"Baghra!?" I whispered, approaching hesitantly as she was only inches away from me. Her cane just at the side of her chair.

"Why are you here girl? Did my son sent you to finish the job?" She spat shaking her cup with the clenched anger she so had in her.

Strangely enough, I suppose I missed her bitterness.

"The Darkling did this?" I questioned, I wanted to touch the shadows over her eyes however I'm sure she would hit me. "Who else girl? That boy turned his own mother blind who knows what that foolish boy did to you."

"A lot." I whispered, clutching the sleeve of my kefta. I sat down on the chair opposite her. "Misha close the door! Your letting out the heat!" She practically yelled at the small boy who stood near the doors. He apologised and left, giving us some privacy.

"The Darkling is dead!" I told her. I saw a crease in her eyes, her eyebrows furrowed I suppose. She let out a small bitter laugh, "You cannot kill him."

"Well I did. About a couple weeks ago. I drove a dagger in his heart and burned him." I said.

Baghra was silent for a moment, I'm sure she was processing her son's loss. Perhaps she was debating in her mind whether I was telling the truth or not.

Before she could talk I intervened, "I'm here because I want to talk about your other child."

Baghra flinched, "What other child?" She mocked.

I rolled my eyes, not putting up with any lies or false half-truths. "Cut the crap. I'm talking about Sankta Ursula of the waves or as you would know about her as Ulla."

"Your daughter." I spoke slowly. Baghra looked perturbed. "She is my child. However she was sent away a long time ago."

"Your hands no doubt." I twisted my words. "Did the Darkling know he had a sister?"

"Half sister! And no. That boy didn't know anything. It would have done him no good." She explained drinking her tea.

Clearly Baghra used to have multiple lovers and probably she chose to have multiple spawns. For some uninteresting reason. "Why do you want to know girl? Do you want to kill her too?" She said, bitter to the end.

She clearly cared about Ulla. "I'm not going to kill her unless she's a threat to me. However I met her in Rusalye's Labyrinth, she was his guardian."

"You went after Rusalye?!"

"More like your son did. He dragged me and my friends to prove ourselves worthy to Rusalye." I explained.

Without hesitation, Baghra grabbed my wrist swiftly and pulled me closer. She had perfect instincts without her vision. Her thumb traced over my wrist, clearly looking for the fetter.

"No fetter?" She puzzled.

"No fetter." I repeated. She let go of my hand as I twisted my wrist, getting rid of the cramp.

"I wasn't going to let him control me with another amplifier. Both the collar and fetter are dead now. But if the need arose I can use them whenever I wanted." I explained, Baghra looked impressed. "You have become quite a strong girl."

"I have always been strong." I leaned in forwards.

"Now. I need to know if Ulla is a threat to me or not. And if not, do you wish to hear from her?"

"Hear? It's because I'm blind right." My eyes twitched, did she make a joke?

Ignoring it I spoke, "You don't have to be forever." I rose a brow. "I have the Darkling's summoning, maybe I can take the shadows away."

Baghra snorted, "If it were that simple I would have done it myself girl. No amount of summoning can reduce this." She pointed up to her face.

I wondered, how could the Darkling do this to his own mother? How could a son do this to the woman who gave him life? He's had hundreds of years with Baghra by his side and now, in a second he blinded her.

"I do not need your pity girl." Baghra spoke, snapping me out of my thoughts. "This was the price for helping you escape."

I remembered. The night of the fete, Baghra telling me the truth. I'm glad too. Otherwise I would have lived under false pretence with the Darkling. I'm glad we didn't continue that night, I wasn't ready at all anyway.

Frankly, I suppose I was disgusted by him the entire time, since the beginning. Shaking my head, "Do you regret it?" I asked Baghra, expecting her to say yes.

"No." She said solemnly. "He dug his own grave that night and now lies in it." Her voice lowered towards the end. She's never done that before. "You loved him didn't you." I slumped into the chair as if it were a throne.

Leaning my head on my hand, I awaited her response. "Loved him?" She laughed. "He was my son, of course I loved him. He should have died acknowledging that everything he did was wrong. But I admit I did not want him dead."

"Rest assured he won't be returning anytime soon. I'm sorry but you know it was the right thing to do. You two have been together for centuries, it is not easy. But why give up Ulla?" I asked leaning back in the chair as if it were a throne, just as the Darkling always did wherever he sat.

Baghra took a sip of her drink, "We were on the run. I was taking care of my six year old son who couldn't use his powers, I wasn't going to care for another child, much less a baby."

That explains the age range. Aleksander was just a child whilst Ulla was just born. "You gave baby Ulla to her father then?"

"Yes. He raised her underwater."

"Did you ever want to see her?"

"No."

"Why?" I asked.

"I didn't desire a child. However Aleksander changed my mind. I didn't want my children meeting in case one of them needed to be put down."

"You would have one kill the other? If they ever stepped out of line."

"Under my guidance, my boy created the fold foolishly so. I doubt my daughter would be so moral."

I hummed at her intentions. It was clever really. Both siblings wouldn't be able to team up or meet each other if they never knew about each others existence.

But the question remains, how did Ulla know Baghra was her mother? Perhaps her father told her, or she knew from a distance. I decided not to question Baghra about it. I gave her enough trouble for the rest of her life. I stood ready to walk out the door, just before I left I heard her say, "Don't let your ambition get the best of you. Your starting to talk and act worse than my son."

"I'm not him. And never will be. I know that this is my right." I left. Misha returned back to the cave but just before I pulled him aside, "Misha, keep an eye on her. If she reveals any valuable information about Ulla, send word to Nikolai or me."

He nodded as he went inside to attend to Baghra, who I'm sure was grieving.

This was pointless however, Ulla wasn't someone who we should be wary of, yet. I saw Bash and Nikolai near the coach talking. They looked exhausted. I shook Nikolai's shoulder, waking him up before he went into a slumber. "Hey Princess, did you get what you needed to hear?" He said, stretching his arms.

"It was more of a dead end. Apparently I was right, Ulla is her daughter. She doesn't want to see her. I told her that I killed the Darkling. She is in mourning now."

"It's best not to pressure her for more information." Bash said, as he stroked the mane of a chestnut horse.

"Your right." I agreed. Baghra love her son, and he betrayed her. But she didn't want him dead not like this.

Nikolai looked out in the distance. "It will be dark soon, we should head back."

"I'm the Sun Summoner, it gets dark when I say it does."

Nikolai shook his head, "Still, we should head back to the Palace. I'm sure our friends miss us."

Bash gently pushed open the carriage doors and extended his hand for me. I glanced to Nikolai then to the hand waiting for me. Bash pulled me in and made me sit opposite him. Nikolai came into sit beside me, then tapped the carriage roof twice.

Nikolai's fingers intertwined with mine as I looked to smile at him. We held hands all the way in the carriage ride back to the palace. We forgot Bash was in the carriage with us and was the first to get out as we reached back in the midst in the night.

***
"I'm at your side." Nikolai whispered as he finally took of the blindfold over my eyes.

We spent the last half hour chasing each other like school children. A harmless time pass, since sleep wasn't kind to us. "I found you." I said as I gave him a quick kiss. "Always."

He pulled me close, "Woah." I felt his back press against a pillar suddenly. We chuckled nervously. My robe nearly slipped off my shoulder.

His hand came to gently pull back my hair and tilt my neck upwards, he kissed the side of my neck then took my lips.

I opened my eyes for a second and glanced to my left as I felt Bash's eyes upon us. Suddenly, a wave of embarrassment and perhaps guilt overtook me like a hurricane. Bash blinked and turned heel to leave.

***

Published: 13:39pm 04/08/2022