(Alnilam)

Saiph is gone...

My eyes bear witness to the bloodbath, but I still can’t believe it.

How did this all happen?

It has my mother written all over it. But where is she?

How did she control Amaia’s powers?

The door is half-burnt. The window is broken from the impact.

Our brother was killed and Amaia appears to have been brutally tortured.

Alnitak and Mintaka are frozen in horror.

Rigel is on his knees, crying his eyes out, calling Amaia.

I have to take charge. I have to remove her from this room first and then think about what and how everything happened.

There is something strange on her shoulders as I touch Amaia’s arm.

She turns and the sight of her has Snow screaming inside my head. He is devastated at the state of our mate and the loss of our brother.

But her words are bone-chilling. I know my mate, she is relentless when she puts her mind to something, she does everything in her power to achieve it.

She is in denial and shock at this moment. First I need to remove her from this place and collect Saiph’s body. So I agree with what Amaia has said. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

"Yes, we are. Let’s get him in a safe place." Carefully, I wrap my arm around her waist and offer my other hand to her. She is clinging to Saiph’s head.

Every last bit of energy is drained from my body seeing my brother reduced to such a state and my mate clinging on to her sanity.

I failed—to protect my mate and my brother, yet again.

"I am not letting him go. Someone will take him away from me," she hoarsely says, her voice hardly coming out because of all the bruises on her neck. She has been strangled and the rage that causes inside me is unexplainable.

"No one is going to take him away from you," I assure her, gently helping her up.

I feel Mintaka’s presence behind me.

"What are we going to do?" He asks, in a shaky voice.

"I am going to take Amaia to my room and then check what has happened. Take Saiph to your room." My words are hardly out of my mouth when Rigel’s shadows descend and entirely engulf Saiph’s body into them.

"Take Amaia away, I will take care of my brother." An extended part of the shadow requests Saiph’s head from Amaia’s hands.

Her eyes are blasted from the trauma. Tears clinging to the sides of her eyes, dried and caked with blood. She stares at the shadows and then as if trusting them, lets his head go.

I collect her into my arms. She appears so light, so broken like a helpless nestling.

While leaving this room, Amaia whispers. "Burn it to the ground."

"We will," I vow to her, storing away all my emotions for now. I need to focus on her and assess the situation.

We leave the tower and I find my father of all people rushing towards this area with sentinels in tow. His face is as pale as the snow in winter.

"What happened? There is something you need to know." His eyes land on Amaia’s bloodied body and he freezes in his steps. Mouth opening in horror.

"Is she....?" He is unable to complete the sentence.

Amaia turns her head. Anger and rage I expect but she speaks with calmness.

"Your wife killed your eldest son, Saiph. The one you had with Queen Adrnia. Your first wife switched him at birth with a dead baby and made him her slave. And you have been under her spell too all this time. That’s what happened."

Horrors reflect on his face at the realisation. He blinks like an idiot who has been made a fool all his life.

Rage engulfs my heart and I have never been this ashamed in my life to be born of this woman.

"...Saiph..." Wetness pools in his eyes.

"Where is mama?" I ask my father, trying to jolt him out of his stupor.

"She escaped. Opening a portal. I tried to kill her but I know she is alive. I am going to kill her with my hands...inflicting so much pain that she will beg me for mercy."

My father swallows at Amaia’s hate-filled words. "She must have gone to Istrale. That’s her real home."

The curse on him seems to have been broken and he is remembering things.

"Go help your sons. Rigel is alive too. Just giving you a heads up," I tell him. Emotions that my father hardly shows anymore are appearing in abundance on his face.

"Rigel?" He takes his name with such adoration.

"And your mate too. She is being kept in Istrale," Amaia hits him with one last truth before we leave him there, shaking at the truths that have been revealed to him.

He needs to step up and act as our father, the king of Orion and not the mere pawn under his wife.

Amaia hides in my chest. My hair slips out, wrapping itself around her, not caring anymore who is watching.

I carry Amaia to my room. The strange shadowy glistening object on her shoulders doesn’t move. It remains clinging to her, making me wonder what it is.

The palace seems quieter, and yet a positive energy seems to be in the corridors.

Quietly I take her to my room and place her on my bed. Lowering myself on the floor in front of her, I hold her bloodied wounded face.

"Amaia, what happened today?" I wipe away the leaking tears. My hair gently crawls around her wounded neck and arms. The shadowy object lifts off her shoulders and hovers over her, emitting this white light. It pulls me towards it.

"....I couldn’t save him, I thought I had removed the curse but I hadn’t. She tried to make him kill me...." Amaia breaks down, her hands holding her face.

Breaths come out as wheezing. Her shivers and trembles I feel through my hair. My own tears fall although I try to be strong for her.

Saiph had taken the oath on his weapon so it was pretty evident that his weapon would always protect her. He killed himself instead of hurting her. Even under the curse, my brother didn’t hurt her.

He died honouring his oath. He died a hero like he always was.