"It's still confusing how you happen to be working for Shelbrooke, Chloe." Luana chipped in as she sat on a chair in Shelbrooke's office, staring into space.

"I'm working with him." Chloe corrected.

"I'm still worried about the fact that you lied to me about your background." Charles attacked and Chloe rolled her eyes.

"Not again, Charles. You should have thought of it before running your mouth like a fountain and trusting too much." Chloe spat back and there was silence again.

The office was bright but it contradicted what Luana felt deep inside. She had been kept in the dark for so long and had just gotten her heart broken by someone she so much loved. The room had an air of conspiracy and she wondered if she was aware of the real deal here but Chloe working with Shelbrooke? She glanced up at the ruthless man sitting behind an executive table with a scar that run across his face. She frowned as she remembered the night he had come to attack her. 

"This is unbelievable."

"You shouldn't have seen that, Luana." Chloe stood up and walked to the bookshelf where she removed a short book, running her hands over it.

"But you did. I should have killed you to shut your mouth."

Luana scoffed. "Surely, you weren't thinking of that. That's suicide." She tilted her head confidently.

"Oh. Wow." Chloe swirled the book in her hand and walked slowly towards Luana. "I guess you have something strong inside..." Before she finished her sentence, she threw the book at Luana but it stood mid-air, close to her neck.

Luana turned the book and it was obvious to everyone she had dug her sprouted nails that were as sharp as a knife into the book to stop it from hitting her. 

"Impressive." The voice came from behind the chair where Charles had fallen in a bid to dodge the book. Standing up to clean his breeches, he glared at Chloe. "Maybe you should have told me that you aim to kill me and I would just give in to your sword. Killing me with a sword is better than your deceptive tongue," he paused, his breath ragged. "Dorathy."

"What's going on here?" Luana asked. 

"Nothing much," Chloe replied, her eyes still fixed on Charles' face.

"Enough, guys!" Shelbrooke restored order in the office. 

"Chloe and Charles especially. Enough of your rants like kids. You both had a fling and that was it."

"I planned to marry her." His voice held a tone of pain at the back of his throat. "This hurts more than poison."

Chloe's face changed as she looked at Charles, her expression slightly shocked.

"You did?" She asked, her voice ringing with surprise. "Why?"

"Why?" Charles laughed painfully. "For many numbers of reasons. You're the only woman who understood me and what I wanted. You're undeniably attractive, especially with those pretty eyes of yours. In addition, we both used to have the same ambition. Except, you had been lying about your ambition all this while." His voice trailed off.

"Well, explained, Charles, but," Chloe shook her head. "Your reasons sound as much as one who would be used to hire as a solicitor to choose a good wife."

"Well, I—"

"Do you love her?" Luana asked from where she sat, her face as stern as her voice. They all glanced toward her.

"Do you?"

He raised his chin firmly and looked away. "I don't know."

"I see. I never expected a positive answer from you as well. That's what men are known for anyway. I wonder when any of you will learn to accept your feelings and stop fighting them. You're rejecting her because she lied to you the same way I was rejected for a single wrong act."

"That wasn't a single wrong act, Luana. That was horrible. I mean, who in her right sense recruits kids into the army? Right, the cruel one." Chloe replied quickly. "I don't think an act is associated with love."

"You think." A hopeful light shine in her eyes, and Chloe wondered what hope she had again after Zeidan had already announced Lyne as the Queen. "I'm sure that he's just mad at me and trying to punish me for it."

Whether she was right or wrong, it's better to think she was on the right path. Maybe when she does something right, she might be considered and made the Queen just like she had always dreamed but she will not get it by joining forces with Shelbrooke.

"Now," Shelbrooke rose to his feet. "I should tell you everything we have been planning to do, now that you're one of us."

"Over my dead body, Shelbrooke!" Luana's voice stopped him in his track.

"What are you doing, Luana?" Chloe's voice sounded irritated.

"You didn't think I was going to work with you all, did you? Work with you, Shelbrooke, when you want to steal the heritage of my people. Work with you, Chloe when all you do is stab people in the back."

"She's right on that one." Charles chipped in.

"And you," Luana referred to him. "You were supposed to...I don't even know you."

"I'm Lyne's handsome brother. How did she not talk to you about me?"

Luana opened her mouth to talk but she was beyond shocked. These people were supposed to support Zeidan and Lyne. How could she be sure they won't turn on her one day, too?

"Unfortunately, my sister and I don't get along so well." Charles probed.

"You were betrayed, Luana," Shelbrooke spoke up, his voice calm. "He just showed you that you're nothing but an errand girl made to face the battle on his behalf without thinking to reciprocate such an act. And what can you do?"

"Arrest the King?"

They all burst into laughter except Luana who didn't seem convinced yet.

"Maybe not. I have another way."

"What way?"

"I'd rather not say. But Lyne must be eliminated, along with you all." She pointed at each of them and when she got to Chloe's face, she could see her green eyes turning dark.

"You will not touch Lyne!" 

"Oh, really. Still defending that brat even when she isn't here but you could kill the only person who served as her father?"

"Interesting".

"I just had to do it! I had no choice!" She walked up to her, towering over her a bit.

Luana chuckled. "Well, I have no choice too. To get back my love, I'll have to take her out of the way."

She turned to leave the office when Charles' voice reached her ears too.

"Lay a hand on my sister and you'll have to answer to me." His voice was deep and threatening and when she turned, she could see the three of them glare at her.

"You should give in to our plan and we will hand over Zeidan to you without bloodshed but you won't lay a hand on Lyne."

Luana looked at them for a while before she shook her head.

"To work with you, I'd rather die." She slammed the door behind her and they could hear her retreating footsteps receding in the hallway.