Chapter Thirteen

"Gracious goddess!" I pant, clasping my palm over my chest cautiously.

"Mate... Mate... Mate... Why did you leave him Hermione? You shouldn't have left!" Ezli whines unhappily on our return from the royal ball.

"What would you have had me do? Grandmother, Ketura, Glinda and practically everybody that I know are in the palace! What should I have done?!"

"You should have just stayed a little longer with our mate... Besides nobody could have recognized you!" Ezli whines again

"Now that's not a chance I am willing to take. Ketura, Glinda or even grandmother on a closer glance would have recognized me right away... But why do you keep saying mate Ezli? ...right there in the ballroom, it was you, you called that stranger our mate Ezli. But why? A person can't have two mates, or can they? Was my grandmother true when she said I was principal Eldor's second mate?" I ask intensely, my emotions all jumbling up.

"You need to breath Hermione, breath..." Ezli says soothingly. I take in a deep bre