After Eldora had thrown him to the side her eyes caught the attention of someone coming. She could feel the presence and she could smell Xunatar. However, it wasn’t Xunatar but it also wasn’t Dante or her brother Colden. She tilted her head and watched as he came over to inspect the man. She didn’t move and she barely even held the notion of answering him. “Yes,” she answered not quickly or scared, it was just a matter of fact. “I told him to leave me alone.” Her eyes flickered to the man as he got kicked in the chest and soon Steele was asking her about his father. “I’ve known him since before he was a god.” It was the truth and Eldora answered without a skip in a heartbeat.

She went to raise her hand again and the man who had scurried away flinched. She tilted her head and watched the man put a sword to the bother’s throat. “If there is a next time I will kill you.” The words left her lips. “There won’t be going to anyone else.” She didn’t need someone to help her. It wasn’t that Eldora had the authority to do so but she had explicitly warned several times now to leave her be.

At first, she didn’t hear Steele’s words. She was more focused on the point where the man had run away. “Next time I’ll take his eyes out first then.” Maybe then he would leave her be. She tilted her head back up and looked at his blue eyes. “Eldora.” For a moment she got closer to him. “You all have the same blue eyes.” She wasn’t so much admiring as she was studying.

“I’m Colden’s half-sister. Your half-brother Dante is screwing my half-sister Lotus. I’m here as an oracle.” That seemed to be all the information he would need. She walked over to the table and put another crystal in it. Crystals were vast spirit containers, communicators, and otherwise the perfect conduit. Her situation with his father didn’t seem nearly as important since it was only one night and she wasn’t about to make a bad habit. She came back over and put the doll in his arms. “Hold this. No breaking it.”

She turned around to do something else to the crystal she had put down and the doll began to emit screams. Eldora straightened up in an unnatural movement. She put a finger to her lips and shushed them. “I know.” She translated the screams as she moved over to the blood that had dropped on the floor. She was quick to put a crystal down on it and stomped on it hard. The crystal splintered and a scream filled the Cradle. She looked back at the doll and it had stopped moving. “Wretched men never learn.” She came back over and removed the Xunatar doll from his arms. She held it in her arms and looked Steele over.

She was dressed in a long black gown. It’s front was sweetheart shaped and it went off her shoulders. It was trimmed in gold. Her long black hair almost blended in with the fabric as it came around her waist. “He tried to get in my room,” was her only explanation for what she did. “Most likely a curse spell from what I saw. So I took an eye.” He was still useful at least. Eldora was a good foot shorter than he was.

“You are a Lycanthrope, yes?” She held up her hand to his nose and tilted her head. She wasn’t about to reveal how she knew but he probably assumed that it was her visions anyways. She wasn’t doing so to be funny with him or condensing it was just how Eldora was. The curious nature in her showed brightest in her eyes as she watched him. She brought down her free hand from him and played with her temple again as if trying to make something go away. “Help me?” Her blue eyes went up to his. “Unless you need to see Xunatar, I need to see him too. Now at least.” Her words were curious as she mused what she saw. She squeezed the doll and mused.

She knew he wasn't used to her as her blue eyes turned up to him. "I don't do titles. Not out of disrespect but time. Takes too much time to say it." She was sure he would have thought her rude as she began to shuffle off towards where his father was. She would stop and make sure that Steele was following her every once in a while, her blue eyes searching for his. Once they found Xunatar, Eldora went up to him and began to whisper in his ear, after pulling him down gently so she could reach. "Colden has moved again. This time to the outer banks of Kurayo." She let him go. "And your other son is here." She was sure that Xunatar could see. "And Dante is with Lotus in Iria now." She had been keeping tabs for the past few days. "My mother, I can't feel her still. She is hiding but she has sent Colden with something that I don't like. It's cold feeling but not a dead feeling." She mused. "Probably the Luzil she likes so much. That or she has something similar working for her to keep an eye on Colden."

Her blue eyes flickered back to Steele and then she looked to Xunatar. That had been the first time she had touched Xunatar since the first night she got there and she let him go without a second thought as she wandered a little bit from them to put another crystal down, hidden between a little indent in the wall. She came back to them and stared up at Xunatar. "Crystals balance the good magic and the bad. They also can collect the energy for times of crisis. Force of habit." It hadn't been long ago that she had to do all these things to keep her sanity. Now Xunatar was the bridge.

