Luana sauntered towards Chloe’s room. The joy she felt in her heart was extreme. All her plans has been going well just as she wanted. Lyne was her first target and she was able to get her out of the picture. That was what aided the effectiveness of the rest of her plans. Deep down within her, she knows that if Lyne had been there, she might not have been able to even proceed with the rest of her plans. The plan to take out Zeidan was also going very smoothly and very soon, it would be accomplished. The fool had not even been able to notice that he was not the true father of Gabe. It was all part of the plan. More so, the royal doctor has not been smart enough to notice that someone had been poisoning the king. Very soon the syrup will not be effective again as the king’s heart will be damaged completely. Then she will be able to proceed with the concluding part of her plans. All she needed to do now was make sure she keeps feeding him the poison. 

    Her plan to take out Maya and Chloe was also working perfectly. Maya had bought the lies she sold to her, same with Chloe too. At least, that is what she thinks. All she needed to do was to keep the acts up and finish the job and she will definitely do that. She grabbed hold of the door knob of Chloe’s room and opened the door. She saw Chloe folding and arranging some bed sheets on the bed. Chloe’s face lit up and she beamed with great excitement as Luana walked in. Happiness was written all over her face. As she stepped into the spacious neatly arranged room, she wondered what could be the reason behind the smiles. Chloe gestured for her to sit on the couch that was placed adjacent to the foot of her bed just beside her dressing table. 

    “You seem to be very excited to see me.” Luana said.

    “Well, I am.” Chloe said and carried the folded bed sheets to her wardrobe. She came back quickly to sit on the bed facing Luana who was now seated on the couch.

    “So what’s up?” Luana asked in curiosity.

    “You will not believe it Luana. I knew she was alive somehow. And I was right.” Chloe said nodding in the process.

    “Who are you talking about?” She asked now more confused than curious.

    To this Chloe replied, “Your rival has returned Luana. Lyne is alive and like it or not, she is back.” 

    “I don’t get it Chloe, how do you mean she is back?” She asked rhetorically. 

“We all know Lyne is dead, Shelbrooke confirmed she was. No one saw her for about two years further confirming the fact that she was not alive, now you are telling me that she is back. Did you see her around somewhere?” She asked now, waiting for a response from Chloe.

“I was seated with the King and Gabe your son when she suddenly showed up at the entrance. You need to see the excitement on Zeidan’s face afterwards. Shelbrooke only made everyone believe she was dead but somehow miraculously, she was not. Although I still don’t get how she was able to stay alive in this war for that long without been seen by someone. She came with a girl child which I believe belongs to Zeidan, about Gabe’s age. You know she was pregnant the last time we saw her. Now, Lyne looks stronger and better skilled than before.” Chloe said. 

“Wow! That is great Chloe, really great.” Luana replied faking a smile.

Luana’s countenance changed as she heard Chloe break the news to her. Just as she had been thinking that things were going well according to plan, then this is now happening? Chloe could not be making all of these up. Lyne was truly back into her life and now her plans could start falling apart. 

“Luana, are you alright?” Chloe asked bringing Luana out of her own thought. 

“I’m fine Chloe.” She replied with her face giving an expression that contradicted the reply she just gave. 

“It is just so hard to believe. Shelbrooke said she was dead, Chloe. According to him, she Lyne had fallen off a cliff. And how could she have survived this long?” 

“You are also a mother, Luana. You can’t watch a loved one die.” Chloe said getting Luana furious in the process, but she tried as much as possible to hide her anger. 

    This was why she wanted Chloe out of the picture. She was not to be trusted too. What does she mean by that statement? Did she know that Lyne has been alive all this while? Anyway, she decided not to ask Chloe any question further about it in other not to arouse suspicion. Whatever it is she meant and even if she had known about Lyne’s existence ever since, she needed to do something about her as soon as possible. She thought of what to do next. She knew she had to forfeit some of the things she already had planned out. She decided to proceed with luring Chloe to fight Maya.  

    “I found out we still have lots of things to sort out. Like taking out the bad eggs.” She said now looking sternly at Chloe. Chloe nodded slowly in agreement. 

"Yeah. Bad eggs like who?"

"Maya. I know of your relationship with her but the last time we met, she vowed to kill you becasue you're the reason why her son is dead. Oh! Pathetic. We can't let her win."

    “But how are we going to do that Luana? You know who Maya is and you know how strong she is too. If we are going to do that, we have to do it without any mistake at all. And it has to be stealth too.” She said to Luana who rolled her eyes and looked up to the ceiling as if searching for an answer there. She then returned her gaze to Chloe.

    “I think I know how to take her out Chloe. Let us meet at the temple tomorrow night. We will talk there. Let me leave you to whatever it is you seem to be doing before. I’ll go and see Lyne and her daughter now.” Having said this, Luana stood up and headed for the door and made her way out. 

    Chloe knows that Luana was not very pleased with what she had heard from her. Lyne was back and she was not happy with it. Lyne cannot be harmed in the palace anyway so she was not worried about that. Perhaps Luana was not who she thinks she is. She quickly erased the thoughts from her mind. What she was happy about was the arrival of Lyne. She stood up from where she sat on the bed and finished arranging the bed sheets she was arranging before. 

    Chloe thought about what Luana had said about Maya. She will head to the temple tomorrow and hear whatever she has to say. After Maya has been taken care of, she will keep a close watch on Luana herself. She might have skeleton under her closet. She then called Amber and told her to go to Lyne’s room to help her to do whatever needs to be done. She and her daughter need to be cared for and protected now that they were here.