The sun was just about setting and I walked the whole castle in search of Eri.
I had made up my mind to pay Nadia a quick visit and though she and Eri aren't blood sisters, I thought she might want to see her again.
A maid passed me and I stopped her.
"excuse me, have you seen Eri anywhere? I can't find her anywhere"
"she and Prince Rayhan are enjoying a stroll around the castle miss"
"thank you" I smiled and walked outside immediately.
Eri had never liked a guy before and even if she did, she would have told me first.
Maybe I was over reacting and they were just friends.
I noticed two figures walking in a distance and ran after them.
"Eri! I need to talk to you!" I yelled and they stopped and turned around.
"Lyra? Is something the matter?" concern was all over her face.
"can we talk? In private?" judging by the look on Rayhan's face he wasn't too happy about me interrupting their walk and she looked the same for a split second.
"I'll catch up with you later" she smiled as he walked off a bit angry.
"what's the matter?" her attention was back on me.
"I spoke to my mother and she said we should pay Nadia a visit"
The look of horror was on her face within seconds.
She had the worst time in the castle and I understood why she was reluctant to go back.
After all, she did have the worst experience than anyone of us did.
"I know how you feel but please I don't want to go alone! Please, Nadia would want to see yo as well and if anything happens, we can leave as soon as possible"
Eri pondered over my offer for a while before agreeing.
"so when do we leave?" she asked, sounding a bit excited.
I closed my eyes and imagined the slave quarters and brought forth a gate.
"right now" I smiled at her but she still had doubts about the whole mission.
"don't worry everything will be fine" taking her hands in mine, we exchanged glances at each other and walked through the gate.
And in the twinkle of an eye, we were back to the vampire's castle but Nadia wasn't there to begin with.
"where could she be?" Eri whispered.
"by this time of day she should be serving the prince; let's go" I had no idea how the princes' room looked like but I got to the hallway in front of his room in seconds.
We stood in front of his door with our hearts pounding like no tomorrow.
"are you ready?" I inched closer about opening it.
After taking a breath, she slowly nodded and I opened the doors.
To my surprise, Nadia was alone and sitting on his bed while Prince Alex was nowhere in sight.
"Lyra? Eri? Is that really you?" she stood up and looked at us with awe.
"it's nice to see you again Nadia" I smiled as she rushed to hug both of us with tears in her eyes.
"I've missed you both so much" she sobbed.
"we've missed you too"
"how have you been? What of The Lost City? A-and your clothes; you look-"
"different? Yeah we feel different too" I laughed a little embarrassed by the fact that we had gotten used to their over revealing clothes and our hair down and wild.
"what's with the necklaces and where's Sam? How did you get back here without getting captured?" her questions were making my head spin.
"it's a really long story" Eri rubbed the back of her neck.
"tell me everything! I want to know"
After explaining everything for 5 minutes, Nadia felt silent.
"wow!" she said speechless about everything.
"I never even knew witches existed or that Eri was a very powerful witch or about you being the priestesses' daughter, Lyra. I'm sure it was hard for you to take in" her voice was small.
"well I had to accept it one way or another"
"and the jewel on your neck is the long lost missing crystal?" her eyes were a bit round.
"yeah but enough about us; how have you been?" Eri quickly changed the topic.
"I…well-"
Just then, Prince Alex walked in and was shocked to find two of us in his room.
I was just about to open a gate when Nadia stopped me.
"please don't go and don't be scared" she held my arm in protest.
"b-but the prince-"
"Alex isn't like the king or his twin. He didn't bother me or stress me before we escaped and even now"
"Nadia my love, are you alright?"
With what he said, I let the gate vanish and me and Eri looked at them with utter confusion.
"my love?" I said the words like they were foreign to me because they were.
"Prince Alex and I are in love with each other. It's what I wanted to tell you before we got separated that faithful day. I hope this doesn't change the way you feel about me" she put her head down as the prince placed both hands on her shoulder.
"is everything alright?" he looked at her with adoration and love.
Though no man had ever looked at me like that, I could see that he cares dearly for her.
He looked at her like he would do anything for her; including dying for her.
Nadia was in good hands.
"we can never reject you Nadia no matter how what you do" Eri moved into hug her.
Guess she saw the love too.
"take good care of her your highness"
"please call me Alex" he brought his hand and I shook it only for him to pull me into a hug.
I was stiff at first but eventually relaxed and hugged him back.
"it feels like a rock had been removed from my chest and I feel free now" Nadia sighed and laughed.
"well we're glad you told us, though I don't think we could have understood before like we do now" Eri added hugging Alex as well.
Something in me wanted to ask about the king but decided against it.
Why should I ask after someone who has brought me pain and misery?
"so how about you guys? Have you found anyone interesting?" she asked with a grin on her mouth and Alex took her small hand in his.
"nope no one at all" I spoke for myself but I wasn't too sure about Eri though.
"well we'd better get going; we'll visit you soon" Eri smiled and opened a gate.
They were so shocked seeing it and I chuckled.
"amazing" Nadia commented looking at it with awe.
"see you soon" Alex waved and I waved back before entering and the gate closing behind us.
We were at the entrance of the castle as it was a little dark.
"let's head inside and get ready for dinner; we wouldn't want them to worry about us" Eri walked ahead of me.
"and Lyra?" she turned, getting my attention.
"thanks; I really needed that" she smiled and I couldn't help but do the same.
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