As I laid in our bed, staring at the plain white ceiling, I thought about what had happened today. It almost felt like a dream, but the arms clutching me as if I would disappear forced me to remember that everything was real. I loosened Conrad's hands a little and turned to him; he looked peaceful. The lines of worry and exertion had disappeared, eyelids closed against the dim light of our room. His breathing was deep and relaxed, heart beating calmly like a metronome, face and body less rigid and more at peace. I lightly touched his cheeks, tracing his cheekbones to his chiselled jaw, sparks were still there. My magic was dancing at my fingertips, but strangely all I could feel was the hollow in my chest. A strange numbness had washed over me. It felt like nothing, a peculiar feeling that I had never felt before.

I needed to clear my mind, with that aim I got up to stand near the open window. The wind was soft today, almost as if it was mourning with us, with the mother who lost her child. I closed my eyes to offer my devotion to our Goddess praying that she would grant peace to the young soul as well as some strength to the grieving mother. I opened my eyes to look at the pure black of the night which demanded my attention like always, not the moon or the stars, but the generosity displayed by the black velvety carpet by making a stage of itself and letting the moon and stars stand out. It is the pure black of the sky that made the beauty of stars and the moon shine. The night sky reminded me of my mother - how safely she tucked the moon and stars as if they were her children, how selflessly it made them shine without bothering to take any acclaim. It made me feel safe and my soul serene.

I heard a groan from my mate, effectively cutting off my thoughts and I turned around to see him extending his arms trying to find something, or more specifically, me. I shook my head and went back to bed. Conrad immediately wrapped his arms around me, burying his nose in the crook of my neck. We had a lot to do but today, at the moment, I needed an escape from the chaos of my mind. I fell asleep thinking of the reveal of a possible betrayal that the rays of the sun would bring for us.

I was already awake at 4, listening to the melodious chirps of birds, careless of the worries us earthly creatures had to go through. I was walking towards the pack house alone with the intention to meet Selene. She was standing outside in the pack garden wearing a floral white dress that came to her knees. She looked young today, probably due to some beauty spells but her blue eyes still looked the same, wise and old as if they had seen things you could only imagine in your nightmares. Her eyes looked haunting, waiting to convey bad news. As I looked at her waist-length blonde hair crashing over her shoulders, I got an ominous feeling. Whatever she was going to utter was worse than I had expected.

"Good morning, Princess," she said bowing a little.

"Good morning, Selene, "I sighed, "I think you know why I am here."

"I know that you think there is a traitor in this pack which is right, but.., "she hesitated.

"But what Selene?" I questioned her.

Her eyes which were downcast suddenly looked straight at my eyes with conviction and determination glinting in them.

"We are missing something, Princess," she said, "think about it. Nobody knew we used the elemental protection spell."

She stopped speaking but her eyes were pleading with me to think about what she had said. I was very sure that someone from the pack invited them in but I forgot to think about a major flaw in that plan. Nobody, except the three of us, knew that we had used elemental protection spell. There was a possibility that they would have guessed it since I was elemental but an elemental too used the moon protection spell most of the times. The reason being the elemental spell's too complicated nature to accept an arrival which had successfully happened here even though we were careful that nobody outside the circle of three hears our spell.

No, It couldn't be a guess, ignoring it as a coincidence would be a huge mistake.

As I thought about it a sharp feeling cut through my heart, leaving a bitter taste in my mouth at its arrival. Betrayal stung and seeped through my skin making my magic ignite in flames. We were betrayed yet again by our own sister, a fellow witch. My magic was boiling, hungry for the blood of the witch that dared to betray us. She would be punished, the blood that seeped through and watered the soil of this pack would be avenged.

I looked at Selene and her eyes widened, fear swirling in her deep blue eyes. I was aware of the reason behind her reaction, my hazel eyes were glowing acquiring a very different colour, a dark amber glow reflected brilliantly in her blue eyes.

I turned towards the pack house entrance with one thought overpowering everything.

I would make her pay. I wouldn't kill that witch, that would be too easy. I would torture her to the point where her ancestors would feel her pain.

I vowed to make sure that Cassandra regretted her decision of betraying her comrades for power.

I would make sure that the golden witch wouldn't remain golden after I was done with her.

She is angry... Cassandra fits right in "all that glitters is not gold" category!

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