Sh could only watch in horror as her niece bled to her death in front of her. She couldn''t believe that the young woman would do such a thing, especially since she could see in her eyes that she was truly beginning to change. There was reverence in Pinra''s eyes whenever she saw her, and for her life to end like this... It was both tragic and confusing.


    Still, her worry over her niece was overpowered by her fear of her own son''s potential death.


    Thankfully, before she could even scream for help, the pair of guards outside had barged in, clearly having heard themotion as they moved to secure Gs.


    "Is he hurt?!" a guard asked as he knelt down in front of Gs. "We should move him."


    "How about Pinra?!" the other asked, drawing his de to make sure that the area was safe. "Is she-"


    "N-No..." Sh choked out. "I-I don''t think she''ll be a danger to us... Not anymore..."


    The guard sheathed his de, but only after seeing Pinra''s bleeding body on the floor. Sh could only swallow the regret building up inside her. If only she could save her... Herst words, however...


    ''What did she mean by that?'' Sh couldn''t help but ask herself.


    But before she could ponder on it further, her attention turned back to her own son fighting for his life. From there, her decision between thinking about her niece and caring for Gs was made clear.


    She would act for the living, no matter how much it pained for her to leave Pinra in such a state.


    ***


    ra tensed midstep. Somehow, she could tell that something was wrong. Her Bond with Gs had suddenly be muted enough that she couldn''t even feel his presence anymore, which could only mean one thing...


    "Gs?!"


    Moving quickly, she made her way back to the manor, only to see that her mate was currently being carried into the manor itself with Sh hot on their heels.


    "Mother!" she barked out in worry. "What happened?!"


    "Gs got bit by... something," Sh hesitantly exined. "It looked like a snake of some kind..."


    "A snake? Where did it even-"


    "That''s not important right now," Sh harshly cut her off. "What''s important now is we see what''s wrong with my son. The specifics willeter."


    ra could only nod at her mother-inw''s words. Still, her gaze spotted that Pinra''s safe house was left open, a pool of blood partly visible from where she stood seeping out onto the ground.


    ''So Pinra was the one that did it,'' she growled. ''But why would-''


    "I know what you''re thinking, ra. Don''t..."


    Her eyes widened at Sh''s harsh tone. Clearly, she knew what had truly happened, but why not say it outright? Why wasn''t she ming Pinra?


    "Is she dead at least?" ra growled as she watched the men tend to Gs''s not-so-visible wounds.


    "She is," Sh wearily sighed. "But make no mistake, I don''t me her for this."


    "What?!" ra incredulously asked. "Why!?"


    "ra, I''ve spent the most time with her out of all of us," Sh began. "I was the one that rmended we try and heal her. And she was indeed healing. I can see it in her eyes, ra."


    "But she still did this," ra quickly rebutted.


    "But not without provocation," Sh grumbled in equal parts grief and worry. "I was there during herst moments, and trust me when I say that she has decided to atone for her sins in the worst way possible."


    ra could only grit her teeth as she listened. But as much as she wanted to answer back, she knew that the older woman would simply rebuff anything she would tell her.


    "I''ll go and get Lady Jayra," ra sighed in resignation. "Gs wouldn''t go down to a simple strike like this. And this snake... It sounds like dark magic."


    Sh remained silent, but the nod she received from the older woman told her that she was on the right track.


    ***


    "He''s been poisoned," Jayra stated.


    ra could only sigh as she held onto Sh for support. Jayra was quick toe to their aid, and the mage was quick to diagnose the dark magic currently running rampant within Gs''s body.


    "Can you heal him then?" ra asked.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "I would need the snake itself to see if I can even do it," Jayra exined as she ran her hand over the bite wound on Gs''s body. "And... Pinra''s remains... You said that the snake came from her hand, correct?"


    "Yes," Sh nodded. "Pinra was clearly distressed when it happened."


    "I will have to look over her body for clues then," Jayra stated.