Steele’s arms crossed against his chest, contemplating if it was a good idea to leave the man alive. He was working under his lord, yes, but he seemed to be more trouble than he was worth. If he wanted to stay breathing in this world, then surely he would have to prioritize his responsibilities correctly for the remainder of his years. The wolf demon hadn’t seen blood in such an awful long time and it wouldn’t have bothered him to rid the world of one less scum. It wasn’t out of kindness or of some chivalric code that he had threatened him. It was out of pure annoyance. With that out of the way, he was left with the woman. She seemed to be telling him the truth with every word that came from her mouth. At least he was more convinced to listen to her than her stalker. “Do as you wish then. Father can easily replace him without needing a second thought. I doubt he favors him enough to even toss his corpse out and watch it fall into the sea below.”

Steele dropped his arms and allowed one hand to rest against the end of the handle before taking quick notice of her approaching him and took a step back in response. Eldora seemed very strange to him but he pushed it aside for the moment. “Yes, it's a dominate trait from our father. It’s a tell sign among us.” Steele wasn’t the sort to keep secrets like the others, he saw it as a waste of time. It was one of a very few traits he and Dante shared. Eldora went onto explain who she was in relation to him and mentally he sighed at her detailed answer. “Charming. I suppose I do not need to introduce myself but, I’m Steele.” He wasn’t too thrilled with dealing with any more of the Black Roses, particularly those blood related to Colden, the whiny little brat.” But she seemed to be of some use, otherwise Xunatar would have cut her loose long ago. When he was about to ask what she was doing with these crystals she gathered, he reluctantly took hold of something into his free arm. Gripping it, he looked on with a dumbfound look at what appeared to be a doll modeled after the lord. “Why on earth…”, he begun to protest but then refrained and did as she asked. It wasn’t long before he nearly dropped the thing when he heard screaming from it. There was a good reason why he had avoided any sort of interaction with Colden’s other family. A few more unorthodox things later, he wanted this all to end and be done with. He couldn’t fathom what the hell she was up to until the nightmare ended and she subtly filled him in.

That man was more trouble than he was worth.   
 
Perhaps he was better off killing the servant, but then came the issue with her bring a hand up to his face and he looked on, unsure what she wanted. Her question combined with the gesture clicked in his mind of something, he immediately he was annoyed. Steele had thought that she was thinking he was dog like but she looked so serious. “Yes, I am. At least a half one.” He smelled the scent from it and confirmed it had a flowery essence to it. He couldn’t help but to ponder for a moment whether all of her kind smelled like that or not. “Yes, I am here to see him." Looking to the doll Eldora took back into her possession, Steele shook his head. “I do not care for titles either.” It seemed as though she knew where his father was, so it couldn’t be helped that he would use her to get to him. Trailing behind her, his eyes met with hers every time she looked back, as if he was going to disappear at some point and she looked only for reinsurance.

Of course when they made it to the throne hall, he could see his father residing upon his throne. “Steele, my boy. I see you made it. Did you have trouble through the maze once more”, he spoke so whimsically. His son responded with a huff before the God’s eyes fell from him to Eldora who quickly briefed him of her news. “She wouldn’t leave him too far away from her, not if she wanted to continue with this quest of hers." She wouldn’t risk the chance of him leaving her clutches. Xunatar tapped his finger beneath his chin; Dante and Lotus wouldn’t be able to make it in time should they need to get to Kurayo, and even so, he still held some of the cards that could undo her. Materializing the vial of blood that belonged to her sister, he studied it casually between his fingers.

It had been some time since Eldora’s stay, and truly his actions hadn’t been completely selfish. She had a better grasp at understanding the feelings of others and even more, herself. Still, she was in control of herself, a lot more than Cyprus ever could.

“She’s fighting a losing war”, Steele called out, the look in his eyes spoke hunger for blood. He wanted to end her life once and forever to be freed from that banshee. “She has caused us too much time and effort in worrying about her. Why not send me to go and hunt her down?” The God looked on as if he was expecting such an answer from the wolf, which of course he was. “Excuse him, like Colden and Dante, he also is essentially a sin incarnated. Wrath is a terrible one to deal with, but in his five hundred years or so, he has since dealt with it better.”

