She supposed that she needed to tell him about her condition. She took his hands in hers, not that she had much a choice with how he was gripping. She smiled at him. “When you stab a voodoo doll you hurt the doll and the person its tied to. Imagine that my siblings are that doll and I am the person cursed. However, there are limitations even for me. It seems like the limits of where the pain is actually physically reenacted are on my non-vital organs.” She showed him all the scarring and where it was visibly oddly missing. “The only ones who know this are the oracles, Willow, and Lotus.”

It was pain as day how Cyprus got the information. “She cut into Colden in places she knew it would effect me. Meanwhile there was enough time between the cuts so she could heal him so he didn’t bleed out on her. The healing wouldn’t have effected me. I’m not that lucky. It is a delayed vision and it will loop once before the pain actually happens. That’s why I was trying to make it to the doll.” She took a sigh as she realized she had made it to the doll too late.

She gripped his hand as she got to the part about her mother’s madness. “No, she doesn’t. When she found out that I was alive I was already well into my powers. I was so strong at such a young age… I ragdolled her across an entire field as she attempted to take my life for her experiments. It is against the laws of Arri for me to kill her. I can only assist. I might have broken the law when I killed that girl but I’m sure that I can be forgiven for that.”

His care for her made her be wide eyed at him. He was trying to help her but he knew that she was stubborn. So he helped her be comfortable instead. She gave him a smile as he told her exactly what he would do to Cyprus if her mother hurt her again. “Thank you for protecting me.” She said it as if he would protect her in the future but maybe it was because that was just how she felt.

She leaned over and gave him a tender kiss. “No, it won’t be long at all they’ve already crossed the span using magic. That’s not the only thing… Kirika is on her way as well. I feel her moving.” Her fingers itched a bit. “I think there’s going to be a war council.” It was interesting to think about. Eldora pulled him into bed with her and she rested against him. “I’ll tell you when they enter the cathedral.” She yawned as she pushed her head into him.

When the time came she pulled him out of bed and she got dressed again. It was much like the dark blue dress from before but this one was black with gold accents. She bounded to his side with the doll in hand as they walked to the throne room where Xunatar normally greeted people.

The doors opened and it was Lotus and Dante first. Lotus looked distraught as she watched her sister. However, her hands immediately went to the hands of the two. “What the fuck?” Lotus whispered it up to Dante. “One of yours I presume?” She tilted her head. “You must be Steele since you fit the description Dante has told me.” She patted Dante on the chest as she curled up into him.

Eldora tilted her head and before long the darkness rolled in like the thick of night. Though it was bunched aorund Kirika much like an extra accesory. “You’ve grown into your power since the last time I saw you.”

Kirika tilted her head back at Eldora and smiled. “Partnerships were forged with the Mother Darkness.” She moved her cloak back to reveal the jar of ashes. “A gift from Angela. Consider it a favor from Bryony. She told me I needed to come see you. I might not be as in tune with you as Lotus is, obviously, but you are still my sister. Plus this waiting game is becoming tiresome.” Kirika’s blue eyes met everyone’s in the room.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Lotus turned and looked at Kirika. “Eldora was just attacked and you want to talk war?”

Kirika frowned a bit and approached Eldora putting the jar of ashes in her arms. “War was what this became as soon as our brother was taken Lotus. Don’t kid yourself into thinking anything else. You might think of Colden as a cretin but I don’t intend to leave him to die. Eldora being attacked is the least of our problems. I need something from Eldora as well. I was going to ask where she was anyways but this happened.”

Eldora perked up more as she left Steele’s side finally. The jar of ashes in tow and the doll with Steele. “You want something from me? No price this time.”

Kirika nodded a bit but brought up some rather large bones. “These are dragon bones. The best talismans are made from them. They don’t break as easily.” Eldora eyed them like a child and Kirika put them on the floor. “I need to know who this belongs to.” She brought out a knife and uncovered it. She was careful not to touch it. Eldora took the blade and looked it over. “Did the person who owned this knife use it last?”

Eldora’s eyes flashed a bright blue for a tiny moment. It was one of the easier jobs she could do but when she was done she nodded. “The owner did it. I saw it.” Kirika’s frown came onto her face deeply.

“I figured but I wanted to make sure before I acted.” A sigh left the young queen’s lips as she whistled. A shadow that had showed her appeared by her side. “I recommend death by Casimir for Markus Legave. Make sure the other four hear about this.” The man nodded and disappeared.

