Battle Of Love

Keira's Pov

"I must ask that you do not tell your brothers that I am not Keira. Unlike you they seem to care for that pathetic human and won't like me if they realise that I am not her," Arina tells Conrad as we follow her and her father inside the palace.

"Of course I won't tell them if you don't want me to," Conrad assures. "The guards behind used to be close friends of mine. Allow them to come with us," he requests and Arina simply nods.

Guess she is so eager to have him as well that she is not allowing her mind to have suspicion.

My other two husbands rise from the soft couches of the palace parlour as soon as we walk in through the door. They both step forward to hug Conrad.

"Welcome back, brother. Where did you get lost to?" Garren asks in a voice filled with concern.

Arina makes her way to Fenris and wraps her hands around his waist. He embraces her back, rubbing her back gently and kissing her on the lips. She smiles in comfort.

"You first tell me what happened the day I left and I will let you know where I have been," Conrad answers his brother.

"Keira came back with this man after you left with her," Garren answers, gesturing at the shaman. They really believe that Arina is me. Once the fake mate bond is broken I will rip that pendant off her neck and they will see who she really is.

"She told us she had found a spell to return our mate bond. We allowed her to perform the ritual and it worked. For some reason you came back with some crazy woman and attacked us," Garren adds.

Sounds like she and her father had a great plan. They took away our mate bond so Arina could come pretending to be me and create a fake mate bond with my mates.

"Sorry about that," Conrad apologises. "The crazy woman was a stupid witch that messed up my head for a short while," he lies.

"Where is she now?" Fenris asks.

"Dead. I killed her," Conrad answers.

Arina smiles. I remember that she wanted Conrad to kill me before coming here. Now she thinks he did.

"Glad to have you back. Keira and our new servant will cast the spell to recreate the mate bond," Garren says.

Conrad nods.

"Come with me," Arina says and guides the way to what used to be my queen's chambers.

There are a few changes, like the table laid with strange objects and burning candles.

We all stand close to the table as Arina picks up a knife and winches as she makes a cut on the palm of her left hand. Garren pats her shoulder gently in a comforting gesture.

She hold the tiny bottle that had Luther's blood close to her bleeding hand and allows the drops of her blood to fall into the bottle. She picks up a thin rod and stirs the blood while chanting strange words of an unknown language.

Slowly . . . the blood starts to boil as if under heat. It's steam rises out of the bottle as she finishes the ritual.

For a brief moment, everyone is quiet, seemingly astounded.

"I think the spell took away our mate bond, you no longer smell like our mate!" Fenris worries, looking at Arina who appears even more shocked.

Guess our plan worked. It ended the fake mate bond between them. But they still think that she is me. The identity spell isn't broken. I need to get a little bit closer to her to successfully take away the pendant from her neck.

"What . . . did you do?! Whose blood was this?" Arina's father furiously demands from Conrad.

"How dare you insult my brother, old man? Have you forgotten that we are your kings and you're only a servant?!" Fenris roars at the shaman.

The old man cowers. He may be a sorcerer but he is no match for the angel kings.

"Answer my father's question! Whose blood is this!" Arina bursts, forgetting she had told them that her father is a servant.

"That's my blood, mate," Luther suddenly steps forwarding, taking off his helmet.

Arina and her father gasps in horror. I imagine she can now feel the mate bond between her and Luther.

"You came here to do this? To hurt our mate some more?!" Fenris roars in range, taking a menacing step towards Conrad.

Both Luther and Allen draw their swords, ready for the impossible fight.

"So you were all traitors? That witch is still in control of your head, brother?" Garren bitterly asks while glaring at Conrad.

"Use your heads, our mate was never a witch that casts spells!" Conrad counters. "Why don't you ask your queen something that only Keira would know?"

Both Fenris and Garren frown. Guess they are not willing to question Aria as long as they believe she is me.

"You have ruined everything we build!" Garren yells and punches Conrad right on the face.

Allen and Luther move to attack as Conrad stumbles back. Fenris casts an illusion of pain on them and they immediately drop to the floor, writhing.

"Kill them!" Arina screams.

I lounge forward to grab the pendant hanging from her neck but a sudden excruciating pain hits the inside of my head and I fall.

"Stop hurting our mate you fools!" Conrad snaps at his brothers.

He takes away Fenris's strength and my pain stops as the angel also falls to the floor. But Conrad screams out in horror as Garren casts an intense illusion of fear on him.

"You have to kill him! His mind is lost! He will always betray us!" Arina urges.

"She is right. The witch is still controlling your brother's mind. Killing him is the only way to protect your queen," her father says in support.

Both Fenris and Garren appear astounded by their words. An intense fear can of course stop even the strongest heart of an angel. But would Garren kill his brother for the sorcerer's daughter even though he thinks she is me? I am not waiting to find out.

Both Allen and Luther passed out from the pain that Fenris cast upon them. So it's just me and Conrad. I pull off my helmet, exposing my face.

"Kill me instead! I am the witch that is controlling his mind," I shout.

Everyone stares at me in utter shock, except Conrad who is still crying out in overwhelming panic. Not even his heart can take too much.

"You stupid b*tch! You will die today!" Arina roars as she picks the sword that I dropped and lounges at me.

My mind still hurts a lot after the pain I just experienced. I fail to move out of her path in time in time as she charges forward fast. I takes hold of the weapon by the blade, screaming in pain as it slices the flesh of my right hand. Still I manage to fight the excruciating pain and do the only thing that would save us.

I reach out with my left hand and snatch the pendant from her neck.