After the course of events in the tub, we washed the mud and dirt off of our bodies and got ready for a well-deserved sleep. I've never been so desperate to close my eyes. 

I slip my nightgown on as Darian gets into my bed - I see he wants to stay tonight. A cold chill moves through the room so I quickly delve under the covers, soaking up the warmth and softness of the sheets. 

"Do you think this will all be over soon?" I whisper into the darkness and move closer to Darian's warmth. Stars are reflected onto the ceiling and I have never seen such a comforting sight before. 

"It's only just the beginning, Nova," Darian says it as it is and I'm grateful that he is honest rather than spoon-feeding me a bunch of lies.

"Then we shall fight to the end," I sigh and count the stars above me. Stars for every person lost tonight. I can't help but feel guilty about how many witches there may have been who were just innocent lives caught at the wrong time. 

But, we don't know who to trust so the best thing to do is just... trust no one. 

We all trust too easily in this world. We decide to believe in others and think that it makes us a good person that way. But, all that believing does is make you a blind fool - a blind fool to everything that happens around you. I know this because I was in that position before. 

"Fighting is the only way any of us will survive. But, we both have the power to take down everyone that stands in our way... we'll win," Darian says with nothing but complete certainty and I envy his confidence. 

"I hope you're right," I mutter and turn over to get comfortable. Darian's arm wraps around my waist and tugs me to his chest before he pecks my cheek. His warmth is all I need to get me through the night.

"I'm always right," he swears and I roll my eyes. Of course, he is always right. 

I close my eyes and let sleep beckon me into its cage, luring me towards the darkness. My dreams are filled with images of rose gardens and hearts...

Upon waking up, I find that my whole body is pressed against something hard. I force myself to open my eyes - even by a margin to see what it is. Through my half-opened eyes, I see that I am practically laying on top of Darian.

My face is pressed against his chest and I am holding onto him as though he may disappear. How in the world did I even manage to manoeuvre myself to get into this bizarre position?

"Don't ask me... I have no clue either," Darian mumbles, his voice laced with sleep and I groan. The bed is too warm for me to move and laying on top of Darian is actually surprisingly comfortable. 

"I don't want to leave this bed today... I want to stay here forever," I mutter against Darian's chest. My whole body and muscles ache from the overuse of them yesterday. Yesterday... gods, all of the images float to the surface. 

I always love waking up in the morning because there are these few moments where your eyes open and everything that worried you the night before is a distant memory. You are in blissful oblivion for those very few moments and it's like a breath of fresh air.

It's until all of those memories come flooding back that you wish you had never woken up, that you wish that you could stay in that eternal oblivion for the rest of your existence. 

"You are more than welcome to. I, however, have meetings to attend," Darian brushes his hand through my hair and I mumble incoherent words. When doesn't he have meetings that he has to attend? When will he ever just do nothing for the day?

"Have fun with your boring meetings," I huff and roll off of him. I wrap the covers around me and close my eyes again. If he is going to leave he may as well just go now.

"You offend me, darling. My meetings are not boring and you know that from personal experience," Darian laughs and moves closer to me. I stay on my spot in the bed and try to let sleep coax me back into the nothingness.

"Yes... and I know that they make me want to pull my own hair out," I mumble and make a noise that hopefully, he will understand means go away. I just want to sleep until I can't anymore. 

"Don't deny that you love them really," Darian's hand slips around my waist and I suck in a sharp breath when his hand meets with my bare skin. "We both know you do."

Too tired to think of another response, I find myself floating back to the land of dreams where nothing can bother me and where I can be nothing at all. 

"You must awake! The day awaits Lady Nova!" someone shouts and I jump at the noise - so startled I almost fall out of my bed. Opening my eyes, I notice Serene standing with her usual platter of food. "Time waits for no man!"

"What has you in such good spirits this morning?" I question as I sit up. She walks across the room to place the tray on my lap and I take off the silver lid. The platter is stacked with pancakes, fruits, yoghurts, and muesli.

"The threat of the Fortuna coven ceases to exist and we don't have to sleep with one eye open at night anymore. That's not to say that no other threats shall arise but I must say that gave me quite the scare," Serene rambles as I pop a piece of fruit in my mouth. 

"It certainly wasn't easy," I say and find that I am hungrier than I had realised. "However, I'm not sure if it is over completely. Mother Agnis, who is the leader of the coven, managed to flee before I could take her down."

"But... witches without covens, they can't survive on their own," Serene says the one thing that has been repeated several times the last few hours. 

"Yes, but that seems too easy. All of the power that they fed into the ground... oh gods," the realisation hits me like a slap to the face. I rush to my armoire and grab the clothes closest to me before stripping in front of Serene.

"M'lady, what's wrong? Do you need assistance?" Serene asks frantically, probably alarmed by my sudden outburst, as I button up the bottoms. I shake my head and grab the tunic before slipping it over my head. 

"Mother Agnis... she is nowhere near dead - she is as powerful as ever," is all I say before I burst through my door and head for the conference room. My mind is reeling with this information and I feel as though I am about to pass out. 

As soon as I am in front of those doors, I do not give it a second thought before I burst through them. Darian was mid-speaking but my loud entrance cut him off. 

Darian's face meets mine and his eyebrows furrow before he realises the complete and utter panic flowing through my body. Darian stands. "Everyone leaves," he says calmly and the room erupts in protest. "Now!" Darian says with more authority.

The whole room leaves quickly and Darian strides towards me. Gods, this is not happening... this can't be real. I knew that it all seemed too good to be true. You can't take down a coven of witches without facing consequences. 

"Calm down... just tell me what's wrong," Darian says and places both of his hands on either side of my head - in means to comfort me. 

"The witches... when they did their ritual, they fed their power into the ground. But, when it was time for them to finally regain their powers... they were all dead..." I trail off and my heart feels like it is going to explode from panic alone. 

"Except Agnis... shit," Darian takes his hands off of me and begins pacing the room. Heavens, this is all my fault. I let Agnis get away. If I had just stabbed her in the heart this wouldn't be happening. 

"And I'm sure the first place she will be visiting with her new renowned powers is this palace. Darian, she has the power of dozens of witches as well as the power of a Mother witch... we are literally sitting ducks awaiting our death," I tangle my fingers in my hair. 

"No... we'll find a way. We always find a way and we will for this. Even if it means I have to call upon the deepest depths of hell... we will find a way."