44. A new start?

It's been a week since Niya’s been on Drac Prime. She hasn’t left the room since their arrival, not being in the mood to meet new people here. Her mind was filled with worry for Edward and was constantly making different plans to rescue him successfully. Luckily, her powers were coming back slowly just like the doctor has told her. It was early in the morning and as usual, she was standing near the window, looking outside in deep thought. A knock interrupted her, making her look at the door with a frown.

"Come in," she said, shifting her gaze back to the window.

"Niya! How are you feeling now?" William asked, approaching her near the window.

"Empty." She scoffed at his question, without even looking at him.

"It's been a week since your arrival and you haven't even met Samael's family. I think you should greet them," William said, totally understanding where she was coming from.

"I don't want to meet new people, Willy. I'm tired of the formalities and the drama," she said, sighing and shifting her gaze to his face.

"Niya, I understand but as someone from your council, I think this is very rude of you. They are so eager to meet you and you are cutting yourself off. It was Samael who saved you, we would’ve been dead if it wasn't him." William grabbed her shoulders to assure her, trying to snap the wall she had built around herself.

"Fine. Let's go. Let's meet them." She stood up and pat down her clothes. Pulling her shoulders back, she locked away her worries and portrayed the queen she was.

"Really?" William excitedly said, putting his arm around her shoulder and walking towards the door. She smiled at his enthusiasm and this time, it wasn’t a fake one. She genuinely smiled for the first time after what happened at Vamp Prime. All that she had now as a family was William and George. She felt so safe around them.

*And Edward,* she thought,

They went to the dining room, where everyone was already sitting, ready to have their breakfast. William entered with Niya and everyone looked at her with shocked expressions. They weren't expecting her to be here. They got out of their chair and curtsied.

"Welcome, Your Majesty. We are honored to have you here," a girl said. She was probably in her twenties, wearing a simple black gown. She had the same purple eyes as Samael.

"Niya! How are you feeling now?" Samael asked, looking at her pale face.

She nodded, "I'm good."

"Let me introduce you to my family," Samael said, smiling at her and she nodded.

"Here, my mother, Mrs.Cara Everette," he said, pointing to a woman who was probably in her early fifties, at least that's what she looked like by her face. She was a beautiful woman with dark purple hair just like Samael and dark purple eyes. Her blue gown with that silver crown was making her appearance more royal. She smiled at Niya and Niya smiled back, "Hello Mrs. Everette," she said, doing a little curtsy since she was her elder. A cluster of memories began to explode in her mind, her first meeting with Archie and his mother, Elena. She shook her head to get rid of them.

"Oh, Your Majesty, I'm not in a position to accept your curtsy, we all are your subjects so it's our duty to do the curtsy for you, not the other way around," she said sweetly, looking at her. Niya smiled.

"This is my step-sister Charlotte and my step-brother Louis," he said pointing to the same girl who greeted Niya and a boy who was looking like in his twenties too. He has the same hair and eyes as Samael.

"Hello," Niya greeted them both with a smile.

"And she is the royal concubine, Ms. Isabelle Stewart, Charlotte, and Louis's mother," he said, pointing to a woman who also looked like in her early fifties with honey-brown hair and dark brown eyes. She smiled and Niya smiled back at her.

"And here last but not least my most favorite person, Mrs. Sarah Linconson, my grandmother," he said, pointing to a woman who was in her seventies probably, wearing a beautiful green gown, she had the same face as Mrs. Cara so Niya understood that she was her mother. Niya did a curtsy as she was the eldest here.

"Oh, how beautiful you are, indeed an angel," she said, taking her hands in hers. She smiled.

"She is an angel, an angel of creation, grams!" Charlotte said excitedly, looking at Niya. Niya looked at Samael with confusion in her eyes.

"Yeah, they know your real identity. I told them as I didn't want you to burden themselves with these baseless secrets. If you are an angel, accept it proudly," Samael said, looking at her and smiling. Niya smiled back. It was the first time when someone said to her to accept her real identity fearlessly. It felt like a huge burden got removed from her mind.

"Please join us, Your Majesty," Charlotte exclaimed in happiness while pulling out a chair for Niya. They all did their breakfast. It was a deep silence at the table as Niya was not in the mood to start a conversation and the others were afraid of starting a conversation with her. After breakfast, they left to do their respective work and Niya went back to her room, feeling like it was the only comfortable place for her in this place.

She sat on the bed for some minutes and suddenly her gaze landed on a piece of paper and pen. She was feeling lonely and wanted to vent herself to someone but unfortunately, she couldn't do that in front of anyone. She didn't want to make herself look even more miserable so she got out of bed and picked up the paper and pen to write her emotions down.

*Isolating is the first step a person takes when life is falling apart, I'm at the same stage of my life, I am feeling so lonely that it makes me feel sick but still, I love being lonely.*

*Why it's always me? Why can't I just live a normal life like a normal human being?*

*I always wanted to spend my life with a person who I would have loved more than life itself, I wanted to enjoy an evening tea, sitting in a garden and enjoying every drop of rain touching my hands, and then I wanted to look deep into his eyes, full of passion and love, and kiss him in the rain passionately, but now all of these things sound impossible for me.*

*Everyone in this world wants me for my powers, not for my love, I'm just a trophy for all of them. I don't want these powers, I don't want any of them. I just want to experience true love without any hidden motives. So many people are here around me and still, I'm feeling lonely because I can’t figure out if they are with me because of my powers or if they genuinely care for me. My situation is nothing less than a person who is on a boat in the middle of the ocean, dying of thirst.*

*I know I'm gonna be stuck here in this magical world and the mere thought of being stuck here makes me feel sick. I never wanted this life, I always hoped for a peaceful life and all I got was dirty politics and fake relationships. I just want to be happy. Is it too much to ask for?* she wrote.

