“If I am here just for you to mock with, then go to hell,” I snapped, attempting to pour fire on the floor, but it didn't appear. “Princess, the whole room is designed to repel any magic. You can’t have your little fire and burn us here.” I raised my eyebrow. “Oh really? Wow, thanks for informing me,” I said sarcastically. “Ah, how dare she talk back like that to the queen! Show some respect” A guard drew a sword on my neck. The queen raised her hand gently and stopped the guard. “No, don’t. I understand her, and I treat the princess like my own.” I rolled my eyes at that, as the other council members clapped their hands at her. “Ah, there goes our queen!! So merciful.” These ten councilors felt like lapdogs for the queen. They were so fanatic about the queen and glorifying her that it made me sick merely watching it. “You truly deserve the throne, your highness. Your beauty and grace do not compare to anyone.” “Bow to her!”’ they yelled to me. I didn’t let their commands pressure me into bowing to the queen. That bitch did not deserve even an ounce of respect from anyone here. The queen slightly raised her hands to shut them up. “Any- way, let us get to the point. What is everyone's decision?” “I say we just kill her,” one of them suggested. “No, she’s got something. She is the queen’s daughter after all. She might carry her power, and it will manifest later,” another one intervened. “But what if she uses this against us and kills us if she gets too powerful?” “I doubt that.” They suddenly got into a little argument. As I stood there, I just laughed at their ignorant faces. Seeing them panic like that about what to do just woke up something inside me. Pride. And arrogance. And so much power. My mere presence made them quiver. This just meant I stood a chance in overthrowing them, the whole kingdom even. I smirked at them. “Yes, why not kill me before I have the chance to kill you, motherf*ckers? I pity the witch realm for having such weak leaders like you. You can't even decide on a mere woman. A human of some sort.” I paused to see their reactions. They had their mouths widened now, not expecting that I would talk to them like that. This made me want to continue more so I continued, not feeling bothered that they all stood before me and I was alone. “Are you all afraid of me? Come on, if you don’t see me as a threat, why not let me out of these chains and see what I can do?” One of them stood up. “Such a disgraceful and immoral young girl! She got that from her human father!” I could hear a scoff from the far left corner. “As expected of a daughter of the traitor.” “I’ll have to cut out her tongue,” another one added. Just then, I noticed that there was one member of the witch council that had been silent for the whole duration. His shoulders suddenly started shaking, then a laugh escaped from his lips before he erupted into fits of laughter. The members stopped, looked at him, and gulped. “Ah, I like this girl, she got my attention,” his deep voice said, his mask suddenly uncovering to reveal something unexpected. “What is your name, beautiful?” he asked, and I contin- ued, watching him. A beautiful face, as if an angel tran- scended from above. I was rooted to my spot, frozen by his majestic beauty. I admit that I was struck by his beauty and felt enchanted. He had a smirk on his face, his eyes a beautiful mixture of ocean blue eyes and dark storm. I had never seen eyes as such. Everyone seemed to be afraid of him, so I instantly knew that he held tremendous power over them. Must be their leader. I shook my head. No, despite him being beautiful, I shouldn’t lose focus on my goal to irritate them. And I should not be entranced just because their leader spoke to me. “Speak, young girl, I have asked your name,” his calm voice demanded of me. “Sir! You should not show your face to—” Their leader raised his hand and did not even bother to look at the member who dared to speak. “Shh, weakling. I didn’t permit you to speak.” He then turned to the queen. “Ah, Queen Haelyn, I wonder where you got this young girl?” Queen Haelyn gave him a look. “I am warning you, she can’t be your toy. She’s carrying a child. A child that has a combination of human, witch, and werewolf blood. A Tri blood.” The leader’s eyes trailed back to me, looking at me from head to toe, and smirked again. “Really? Then that means she’s much more interesting. This excites me.”’ “Oh no, the end is coming, this is bad. Once that child is born, we will get—” The queen instantly shushed the member up by pointing her finger and a flash of dark red light came from it, striking the councilman and killing him on the spot. The others shook in their seat but said nothing else. “You imbeciles, you keep on interrupting me. This is a chance to kill the werewolves. And reign over humans. We can use her as a weapon.” “Ah, after that, send her to my room, I need to play with her,” the leader of the council said and the queen just scoffed. She stood up, clapped her hands and everyone disappeared. “I believe that is the end of the meeting. Did you enjoy yourself?” she asked. I nodded sarcastically. “Yes, I got to meet your stupid council.” She then raised her finger at me and suddenly, I was enveloped in a cell. Metal rods and strings were around me and I glared at her. “You bitch!” “You made me mad. Now rot here as a punishment,” the queen mumbled, and I chuckled bitterly. “Why not just kill me?” I said out of spite, but I did not mean it. “You can’t make me a weapon, because I would never obey someone like you.” Her eyebrows raised her eyebrows at that. “Oh then, I’ll resort to my other ways then.” She snapped her fingers and showed me a reflection. It was Lana being tortured. Her hands were held up in a chain as they kept on hitting her back. I gritted my teeth, feeling my heart ache for Lana. That was because of me. “Watch your little pet. You think she can save you?” the queen asked. “You should know that I was watching you train with your magic, Kira. I have to commend that you have been improving... but not enough to overpower me.” I dragged her into this mess. She could have just betrayed me and sided with the queen but she didn’t. I bit my lip, promising to let Lana escape soon. The queen then snapped again. “I think that’s the end for now.” “Wait bitch, what about Ace? Where the hell did you put him now?” “Oh right, I forgot. He’s now my war slave.” She then showed me a reflection of Ace. “And looks like he’s winning from all the fights.” Ace was standing over the pile of dead bodies that I was assuming he killed. His eyes looked so distant and sharp. He looked out of it. As if it was not him. He had a different aura to him. However, I felt a bit relieved seeing him alive. At least I could hope for that. For now, all that mattered was that he was alive. I’d worry about waking him up next time.