Looking from Steele to Eldora, a wonderful idea sparked and it spoke from the deep curl of his lips.

“I called you here because you are a strategist, Steele. Eldora is my seer, and I find that both of you will play a significant role in her destruction. So…I wish for you two to work together and think up a way that we can trap Cyprus and save your brother from her and his own stupidity.”

“That would be a shameful waste.” She mused as she thought about Xunatar just throwing his body out. “Maybe he will let me have his knuckles… The man is an idiot but he is a gifted mage.” She hummed it softly as she thought about it. “I bet I could get ten divinations out of his bones… Maybe five depending on what the job is.” It was a rather curious thing to really think about.

She knew well by now that Xunatar’s blood didn’t favor her blood too much but she shrugged it off. “I am not like them you know. I wasn’t raised by them, only her blood flows through my veins and it is barely there. The spirits purged all things related to her.” She wasn’t overly concerned with Steele liking her. “My siblings are all idiots. Even Lotus has her moments.” She hummed as she put the doll in his arms. She was glad he did as she asked even though he didn’t sound pleased about it. She saw the jump at the screams. Once things had calmed down she took it back. “It is a gift from Xunatar. Don’t break it. It’s a good gift.”

When he didn’t seem to get her joke she frowned a bit. “I was just kidding. I have many lycanthrope cousins. My aunt is married to one. They all have such keen noses. Half one like you, they are.” She walked with him and made sure he was following behind her.

“No, she wouldn’t have.” She appeared upset a bit that she hadn’t been able to pinpoint her mother on the map. Some type of magic was making her unable to see her and whenever she divined with her talismans the knuckles would crack. “Had to kill a lot of magi to get my talismans back because of her.”

When Steele spoke up she paid attention. “I know, I saw his sin. Just like I saw Dante’s. Shame that Dante wouldn’t give me just one of his knuckles… Lotus would be quite cross with me if I took something from him.” It was another dry joke from her as she gave the Lord a pair of smiling eyes though her face was still quite stoic.

Eldora looked gleeful when his plan came out. “And the pain will end, right? Not all together but the type she brings. I don’t enjoy it.” She had various scars down her body that she wasn’t hiding at all. They hadn’t been things that she had done or had happened to her. Eldora walked up to Steele and stared at him. “I have an idea to get my sight back.” There was a tsk from her face. “She did it again.”

She looked at Xunatar. “Colden is running from Kurayo. Just as I thought he would. She is using a medium to keep an eye on what I see and I think I have it figured out.” She went over to Steele and took his hand, she looked at his palm. “She is baiting me. I could have stopped it a while ago. I knew what she was doing but all I had was Xunatar. I could not use him, though.”

Her blue eyes drifted up to Steele. “I’m powerful but I need a conduit for a curse. If I were to use Xunatar and she has a counter-curse ready it would bounce off her and back to me. It would be fine if Xunatar’s powers weren’t limitless. The backlash would go on forever and wouldn’t end. I can handle pain but that would kill me. I’m not suicidal.” She tilted her head. “I’ve known it for the last two days. I confirmed with Bryony about the disappearance of one of the Oracles from Arri. It’s a young one. Not terribly powerful.”

Eldora put Steele’s hand down and turned to Xunatar. “Arriese Oracles are powerful and if she wanted to block the others she could no problem. My powers are a bit different than the others. She can’t block me easily. I think she killed the girl and resurrected her as one of her playthings. Enough to control the abilities that oracles get. She can block me and watch me. Even if she didn’t kill the girl… I have no problems killing my own. I would kill whoever you asked me to, honestly. I don’t care much for bonds or family. However, my visions are deeply connected to them so that is why I wish their suffering to end. The more they suffer the more I do.”

How old was she? She began to ponder on it. “I’m old but I can’t remember how old. Some say I’m younger than Lotus while others say I am the oldest. My existence has been one convoluted mess because of her. Like my other siblings, I was once a half demon like you Steele.” Her blue eyes peeked over. “A dagger to the heart out of anger that I was already dead when I was born changed that. I was purged of everything impure. Everything the spirits didn’t want. The screaming doll is Xunatar’s gift to me. All that screaming was in my head day in and day out. When I went to bed and when I woke up. I’m the most powerful oracle in all of Arri but at a cost.”

