Amity was not happy for her birthday; she never had been.

since she could remember she felt the same way every year. It wasn't a celebration for her, it was just the day she would have to pose for other families, she was a trophy for her father to show. And they never even seem to be proud of her.

Of course, I'm "just the top student of my class" … thought amity to herself.

"But you're not perfect…" that was the only thing their fathers would say to her every time she had dared to ask why they don't seem happy with her.

I know I'm not perfect… but is anyone besides the emperor?

As soon as Amity thought that an answer came right to her mind.

The twins

What upset her the most was the fact that the twins didn't seem to receive as much despise as her. No, it was the opposite in fact, since they were the top of their class already (and without putting any effort apparently) they had time to spare winning competitions, magic demonstrations…

I suppose in comparison I'm not nearly as good… but I'm trying my best!...

And speaking of the twins…even they seem disgusted with me now…

Amity always hated the pranks and the sense of humor of Ed and Em but she never felt alone with them, even if she would hate to admit it the brothers made the life in the manor more bearable, they disrupted the ambient of oppression that their father put on every aspect of their life.

But now…

Amity reflected upon her sadness while maintaining a cheerful smile on her face (The titan knows that she had accustomed to this duality by this point in her life). She was sitting in a princess like throne chair located almost at the North center of the event room, she was supposed to be there thanking all of the guests for their presence and their presents (obviously she would also need to do small talk and impress all of the visits). She would rather be in her room playing with other girls and boys…

"Of course, mister Edgard I'm well aware of the quality of your textile industry, I find fascinating that you manage to get the contract to work with the coven itself."

Even Bosha seems like good company right now.

"It wasn't an easy task my dear, you see… bla bla bla bla"

In truth I would prefer to be with Willow… also that new girl, Kirimora, she knew about Azura! That was a surprise.

"You truly are a businessman mister, I wonder if Miss Lilith has any opinion on this matter, I think she is near my parents"

This wasn't a sutile way to ask a person to go away but since this also gave the man a possibility to speak with Adalor, Odalia and even Lilith it was too much of an opportunity to waste. If things go wrong, he could always use the girl as an excuse.

"How wonderful, well… if you excuse me young lady… happy birthday"

Now that she was alone for a few minutes again Amity started dwelling in a more important matter… the lie

Amity found quite quickly that her brothers had lied to her, when she asked her mother what was that she needed.

Odalia just scold her for letting the guest alone.

"How could you? such disrespect is not propper from a Blight, thank Titan that your brothers have more common sense… I bet they're giving her a better tour than you would have… Now young lady stop wasting time and go to your place, the guests are waiting."

She didn't know why the twins had lied to her, not yet.

This doesn't seem like a prank, not their usual pranks at least

No, this just looked as if they didn't want her to have more friends. As if they wanted her to be more miserable…

If that is the case they succeeded…considering how I feel now…

Amity felt betrayed by the twins… of course they like to do pranks on her from time to time but… lately they were just ignoring her, at first, she thought that they were elaborating something big… she was scared, but curious at the same time; what could be taking so much time for the twins to prepare. But as the days became weeks, she started to feel… Lonely.

Emira looked away from her every time they crossed paths in the house.

Edric ignored her questions or comments on purpose… and now this, just a straight up lie to make her birthday even more miserable.

"Well hello young lady! How magnificent you look today"?

Another worthless rich guy who only tries to flatter me to win the favor of my parents. Bertham was it?

"Hello, sir, thank you for coming its really pleasant to see how much people like to go to my parties…"

Amity just continued to answer politely with her fake smile every unimportant question that the man throws at her, until the man said something quite interesting.

"By the way, my lady… a girl at the entrance of the manor ask me to deliver you a letter… she looked rather … normal…. So, I suppose it was one of your employees… err… Wullow was it? I apologize I'm not good with names."

What! Willow had been in here? Was she still here?

Trying her best to stay composed Amity grabbed the letter and excuse herself with the man.

"Oh, how wonderful of you Sir… not all men would have stopped and listen to such trivial task, I will remember this… but if you excuse me, I need to go to the restroom, I think my makeup is off and the main event is almost upon ourselves"

Since Amity had said this in a tone that suggested that she would return the "favor" to the man. He didn't even thought on protesting

Amity quickly but gracefully got down from her chair and started walking towards the bathroom. Luckily for her Odalia didn't notice this sudden escapade.

When she was at a safe distance far away from the guests and even more important, far away from their fathers, she quickly opened the letter and read it…

No…

Then she read it again…

But I…

An again…

"Now they had crossed the line." Said amity as she crumpled the note with her hand.

"W…what are you talking about I'm Kirimora the daughter of the emperor personal assistant… Uhm her names is Kiki I don't know if you know her but…"

Luz was clearly panicking, she was backed to a corner, literally.