The words written on that paper were not only words, those were her emotions, her current state of mind. She sighed in relief feeling some of the stress get released by writing the words. She smiled sadly looking at the paper, folding it into a paper plane, and throwing it out the window.

What Niya didn’t know was that the plane landed at someone's feet. Someone who was going to be an integral part of the rest of her journey, someone who will be there for the up and downs of her life, someone who will cherish her as no one else did.

Niya was still lost in her thoughts when someone knocked on her door.

"Come in," she said, without looking at the door but no one came in. She frowned in confusion and opened the door. No one was there except a piece of paper on the floor. She picked it up and opened it.

*I know where that dagger is. If you want to know, meet me after midnight near Red Lake. -L*

"Dagger? Who is this 'L'? And how does he know about dagger?" She looked at the paper and frowned. She was trying to guess who could it be but nothing came to her mind and she was left with no other choice than meet this L. She stepped out of her room in search of William.

William was enjoying his evening tea in the garden, looking at the beautiful view in front of him. The long trees and flowers of so many colors were making it even more beautiful. Niya came and sat with him. He looked at her shockingly with a sweet smile.

"What's up, kiddo? How are you feeling now?" he asked, sipping another sip of tea from his cup.

"I just wanted to see Red Lake, I heard it's beautiful," she said, without even hesitating for a second.

"Red Lake? Ah! Did Charlotte tell you about it? It's nice. You should go there," he said, guessing that it might be Charlotte who told her about the lake since Charlotte’s the only one besides him and George who’s always with Niya.

"Hmm, where is it exactly? I don't have my phone to use DPS," she said, looking at him. He smiled before getting out of his chair.

"I bought a new phone for you, it's in my room, come let's get it," he said, holding her hand and they both went to her room where he gave her the new phone.

"Now you can use it to locate the lake. It’s not far away but I will advise you to not go there at night." He smiled, looking at her.

"Hmm, I'll be careful," she said and left the room immediately. She typed Red Lake in Drac Positioning System and decided to go there after midnight.

Time flew away and finally, it was time to finally go to Red Lake. She left very silently not wanting to get caught by William or George because they won't let her go there during the night. She successfully got out of the palace and made her way to the lake. It was in the middle of the forest so she was a bit scared but her powers were now slowly coming back so she was confident for the first time in the last few days.

After walking for about fifteen minutes, she arrived at the exact location. The red lake, clearly named after the deep red color, Niya grimaced since it looked like blood.

*Why the hell did I come here? What if L is someone from my enemies squad?* she thought, looking for any clue that someone was with her when suddenly she saw a person coming out of the woods in a cape with their hood up. She saw their face as soon as the person came near to her. It was Mrs. Cara Linconson, Samael's mother.

"Mrs. Linconson? You?" she said, shockingly looking at her.

"Hmm, I sent you the letter. I don't have much time so let me come to the point straight. I'll tell you about the dagger but I have a condition," she said, looking here and there as if she was confirming no one was following her.

"What kind of condition?" Niya asked.

"Promise me that you'll stay away from my son. You will never accept his love for you, you will never accept him as your lover," she rushed out.

"What? Why would I do that? I can never fall in love with your son, I am not here to start a family with someone. I am here to find a way to avenge my father's death. I promise I will never accept your son as my lover," she said.

"Then I'm ready to tell you about the dagger."

"But how do you know about the dagger?" She frowned while looking at her.

"Samael told me that your father wanted you to find that dagger and that dagger belonged to my late husband Azazel, now it's somewhere at The Dark H. Planet," Cara explained calmly.

"Dark H.? Lucifer's Dark H.?" she asked. Cara nodded, looking at her.

"And how can I go there?" Niya asked, looking at Cara.

"Through a portal which is present here on Drac Prime only but you need to find it," Cara said, looking at her. Her eyes were shining like a purple gemstone under the moonlit.

"Help me find it and I promise I will stay away from Samael," Niya said, smiling at her. She smiled back and they both shook their hands.

"Deal," Cara said and left the place immediately. Niya was happy feeling like she was finally one step closer to avenging her father's death, she didn't know what importance that dagger had in her life but she was sure that it will help her in her revenge.

She headed back to the palace through the woods and she was about to enter the main gate of the palace but someone grabbed her hand from behind, making her heart skip a beat out of fear. She turned and her eyes met with purple shiny orbs.

"Samael? You? What are you...." She was about to ask but suddenly he smashed his lips against hers and cut her words through his kiss. It was not a gentle kiss but more of a rage. It was a rough one. She struggled to push him back but failed. After kissing, when he finally parted his lips from hers and took a deep breath, Niya looked at him with so many questions in her eyes.

"Forget about the promise you made to my mother. I will never let you stay away from me," he said, kissing her forehead and leaving without even hearing a word from Niya. She was standing there clueless and shocked at what just happened.

How would she survive this new challenge? How would she keep him away and get through the portal? She didn't know the answers to any of these questions but the only thing she knew was that she had to avenge her father's death by hook or by crook. She will have to find a way to keep things in her favor and to win Mrs.Linconson's trust she needs to keep Samael away.

Will she be able to do it?

She didn’t know.