The Devil's Desire.

Escape.

The journey from the kingdom of Elyria to the kingdom of Azania was about three to four hours depending on the speed of the horses.

Aethera was left all alone in her world since Lya already slept off. The thoughts on her mind were filled about her new life, will she be able to cope with her newfound life?

Aethera sighed tiredly, looking at the trees they passed by, hoping that someone would just pass by and stop this carriage and, in the meantime, serve as a time for her to escape. But is that possible? No. Simply people are scared of coming to this part of the forest at this time of the day because they believe that it's the perfect time for Vampires to hunt humans, putting their sharp fangs in their necks and sucking every single ounce of blood from their prey's body. Crazy right? Who the hell falls for their kind of trash?

Aethera sighed frustratedly, thinking of what to do, and suddenly, an idea popped up in her head. A smile made its way to her lips as she taught of her new crazy idea.

"Stop the carriage now!" Aethera ordered and, in the process, woke Lya up and also made the guards stop the carriage from going further.

"Do you need anything, princess?" One of the guards asked.

"Yes, my tummy is filled up with a lot of liquids right now and I need to dispose of it immediately," Aurora said with a smile on her face, a scheming smile that didn't escape Lya's eyes.

"Oh no!" Lya muttered under her breath.

The guards opened the carriage for Aethera and she alighted with a victorious smile on her face.

"I'll just use the bushes and be back in a jiffy," Aethera stated, but before she could leave, one of the guards stopped her from leaving.

"Wait, princess."What!"

"We wouldn't want you to go alone, it is not safe in this part of the forest, so Lya would be going along with you." The head guard said with a blank expression on his face.

"I'm not a prisoner you know. I'm a princess, for crying out loud, and the queen of Azania! You can't treat me like this!"

"I'm sorry, princess, but there are orders that I must follow."

Aethera sighed frustratedly, walking deep into the forest with Lya tagging behind her.

Aethera hid behind one of the bushes, squatted down, and started racking her brain for an escape but she could think of none.

She returned her gaze to Lya and noticed her looking around the bushes for any attack. Aethera wasn't surprised when the head guard asked Lya to follow her because apart from being a maid, Lya is a trained assassin and her fighting skill is top-notch in the whole kingdom. Lya was given to her by her father on her 15th birthday, and at that time, Lya was just 17, but even back then, she was good at fighting.

There was a particular time she tried escaping from the castle. She did escape, and when she got to the village, she met something she wasn't expecting: wolves.

She saw wolves walking around the village like normal people, maybe because it was midnight and normal people wouldn't be walking around at that time; the wolves caught a scent of her smell and turned towards her direction. That was when the chase began between werewolves and a 15-year-old girl. She ran as fast as she could but still, the wolves met up with her. She was scared and she thought that the wolves were probably going to eat her alive. She was just fifteen, and her skin was still flesh; her blood was too sweet to be lost to these ferocious animals.

One of the wolves jumped at her. She closed her eyes, waiting for a bite or even her blood pouring out of her body, but nothing like that happened. She opened her eyes and saw Lya fighting like the assassin she was, she killed all the wolves with her bare hands, and ever since then she has been begging Lya to train her but the latter refused but later accepted after she threatened to go back to the village the following night and serve as a meal for the wolves and ever since then Lya has been training her though she wouldn't say that she's good as Lya but she's close to being more skillful than Lya.

Aethera gazed at Lya and when she noticed that Lya wasn't looking at her anymore, she stood up and ran deep to the forest.

"Princess!" Lya called, running after Aethera, but because she was standing so far from Aethera, she couldn't catch up to her.

The guards also took to their heels and ran after Aethera, but still, they couldn't get hold of her. After running for up to thirty minutes, they lost track of her and couldn't find her.

The head guard divided the guards into groups and they all went in different directions, all looking for Aethera.

Lya brushed her fingers through her hair frustratedly.

She knows that if she didn't find Aethera before nightfall, Aethera might die and she won't be able to save

her.

"Princess!" Lya muttered under her breath.