- I don’t recall a vampire fainting from exhaustion. Don’t exaggerate. - Amanda spat out irritably. - But you know, if you’re so eager to help, why don’t you do my duties on top of your own?

Her face was distorted by a malicious smile, accentuated by sparkling eyes.

Dexter brushed his hair back, allowing Amanda to escape from his grip.

- Raphael sent Skars. – he interrupted her angry tirade. - He’s on his way to Riliya. Princess Thea is with him.

Throwing her resentment at the boring duke, Amanda perked up at this news. Did that mean they were back together? Although Amanda had no doubt that her brother would not let Thea go so easily. It was not his style, especially since he looked carelessly in love and killed by parting with her.

But why exactly Riliya? Wasn’t that where Thea fled from? She wondered what his move might mean.

-Did he say anything else?- she asked.

- No, he just said that his return is postponed for some indefinite period, as they are planning to visit Eriad.

- You must be joking now? - Amazement colored her face. – No one even knows where Eriad is now. How is he going to get there? It sounds ridiculous.

She almost laughed at the difficulty of realizing this thought.

- You can write him a reply letter to clarify this. – he handed Raphael’s letter to Amanda. – I didn’t do it, thinking that you must not be tired enough to have a desire to rest.

He smiled maliciously, making her boil with renewed vigor, sending curses in his direction. And how could she even think for a moment that he was really worried about her? This cretin is just getting on her nerves.

- Are you thinking of writing to him about the witches’ attacks on the territory of Abion? – he asked, and the vampire immediately measured him with a gaze.

Some time ago, they began to receive signals that witches were scouting the territories of Abion, which were now open and accessible after Raphael removed the illusory barrier protecting the kingdom.

And although the castle itself was protected from all sides by a carnivorous maze, this did not prevent the persistent witches from exploring the outskirts of the kingdom. Some were caught, but they were under a spell of silence and could not be useful, so they were locked up in prison until the trial.

The trial was only a nominal measure, since the fate of the witches was still predetermined – if not death, then lifetime imprisonment.

But Amanda wasn’t going to bother Raphael with this news. He would have rushed to Abion in the blink of an eye to protect her and his people, but she gave him her word that she would take care of their home and she could not let down his expectations. Not to mention distracting him from his business, which was probably more important than anything else that was going on here.

Even in itself, the realization that a vampire could not cope with a witch was humiliating and insulting. That is why she was in no hurry to tell her brother about it, while she was still able to cope with minor attacks by persistent witches.

- No, it is not necessary for Raphael to know about this, since this is not a significant problem that we would not be able to cope with ourselves. - She cut him off sharply. - Let me know when Count Milos returns.

She finished her errand and walked away, leaving Dexter in a reverie.

Although Amanda braved with all her might that she had everything under control, he knew that this was not the case.

Dexter and Nils had already repeatedly engaged in a battle with witches in the border territories of Abion and he could notice that the witches had become stronger and more assertive, but more than that, he felt as if it was a distraction along with a test of their strength. He had a bad feeling that the witches were up to something. And all this was happening at the moment when Raphael removed the barrier.

He reproached Amanda for the careless desire to feel her former freedom again, without the restrictions of her brother, but this put her in a dangerous position.

She worked day and night, sometimes forgetting about food and sleep, trying to control all spheres of life of the kingdom and this led her to exhaustion. He couldn’t help but worry seeing how she was pushing herself to the extreme by not accepting his help. That is why he occasionally made her nervous and hurt her with caustic phrases, hoping that nervous overstrain would force her to protect herself from him, close herself in a room and rest.

But Amanda was a tougher nut to crack and repelled all his attacks as confidently as she accepted them from him. His attempts failed every time.

And now, when Milos and the army again went to suppress minor invasions of witches, he should have been the one who would be there to protect the kingdom, but instead he is forced to protect the harmful princess, who is too touchy to ever talk to him in a normal tone.

He sighed heavily before casting a glance at the gloomy marble walls of the tomb of Artemis.

His thoughts returned to the fact that Raphael was going to Eriad. Was this the first bell that something was starting to happen around?

Amanda was sitting in her office, which had once been Raphael’s office, but now there were dramatically more feminine things, decor and flowers. She wrote her answer to her brother and crossed out what she had written many times, correcting and throwing the paper into the trash. Her thoughts refused to gather into something logically complete so that she could reflect it on paper.

Of course, she was worried about the situation at the border and she tried not to show her feelings in front of Dexter, but left alone with herself, Amanda dropped her head on the table in despair, resting her forehead on it.

In fact, it was already getting out of her control. Milos returned from the last watch with two losses. Of course, by the standards of military battles, this was negligible, but there were only six witches. How did it happen that they were superior in their skills to vampires?

She took every death personally and it burned her heart with a burning pain, despite the fact that every soldier knew his job and its risks.

But was this a sufficient reason to pull Raphael out of his affairs?

She crossed out the written text again, sending the paper to the trash can before taking a new sheet and omitting the details of these disturbing attacks.

Her letter contained only concern for his health, as well as for the health of the princess. She expressed her joy for their reunion and hastened to notify that she was looking forward to meeting both of them again. Without asking any special questions about Eriade and the elves, she wished them luck in their intentions.

There was no need to ask him anything, because Raphael was too callous to exchange correspondence and, as a rule, his letters always had a business nature or a particularly important context.

After sealing the letter, she put a sealing wax seal and called the maid to give the letter to Dexter for later sending to her brother.

Later that day, Milos found her on the courtyard of the palace, sitting surrounded by gardenias and sipping tea in a measured manner, surrounded by her new ladies-in-waiting.

At the sight of him, disheveled, she silently waved to the ladies-in-waiting to leave them alone and stood up to greet the general.

Nils bent down on one knee in front of the princess, but did not accept her outstretched hand to imprint a kiss on her.

- Excuse me, Your Highness, my hands are covered in blood and I dare not stain your perfectly clean skin.- He hurried to say, noticing the insult on Amanda’s face. - I came here as soon as I received the order from the Duke of Parmont.

He looked apologetic for his appearance, but Amanda didn’t care at all. What else could a military general who had just returned from battle look like?

- You can get up. – she said and invited him to sit next to her on a chair, independently pouring tea for him. – Tell me, what’s the news at the border? If anything, what should cause our concerns?

She could see Nils’s adam’s apple rising and falling sharply as he swallowed. His furrowed brows did not want to disperse in any way to relax his face and her heart instantly skipped a beat from the realization that this time again it was not without victims.

- How many this time? - she asked immediately.

- Eleven, Your Highness. - Amanda gasped, covering her mouth with her hand in horror. – Unfortunately, I have nothing to reassure you with, because every time there are more of them.

- I don’t understand, Nils. - she screamed, almost on the verge of a nervous breakdown. - We’ve never had a problem with witches. Vampires outnumber them in strength and speed, so what went wrong? Where do we make a mistake?

The count did not even touch his cup of tea, only watching the curling thin stream of steam.

- They have become stronger by using black magic. The count rapped out.

- Since when? - she was indignant. - Even among witches, the use of black magic has always been condemned. Maybe you confused them with manush?

But the count shook his head in the affirmative, making Amanda even more upset than before.

- This is something completely different. Their spells penetrate our people, forcing their to obey and acting against their own. That is why we suffer such losses. It’s easier to deal with a witch, but it’s more difficult to deal with an equal vampire.