Damian awoke to find his hands and feet bound, immobile against the cold surface beneath him. He struggled, heart pounding, before noticing a shadow looming over him.
"Do not squander your strength," Reina hissed, her voice laced with disdain in her tongue.
"Why… why are you doing this?" Damian stammered, disbelief clouding his thoughts. He could scarcely imagine that Reina, of all people, would betray him. Though he did not yet understand who she served, he sensed her enmity toward the twins and that she answered to the Persian Empire.
"You know I longed to end you," Reina murmured, a dagger dancing between her fingers as she moved with a dangerous, seductive grace. She approached him, the blade tracing his face as she bent close, teasing him with its cold edge. "But your brother, Daniel… so kind… he forbade me. How I would have delighted in it. Ah, well. You may rot here for all I care."
With that, she melted back into the shadows, leaving Damian in a place unknown to him, far from any familiar path.
Hours slipped by beneath the cloak of night. Back within the Dark Lord's fortress, Solomon and Henry scoured the grounds, seeking Damian.
"Where could he have gone?" Ariel's voice trembled, fear curling in her tongue.
Unseen by them, Reina returned to their camp. She moved silently, unaware that the Dark Lord Pyro's gaze followed her every step. From her possession, she poured the contents of a small vial into their water, then vanished once more into darkness.
Pyro observed all with cold detachment. He knew the outcome before it unfolded. He chose not to intervene for growth demands a price, and as long as he was not the hand that delivered it, that price must be paid.
"Reinaaa!" Nahar's voice pierced the night as she ran toward Reina, who stumbled before them, bloodied and battered, her body seeming to bear the marks of a brutal assault. Solomon, Henry, and Ariel followed swiftly, their hearts tightening at the sight.
"What… what happened?" Solomon asked urgently, trying to draw words from her, but Reina remained silent, feigning agony with a precision that masked her true intentions. Unseen by the twins, this was her cunning ruse—to halt their search for Damian and turn them back.
"Damian… Damian attacked me and left. I… I don't know what I did," she whispered, the lie woven so convincingly that none could doubt her tale.
Without hesitation, Solomon lifted her into his arms, and they hurried back to their supplies, to the place where food and water were kept, so she could rest. "Bring water," he instructed Nahar, who quickly returned with a vessel. Reina drank, careful to hide any suspicion though only she knew she carried the antidote to the poison within her.
After laying her down and tending to her feigned wounds, Solomon and Henry, weary from the relentless search, stepped aside to speak quietly, while Ariel and Nahar served their husbands' meal, taking their own places at the table.
Meanwhile, Reina waited, her patience absolute. When the moment came, she drew forth the antidote and drank it in full. Her scheme had borne fruit at last, her plan was complete.