“Markus? He was one of Mother’s top people back in the day. He was so loyal to you.” Lotus shivered a bit.

“Obviously not enough. Speaking of which pods of Luzil have been found in the desert. She’s been using shafts and other means to hide them underground near Arri. I’ve asked Aunt Toya to take care of it.” Eldora’s eyes got large.

“Right now?” Eldora asked with excited breath.

“Just before I left.” Kirika tilted her head and watched as Eldora formed a water mirror. She hurried back over to Steele and curled up on him.

“I want to watch.” The picture was perfect. The crazy queen of the white court was barking orders and her voice made Kirika flinch a bit. She was always a bitch when she had to be. It looked like Toya had set up a bunch of dragon knights around the desert. She hopped off her own dragon and positioned Karith in the direction of one of the shafts. Toya’s command to fire was loud and clear. Eldora bounced with excitement as the dragon’s shot fire down into the holes, shafts, and other compartments. There were explosions from oxygen pockets. Some of the Luzil managed to make it out. They were ichor creatures, the ichor was coming from all the cracks on their bodies. Toya was taking her sword and slamming it into the strays. Eldora had set the jar down enough to clap.

“At least she is entertained by it.” Kirika chuckled a bit as the mirror disappeared. “We’ve been hunting them for months. We asked the oracles for a map of the locations they were hiding. Figured she had stashes of them for an ambush. Can’t imagine she is overly happy right now. Most of her forces were stashing in the desert.”

Lotus nodded. “That make you happy Eldora? Those things were what Mother was going to kill you for.” Eldora looked up and nodded.

“I am very pleased. Aunt Toya did well.” Eldora smirked.

“She is the tactician of Arri. I have to admit I didn’t think of using the dragons to filter the fire through the shafts… It was ingenious especially when she knew it would combust. The only issue were if living things were down there. We used Angela to get out anyone barely infected or innocent. She is treating them back in Arri as we speak. Lily is warding the shafts so nothing undead can get back in… and Cathrine is looking into the Luzil for another possibly way to stop them from being created. I’m just cleaning up the mess now. The loose ends. Especially traitors. I imagine they’ve begun to run from Arri now that we have things under control there.” Kirika crossed her arms.

“They want us to finish this?” Eldora was more excited now. “I can help?”

Kirika mused a bit. “They said that we’ve been pained enough and that we should have the honor of getting her. Yes, that means you can help. I would rather take the fight to her then risk losing Eldora’s body to a curse though. I’m sure we could all do that. Get Colden out and get him to a healer, have Angela come here if need be. Make sure Mother hasn’t done anything to him for just in case she fails. That’s her style. No happy endings for anyone. You’ve also been pardoned for killing an oracle without permission. They deemed it necessary.” Kirika eyed Eldora now.

Lotus cocked her head to the side. "You've been a busy bee Eldora. Getting yourself a man, killing oracles, why look at you." Lotus admired Steele from where she was. Suddenly Eldora was up on Steele's lap. A low growl left her lips until she began to hiss at her sister. "Easy!" Lotus got behind Dante and peeked out at her sister. "I wasn't going to do anything!"

"YOU WERE THINKING IT!" Eldora yelled at Lotus with the growl still coming back at the end of her voice. Kirika let out a sigh a bit as if this was typical behavior and it really was.

Steele hadn’t been thrilled too much to learn what Cyprus had done to the siblings, knowing the connection Eldora had to her family. He honestly couldn’t wait to get his hands on her but for the moment he had to refrain from his lust of violence. Instead he tried to focus on her. The exact explanation was a bit lost on him but he understood the gist of it and here they were, receiving the message loud and clear that her demented mother was going to stay in the game of thrones they were apart of. So be it.

He wasn’t too thrilled with having company over, particularly his other brother about. But it seemed like he couldn’t refuse any of this now that it spilled over to the others. He fell onto the bed and she fell onto him, still recovering from that torture. “Either way this game will end soon.”

