Aakifahlynn stood on a rock, trying to balance herself and avoid falling into the raging dark waters. Her long blonde hair wrapped in a tight bun slightly loosened, causing tendrils of hair to escape their confines, and whipped around in a frenzy with the velocity and vigorous movement of the sea breeze that threatened to topple her over along with the body she carried.The noisy, aggressive waves roared as they thrashed against the slippery, broken-down slabs of walls and rocks. Aakifahlynn quickly braced herself and tossed the warrior in as far as possible, which was not far at all. He barely made it off the rocks. Then she stood there and watched as the waves did the rest. Thankfully, the waves literally scooped up the warrior.It was not that Aakifahlynn was weak. She was simply feeble in her rushed decision to throw the warrior out in the sea like this for the sea creatures to devour. Actually, she was contemplating a proper burial under the moon for him.But she did not have

As such, Emperor Demarion Dracul was prepared with the facts. He strolled over to a small table in the room they were all in, took up a few parchments of paper, and gestured it toward Aakifahlynn, his eyes never leaving her.'Why was Jairus so eager to find me?' This was a surprise to Aakifahlynn. She was in her thoughts.Aakifahlynn absentmindedly walked towards him, her blue eyes never leaving his. She now focused on him and looked for any sight of dishonesty, but she found none. Nonetheless, what she knew about the Ayacqueans outweighed her judgment.Too much was going on, so she must proceed cautiously and be suspicious, keeping her guard up until the end, and victory was hers or proven otherwise.Taking the small stack from Emperor Dracul's hand, Aakifahlynn's eyes widened at what she held: a sketch of her, offering five thousand gold coins, which is five hundred thousand dollars, to anyone with information about her, leading to her safe return.Her already widened eyes widened

"Just say my name if you need me." Emperor Dracul added and disappeared from the room in a flash before Aakifahlynn could digest what he said.'Say his name? Was that all she had to do to get his attention? She would surely put it to the test, but right now, Aakifahlynn needed a moment with her parents.As they chatted the night away, Aakifahlynn allowed her mind to relax and be at ease in the presence of her parents. Her entire body was cozy, for that matter.She shut out the questions she still had about the Emperor that were scorching her mind for now...Aakifahlynn had walked across the room and finally gotten a look at her disheveled self, and she was an eye sore. Her hair was a frazzled mess, wrapped haphazardly in a messy one. Dark circles were prominent around her eyes, as if she were sleep-deprived.Even though she'd been out for two days. Her lips were so dry that they looked cracked. Her cheeks seemed somewhat sunken slightly. 'Was that caused by her rejecting her mate and

Honestly, Aakifahlynn would like to believe that this was the opportunity she'd been hoping for, that they intended to storm the castle gates.'Who else was planning a war? Or had the means to get them into somewhere?' Aakifahlynn wonders as she recalls the hushed murmurs.Surely, they were talking about her unless someone here was planning their own war that they needed to assist with. Nevertheless, these were the Ayacqueans, and they were schemers at every turn.One never knows when they are sincere.Or worse yet, are they ever sincere in anything they do? Or is everything always calculated? As far as Aakifahlynn was concerned, this could be another elaborate scheme.She heard about their elaborate schemes and trickery, really going the distance in their folly, creating that illusion they want you to see and believe.Anyways, if she could not get to the Emperor directly and had to settle for discussing terms with Demarion, then she would, and only till then would she rest easy.Only

Aakifahlynn scoffed after a few seconds of no response from Demarion, and she did not take his silence lightly, "Come on... There is no way... so I would just sum it up as the Emperor is not ready to reveal his hand, and in that case, I would like to make some things clear and set some ground rules and get an agreement going." "I hate not knowing..." She said that last part more to herself, but Demarion heard her. Demarion hid his amused look. Oh, Aakifahlynn was so cute when she was so clueless. All she'd heard were rumors they had been spreading themselves, but he was not worried. One trip outdoors into his Gazini Empire, and she would see for herself how wrong her knowledge of them was. Emperor Demarion Dracul knew with Aakifahlynn. When it came to them, seeing is believing, even though he could admit that even after witnessing, she was still skeptical. Goddess, she always gave him a hard time letting those walls down. But he was a very patient man. Looking into her gorgeous,