Death penalty. I am going to die. Airin let out a loud cry and shook her head hard. "No! No!" that was all she could mutter. Her body trembled, her knees fought hard to support her. Xander could not help her now. Xander! Are you alright? Do you know what is going to happen to me? she screamed in her head.

"We will send you to the executioner soon, unless ..." Rovan smirked. His eyes shone in a sinister mischief.

Airin tried to stand up straight. "Unless what?" she half-whispered. Fear had clouded her mind completely, but the word unless gave her a glimmer of hope that she may be able to escape death.

Rovan stopped walking toward her, and leaned on one of the dining chairs. "Listen ... Lyanna loves you, Airin. For that reason alone, I am willing to spare your life ... forgive you from your grave mistake ..."

"I did nothing wrong!" Airin hissed in anger. Just the thought of being falsely accused of harming those innocent babies was enough to strengthen her even though just a tiny bit.

"That is not debatable, Airin. You are guilty. I am willing however to remove your death sentence if you ..."

"If I what ...?" she trembled.

Nydda now stood about two armlengths from her. She could have sworn there was a breeze of cold air, stale and heavy, that emanated from the body of the sorceress. She shuddered.

"If you become my mistress ... and you tell Xander that you love only me, King Rovan the Great," Rovan chuckled. "Xander is severely ill now. You can tell him that. I want that to be the last thing he hears before he dies!"

Airin was scared, really scared, but to hear that Xander was so ill he was going to die made her snap. "What have you done to Xander? Why are you so callous to your own brother? Why?!" she screamed. They must have done something to Xander. Rovan and Nydda. They were not as good as what Xander painted them to be when he was in her universe. Even Rovan was so dark and scary now for her, so different from the Rovan she met for the first time in the throne room.

"It is a long story, Airin. I do not wish to tell you, I do not have the patience for it. Now he is just ... sick. Deathly sick. So, what do you think? My mistress? We should go and see Xander to tell him the wonderful news!" Rovan walked closer to her.

"No! No way!" Airin still screamed. "Take me to Xander!" she tried to sound as assertive as possible, and it might have worked. Rovan stopped in his track, his eyes widened in clear surprise. Nydda was still quiet however.

Rovan's jaws clenched in an obvious effort to suppress rage, and he said to Airin in a much more demanding tone."Be my mistress. I am the king of Halgard. Not Xander. What do you ever see in him anyway? He is a loser, a killer, someone who had the right to the throne of Halgard but has forfeited it because he is too weak!"

The room seemed to spin now. Xander has forfeited the right to the throne of Halgard. Xander was supposed to be the king. Airin breathed in short, gasping breaths as fear engulfed her. Was that the secret that she had always felt Xander had kept from her?

"I need an answer!" roared Rovan.

Snippets of all that had happened to her ran in Airin's mind. The viciousness of Nydda who kidnapped her to Halgard, the callousness of the accusation that she had harmed those babies, and culminated with: Xander was deathly ill. All these destroyed the last fiber of fear in her.

She was just plain furious now. Her body shook. What have they done to Xander?

"No! I do not want to be your mistress! I want to see Xander!" she shouted her answer. She found her assertiveness. She wanted Xander. Only Xander.

Nydda laughed, it sounded like she was choking on something. "Well, fine. Let's take you to Xander then," she came closer.

Rovan howled, kicked the chair in front of him. He was raging because of the rejection. "Take her away! Execute her!" he screamed.

"I have a better idea, Your Majesty," Nydda stared unblinked at Airin.

"I do not care! I want her dead!" Rovan growled. He was panting in his anger, and his eyes reddened as if he had not slept for days.

Airin stared straight back at the sorceress. She hated that witch, she hated Nydda for having brought her here, having ruined her life. She found her strength, shouted, and pushed the sorceress with both hands as hard as she could. She wanted to flee.

But she screamed in pain. Her hands felt like it just pushed a wall of cement on fire. Hard and fiery hot. Nydda did not budge. Not even an inch.

Airin bowed down and fell kneeling on the floor at the pressure of the searing pain on her hands. Nydda extended her right arm and grabbed Airin by her neck, forcing her to stand up again.

Airin tried to fight back, but her hands hurt even though strangely enough they did not show any sign of injury.

"Let me go!" she hollered as loud as she could. But the hand of Nydda around her neck made it difficult to be loud. She let out some choked noise. Her whole body felt like one big mass of jelly and she wobbled. One thing that she realized now too was that Nydda was much stronger than what she would expect an elderly woman to be.

Nydda seemed to loosen her grip on Airin's neck, took her other hand and put it on Airin's forehead. The palm of Nydda's hand felt cold on her forehead.

And Airin could hear Rovan said to Nydda,"Why can't you just make her love me? Use your sorcery to make her say I love you to me in front of Xander. That would be easy for you, wouldn't it?"

Airin's legs shook, her breath panted hard, but she could still hear the answer that came from Nydda,"My sorcery will not work for the deep matter of the heart, Rovan. No matter how strong my sorcery is, I cannot make her say I love you if it does not come from her heart! I cannot stand the deep matter of a human's heart, their emotions are just so disgusting to me."