—
Dante had been been content with the day with Lotus right up until she carried a strange look over her. Raising an eyebrow, he came over to her before she explained the situation. He had nearly forgotten that her sister had been in the Cradle for a bit now. Of the details of why she was there, he didn’t know and wasn’t sure that he did want to either, but the two were off as he summoned a portal to his father’s domain. One of the few perks of someone in his position.  They crossed over and appeared to be front of the doors to his father’s throne room. Pushing them open, they were met with Steele and Eldora. His brows narrowed at the sight of the two of them together, particularly with their hands together. Eyes shifted towards Lotus and shrugged, “Uh, yeah. My wonderful but temper prone brother, Steele. I see you met Eldora…” Steele looked him dangerously before the latter waved it off. The elder brother had no times for these games. “Yes, as Dante put it. Forgive me for cutting the pleasantries short, but I am sure you are here to get this all over with. The nightmare your mother has become to me in such a short time is unbearable as it was, and I’m sure that you wish for your family to be freed from decades of it.”  It wasn’t long before her other sister came about and looking at each one of them, he could tell plainly enough of their resemblances. Dante, on the other hand, had already thought ahead and let the woman discuss their matters while eyeing his brother with a taunting look. “I thought you were reclusive, Steele. I suppose Colden will be just thrilled to learn that his siblings of both sides have…gotten along well.” There was no point in arguing- Steele knew that Dante was like a bloodhound when it came to these sort of things, and could likely smell the Rosenite on his body. Especially since they had only had sex recently. “Knock it off”, he warned him with a soft growl towards Avatar before he gave a playful shrug.

Dante turned and with only his mind and the power of the Cradle accessible here, brought forth a table long enough for them all. The top was filled with maps and other things they could make use of. He took one side and Steel sat on the side to the right of him. “War is unavoidable. Perhaps if she had listened to reason to our father, then this could have been all avoided. But needless to say that she has burnt that bridge with him”, the warlord spoke out loud. His tone still laced with venom that only Cyprus’ death could take away. He had no clue as to how the Rosenites would deal with her, but better in their hands than his own.

Eldora fell onto Steele’s lap and brought forth a vision of what was happening in relation to one of their queens dismantling the main force of their enemy. Dante looked on with awe, but not as much as Eldora had, but Steele would not blame her for her satisfaction. No, Cyprus deserved all that was coming for her.

“So what does she have left then?”, Dante asked Kirika, “If those…things are her calling card and have been eradicated, then at this point shouldn’t we strike then?” Steele was in agreement with him for once. “I don’t care what she has up her sleeve. We know where she is hiding, and she won’t be ill prepared that we can waltz in there. But so what? She’s been running amok since she got free.” Clearly he wasn’t the sort for negotiations but considering the option that was in front of them, they didn’t need him to be. His attention turned to Lotus and for a moment he was positive he didn’t want to know what she was meaning, especially as something sparked in Eldora and she took it very badly. Both brothers had their eyes glued on her for a bit in disbelief, while Dante leaned his head back to Lotus. “Didn’t know she had some claws in her. Guess Steele would know a lot better than I would, though.” Steele frowned and with her still on top of him, he navigated his arm over to the closet map. “Kurayo had been the last place Colden has been spotted. It would be an appropriate place for her to take refuge in without detection. But I doubt that she would be someplace there where she could be seen.”

“But if we allow her time to pick up and leave, then who knows where she will head…”

“Reason would have only gotten us so far. For you of Xunatar’s lot, you would be free…” Kirika mused and she laughed. “The rest of us would still have to deal with her. She is hellbent on destroying us.” Kirika took a seat at the table while Lotus sat comfortably on Dante. “It doesn’t take a lot of time with her to hate her and the way she works.”

Eldora looked at Steele and smiled up at him. “Toya reminds me of you. She is fiery wrath though I’ve heard she is quite soft with her husband.”

Kirika scoffed a bit. “Yeah, she is a pain in the ass everywhere else though. She is really intelligent but her impulsiveness is the reason why the four of us have her on a short leash. If her family is threatened she is like a rabid wolf, poor Blaine has a hard time handling her. I don’t know how they’ve been married for thirty years.” The sisters laughed at the thought.

Kirika turned her attention to Dante and shrugged it off a bit. “They are her calling card but she would have amassed MOST of them in Arri. I would imagine she has a living force with her wherever she is.”

The growling from Eldora continued until she reached up and touched Steele’s nose showing him all of the dirty thoughts that Lotus was having about him. “Hey! I didn’t say you could show him!” Lotus yelled at her sister. Eldora hissed at her again and Kirika groaned loudly.

