He held her hand

Sophie's eyes widened as she looked at the person standing in front of her.

"Care to explain anything? Sophie" Liana spoke with anger.

"I'll tell you everything but you need to promise me something first." Sophie asked Liana hoping that the friend she had in Liana is still there even after she broke her trust.

"What is it?" Liam's reluctantly asked.

"Promise me that you won't tell anyone" Sophie begged with her eyes.

"I've never been a snitch. I promise" Liana agreed but footsteps started echoing in the distance.

"Later" Sophie mouthed to Liana and Liana nodded.

Soon enough, beta Aiden came there with the guards but Tyrion was missing. Sophie was a shocked mess and Liana said she had just arrived. The guards nodded and let them leave for their rooms.

Sophie was shocked that Tyrion didn't come but she thought she'll keep her attention on how to handle Liana.

Soon enough, Liana came to Sophie's room and locked it. Sophie liked the gesture as it meant Liana still trusted her enough to keep her secret.

So slowly, Sophie explained everything to Liana. She told her about the chaos in her world which forced her to leave, how she met Tyrion, and everything that has happened ever since.

Liana's eyes widened as a realisation hit her "wait, so this means that you're Tyrion's mate?" Sophie nodded with a smile and Liana's hands went to her mouth.

"Oh my god, don't tell me I called him a piece of candy infront of you" Liana covered her face in her hands.

"Hey, don't think about it, I didn't even think much myself" Sophie lied. Yes, at one point she probably wanted to smash her head against the wall but then they became friends, she has forgotten about this ever since.

"Thank you." Liana smiled sheepishly "I could totally see why the two of you are mates, you guys are perfect for each other" Liana continued which made Sophie blush.

"I know but I'm just a blushing mess around him" Sophie joked and the two of them laughed.

"I wish he could just remove his chain and let this competition end" Liana sighed and Sophie nodded.

"Don't even ask me how I've been controlling myself"'Sophie said.

"This Goeth, what does she have against you, what is her grudge?" Liana asked with curiosity.

Sophie took a deep breath as she started explaining what had earlier happened. "Goeth was a siren. She used to lure men into our world, back then our kingdoms were just separated by imaginary maps, there were no borders on land" Sophie said and Liana nodded.

"So sometime in her life, Goeth must've gone to the land where she met this guy" a lump formed in Sophie's throat as she took his name "Austin. Austin gave her her coat back so in our world, they were married. After that, Goeth tried persuading him without her spells but failed to, because of which she had to finally use her spell to control him. This is a total crime in our world, you can't use your spell for true love or marriage."

"When he was under her control, she brought him back to our world, but he was a human, he couldn't take all of it. Sometimes he would run away for some hours, this turned to days eventually. Goeth was happy as long as he returned. She didn't minded much because all the time that he was away, she would lure another man for her ecstasy."

"All this confusion, this new world and running was ruining Austin's mental health. That is when he ran into me, he started coming back to me day after day."

Sophie took a deep breath as the days played in front of her eyes.

"First time we met, he fell into a mud pond and I helped him out, after that he kept on coming.

This continued for a month. I liked him because he was like a genuine friend of mine and I enjoyed spending time with him."

"Eventually, he asked me out and I said yes. We dated for almost two weeks when he told me he loved me. And a spell of obsession can be broken if that person starts loving someone else genuinely. Even I started liking Austin. As Goeth's spell broke off, he completely forgot why he was there, all he knew was his life with me."

"Even my friends liked him" she stopped as she remembered Steven shouting on him "well not all of them but most did. But then one day Goeth found us, I had no idea that he was married to Goeth and I tried explaining that but everything went out of hand." Sophie sighed.

"And let's just say she's not my biggest fan ever since" Sophie continued and Liana nodded.

"Understandable" Liana agreed. "So that's why she's here, you took her man and she's after yours"

Sophie nodded.

Both of them talked for hours and when Liam's started yawning, Sophie suggested it was time for Liana to go to sleep.

Sophie slept that night with worry in her heart. How did she not already catch Goeth, Goeth never had as much of power as Sophie did so how could she so easily escape her everytime?

The next morning, Sophie got up early as she was already excited for this round. Tyrion's family members were coming to see the princesses.

Sophie wore an elegant station dress, hoping that his family accepts her as she is.

All the remaining 7 princesses were gathered across the hall when Tyrion came. Tyrion held eye contact with every woman as he spoke.

"Today, all of you will be meeting my family. This is an important round because the person I like should be liked by my family" he spoke and looked at Helena, giving her a charming smile.

Something stirred in Sophie.

"Try as best as you can because after this round, only 5 will remain and we're about to end this competition" applause filled the crowd as all of the princesses clapped thinking they're going home with the title.

Tyrion's mother and his younger sister sat in a room where each princess entered one by one.

"Aren't you nervous?" Liana whispered to Sophie once they were waiting for their turn.

"Nervous would be and understatement" Sophie spoke as they chuckled.

"I've heard that his cousin, Alpha Derek was about to join them aswell but his flight got delayed." Liana told her.

"Thank god, I mean I'm already nervous meeting his mother and sister, I don't know how much more of an audience I can handle.

Liana soon entered the room and it was just Sophie and Helena. Sophie knew that Helena already had an upper hand in this competition as she was Tyrion's childhood friend.

But this is what Sophie will show her, that she can only stay his childhood friend while Sophie is his mate.

When it was Helena's turn, Tyrion came out of blue and held her hand. He held her hand and took her inside the room. Once he was out, he completely ignored Sophie.

Sophie got frustrated as she understood what had happened.

Tyrion was into a spell again.