    Nodding, ra called for Pinra''s remains to be delivered to their makeshift clinic. A pair of men were quick to answer the call, carrying with them the remains of their former enemy. cing both the body and the severed arm on a spare table, the two women promptly went over to watch Jayra begin her inspection.


    "Pinra..." Sh sighed.


    "You don''t have to be here for this, Mother," ra reassured her. "I can take it from here."


    "No, I want to see this through," Sh grumbled. "I''m the only witness to how she died, and I want to at least be sure of what I saw that time."


    "What you saw?" Jayra asked.


    "That snake felt wrong even during the brief time I saw it," Sh exined, her eyes showing grief as she recalled her niece''s death. "Pinra was clearly trying to fight its influence... even going so far as to tear off her own arm for it."


    "That... should be treatable," Jayra frowned, her eyes narrowing at Pinra''s body. "She shouldn''t have bled out that quickly."


    ra fought the urge to scoff. Truly, even after hearing it a dozen times from Sh herself, she still couldn''t believe that Pinra would turn over a new leaf just like that. But... if this observation was going to yield something, it would hopefully be the truth.


    "Already, I can see something wrong," Jayra frowned as she looked over Pinra''s severed arm. "The arm... It reeks of dark magic... It almost feels like a contract made with the devil himself."


    "A contract?" ra couldn''t help but ask.


    "I can''t make out most of it, but I can see that it needed a sacrifice to work," Jayra exined. "I can only guess that she sacrificed something of significant value to her if the amount of dark magic in this arm was any indication."


    "Her memories..."


    ra''s eyes widened as she heard Sh whisper beside her. "So... It was true then?"


    "Memories can work..." Jayra hummed in deliberation. "If it was a sufficient amount of it, then I''m sure the resulting contract would be stronger. The snake itself would also be more potent... It wouldn''t be able to disappear..."


    "Then where is it?" ra couldn''t help but ask. "You said we need it to heal Gs, right?"


    Instead of replying, Jayra continued on with her autopsy. As gruesome as it was, ra watched as the mage cracked open Pinra''s body. Beside her, Sh''s grip on her arm tightened as they both watched the scene unfold. Until eventually, something was found that shocked all of them into silence.


    "That''s..."


    ra felt her words leave her as she saw a ck tar wrapped around Pinra''s unbeating heart. The snake had indeed not disappeared. Instead, it had killed its host in the worst way possible, squeezing the heart it was coiled around to make its body bleed out even faster.


    "I-I guess we found the snake," Jayra nervously stated. "It''s... It''s still alive..."


    "I-I think I best leave for now," Sh whispered.


    ra was torn. Beside her, her mother-inw was clearly distraught. But on the other hand, she was very much interested in how things would unfold with Jayra''s search for Gs''s treatment...


    "Go," Jayra mumbled with a frown. "I can''t even begin to imagine how I''m going to tackle this. It''s best that I get a moment of silence."


    "I-If you insist..."


    With a thankful nod, ra turned and escorted Sh out of the makeshift clinic. Once they were outside, the older woman almost copsed on her, her grip on her tightening as she leaned onto the younger woman for support.


    "T-Thank you, ra," Sh weakly smiled.


    "It''s nothing," ra replied. "Still, to think that..."


    To think that Pinra might truly be innocent... Well, this version of Pinra, at least. Her past self had clearly conspired for this to happen, and she had won even in death.


    "There''s no use thinking about the past, my dear," Sh shakily sighed as sheposed herself. "For now, there''s not much we can do now except to wait for Lady Jayra toe up with a solution."


    "Right..." ra trailed off.


    Wordlessly, she found herself escorting her mother-inw back to her bedchamber. All the while, her thoughts drifted back to the sight of Pinra''s heart and the dark snake currently coiled around it. For some reason, the very sight of it evoked both anger and pity in her.


    And still, she didn''t know whether it was her imagination or not, but it almost looked like the heart it was gripping onto was still weakly beating.