Anastasia frowned as confusion stirred her mind. Why would Nyles do that? “What did she do?” 

Ileus broke a piece of bread and gave it to her. Wiping a crumb from her chin, he said, “She attacked me with a dagger.” 

She stopped eating as shock rippled through her body. She looked at his forearm. “Over there?” 

“Hmm.” 

She was utterly shocked. Nothing fitted. Nyles’ behavior had been too bizarre from the start. “I don’t get this at all! How did she attack you and managed to give you that wound?” 

He shrugged. “She had a dagger hidden under her dress. Somehow that went unnoticed.” 

“A dagger!” Her lips parted. “Oh god! She was carrying it with her!” 

He narrowed his eyes. “Do you know about it?” He made her eat another bite of meat and gave her the canteen of water. She needed to drink a lot of water to flush out the toxins. Anastasia looked away from him, feeling guilty. Her lips turned down. “All the handmaidens in the palace who are assigned to the royals carry a dagger with them. Since they know magic, it is easy for them to conceal it. I believe that she had it concealed until the time of attack.

“But that is quite odd,” he looked in Nyles’ direction. “In Sgiath Biò, magical abilities are suppressed. The only magical ability I saw was in you when you turned the portal horizontal. How could she reveal it?” He shook his head and then took a big slice of cheese and bread and stuffed it in her mouth. 

She ate it quickly. “Do you mean no one can use their magic? Not even the dark wizard, the dark prince?” 

He raised his eyebrow. He tilted his head and said, “You seem pretty fascinated by him.” 

Her skin heated. “I am just curious about him.” 

“Ah!” He folded his knee up and put his elbow on it. “May I know why you are so curious?” There was a look of amusement on his face. 

“Every mystery should be solved. And he is the biggest mystery.”

“And you want to solve him?” 

“If I meet him.” 

“You are pretty eager to meet him.” 

She shrugged. “I wonder if I will ever get the chance, but I wouldn’t mind.” She leaned back on her hands and crossed her legs at the ankles. She shook her feet as if excited.

He gazed into her sapphire blue eyes for a long time. “Intriguing!” he remarked.

Steering the conversation back to Nyles, he questioned “If she had concealed her dagger, how could she get it back without magic?” 

Anastasia tilted her head. “I am not convinced with the theory that the magical abilities are limited in this realm.” 

He handed her another piece of cheese to her and looked beyond her. “Anastasia, When Sgiath Biò was created by your ancestors, it was created that way. No one, and I mean no one could use his or her magic. Your ancestors lived for a long time, probably thousands of years. They say that they were celestials who descended upon the earth when their planet was destroyed. They mingled with the humans, but soon found that they were too powerful to stay amongst them. They were the first species that was different from humans that occurred. There were bloodbaths and wars in which humans would lose eventually. One of your ancestors, King Óisin, came up with a solution. He drafted a treaty between humans and Faes in which he bought a very large piece of earth from them.” He waved his hand in a circle in front of him. “However, his people were very few in number. They stayed in Vilinski.” 

“But there are more Fae kingdoms,” Anastasia countered. 

He nodded. “There are and all of them are spread across this realm. And all of them are surrounded by Sgiath Biò.” 

She drank water again and lied down on her side. She propped her head on her hand and looked at him to continue. 

“Once the Faes stayed in their kingdoms, in order to stop the humans from mingling with them, they created Sgiath Biò.” 

“You mean they crafted this place.” 

“No.” His lips went up. “Faes lived with the humans peacefully. However, other races appeared on the planet over time. Vampires, werewolves, sorcerers, demons, abomination of demons, nymphs, druids… Well the list is long. By time I mean eons by the way!” He took a deep breath. “And they started to attack the Faes. You know supremacy wars? Out of frustration and anger, the Faes created spells one after the other, stacked them up one over the other, in Sgiath Biò, until no one could enter this place without getting lost or getting insane.” 

Anastasia opened her mouth to ask the next question, but he said, “People found a way to cut some spells over time. So that is your answer to my coming over to Vilinski. And that is why you see rogues here.” 

Her mouth snapped shut. However, more questions popped in her mind. “How did you manage to stay in Kaizan’s disguise for so long? And how did you change into your original form? And—”

He rose to his feet. “I need to keep these back.” He walked to wash the trencher and stacked it in one of the saddlebags. When he came back, he found her looking at Nyles. 

He lied next to her and covered them with the furs. 

“Are you sleeping with me again?” she asked in an incredulous voice, all previous questions forgotten.

He lifted his head and scanned other bedrolls. “There’s no place left. Darla was here long back to help you get warm, but she left when you kicked her in her tummy. She needed to have a peaceful sleep.” 

Anastasia was both angry and embarrassed. 

He continued, “I can go and sleep with her—” 

Before he could say another word, she shifted from her place, turned her face to the other side and said, “You can sleep here.” She didn’t want him to notice her blush or feel the heat her body was producing.

He pulled her closer to him, to the hard muscles of his chest. “I was hoping you would let me sleep here,” he said in a whisper as his breath fanned her ear.