- Your Highness, what are you doing here? - Dexter froze, stunned, noticing Amanda, who was standing there as if she had seen a ghost.

He was helping her walk when he smelled blood from the maze and before leaving to deal with the attempted invasion, he ordered the servants to take Amanda to her room.

But what did he see now? As always, she resisted his words and now this unidentified woman was a couple of meters away from Amanda.

Fuck.

Frightened, he rushed to her to cover her with his back in case of danger, but her next words made him stop halfway.

- Artemis? - Amanda whispered uncertainly, with disbelief and doubt in her voice.

Her eyes were wide open like small saucers, and her soft lips were parted and soft nervous sighs barely filtered through them.

- How is this possible? - It was like she was talking to herself.

- Amanda, don’t go near her. - Dexter ordered in a raised tone. - Don’t make me do something I might regret later.

As soon as he heard the name that escaped her lips, he immediately hardened, realizing that something was wrong here. Artemis, the only one he knew by that name, had been dead for a very long time, according to Raphael, and the fact that this woman called herself Thea further confused her testimony.

- This witch is not what she seems. Haven’t you figured out their whole essence yet? Isn’t it enough for you what they did to you?

Amanda, as if completely not listening to him, tried to take a step towards Artemis, hobbling on crutches, but Dexter immediately blocked her path.

- Dex. – She was scared. – This is Temi, our Temi.

She spoke in a squeaky voice, as if the pitch of her voice might convince him to back off.

- The one you knew is dead, and this woman claims to be Princess Thea, - his words thundered in Amanda’s ears, calming her distracted enthusiasm and alerting her to stop. – The guards.

The guards who arrived at the scene deftly picked up the girl’s weakened body, twisting her arms behind her back, but immediately with a loud rattle of armor they were thrown aside by an invisible force.

Artemis straightened up, grunting and swaying, experiencing severe pain in her bleeding wounds. She looked at Amanda with tear-blurred eyes. Couldn’t she believe her, too? An unpleasant feeling grated in her chest, as if scratched by cat claws.

Amanda was still very young, a child, when Artemis saw her for the last time, being in her own body. She raised her as her own sister, loved her and cherished her. But now she sees fear, suspicion and doubt in her eyes. How could she prove her identity to her? 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

She had a choice to free Thea’s mind, but then she herself would plunge back into the abyss of impenetrable darkness, discarding all her plans and ambitions. But even in this case, the chance that Amanda would believe it was negligible.

She really had a witch’s curse and their wariness was understandable to her, except that there was also another witch and a bunch of werewolves in her company. She would have to try to get them to listen to her.

However, she could breathe a sigh of relief knowing that she was already far from the fetters of the carnivorous herbaceous creature.

And yet the relief was not long, because the vampires surrounded her from all sides, expressing an extreme degree of bloodlust and exuding mortal danger.

On Dexter’s orders, the guards rushed to Artemis again, and this time Dexter himself twisted her arms, being faster than the others, while the guards put magic-blocking bracelets on her hands.

Everything happened so fast that Artemis did not have time to react properly before the steel shackles snapped on her hands. It was a defeat. Shameful and humiliating. She had no choice but to grin at herself.

With a strong blow to the back, she leaned forward again, falling to her bloody knees. She squinted a menacing evil look at the guard, who did not try at all to calculate his strength in relation to the fragile girl.

Her gaze slid sideways like butter and fell on Amanda, on the white knuckles of her hands clenched on crutches, and then on the bandaged leg, or rather the part that remained instead of her. And although Amanda tried to cover this part with a cloth, but this view did not escape attention, making Artemis tense up.

- Mendy. – Gasping, she whispered, painfully squeezing her own heart. – God, what happened?

She shook her head frantically, dismissing the thought that was trying to synchronize with the picture in front of her eyes.

- Mendy. - She raised her voice, almost shouting, to get the attention of the princess, who was as stunned as Artemis herself.

But it was followed by a blow and a sharp blurring of consciousness, as if in slow motion, echoing with tingling at the fingertips and muffled echoes in the ears.

- Why did you do that? - Amanda lashed out at Dexter, berating him, her anger spiraling out of control.

- Throw her in the dungeon. - He ordered the guards sternly, ignoring Amanda’s outburst. – There are still unwanted guests behind the wall, accept them with all honors and send them after the witch. And limit the magic around, we don’t know what kind of stupid joke they can still pull. Everyone should be extremely careful not to engage in verbal contact with enemies.

Mrs. Rose, who had arrived by that time, hurried Amanda away, trying to reduce the degree of her hysteria and screams as she went.

Despite the fact that it was very difficult for her to walk, she did not give up trying to wave her arms and resent, trying to break free to follow the guards into the dungeon. She had to see this girl again, who had planted the seed of doubt in her mind.

Dexter gave the last instructions before disappearing in the blink of an eye after the guards and the mysterious prisoner.