For two days, Meissa waited for Lerna toe. She was impatient as hell while Okab was just too patient.


    It was night and she had thrown a robe over her after making out for half an hour with Okab. She was unable to concentrate on anything. After their session, Meissa just got up from the bed and went to the window. Once again, she began pacing the room. She would nce at her betrothed who was sitting on the bed without his shirt. His legs were covered with the nket.


    The season had suddenly turned so cold that the servants had put in extra logs in the firece to warm the room. The soft light of the fire fell on his white torso, casting an orange glow. She took a breath as she nced at him again and again. He was too distracting.


    "Meissa..." he called her. It was the middle of the night and her anxiety wasn''t letting her sleep. "Come back, darling."


    "How can you be so patient?" she asked him. "I don''t feel like eating also. Why hasn''t Lernae? It has been two days and Rigel said she would be here!"


    "Calm down..." he said and removed his nket. He walked to her naked and stopped her from tiring herself out. "She wille. Maybe she is already on the way. She mighte here tomorrow."


    She wrapped her arms around his waist. "I wish I had sent my spies to check out on her. It''s just that I am afraid that if anyone of them sings. Rigel has a lot of power being the Alpha. If he uses his power, all around him would submit, even if it is forcibly. I don''t have that power and I feel... puny in front of him." She spoke out her concerns freely with Okab.


    "I know..." he said as he kissed the crown of her head. "Don''t worry. Once he is gone, they will be bound to follow you, okay? So stop overthinking ande back to bed with me."


    She giggled nervously. How did this man ay her fears so easily? Before she could speak a word, he scooped her in his arms. She squealed as he carried her back to the bed.


    It was in the morning that one of her trusted servants came hurriedly in her bedchamber when she was getting ready for the day. One of her maids was tying her hair in a braid.


    "Princess Meissa!" the servant rasped. "A carriage hase from Draka! It is now waiting in the portico of the pce."


    Meissa stared at the maid with her eyes wide. Nervousness surged through her. So it was time to get rid of Lerna. "Where is mother?" she asked even though she knew the answer to her question.


    "She is sleeping," the maid replied, her face flushed.


    From the past three days, she had been mixing sleeping draft in her mother''s meals only because she didn''t want her to meet Lerna. Meissa was scared that her mother might get swayed by Lerna''s soft demeanor and that was thest thing she wanted. Her mother was getting upte in the afternoons and then would groggilye out andin of her head hurting. Meissa would not allow the healers toe near her mother, fearing that they would detect what is being done.


    Meissa got up from her ottoman chair and rushed out of the room. "Where is father?" she asked.


    "In the court," the servant said, darting after her.


    "And Rigel?"


    "He too is in the throne hall."


    "Have you informed him about Lerna''s arrival?" she asked again.


    "No!"


    Meissa rounded a corner and ordered the maid, "Go to the kitchen and get tea for the princess. I would like to give it to her with my hands."


    The maid rushed to the kitchen and before Meissa could reach the stairs of the receiving hall of the pce, she came back with tea. Meissa took it from her and asked her to leave. As she hurried towards the stairs, she mixed a pinch of poison that was enough to keep Lerna from moving for the day. Her n was simple. After Lerna would drink the tea that she would so lovingly offer her, Lerna would go off to sleep for a long time. Rigel was not going toe until lunch and by that time--


    A smile came to her lips. By that time she would kill Lerna with a silver dagger. And she would put the entire me on the maid who just gave her the tea. She chuckled. Okab did say that she was smarter, but sometimes she thought that she was brilliant. She ced the tea at the nearest table.


    She took a deep breath in and then afterposing herself, slowly, she walked down the stairs. The carriage was standing with the Draka g fluttering on it. Pulled by four ck horses, the carriage looked royal. She heard voices of females inside the carriage. Perhaps, Lerna hade with her maids.


    As soon as the coachman saw her, he jumped down to open the carriage for her to see and for thedies to step out of it. With her heart beating wildly in her chest, she neared the carriage. The coachman bowed to her. The voices stopped and a girl peeked out.


    She stepped out of the carriage and bowed to her. Two more girls stepped out and then no one.


    Meissa peeked inside and was taken aback to see that no one else was there. "Where is Princess Lerna?" she asked, her voiceced with irritation.


    The girls looked at with surprise. "Princess Lerna? She hasn''te. Why would shee?


    "What?" Meissa said, shocked.


    The girls looked beyond her over her shoulder and bowed. When Meissa turned, she saw Rigel standing at the doors of the main hall with his arms crossed across his chest. "Guards!" he shouted, his chest vibrating with a growl. "Get that maid and make her drink this tea!"