She mused lightly now. “If I leave this place, I’ll most likely die now.” When she spoke of leaving it was more so permanently. “What made me survive all these years was not understanding and now I understand. It’s also made me more dangerous.” She tapped her fingers against the doll. “I can do a curse on the oracle and kill her but I will need Steele and his blood. All he has to do is agree. She is banking on me using Xunatar for my conduit. I might have before without a clear conscious of the situation.”

It was plainly becoming obvious that his father was going to allow Cyprus’ children in on the plan in slaying the she bitch once and for all. As far as he was concerned, they would be best staying out of his way when the time arrived. Steele wanted a good hunt and he wanted Cyprus gone so they could worry about bigger things. At least now, they were killing two birds with one stone. He could put aside his petty dislikes for the time being, his focus would be kept on ridding the world of a vermin that should have been destroyed a long time ago.

He knew that his father would know his wants, his desires and exploit them like he had everyone else. Not even blood could make the demon king docile when it came to his children. They were exploitable and expendable just like any other pawn, though he was more so careful with him and the others like him. He pondered if Eldora knew how deep such devious mindwork her God had, but no one could reach inside that mind. He hardly doubted if anyone if even want to. Xunatar’s eyes fixated onto his seer and chuckle darkly. [b“Dante wouldn't be willing. He would claim he’d need those for…personal reasons.”

Steele wouldn’t have put it past his brother to use such a pathetic excuse. A small snarl left his lips at the mentioning of the cursed woman having another edge in the situation. Meanwhile Xunatar lifted himself from his throne and made his way over towards them. While he contemplated the situation with Colden, Steele was met with Eldora coming towards him once more and took his hand without permission. “What do you think you are doing, woman?”, he spoke, his voice holding a slight edge to it. “Conduit? Curse?” He couldn’t believe what she was saying. His father tossed him a warning glare and he immediately ceased an argument he was about to start.

If Cyprus could use the very things that gave Eldora an advantage, then what was the point? Steele wasn’t the sort to dillydally in her profession, he preferred blades and fist over the mind. While she might have been pleased with the idea tossed out, the wolf wasn't nearly as ecstatic. “As long as she is ended, I will do what I must.” Which led ultimately to Eldora’s plan of still using a conduit, but not his father. He looked at her with a cautious glance, not sure whether this would truly work but he supposed that he would try anything at this point. Her mother had done a well job pissing him off to this level.     

“You claim to be the most powerful oracle, then prove it.”

His eyes never left hers as he drew out the blade enough from the sheath to be exposed before his other hand gripped tightly around it. He winced but a little as the blood flowed through his palm and he held it towards her, palm up. “Make certain that this doesn’t go to waste then, Eldora.” The lord looked on, entertained with his son’s showing of determination and recklessness at the same time. “Well, you have your answer then, no? Do as you please with him if it furthers your objective.” 

The Dante comment made Eldora laugh. “That is exactly what he told me actually. The second time we met. The first time we got to speak.”

Her fingers twitched a bit as Steele. He was quickly on getting on her nerves but she knew that he would be shown the way one way or another. That was the way of the world. Adapt or die. The smell of blood hit her nose and she smiled just a bit. “Love this is a death curse. You need a lot more blood than this.” She dipped her finger in his blood and nodded to Xunatar.

“It will be done and your line is strong so it shouldn’t hurt Steele too much. Being a lycanthrope will do him good.” She got a map and some talismans. “I will need more… she has broken my last batch from the magi that Lotus and Dante got me the last time they came to me.” She frowned a bit at the thought of such a loss. “They were my favorite.” She set up the map and threw the talismans without looking like she did anything at all.

This room would do her good. She stalked around a bit before she held out her hand to Steele. She beckoned him over to the map. There was now a fire on the map where she had thrown the talismans. She stood on one side and she was clearly instructing Steele to stand on the other. She beckoned the man to give him her sword. She pulled his other hand where the blood was. She was whispering. The room was suddenly hazy. “Find Colden. Then find the eyes near us.” The whisper was becoming more intense. Slowly it wasn’t her voice anymore doing the whispering. It was around them.

The map erupted in deep azure flames. “Find her.” The haze of the room became a more clear picture. It was Colden in a room with a hazy figure but there was a small blonde girl nearby. She was pleading for her life. Eldora leaned and bathed the sword in the azure flames. She could hear the girl pleading to let her go and she simply didn’t care.