"You expect us to believe that?" said Edric closing the gap between Luz and him

"Yeah, you almost smell like illusion magic my dear." Emira spoke both seductively and menacing

How did they know? Lilith spells were pretty powerful, and according to the books that Kiki had made me read… only a pro in a certain type of magic can detect when a spell was casted.

"Well…"

Come on Luz think of something… you are good making excuses you can come out with something!

"Yes… you found me… look I…"

As any good lie you need to start with some truth in it… in this case… I am really using a illusion spell

"When I was young, I was in a fire… and…"

Now I need to add more drama… something sad… something people may believe and feel to bad to pry on.

Luz started remembering how Lara looked at her face sometimes in the mirror, she didn't seem sad but Lilith had told her the story of how Lara almost died trying to protect her…

Yes that, now cry Luz!

"And… I'm…"

Luz didn't add the dramatic pauses on porpuse… she really felt sad remembering what Lara had done for her… the fact that she didn't even know until Lilith had told her was even more frustrating.

"I'm not able to walk in public looking like I really do."

Luz kept looking down with genuine sadness, after all she really felt even if this sadness was not caused by what she just had said.

After some minutes of silence, she decided to look up to see how the lie had went.

Ok… I think that was enough time… I need to confront this… maybe act a little angry?

When she looked at, the male twin Luz was shocked to find that he was crying rivers.

"I…I'm…I'm so sorry, we didn't knew"

Ok that… that is weird.

"Oh come on bro, you really fell for that"

"W…what do you mean."

"Agh its obviously fake… I mean… I think"

Even if Emira had said this it was obvius that Luz lie had made some effect on her, she looked … somewhat doubtful.

"It's not!... why I will be lying to you, I don't know you!"

Luz tried to emulate how Lilith acted when she felt offended by some casual comment of Lara sometimes, of course that was only pretending but sometimes it felt quite natural from Lilith.

"Well… we don't know you either, and we have heard our parents! We know that you… castle people are trying something… and we know it has to do with Amity"

Luz got confused by this… she thought Lilith had told Odalia and Adalor about Amity moving to the castle or atleast that she would be visiting from time to time

"Uhm yes we are?"

Edric that now was wiping his tears and … other fluids from his nose, jumped with an exclamation

"Ha! I knew it."

Emira couldn't help but facepalm, Luz only got more confused by this, it was some kind of joke?

"I thought that wasn't a secret… I mean Lilith told me that she had talked with your mom and dad about this"

"Those pieces of… they knew about this!?" said Emira.

"But is not anything bad she is just going to be spending some time in the castle"

Luz let out her more playful tone this time, she thought all of this was a big misunderstanding nothing really bad.

"Oh yeah, sure, why would the emperor want a child to be in the castle?"

"Why not? I'm a child and I live in the castle."

Checkmate

Emira then looked at "Kirimora" right in the eyes. Luz couldn't know but Edric recognize that sign of trouble in her eyes.

"Eh… Sis? What are you thinking?"

"I think we shall test this guest of ours, you know to see if she is telling the truth."

"I don't get it, I've already explained everything to you "

"Kirimora I'm going to dispel your illusion… if you're telling the truth and you're all burned… I… I will burn my face too."

"What!" said Luz and Edric at the same time.

That was hardcore, Luz didn't knew if she was bluffing or what but she looked dead serious, almost desperate

"Wait why do you will go to this extend for estranger sis?"

"Don't you care about Amity too? What if she is in danger?"

In what danger? Aren't they listening?

Luz tried to escape her captors trying to crawl under the twins but Emira was faster and grabbed her by the arm.

"Excuse me for this!"

At the same time Emira was casting her spell the door opened with a loud bang. It was Amity.

Wow looks like I was the princess in danger all along? Thought Luz after seeing the fire in amity´s golden eyes.

Amity´s rage however didn't stop the casting so before she could say anything the room was full of a strange blue mist.

"You will NOT escape from me this time Ed!. Em! Don't try to use your magic to escape!"

When the cloud dispersed Luz didn't know what to say because now all eyes were on her, she was no longer under the illusion spell.

"uh… TADA!"

Note

First of all ... hi, sorry for being so inactive but I have been with a lot of work, however, I have not been wasting my time, maybe some of you allready notice but I have edited and updated all the fanfic chapters. (I did not change anything important, I just put more details, corrected aspects of the language and added one or another minor element that I feel makes the story read better)

The second, this chapter should be longer but I did not want them to think that this was in hiatus or something like that, I keep writing and thinking about the project and I will not put it aside in any way.
from what I mentioned in the first "point" I need to clarify that this chapter has not gone through more than one revision so I will probably add some details in the future.
If anyone wants to reread any chapter, please tell me what you think of the changes, I would greatly appreciate them.