“If you’ve ever wondered why Arri has such strict laws… Prime example number one is happening right here. Rosenites are typically territorial over their mates. It’s led to a few murders. Lotus has almost been a statistic before.” Kirika shot a look at her lusty sister and Lotus reclined back on Dante.

“Tell me something new. Rosenites are so uptight.”

“That’s what happened when there is only one man per every ten females. Rosenites happen to be monogamous too, shockingly.” Kirika was straight forward with her sister.

Kirika listened to the theories and shrugged a bit. “I’m not quite sure if she is in Kurayo. Colden might have been but Eldora saw him before she executed the oracle. I would say my mother moved them again. Though Eldora should be able to find them again.” Eldora was quite proud of her skills as she beamed a smile at everyone. She seemed to have been calmed down enough to stare at Kirika oddly. “You know if you asked before you read someone’s thoughts that would be awesome.” The youngest sister looked to the oldest in the room now as Eldora tilted her head.

“The council ambushed the queen meeting?” The oracle mused. “Didn’t sound like it went too well before you shut me out.”

Kirika sighed a bit. “No, it didn’t go well at all. The council is seething pissed. At all of us. You, Lotus, Colden, and I… They even had a few words about Cinder.”

Lotus put her hands on the table and straightened up. “If they touch her I’ll kill them. She’s five she has nothing to do with this.”

Kirika sighed a bit more now and shrugged. “You are right but she is Casimir’s and he is missing. As far as they are concerned he could be a part of this. We’ve kept Cinder’s birth a secret from our mother this whole time but the council is tryi–”

“What did the council want to do to us?” Eldora was now upright staring at Kirika. “It’s not fair they aren’t in power.”

Kirika put her hands up for a moment to stop Eldora from getting emotional. “What did I just tell you about reading my thoughts?” She sighed a bit and stared at Eldora. “They want punishment for all of us. Lotus for keeping everything a secret until the last minute. Eldora for knowing about everything and not saying a word to the other oracles. Colden for being directly involved… and I am the head of the family I take responsibility for all of you.” She put her hands in her lap now. “The council was put into power by the people because of our mother. They have overstepped their boundaries. They’ve told us to do something or their recommendations will happen.”

Lotus glared. “I don’t much like being threatened Kirika. What the hell were their recommendations?”

Kirika got silent for a little bit guarding her mind against Eldora as she pieced her words together. “For Eldora’s involvement… she’s to be imprisoned in the Oracle house in Sularia for the rest of her life or until they deem her not a threat anymore.” Eldora looked distraught but she let Kirika continue. “Lotus is to be restricted to the Black Court grounds until further notice and interrogated for how much she was actually aware of… Colden’s suggestion was death by Casimir.”

“And yours? What the hell was yours?” Lotus shouted.

Kirika frowned a bit. “To have children until the proper child is born with the mark. My sentence is the same as Colden’s.”

Eldora had an outburst first. “That’s not fair! You didn’t do anything wrong!” Lotus joined in on the shouting and Kirika let out a sigh and put her hands up again.

“Obviously we said no. Council is right pissed about it but Angela has a pact with Xunatar to protect Colden at all costs. Not that they would have agreed to these terms. She outright told the council that if they try to even attempt their recommendation she will have no mercy on them. We’re still checking the castle for damages because Angela shakes the earth quite a bit when she’s pissed… She wasn’t the only one Toya almost put them all on fire right then and there. Everyone stood up for us including Willow, who never attends these meetings.” Kirika let out a sigh of relief as the pressure in the room from Eldora finally came down.

“So… You had to come to some sort of punishment for each of us… You had to because you couldn’t just not do it so you all could save face.” Lotus leaned back again.

“This is true. Politics get nasty and to keep the peace with the public we had to agree on something between the six of us.” Kirika rubbed her hair and bit sheepishly. Eldora tilted her head confused now. “We decided that our punishment would be to regrow the Black Court line.”

Lotus’s jaw dropped and Eldora had the same look of astonishment that Lotus did. “How the fuck did you manage to go from death and prison to children?”

Kirika coughed a bit. “It is a punishment for most of us.” Kirika eyed Lotus. “The only one with a stipulation with how it has to be done is Colden. They don’t much trust him to actually pick a good person to have a child with.”

Eldora looked amused for a moment. “Sorry, I’ll ask next time… but if I got your thought correctly… The recommendation was that he has a child with one of our cousins?” Lotus now looked amused. “Which one might I ask?”