“Your eyes are no more. Your spirit returned.” Eldora whispered softly into the already chaotic whispers. The other oracle snapped too and was now in a panic.

“She’s going to kill me.” The girl was screaming now.

“So do what I told you to. My daughter isn’t that smart.” Cyprus’s voice was clear as she snapped at the girl. Eldora had a smile as she jammed the sword’s hot tip into Steele’s hand. The blood gushed out of him and onto the map.

The girl began to erupt into a pyre of azure flames. Colden almost fell out of his seat and Cyprus was scoffing. The screams of the girl filled the room and a green set of flames backfired back at Eldora. The scene was gone and Eldora had dropped the sword to deal with her body that was now on fire.

There were no screams from her. When the fire died down Eldora was nude in the room. There were scorch marks on her skin and harsh cut marks across her stomach. Her wounds slowly began to heal and she looked tired as she moved to pull the sword from Steele if he hadn’t already. She was wobbling but she was more exhausted than anything.

“I thought so. Your power in your blood… tastes like ripe strawberries.” She chuckled. “We should be able to track my mother and Colden now without a problem. The oracles are more aware so she can’t catch another one.” She spit the green flames out now as the map fully burned up. The cursed was completely sealed and there was a scorch mark on the floor. She tried to get rid of it with her foot.

“Did I hurt you too badly?” She tilted her head and looked at Steele. She moved her hand up and wiped some blood off her lips caused by the damage the counter-curse had tried to do. “She was as weak as I thought she was. She couldn’t completely throwback Steele’s powers but if it had been Xunatar’s… It would have kept looping until I was killed. I made sure that the body was completely destroyed so that Mother couldn’t bring it back.”

She took Steele's hand after that and the azure glow came back this time in a healing light. "Is this better?"

He shrugged at her comment, “You should have been more direct with how much you wanted. Bleeding and causing others to bleed is my business.” Steele wasn’t invincible and even believed in such a concept. He had fought in many battles, and many times he found the battlefield covered with his own blood. Bleeding for this cause wouldn’t deter him in the least. Xunatar knew that as well, but he kept his comments among himself for the time being. He wouldn’t cower from bleeding nor from pain, he could handle it being demon and lycan, as Eldora had said. Both men looked onto the map and talismans she withdrew. He thought they were just some trinkets and yet she seemed to know what she was doing with them. When the time had arrived for his part, Steele came over towards her and followed her directions thoroughly. He remained somewhat skeptical but there was little choice but to go along with her plan. 

These spirits that she summoned, their whispers entered throughout the room, puzzling him greatly as his eyes scanned about for the unforeseen. His father returned to his seat and looked on like a child watching something extraordinary. Before long the map seemed to be no more and the vivid imaging of Colden was there, along with some girl who seemed to be the one Eldora was looking for. But it was the voice of that witch that made his stomach churn. Xunatar looked unamused by his former lover’s tone nor her terrible lack of thinking things through. It would soon be her undoing. Steele was going to question why Eldora needed his sword, but she made it rather clear and the next moment, he was in dire pain of his hand impaled. Gritting through his teeth, he withdrew enough of the pain to watch his blood pour onto the map and soon the girl felt the pain of the curse.

And then she too was on fire as per the counter curse.

Steele looked to his father, who sat there passively. “Watch, boy.” Looking at her again, Steele could see that she wasn’t harmed, at least not severely and noticed that her clothing was completely gone. It seemed as though Cyprus had lost a major advantage in this war. He winced again as he was freed from the blade’s bitter kiss. The pain stung greatly, but his hand was still usable thank goodness. “Suppose you have proven your power to me”, he stated as he rubbed at his blood stained hand. “I don’t mind pain, but I do like knowing what is to come before it happens.”

“No, you didn’t.” he spoke flatly, “You need not worry about me. I bleed for whatever I am needed for.” Steele looked over to his father’s throne, but Xunatar was gone now. To where he was, it was anyone’s guess. Sighing, he felt his hand being taken again, this time she decided to heal rather than to continue maiming it. As much as he was frustrated with the course of the events, he would admit that the execution went very well. “Yes…”, he spoke while looking to the side. She needed not to heal him, it would have done so in time. When it was done, he quickly removed his trench coat and handed it over to her.

