She lowered her voice. "Now that you already know my intentions, give me Anastasia. Send her back to Vilinski. Give the faes what they want. She belongs to them and not you. I will leave with her quietly." She smirked and lifted her chin. "There would be no bloodshed." 

"And if I don't give you back the woman who belongs to me?" 

"Then I will throw another deal for you." She raised her voice. "The faes are willing to give Iona back to you, to Draoidh. The beloved princess of the wizard kingdom will return. Just give Anastasia to them." 

Ileus' jaw clenched as fury surged through his body. He knew what she was doing. When he didn't say anything, Lilette cocked her head and said a little loudly, "Anastasia? What do you think? Will you come with me?" 

"Do you know what happened to Maple when she came looking for Anastasia in Óraid?" asked Ileus. 

"I do know," she said with so much certainty in her voice that Ileus knew she didn't know a thing. "But if you think that it will repeat here, then you are so wrong." 

"Oh really!" he snapped. "Anastasia will never go to Vilinski to marry Aed Ruad. She is my mate and belongs to me. She will go to Vilinski as the princess, as its rightful heir." 

"Now this is where you are going all wrong." Lilette tsked. The fresh red scar of her right cheek throbbed and it looked as if it was about to split. 

Anastasia could no longer bear the insolence of Lilette. As if they listened to her on some basic level, the devotees in front of her parted and let her walk down the stairs. She walked right next to her husband and said, "I belong to Ileus and no one else. We are married and hence Aed Ruad can go to hell."

Lilette's lips curved in a smile. The scar on her cheek leaked a little and blood oozed. "My dear little cousin. Come with me and we are going to be a happy family." 

"How did you know that I am your cousin?" asked Anastasia. "I never told you." 

She chuckled. "Is that so hard to decipher?" 

"No, I have my suspicions." 

"Well, then you already know that it was Etaya who came to me and revealed the fact that Áine, who was my aunt, was your mother. She had come to us and explained that she wanted her niece back to rule the kingdom. The throne is empty."

"Or was it, Iona?" Anastasia asked, ignoring her fake emotions. "Do these people who are standing behind you know that you are actually sent here by Iona? Because if they would know, then your whole theory is going to crumble and they will come to my side." 

"You don't know what you are speaking, Anastasia, and this dark prince— who thinks he is the most powerful in the Lore—he is nothing in front of the dark witch," she said as she peeled her lips back. "Now stop wasting my time and let us go!" 

"Shut up!" Anastasia snarled. 

Lilette's face tensed up. 

"I like that sharp tongue of your Anastasia," said Ileus, looking at her with pride. 

"Gods, I want to dig her with my dagger," she said as if warning him that she would do it in a moment. 

"Lovely!" he said, as he grabbed her for a quick kiss on her temple. 

"It seems that you are just not going to yield," Lilette said. "Then probably you are going to like what I have brought for you." She turned to look back and a witch who was flying on the broom came near her. She had a sack with her that she tossed on the floor. As soon as it opened, the heads and limbs of people rolled out. 

Anastasia gasped as icy panic hit her chest and bile rose in her throat. 

"These are your followers from Level three. They tried to stop us from coming here and we just had to chop their heads off." 

"Oh my god!" Anastasia muttered. 

At first Ileus watched those heads and limbs with horror in his eyes, and then his horror turned into fury so intense that he turned to look at Anastasia and growled, "Show no mercy." He pulled out his swords from his sheath. One of them was the Evindal sword. Her eyes glowed. He had been carrying all this time. He handed it to her and let out a battle cry. Everyone on his side joined him. They all attacked the haters. 

Magic sizzled, swords clanked and werewolves attacked each other with a roar that could deafen you. 

Anastasia sucked in a sharp breath of air and moved her sword in an arc towards Lilette, but she slipped from there and then hurried ran to her horse. A witch from above attacked her, but in a few solid beats of her wings, Anastasia was in the air and she sliced the witch's broom into so many pieces that the witch shrieked as gravity pulled her down, but before she could hit the earth, Anastasia had beheaded her in one strong move. She moved ahead and charged at three wizards who were trying to kill Kaizan with their magic. She threw her dagger at one of them and pulled it back as Kaizan attacked ferociously at the other wizard who was shocked to see Anastasia this close. 

A vokudlak who hadn't shifted flung a barbed chain towards her to injure her wings, but he was taken down by Haldir. She wanted her magic to erupt, but that would affect those who were on her side, so all did was to focus on how to take down every one of the haters. As she charged ahead, she saw a witch charging from behind at some vokudlaks with her magic. She released her dagger. In the meantime, she beheaded another wizard. Her dagger lobbed across the distance and struck the witch's head. The force was so hard that she fell down from the broom. 

She watched Darla moving with an alarming speed right below her, trying to kill anyone who was coming her way. "Are you okay?" asked Darla, looking up at her.

"Yes!" she said. Suddenly she found herself surrounded by two witches and a wizard. Before they could attack her, shadows burst in front of her. Ileus. He threw shadow blades at all of them, and the air was filled with their screams. They were all on the ground, maimed. And on the ground, they had to face Darla's wrath. 

Anastasia looked at her followers. They were getting mercilessly killed, but they didn't leave her side even for a minute. She noticed that Lilette was on her horse and had moved back. She started to go towards her when a Haldir stopped her. He pointed in the far distance down the slope of the plateau. "There are more coming." 

"Damn!" she grated. She turned back and along with Haldir, took down a few more wizards. She looked down and found that Ileus had shifted into his massive black werewolf form and was attacking the enemy, slashing them or snapping their jaws. "And I thought that they loved their prince!" she said. Suddenly a doubt crept in her mind. "Are these hired?" she muttered under her breath. 

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