Kirika laughed a bit now. “To be honest, that was Angela’s idea. Toya said it wasn’t going to be one of her’s over her dead body. It was actually Crystalline who volunteered herself. It was a rather intriguing idea from her. I think she honestly just wants to help.”

Lotus looked even more amused. “The self-centered whiny brat and the selfless blind guardian angel? Oh, I am amused. Though you are right… Crystalline’s condition doesn’t let her help often. Her loving demeanor might offset Colden’s dumb personality.” The sisters were all chuckling. “Though that does leave Eldora and I… doesn’t it?” Lotus looked distraught as she looked at Dante for a moment. “You got us out of prison Kirika… at the price of each of our first born.”

Kirika shook her head. “We’re not taking anyone’s kids. We just asked for them to be born. There’s a ten-year time limit on it. The fact of the matter is when it comes to family lines we are the smallest. It’s only Lotus, Eldora, Colden, Cinder, and me. Aria isn’t really our blood but I am glad to have her around she is Cinder’s mother after all.”

“Still right pisses me off that Casimir just up and disappeared on us without a damn trace.” Lotus groaned a bit. “I don’t blame him though. He was protecting Aria and Cinder.” The sisters nodded a bit and sighed individually. “About the children thing though… I feel like we need to say that it's not obligated by our current loves. They don’t need to be chained down like this.” Eldora nodded with Lotus. “We’re too new for this and we can’t ask them to help us in this situation.”

“I can respect that.” Kirika gave both women a smile. “The other recommendation for Colden was Antheia.” The girls laughed at that thought but they didn’t explain it. Though she switched her attention to Dante and Steele. She sighed a bit and looked at Eldora. “You might want to divine her new location Eldora. If you guys have any questions about the judgment… You can ask them but… Just know that the law is the law.”

“And the law is harsh.” The other two interrupted her to finish the saying. “Because Rosenites are idiots.” That wasn’t part of the original phrase but it made Kirika laugh.

“I suppose…”, he spoke with some uncertainty when it came down to the comparison between him and the rather eccentric queen that just set fire to the Luzil with dragons. Somehow he was sure that the two of them did not compare, but he decided not to voice it out loud. Dante had found it rather humorous and made no sign to hide it with his laughter. Of course it only earned him another death stare. Coughing, he turned his attention back to the subject at hand. “Yes, but to conceal them in the short time they had been in Kurayo and having to relocate- its logical sense that she didn’t bring nearly as many as there were in Arri then. Otherwise, large numbers of such abnormalities would be spotted easily and blow her cover. Sounds to me that it would make the fight rather easy, but how strong is each individual creature?” Dante was interested as well as he kicked his feet up on the table and looked to his brother who was now glowing a bright red color in his cheeks. It wasn’t out of anger, that was for sure. Overhearing Lotus and then Eldora’s threatening growls, he looked nonchalantly at Steele. “Ooh, do tell. I can only imagine what sort of things were going on through her head”, he spoke pleasantly. “Knock…it…off”, he replied. The images he saw were the last things he wanted to think about. “Have to agree with Lotus though, the lot of you don’t need to be so serious.”

“Anyway…she can keep playing around and running about, but sooner or later we will corner her.” And rescue that damn fool Colden. He would have loved to slap him silly at some point. He was old enough not to throw himself into trouble for the sake of trouble, especially when it came to his damn mother. But as Kirika was made to explain the situation that the Black Roses were in because this council of theirs, Steele stared onto Eldora and then her sisters. They were in trouble? All of them? Sure he could see Colden being held accountable for his path chosen, but his sisters as well? Eldora was worried, Lotus was frustrated and Kirika had to be the one to calm them all down. Dante had decided to pour himself some elvish wine and handed Lotus one as well. He hardly had time to bring the wine to his lips as the words of Colden’s suggested fate came and immediately felt his father’s anger echoing in his head. It was like that of countless flies buzzing. “Well, Father isn’t too keen on that”, he replied, rubbing at his delicate ear as the echoing ceased. “He can hear this conversation and needless to say, he wouldn’t let that happen. That council of yours would all lose their heads, he said.” Steele was hardly surprised by the news and attempted to pet the back of Eldora’s head as the girls yelled about the injustice. The Rabbit wasn’t thrilled with his lover on lockdown and the Wolf certainly wasn’t pleased with the punishments either.

