The palace of Maayon was sulking in gloom. Netra never opened her eyes. Not even her crying son could wake her up from her never ending nightmare. Even though she was in deep sleep, her eyes never stopped pouring and heart never stopped aching. Senthalir stayed by her daughter day and night tending to her needs, helping her grandson to feed from his mother and taking care of him. Nalan came every three hours to check on her.
“She needs this sleep, Queen. Let her dissolve all her pain in this sleep. Let her cry all she needs. She will wake up as a new person. Don't worry.” He told Senthalir and left after giving some herbs to provide Netra with some energy.
When Adhiyan left the mortal world, he took along the magic on the land with him. His anger nullified all the magic in the vicinity. That resulted in Thuriga’s friend regaining her memory of someone assaulting Thuriga and disappearing along with her. Maayon’s men went out in all directions in search of her and halfway in the search, Thuriga found the men searching for her as she woke up from the magically induced coma. Though she was weak and changed, Nalan was happy getting her back in one piece.
The return of Thuriga was not the only thing that happened. Maayon realized Kaalan was with Theeya all along and he felt so stupid to have ever trusted him. Very slowly Maayon felt like his clouded memories were clearing. He now doubted the very thing Kaalan said to him.
‘Is Kaalan really Maya’s mate? Why would he do this?’ He thought to himself. The only answer he got was ‘deception for power’. No matter how hard he tried, he could not remember the first day he met Kaalan. While Maayon thought Kaalan was his cousin and he grew up with him, his memories now showed him that Kaalan was an already grown man when they first met.
Maayon realized that his memories were manipulated by Theeya. Kaalan was one of the coven leaders. He was his mother’s friend. That is how he knew Kaalan. Kaalan was a teacher in his school where Maayon learned the art of making potions from him. Kaalan was not with him when he first met Dhira. It was someone else. Maayon could not even remember his friend’s name whom he had practiced his magic with.
Kaalan actually reappeared in Maayon’s life only when Maayon and his family were expelled to earth. He then told Maayon that he was Maya’s mate. By that time, all Maayon wanted to do was to make Kaalan and Maya meet and let the magic of nature work its way to their hearts. Maayon thought that if somehow he protected Kaalan, Maya would not succumb to the curse. She would get to live with the love of her life.
He thought the relationship between Aadhan and Maya are just friendship and nothing more because he certainly thought that if Maya is Kaalan’s mate then Aadhan is not her mate. But then he could not find his sister. And she created the black wolf and the black wolf looked exactly like Aadhan. Maayon thought that Aadhan was her curse and the only way to save his sister was to make her meet up with Kaalan. Now everything seemed stupid. His grudge towards Aadhan, Adhiyan, and the black wolf has no meaning.
The many years of survival, the wisdom he attained through research, the wide knowledge on how nature works, everything seemed a waste when he could not protect himself from Theeya’s manipulation.
‘That is because I was in constant worry about my sister, Dhira, Senthalir, Netra and now for my granddaughter! I had no chance to escape from Theeya’s clutches!’ He told himself to relieve from the guilt. It was too much for him to handle, especially now with the loss of Adhiyan.
He could not digest the fact that his daughter is laying there lifeless. Maayon’s only relief is seeing his grandson’s face. His grandson always smiled at him as if he was trying to tell him that nothing is his fault. His smile never failed to soothe his torn up heart. He went into his daughter’s room and saw her sleeping on the bed. He sat near her and wiped away the tears flowing out of her eyes.
