Everything had been clear from the very beginning.
Zarinah's enemy wasn't Alexei but the people who threatened to harm her children. If she really wanted Alexei gone, then Zarinah wouldn't have let her kids go. She could've killed them herself.
She knew her son would be a royal beta, and that too in Alexei, so why would she let him grow up and even let her brother teach him everything there was to be known about being the beta of Alexei when she was determined to sink the place?
"I agree. After all, she's like a sister to me. She also knew I would always look after her children. What could make her stay around all those years?" Camille asked her friends who were cooped up in her bed.
Funny how they were totally different breeds that had come together to decipher a woman who couldn't give two fucks about what anyone thought about her.