I

  had known that Mari's swift return heralded bad news, but I hadn't

  been prepared for that news to be about the Great Church.

  I

  knew they would oppose my rule and likely work to undermine my power,

  but Mari was concerned that they were already stirring and preparing

  themselves for something. I had assumed that the vast spy networks of

  the demon realm would have reported if there was an uptick in the

  activity of the Church, but nothing had been delivered to my ears

  thus far.

  Mari

  had suggested a leisurely walk through the garden while we discussed,

  a site she gravitated to whenever she felt troubled. Her lips had

  been drawn in a thin, stressed line since her return "There's

  no reason for Aela to have found and contacted me if there weren't

  already plans in place," Mari said, swirling her glass of wine

  like the sediment in the bottom of the glass would form an answer.

  "It wasn't out of concern for my wellbeing, she is far too

  estranged and angry for that, though I'm still trying to determine

  her motive for warning me at all."

  "Some

  sort of familial bond?" I suggested. "Even I gave my mother

  opportunity to repent and spare her life. I had no reason to other

  than a tattered sense of kinship."

  "Then

  you lost no sleep over when she did not, Toria,” she pointed out

  with half-smirk. “Evonia did not say as much, but the implication

  was there that they had the option to return and repent. We would

  have figured out how to weave them back into the workings of the

  House, but they were never interested and instead insisted they had

  found their true callings."

  Mari

  let out a disgusted snort. “That door being left open was one of

  the things that Evonia and I would fight about. I never trusted them

  before and once I heard they had joined up with the Church, my

  already low opinion of them bottomed out. I imagine if they had ever

  returned, I would have been inclined to take my leave. They are not

  the sort of people I find agreeable to keeping close quarters with."

  "You

  and Evonia had been that divided?" I asked, surprised given the

  close kinship my great aunt and grandmother seemed to share.

  "Oh

  yes," Mari said seriously, "For a good while, just before I

  went to rescue you and a bit after while you were still young."

  "I

  don't remember any of that," I said, wracking my brain for

  memories from that time period. "The both of you had little

  sibling squabbles, but nothing that seemed too serious."

  Mari

  laughed lightly and motioned to the subtly mounded earth where Evonia

  rested in the garden. "My sister and I had appearances to keep,

  no reason to let the servants know there was a fight brewing. Those

  are the kinds of situations that inspire troublemakers in the lowest

  of society who think they can stir and make trouble. No, we kept it

  private and behind locked doors."

  "Understandable,

  but what I don’t understand is why Aela chose to come to you. If

  there is so much bad blood between the two of you, why warn you at

  all?" I asked as I contemplated just how sheltered from the

  political goings on around the castle I had been even though I had

  been the heir.

  "It

  must fit into their plan somehow," she postulated, "I don't

  have any other way to explain it. Me knowing ahead of time benefits

  their plan." A look of worry passed over her features. "I

  didn't think this at the time, but perhaps they wanted me back here,

  they knew I would likely come back to report to you."

  Uneasiness

  washed over me, the castle was not prepared for any sort of trickery.

  Mari had reassured me before she started travel that her contacts had

  come up dry for any looming plans, but what if her contacts had been

  compromised? I needed to contact Rafe and quickly, I couldn't afford

  to be caught flat-footed.

  Mari

  nodded at me, her face displaying she knew what I was thinking and

  made a shooing motion with her hands. I quickly made my way to the

  front sitting room where Mistra spent many of her afternoons sitting

  in the sunlight streaming through the large windows, nose in a book.

  "What's

  wrong?" she asked, looking up from her book and noticing my look

  of alarm.

  "I

  need to travel over to the demon realm," I said, not pausing for

  a response and instead jogging towards the dungeon steps.

  Mistra

  didn't question further and followed, her light steps barely audible

  on the stone leading down to the portal chamber. I could sense her

  confusion, but time was of the essence and while it would have been

  quicker to have my aunt accompany me for the ritual, I didn't want to

  take the more obvious action and fall even further into whatever plan

  had been conspired.

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  Without

  ceremony or need to review the steps to activate the symbol, we began

  to channel our energy to focus into the profane image. Mistra

  produced the dagger she kept on her side and slit down her palm with

  no hesitation, then held the wound out before her to let the blood

  fall and seep into the cracks as a conduit for our magic. Once her

  blood filled the symbol, the magic took hold and the world around us

  vanished into misty fog, then re-materialized as the dungeon in

  Rafe’s castle.

  A

  guard bowed lowly, awaiting our transversal. He looked to be of

  somewhat high rank judging from his sharply pressed clothing and

  steely gaze. Unlike most of the planned trips, the demon was not clad

  in a glamour and instead stood imposing above my head, his horns

  curled down the back of his head then turned inward, towards his

  ears. His dark ebony skin looked perfect, like he had been chiseled

  from a piece of flawless marble, the angles of his face and muscles

  sharp and strong.

  "Queen

  Toria, we were not expecting you," he said, straightening from

  his bow, "nor you, Lady Mistra."

  "We

  are on a bit of an urgent matter, I must request an immediate meeting

  with the king," I said.

  The

  demon raised his eyebrow, but did not reply and instead motioned for

  us to follow him. I, not in the mood to entertain formality,

  gracefully side stepped him, and pushed my way past and into the

  chilly dungeon hallway. I ignored the deep sigh that escaped his lips

  and made my way to the stairway up to the main floor. Since the

  castles were mirror images it never made much sense to me why I would

  be escorted around like I did not know where I was going.