“You…shouldn’t be standing there like that in the home of a God”, he muttered to himself. “That is why I’m offering this to you, nothing more… “ He wasn’t used to such kindness, even if her intention wasn't so. It was even harder for him to display such a gesture. “So… what will be the next move in this? She knows that we know of her plans and intentions. What would she have left in her arsenal?  

Eldora freed his hand and looked up at him. “You issued a challenge. It was my job to deliver. If I would have told you what was going to happen it wouldn’t have been as effective. Rule one about proving your power to someone. I don’t just claim to be the best because I have a large ego. I am the best because of my skills. They will only become better over time as I refine them. I am young yet for a Rosenite.”

She tilted her head at him as he told her that he was fine. “To bleed unnecessary leads to death and your death isn’t foreseen anytime soon. You need your blood to not fall unless called for.” She patted his hand. “Good.” She said as he replied to her about his hand.

She tilted her head at his coat. “I don’t understand.” She spoke with a curious look in her blue eyes staring into his. “Why is it so bad? Are we not all truly naked in the beginning and in the end? It is nothing to be shameful over.” She mused softly but did as he asked. She took it and put it on. It was much more like a luxury long dress as she began to pull at it so she didn’t step on it. “I don’t understand but thank you. Not a lot of people have done kind things for me.”

They would be working together to end this problem with Cyprus. A frustrated sigh left her lips as she pulled on the edge of the trench coat. “Come with me. We’ll talk more. If you require me to be dressed I would rather not trip over myself.” She tugged his arm to follow her and along the way she stepped on the edge of the coat and almost tripped herself up.

“She still has the luzil, her army, and Colden. She will throw all of it at us in self sacrifice. Before the end of her last time she did the unspeakable in Arri. Stealing a goddess’s child. The demon power she had been obtaining for years is the only reason ripping her from limb to limb did not kill her.”

Once they got to her room she took off the coat and handed it back to him. “You can stay in the room. I am not bothered by you being here while I dress.” She just didn’t understand still even after Xunatar’s demonstration. The wounds on her were still fresh as she had ripped one open when she had tripped. The blood ran down her side as she moved over to her armoire and began to go through it. She tilted her head at all the dresses. “I’ve only ever had one set of clothes before.” She mused aloud.

She froze up a bit and looked at Steele. “I wasn’t raised with my mother and siblings. I was dead when I was born. The original conduit for the Luzil she uses today. She couldn’t use me so she plunged a dagger into my dead heart. Bryony came and took me from her. The spirits of Arri brought me back to life. I was raised by Bryony until I was five. That was when the visions started. I’ve witnessed and felt all the pain of my siblings since the beginning of all this. If anyone has a reason to want her dead it is me. I am selfish. I don’t do this because of my siblings but because my powers are tied to them. I feel the pain of others but for my siblings it becomes hell. I’ve seen Colden’s death. It is very violent in the end.”

Her blue eyes turned to back to the dresses as she took one out. It was a dark blue halter. She didn’t bother to heal her wound as she put it on. “I have seen Kirika’s death. I have seen Lotus’s death. Her intertwining fate with Dante. His death is there too now. Protecting each other.” She shrugged a bit. “My mother will watch the world burn or she will burn with it. That is her intent.”

She mused lightly. “A curse won’t kill her because of her demonic blood. However, we can now track her down and put a sword through her heart. We’ll need something to bind her completely to the bowels of hell.” She tilted her head. “Angela has the original ashes of my mother’s body. If we could get those… I could use them to bind her to make sure she never comes back. I don’t leave things to fate. If Dalanesca were to fall she could just climb right back out of hell. I would rather not risk that…”

Her fingers combed through her dark hair and Eldora took a step forward. She began to stumble and fall. The oracle was tired from her curse. It wasn’t necessarily the magic from casting it but the counter-curse she had to fight off.

Steele shrugged at her; Eldora had proven her point and he had been mistaken yes, but he was still crossed about the matter. His temper started to rise when she offered him sound advice over his creed. “I do not go about fighting all the time, contrary to popular belief. I know when bleeding for a cause is worth it.” Though upset, his tone was still strangely calm. The hairs on the back of his neck however spoke a different volume. “I will take it to heart of your claim about my life being long, at least for now.”

