After a difficult night in his native walls, the morning calm was bliss and even the company of his stepsister did not spoil the situation at all. I played along with her on any occasion, it was absolutely not difficult, and she was too open to tell me all the things that should usually be kept silent. That’s how I found out that it’s not easy times in the kingdom, as well as inside the royal family.

I kept adding fuel to the fire and occasionally accidentally touched Xana, making her blush and embarrassed. She was so busy thinking about male attention that she didn’t follow what she was saying at all. From her words, I learned that the Rivaldi family began to lose magic, it was getting out of control and the forces became weaker than before. The king silenced the rumors as best he could, but if one person knows, the whole village knows, and therefore the rumors spread outside the palace anyway.

All the enemies and enemies of the current royal family immediately revived. Many aristocratic families supported the resistance side. Everyone had their own views on the ruling power, everyone wanted to pinch off their piece of privileges. In general, there were many interested, but there were no less those who supported my father. Especially witches. I always suspected that this connection was strong because of Queen Lillian, and now I am even more convinced of this.

During the reign of my mother, Queen Catherine, only magicians held power in their hands, witches were forbidden to enter the palace because of their dark magic rituals. They were feared, shunned and despised. But that was before, now everything has changed dramatically.

- Do you understand my feelings now, milord? - Xana said desperately.

Her whole monologue boiled down to the fact that she was so unhappy within these walls that she would be happy to get married and live a quiet life away. But I dare say that she feared for her life, if we are talking about a coup d’etat, so she wanted to escape from here. I understand her perfectly, I also, like her, desperately wanted to live. It wasn’t for me to judge her.

- I’ll try to help in any way I can, my lady. Perhaps our kingdoms will be able to unite to extinguish this rebellious wave. I will have to report this to my king. - at these words, she looked around in fright and put her index finger to my lips.

- No, I beg you, don’t do that. My father will punish me if he finds out that I blabbed everything. - She lowered her head dejectedly, fiddling with a napkin in her hands.

- But then how can I help? After all, it primarily depends on the will of my ruler. You must trust me, the king will not know that you have told me anything, and I promise that your life will be safe with me. – I was trying to be more convincing.

She was still in doubt and nervous. It was evident from the way she rubbed and wrung her fingers. I didn’t feel any pity for her, but I needed to get information out of her, no matter how mean it looked. It’s for my people.

I remembered the trick Raphael had used on me, and I lifted her chin, forcing her to stare into my eyes. We were standing too close to each other, and I could hear her holding her breath, swallowing nervously. Slowly bending down, I almost touched her ear with my lips and whispered.

- I will be more than happy to take care of your safety personally. And for this I am ready to take you as a wife, but you must not hide anything from me. Now this is our common problem, which we must deal with for the sake of our future. Although we don’t know each other at all, I am very fascinated by you, Lady Xana. – and I finished my monologue with a light kiss on the cheek.

Goosebumps ran down my back, from showing feelings for a woman, albeit feigned. Still, I did not imagine such a relationship, and they were alien and unacceptable to me, and therefore even such a simple innocent kiss caused me inner rejection. This was not the case with Raphael. With him, my body refused to obey me, melting in his hands like brittle ice. Well, I remembered him again.

- OK. I believe you.

- Is there anything else I need to know? Something that might be important? - I asked, watching my sister nervously biting her lips.

- You heard the conversation at dinner last night about my missing sister, didn’t you?.. The magic began to fade after her disappearance.

It was a very loud and unexpected statement. I couldn’t figure out how I could be involved in this, it’s absolutely ridiculous.

- I do not know all the details, but my father and Terrence are frantically trying to find her. At the same time, it seems that each of them pursues their own goals. And what’s wrong with her? She was always the most ordinary. A worthless, pathetic fool, unworthy of being a princess. - she didn ’t mince words. Her words were laced with caustic venom, causing a wave of dislike and anger in me, but I suppressed these feelings.

- I suppose it is.- I said, smiling. – Then we will carefully study this information and try to find some clues.

- If you find her... Maybe... - she looked more determined now than she had a moment ago. – Kill her. This will solve all the problems.

I clenched my jaw hard, feeling the pressure that could crush my teeth. No matter how difficult our relationship with my sisters was, I did not expect that she would be so cruel as to wish me dead. But I didn’t even do anything to her, it wasn’t me who entered someone else’s family and destroyed it, it wasn’t me who humiliated and insulted her, framed her in front of her father and other people. So what did I do to deserve such an attitude towards myself?

- We’ll do whatever it takes, don’t worry. - Ignoring my disgust, I stroked her cheek and hurried to say goodbye.

Now I had to urgently meet with Raphael or his spies. By the way, where are they and how do I find them? Raphael ordered me to stay close, and he does everything to distance himself from me. What is the logic? Or is this some kind of test?

Thinking over every word Xana said, I could not find a single thread, not a single clue that would connect me and the situation with the disappearance of magic. Unless, of course, you count those words of my late mother about the miracle that happened when I was still in the womb. But even so, it was only a tiny burst of something miraculous and for eighteen years I did not show any magical activity. Not once.

While I was walking to the castle, the idea occurred to me to visit my former room, maybe. I do not know what I wanted to find there, rather, just for the sake of inner comfort and tranquility, I needed to stay there and think. But as usual in my life, nothing went smoothly and the door to the room was sealed.

I strained all my convolutions in my brain and thought where should I go now. Since I was left alone, I could try to look for an artifact, but this stupid king didn’t even explain to me where to start and how to identify it. It’s just a vicious circle of some kind.

The sound of girlish laughter, growing with each step, brought me out of my reverie. Madeleine’s squeaky squeaky voice is unmistakable. I hid behind a column and crouched down, blocking myself with a sprawling shrub in a pot. Of course, it wasn’t very good to eavesdrop, but I wasn’t going to catch the eye of this sweet couple either. So the choice was obvious, I will not apologize.

But no matter how hard I strained my ears, I couldn’t make out the words clearly, they were still not close enough for me to understand what they were talking about. But my sight was with me, and I squinted my eyes and wrinkled my nose from annoyance, jealousy and disgust. What nasty lovebirds. Сan’t say otherwise. It’s disgusting to look at. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

I turned away and just waited for them to pass by. I waited. And waited again. And then someone’s strong warm hand tightly clamped my mouth and hot lips touched my ear, biting the cartilage.

- I will punish you. - Raphael’s voice echoed in my ear in a sensual whisper.

I tore his hands away from my mouth and fell forward on my knees, turning my head back.

- Are you crazy? Why did you bite me? I didn’t know you liked men. I whispered softly with indignation so that no one would hear us.

The answer to my question was his hand on my chest, squeezing tightly until it dawned on me that I still have breasts. I looked down and really... the breasts are in place and the arms have become more feminine. Raphael was grinning cheekily at my bewildered expression.

Did he give me back my appearance?