  "He

  is not expecting you," the guard called out as he tried to catch

  up with me, "he may be busy and unable to entertain your visit."

  "He

  will change his tune," I asserted, "the information I have

  for him is very important."

  "I

  understand that, but-"

  I

  will not be taking orders from a servant," I snapped, cutting

  him off from speaking. I turned quickly and cast him a withering

  glare, I had already felt a foul mood bubbling, but his attempt to

  stopped me had fully manifested it.

  His

  hurried footsteps did not cease, but he said no more as he followed

  me to the King's private sitting chambers. I knocked on the elegant

  door and was relieved to hear him call out to enter. I was going to

  whether he liked it or not, but I preferred him less irritated and

  more rational. He already had enough of a tendency to fly off the

  handle at the drop of a hat, I wanted him in control and reasonable.

  "Toria,"

  he said in surprised, placing down the book he had been reading. He

  was also not in glamour, striking an imposing figure, nearly a head

  higher than the guard with ivory horns as thick as my arm curled

  forward and upward. In an instant his form melted into the usual

  humanoid glamour. "What do I owe the pleasure of a visit?"

  He gestured to the armchair opposite him.

  I

  accepted his offer of sitting and nodded towards him with deference.

  Mistra took a seat on the lounging couch, eyes locked on me, it was

  not often I commanded things of her without much explanation.

  "And

  my darling daughter as well," Rafe said, giving her a welcoming

  smile, "it is not often I get to see you both together."

  "I

  have a potential problem that I think you both would like to know

  about and help with," I said, cutting straight to the point.

  Rafe's

  lips curled into a frown and he motioned for me continue.

  "Our

  plan to train more girls has been discovered. Mari just returned

  after receiving a warning to stop."

  Rafe

  slowly blinked his eyes then let out a huff of annoyance through his

  nose. "I thought the plan to begin with was not all that

  promising."

  "You

  let it go through," I countered. I didn't want to anger him, but

  I also did not want all the blame to fall to solely myself, even if

  it was my idea and happened on my command. "If you thought it

  would end badly, you had opportunity to voice your concern."

  A

  sly smile graced the king's lips and he let out a light chuckle. "It

  is sometimes best to let a new leader make their own mistakes."

  I

  was not amused by his cavalier attitude and willingness to feign

  being hands off with the plan. He had been present as well and though

  I would readily admit to being the author of the plan, he had ample

  opportunity to interject. I sat in silence a few moments, quietly

  seething and trying to tell myself that it was best to set aside this

  matter for later.

  "I

  seem to have struck a nerve," Rafe said with a chuckle, a

  genuine look of amusement coming over his features.

  "Regardless,"

  I said, swallowing my pride and desire to make a scene, "we have

  reason to believe that Mari was informed so that she would return to

  the castle. That may mean that they wanted us all together."

  He

  nodded his head and leaned back into his chair. "I can send some

  extra guards for a while, if that will suffice."

  I

  raised my eyebrow questioningly, it was never this easy to get

  agreement out of him, especially when it was bad news. His temper was

  legendary and I had been a personal witness to it on several

  occasions. It was wholly unlike him to be so cavalier.

  "You

  are in an unprecedented good mood," Mistra said, eyeing her

  father suspiciously. "Normally you'd be stomping around and

  throwing a fit about not knowing about this problem ahead of time.

  You are not usually so laid back and easy going."

  "A

  problem of mine has gone to the trouble of getting rid of themselves,

  it has made my life overall easier" Rafe said with a shrug. "It

  is a whole new outlook on life when you don't have a sniveling

  potential usurper sneaking around in the dark, ready to put a dagger

  in your back."

  I

  did not glance over to Mistra, though I sorely wanted to. It would be

  an obvious mistake to give Rafe any hint that we were conspiring

  against him. Mistra was nowhere near ready to let the cat out of the

  bag and though we may think he was not the best to be in control, we

  still needed his support in the short term.

  "Laric's

  marriage is now a good thing to you?" Mistra asked, keeping her

  voice even and unassuming.

  "Now

  I didn't say that," Rafe said, his voice taking on a tinge of

  his normal normal self. "I still think he grossly went over my

  head to enter into the agreement, in hindsight, perhaps it would have

  been a better decision to have him thrown in the dungeon and

  executed. Would have put out the expectation of how I will deal with

  people who cross me, even if they happen to be my own children."

  "There's

  the father I know," Mistra said with a dry laugh. "Paternalism

  simply exudes from you."

  Rafe

  snorted and waved off Mistra's comment with his hand. "Monarchs

  should be especially harsh and distrustful of their children,

  especially those not the first born." Ignoring his own words, he

  glanced askance at his daughter and gave her a mischievous smile.

  "Though some of my children are harder to keep that stance

  about."

  Raf

  estood and nodded towards the both of us. "If you'll both excuse

  me, I should go get those guards commanded. My informants do not

  think the Church is ready to make any big moves as of yet, but better

  to hedge our bets."

  Once

  Rafe was out of the room, we exchanged knowing looks, but said

  nothing, it was never safe to speak freely outside of any area out of

  your direct control. It was simple and a no-brainer to establish

  listening magic to record and keep any conversations, my own castle

  had them all over except for a few, strategic areas. Still Mistra's

  expression was all I needed to understand what she was thinking.

  There was a look of seriousness, but also mirth in her eyes, a look

  that said taking over a kingdom should be so much harder than it

  actually was.