Rovan huffed, punched a chair, and threw his gaze away from Nydda.

Airin grew weaker. The coldness of Nydda's hand turned all the colors that she saw in the room to be greyish hues. She could hear Nydda whisper right next to her ear,"You want to see Xander? Well, you can accompany him, you can stay alive and watch him die. Then you can die in the big war that is coming, after you witness all the destruction."

"Why? Why, Nydda? Xander trusts you. You are the royal sorceress ..." she struggled to speak, but managed to get her words out and tried to appeal to Nydda's sense of belonging, sense of loyalty, to Halgard.

"Halgard stands no chance in the coming war with Myrana. No chance. Blind loyalty is deadly. Hopelessness and fear ravage my heart and mind. Halgard stands no chance," Nydda quivered as she spoke.

Airin wanted to say something back, but she was taken aback by the nothingness in Nydda's gaze. No emotion, no feeling whatsoever that she could gauge from it. Her mind went blank.

The coldness of Nydda's palm on her forehead intensified. It happened again. Nydda turned her to walking, mindless, human. She knew all that happened around her, but she could not stop herself from walking, following Nydda when the sorceress now grabbed her hand, and led her outside.

Nobody paid her any mind. The guards, the palace officials, the maids ... they went about their business without even a glance at this foreign girl who was led by hand by Nydda. Maybe because nobody would have guessed that she was under Nydda's sorcery.

She knew she was led by Nydda outside the main palace, to a small muddy pathway that led to an evergreen forest behind the palace. The weather was grey, cold, and windy. It was as if the sky mourned her fate too.

At the end of the muddy path was a grass clearing, and at the other end of the clearing, was a palace. Dark. Dilapidated. Half burned down.

The front half of the palace was ravaged by fire, that much was clear for her. She wondered, she wanted to ask questions, but her mouth could not move. She kept walking with Nydda's hand tightly grasped her hand.

And it came to her. Half-burned palace. Nydda brought her Xander's home.

They kept walking across the grass clearing, and when they got to the palace, Airin could see that the front half was fully burned by a fire, while the back half of the palace still stood albeit dilapidated and covered with soot and wild climbing plants that choked the pillars and ceiling.

There was a wooden door that was left ajar, and soft glow of light appeared from behind it.

Nydda pulled her hand harder, and she walked again.

Nydda pushed the door wider, and walked into the room behind it, followed by Airin.

Airin held her breath, and Nydda turned to face her now, the sorceress lifted her hand and touched Airin's forehead. The warmth to her body returned. It seemed like a door that had blocked the entry to her mind had been left open again, Airin now could think.

She was in a dimmed room, soft glow from two flickering candles were the only source of light.

Her eyes darted to different parts of the room. One old oak table, jars of wine lining the walls ... Xander's home.

She walked past Nydda, and she let out a soft cry when she saw Xander.

"I will leave the two of you here. Just as you wish, to be with Xander. Xander will not last till sunset today. You, Airin, your life will not be long too. You will witness the destruction of elegarii, then we will execute you. Enjoy your time while you are still breathing," Nydda smiled.

"What have you done to Xander?" Airin fought back tears, but Nydda stood stiff for a few seconds, and just turned around, leaving her with Xander.

She did not care, she rushed to kneel next to Xander.

Xander slumped on the corner of the room. His head tilted to his shoulder, and his eyes were closed.

"Xander? Xander, it's me, Airin ..." she patted Xander's shoulder gently, bringing her face close to him. "Xander? Please, please wake up ..."

Her eyes started checking Xander's body for obvious signs of injury, she could not find any bleeding on the upper part of his body, but when she checked his legs, she gasped in shock.

Xander's legs, from tip of his toes all the way up to his knees, had turned into stone, including his pants and boots. Greyish, blackish, rock-like.

"Xander!" she shook Xander in her panic. Tears fell and she started crying. It must have been bad, really bad, for a human to turn into stone! She cried and shook Xander harder.

Xander groaned, opened his eyes, and struggled to sit up straighter, but he failed. He panted, his right hand tried to reach Airin, to which Airin grabbed it and held it tight to her chest.

"I am broken, Airin ... I am sorry ... I fail to protect you ..." he spoke in an almost whisper.

"No! No, you have not failed. Not yet. You are not dead yet!"

"I will be dead soon, Airin. But ... there is one thing I want you to know ..."

"No! No you will not die. You cannot die!" she knew she screamed, but she did not care anymore. Her tears fell to her mouth, and she started sobbing.

Xander did not seem to mind her screaming. He opened his mouth, shivered, and a sentence came out,"I am ..." he could not continue, his breath became faster, and he groaned. Fresh blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.

"You are ... what, Xander? Tell me!" Airin still cried, she grabbed Xander's hands and clasped them in hers.

"I am ..." Xander took a deep breath, his magnificent blue eyes seemed to have grown darker now, "... the son of Ares."