no one is following us. Once the corridor is empty we pass by the life-size portrait of Queen Adrnia and baby Rigel to reach the door.

A single lock of Alnilam’s hair peeps out, extends—forming a key. Entering the keyhole it turns and throws open the door for us.

His hair never fails to amaze me.

We enter the dark room. The mustiness and staleness of the place welcome us. I flick my fingers together and form a ball of fire on my palm.

Alnilam spots a candle. Bringing it closer to my palm, he lights it up, lighting up the room.

The bed is made, and the curtains hang like large shadows on the window. It is supposed to have a haunting feeling and yet I don’t feel that.

"Where could she have kept that diary? And how are we going to find it?"

The words are hardly out of Alnilam’s mouth when several locks of his hair extend toward the four-poster bed, still covered in satin sheets. It appears the king still keeps the room of his mate tidied up. I do wonder if he would change once he learns the truth that she is alive.

Maybe he already knows. I don’t trust anyone at this point.

Alnilam follows his hair with the candle. The locks drag under the bed as if searching.

"Do you think they can detect something underneath?" I quietly ask, Alnilam.

"I think so. They can pick up on residual magic. They have been trained all their life because of my role as Enforcer plus it’s also their natural ability."

And then they pull out, holding something securely in their grasp...