He stood there in now but a sleeveless shirt and pants when he offered her the coat. It was a rather weird thing that she didn’t grasp the concept he was giving her of not being naked to the public eye. Perhaps it was a Rosenite thing; he didn’t know much about them but what little he did know, Steele pondered if their race knew nothing of shame. Heavens know demons didn’t either, else Dante wouldn’t be like how he was. Or his father for that matter. “It’s common courtesy, though I suspect your kind are more…liberal  about that sort of thing.” Or it was more so Eldora’s understanding of it the more he listened to her. Really he had offered it because she had done him a kindness and he hated owing other people favors. She wore it of course and lead him from the throne hall, albeit she wanted him to follow for whatever reason. He obliged and kept to her side, watching her travel with some difficulty because how small she was in comparison to the coat around her. “An army? I knew about the mindless cretins she created, but what sort of beings in their right minds would join her cause?” How was it that she was able to establish so much in such little time? Steele was annoyed that the news only arrived to him now, and what made it worse was that Cyprus was willing to risk everything to get what she wanted. As much as he disliked his brother, he couldn’t let anything happen to Colden. Xunatar would be livid otherwise and he wasn’t looking forward to that storm. “She has all of this in her possession, so what is she waiting for?” The question was more to himself than anything, though it was loud enough for her to catch wind of it.

They reached her chambers and he took back the coat but was not ready to cover his form with it again. Straightening it out, his eyes watched her form before casting them away. He would not get trapped in what caught Dante’s sniffing nose when it came to her sister. The lustful bunny didn’t need any help in indulging himself in the pleasures of the flesh, but now it seemed he had one in particular that captivated. Her scars didn’t bother him any, even the fresher ones. “A pity.” He turned slightly and looked at the room some more. “I couldn’t imagine a worse fate for anyone. Powers like that are double edged. Sometimes the side of one blade though is much sharper than the other.”

He could remember his own power back in his youth, it gotten him into a lot of trouble and woes. His tongue was silent in addressing them for the time being. His eyes latched onto her when she spoke of deaths, his brothers’ in particular. “That monster will not claim him, not if I have anything to say of it. Colden is a fool, and I can’t stand Dante at times, but they are my blood and is essential to our cause. She will die and hopefully I’m the one to run the sword into her cold empty heart. Cyprus will burn alone as she was intended to.” His tone was filled with bloodthirst, craving for the day he could get his hands around that wretched woman’s throat. “I wouldn’t trust anything completely when it comes to your mother.” Steele paced further into the room, walking around in circles as he tried to calm himself. Had he been like he had in his younger years, it would have proven futile but he was starting to relax. Perhaps the scenery around them was the cause of it, bring the wolf a peace that didn’t seem possible in his life. “I rather see her in a place where she can be all by herself and never burden anyone again. But whatever works, works for me really. If we need the ashes, how difficult would be it to obtain them?”

He waited for an answer, but instead he saw that the now dressed Eldora was ready to slip onto the floor. Steele immediately rushed over to her and caught her in the nick of time before she landed face first against the floor, his arm around her waist and back tightly. He looked at her bewildered for the Rosenite was surprisingly cold. “You alright?”, he asked as he assisted her back up to her feet. The arm lingered there for a bit. “You’ve lost a lot of blood, and you still keep going?” He just didn’t understand her at all. 

She tilted her head about what he meant about her kind but didn’t ask. She suspected it had to do more with how those like Lotus acted. She had pondered about it. “Why do others circle around a cult only to mass kill themselves? It is generally weak minds and charisma. My mother does not lack the charisma of my people. No matter how stupid she is.” Tilting her head she smirked. “What is she waiting for? IF she went into Canelux at this moment to storm Arri… She would get defeated the moment she tried. The five queens are nothing to scoff at even without Angela’s god powers. Angela by herself could destroy the entire army. Adraejen is now a god, Angela is a goddess, and the four other queens are strong. She would lose before she started. She is nowhere near strong enough to take Arri. One oracle wouldn’t have saved her. As long as she stays in Parvpora she will be fine. Arri won’t act and Angela doesn’t have the power to destroy an entire army.”

