Horel Rivaldi was the only obstacle to her unlimited power on the continent.

That’s what she thought until she remembered the most important thing. It was like putting an object in the most visible place, and then walking past it for a very long time and not being able to find it.

So it was with the annoying Rafael de Mourey, who was like an eyesore.

Her jaw tightened as she remembered him and flashed an evil grin, clutching a tiny bottle of Raphael’s blood in her hand.

He was too careless, letting Tethys come to him, and although there was a risk that she would never leave him and would not betray him, he was the first to cut off all ties with the prophetess, declaring her unnecessary.

This played into Lillian’s hands at the right time and the most insidious plan she could ever think of matured in her head.

Now nothing could stop her from her thirst for greatness, her thirst for revenge for the wasted three hundred years that she was forced to kill people in order to somehow stay afloat using forbidden black magic.

She was still acutely worried about the death of Xana and her own mother, and her heart suffered alone, not allowing emotions to be reflected on her perfectly beautiful face.

She came up with an excuse to leave Riliya and to her happiness, or disappointment, her obedient doll Horel Rivaldi, easily let her go, proving that her power over him began to surrender its rights. This angered her even more. What could have happened to weaken her influence?

And only Hara and Eugene knew the answer to this question.

- It’s starting to drive me crazy. - Hara pleaded, rubbing her temple. – How did it even get to the point that this crazy woman decided to become immortal? I refuse to participate in this.

She categorically cut off when her gaze fell on the relaxed Eugene.

- I guess you miss your perfect disguise and quiet life. - Eugene smiled at her friend.

- Yes, the tavern was a great place. – she said, and immediately the corners of her lips crept down, remembering the last appearance of the vampire king there and Pitt’s death.

She still missed this old man, he was good company and a friend who always took care of her. But now it was in the past that needed to be let go.

- How did Ricci get involved with this unstable idiot in the first place? - She muttered under her breath, which did not reach Eugene’s ears.

- You do realize that refusing to participate in the ritual will make you a candidate for the targeted fire that Lillian will bring down on you? She won’t forgive it. - Eugene’s voice sounded businesslike.

- And you? Are you going to help her with this? I thought you cared about that girl....

- Of course I’m not going to. I haven’t finished everything yet to humbly put my head under the guillotine. The princess will need our help. - She said, looking for signs of support on Hara’s face.

- I don’t think she has anything to worry about next to an immortal. - the witch replied.

- Everyone also thought about the unshakable power and great power of wizards. And where are they now? – Eugene pointed out the obvious fact.

Both women were already at the age when they just wanted a quiet life, in solitude with someone with whom they could share their lives. But did they have the opportunity to fulfill this desire now?

It was a rhetorical question with a well-known negative answer.

They had responsibilities that could not be blamed on others.

- I got this a couple of months ago. - Eugene said, twirling the envelope between her fingers.

She opened the envelope, which depicted an ornate pattern that looked very ancient and from which emanated magical power.

- It’s an elven seal. - She hastened to add, causing Haru to raise her eyebrows in surprise.

- How did you get this? – she was amazed.

- It was just lying on my desk when I got home. There were no signs of penetration, it was just lying there, as if I personally was the one who left the envelope on the table.

- Yes, elves can surprise. Have you met them? - Hara asked, and Eugene shook her head.

- No, I’ve never seen any of them. But by experimentation, I managed to contact them using this pattern as a portal. - Eugene replied. – We kept in touch for a short time and it always concerned only to Princess Rilya. The elves are more interested than we are in her powers awakening and they are waiting for her.

- What do you mean "waiting for her"? - Hara frowned.

- The ruler of the elves has given Thea an invitation that she can use to enter the realm of the elves. I had to give it to her without telling her exactly what the inner contents of the letter meant.

- God, why these difficulties? - Hara sighed languidly.

- I couldn’t understand it at first, but every time I noticed how her powers were growing by leaps and bounds, I was convinced that she had to reveal this secret herself and it would happen only when a new facet of her abilities was revealed.

- It’s all too confusing. - Hara howled. – Why can’t your prophecies be more adapted to the simple brain of the average person? Then we would know which step to take next.

- Then Lillian would have known everything in advance. -Eugene snapped categorically. – You forget that other prophetesses are on her side and each interprets what she sees in her own way. This gives her more options for the development of the future.

- Of course, there are more of them on Lillian’s side, but you are stronger than all of them combined. And Tethys is a completely useless old woman, as for me. Maybe that’s why the elves bet on you? Maybe that’s why you were the first to meet the princess? – her friend inspired her with confidence.

Eugene chuckled at Hara’s words about Tethys. During her former youth, she was one of the best prophetesses, but over the years her strength began to exhaust itself, leaving only senile senility with an indomitable thirst for revenge for the youth left behind, blind devotion and unrequited love. She punished herself.

- So why did you come back? - Eugene finally asked her.

- I need your help. – she said, with a mysterious twinkle in her eyes. – Can you create a phantom of the late Queen Riliya?

Hara briefly told her about her meeting with the immortal, as well as about Derrick Rochester’s request. It was necessary to create a phantom of Queen Katherine in order to link him with Horel Rivaldi, breaking the false connection with Lillian and returning the magical flows of the Rivaldi family to the original right channel.

- As soon as we break the connection, Lillian will feel it. The King of Riliya will be vulnerable. - she stated.

- There’s nothing to be done. - Hara shrugged her shoulders.

She didn’t really care what happen to the king. If Rick demanded it of her, then it was necessary.

- I need any of the Queen’s things. Did you bring it? - Eugene asked and saw her friend hand her a ring in which a piece of ancestral magic was sealed, which was passed down in the royal family from generation to generation through the female line.

Having prepared everything necessary for the ritual and placed the queen’s ring in the very center of the ornament drawn on the floor, she uttered a powerful spell, passing it through the crystal cores arranged in a circle, releasing the magic hidden in the ring.

Curling in a whirlwind, a trickle of whitish smoke swirled in the air, repeating exactly the pattern on the floor, before merging into one large ball, which continued to change until a ghostly figure of a very beautiful woman with long hair and delicate facial features formed in its place.

It didn’t take a genius to guess that it was Thea’s mother whose facial features she inherited. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

The woman hung in the air, her eyes wandering around. She looked like she was alive, except for the transparency of her body. But it wasn’t a living person or even a soul. To return the soul from the other world was beyond the power of anyone but the Lord God.

It was only a formal imitation of the queen during her lifetime, in whose phantom particles the magical powers of the ring dissolved. It was a deceptive maneuver for the next step, which she had to perform by tying this entity to the magical streams of the King of Riliya himself.

With her last spell, Eugene sealed the queen’s phantom in the very core of the jewel adorning the golden ring before handing it back to Hara.

- Done. Now give it to the king as soon as possible and let him never take it off, otherwise this connection will break and I will not be able to do anything else, since the ring itself no longer has any magic. - And, Hara, be careful.

She looked at her friend with regret, thinking about their past together, which was full of joy from friendship. She didn’t want Hara to die, it would hurt her heart more than can imagine. Her kind Hara, her bright little man... she didn’t want such a fate for her, so she asked her to lay low immediately after she gave the ring to the king.