Once they were inside her room she looked at him looking at her. “I’m the last one of my kind. The rest have killed themselves because of the pain.” She mused lightly. “Don’t we all wish to do that? Run a sword through her cold heart that is.” She chuckled a bit thinking about it. “I never trust anything when it comes to her. She is tricky like that.”

She thought about the ashes and shrugged. “Shouldn’t be hard. I can ask Bryony to get them for me. I don’t like going to Angela’s realm. It gives me a headache. Too many loud spirits. To close to Arri’s soul-stream.”

Eldora felt extremely weak as she held onto Steele now. A chuckle full of pain left her lips. “For someone like me… There is no stopping. If I stop I die regardless. It isn’t from loss of blood. It’s my actual life force being drained by the very spirits that brought me back. It’s their price for me using my abilities at that level. It will take time for it to heal back up. If I was human I would have been dead just from casting it.” She leaned into his warmth and almost felt like she was bathing in it. Her skin had lost the color to it.

“You are lucky in the aspect that you can stop. I can’t. If I hadn’t come here and had those spirits bound to that doll I probably had less than ten years left. I was slowly not myself anymore. Still am sort of lost to the fogginess in my mind. Great power comes with great backlash. I can’t remember how old I am. No one can. When I die people will likely forget I have existed. It is the nature of this magic. There is no glory at the end of my tale.”

She moved her hand up and felt his warm cheek. “You’re so warm. It has to be the lupine blood you have. I’ve heard you run a lot hotter than others… At least from what my aunt says about her husband.” Her eyes looked so tired. She looked to the bed. “Stay here until I feel better?”

Her words were quite true, the very ones whose mind weren’t strong enough to resist the alluring nature of those like her mother were made the perfect little toys for those like his father. Though they used different means and methods, Cyprus and Xunatar had a few things similar when it came to toying around and using people. “I’ll give the devil her dues. She knows how to achieve things, though as stupid and foolish as her goals are.” But the end result would still be the same in his eyes; she would be dead and finally out of their hair once and for all. “She stole a goddess’ child. She has defied my father several times. She has acted over of irrationality. I ask what she was waiting for because she fails to learn the patience my father had offered her several times. Reason is beyond her when she acts so childish.” He hardly cared if she had walked into her sister’s domain or her former home and get eradicated. It would save everyone a lot of trouble and effort. “Fair point, but if my father wants her, he will get her one way or another. He’s patient enough to watch and wait. She can hide for only so long before she is driven by her desires…yet again.”

His arms crossed tightly, “She had made far too many enemies and her tricks will only last for so long. Soon the daggers will come and surround her and she will perish. Salt the damn bones afterwards to make sure she won’t be resurrected.” Steele nodded towards her; she was right after all. Cyprus just couldn’t leave well enough alone and soon she would be back where she belonged. Rotting on the outside like she had in the inside. At least her children weren’t like her, though Colden was dangerously close to that edge. Perhaps he would have been far better being raised with his father instead.

He wasn’t too sure why he was helping her, aside from doing as his father had instructed. They had to work together to play a part in the witch’s destruction. For him, he wanted to keep it on a professional level, or close to it. Her scent hit his nose more being so close to him. Steele sighed a little at her comment, “Stopping is what I am capable of, but not completely. My sin is a burden, more so that what you or anyone else can understand. The other six that are alike me delve in their sins. They bathe in it gleefully and only I am the one that has to keep myself in line. My youth was riddled with fighting after fighting. Pain physically on many levels when I couldn’t control my rage. Even after so long, I can’t contain it when it gets at its worse. Had it not been for my father, I wouldn’t have made it as long as I have.” He wanted to bite his tongue towards the end; he revealed much more than he wished. “I wouldn’t wish to have your fate either though. To have such power only to fade away when the time comes. I’ll likely burn myself out with my hellish temperament one day.”

But he was determined not to go down like that. He’d preferred to be bested in combat and not of self-undoing.

He looked at her with somewhat of a confused glance as her hand reached for his cheek. But Steele did not shy away from her touch, letting the bitter coolness of it come to him. “I suppose. It wouldn’t surprise me as you have have done.” Despite the protesting in his head, he helped her over to the bed and placed her onto it. Afterwards he sat at the edge and looked around the room some more. “Why all this? I am aware of him allowing those like you to do as you wish with your chambers, but why did you pick this settling?”