It hadn’t dawned on them of what the new punishment meant until the bit about children were made. At that time, Dante was drinking his wine in the middle of it, nearly spat it out while his brother looked on in disbelief. It hadn’t been one day with Eldora and already children had been mentioned. He was unsure what to think at the moment but the Avatar was certainly not too thrilled.

Something else was obvious- Colden would be even less open to the idea. But it seemed like he had no choice in this matter. Not if he valued his life. “Father…I haven’t heard anything from him about that tidbit. Guess he doesn’t care as long as he isn’t dead.” Steele was still thinking about this subject and sighed. “Certainly…an interesting punishment…” His voice trailed off, still contemplating. Dante poured more wine into his glass, needing it badly. “Children…right…little darlings, right?” He was nervous in his speech and it showed how he was pouring his wine. It was far better when the conversation kept coming back to Colden and the choices for him.

Steele relaxed a bit more, more so than how Dante was taking this all in. “The law exist outside these walls, yes. But such things do not exist in this domain”, he gave a slight chuckle as he held onto Eldora’s waist. “Despite that, how do you plan on getting Colden to agree to all of this? I’ve only met him a few times, as have Dante” The younger brother nodded quickly before downing his drink and pouring some more. “And..the boy is less than reasonable. He’s downright idiotic when it comes to using logic.” 

“It would honestly be more logical that she has multiple hiding spots that they stay separately in just in case of danger like this. She had anticipated Eldora getting involved so much so to kidnap another oracle. It would make sense that she hid a force away from where Eldora didn’t think to divine. She was, after all, looking for Colden and Mother… not a force. Though Mother is dumb and probably wouldn’t think that far ahead… I’m not going to put it off that it isn’t a possibility. That being said… A group of rogue Rosenites would be no match for the group of us.” Kirika shrugged a bit. “Eldora herself could light the entire place on fire but getting Colden out alive would be hard if we did that.”

Lotus leaned over and bit at Dante’s ear. “Later, I’ll just show you and demonstrate.” Eldora groaned at the sign of affection.

Kirika nodded to Dante about his father’s message. “Trust me Angela was just as blunt with them with her own threats. Very rarely does she feel the need to get her hands dirty but she hasn’t forgotten the pact she made.” Eldora was comforted by the petting as she leaned back into it as the yelling quieted down.

When Lotus saw Dante’s reaction she immediately got a cloth and wiped his lips a bit. “I meant it when I said it didn’t have to be you. You are someone who doesn’t need to be tied down in such a way.” She offered a smile and it looked like Eldora was comforting Steele in the same way.

Kirika tilted her head at the scene and shrugged. “It’s because Arri has such a population problem. We have our numbers but not a lot of men… add it in that Mother killed several sons in her little stint that it has made people upset. Most of the council is filled with mothers who lost their sons to her. I can understand why they are so upset. It is a miracle to have a son in Arri. As much you don’t want to think of Colden like that… His birth was very rare.”

Lotus moved to help Dante pour his wine. She sipped on hers and helped steadied his hand. Her eyes stared at him in a calming way. “Don’t worry about it. It won’t have nothing to do with you if you don’t want it to.” She was doing her best to comfort him.

Eldora looked at Steele as he came around her waist. “It isn’t necessarily us who would ultimately get punished if we stayed here. Lotus and I could stay here and not get in trouble at all. Kirika, on the other hand, would take the full complication of us skipping out on this rather nice punishment.” Eldora reached up and patted him on the head gently. “It’s for Kirika. Otherwise, I wouldn’t care.”

“Well, I thank you for looking out for me. I could have probably argued for the next five days about it if it wasn’t for Bryony coming to get me.” Kirika sighed. “Either way it's settled now.”

There was a chuckle now from Lotus. “If you think that we absolutely need Colden’s consent for this… Well, that would be something to watch. When the Goddess of Life is your aunt strange things tend to happen. I’ve seen her get pissed off and impregnate a man just by looking at him. It would be no shock that if he didn’t cooperate Angela would just make it happen so the rest of us didn’t suffer… However, it would probably look better for him if he cooperated. He has a lot to make up for with all this going on.” Lotus mused. “Besides we need to pull together as a family as much as Colden damn well hates the lot of us. He only hates us because he thinks Mother loves him so much.” Lotus gagged a bit on the last few words.

“Besides any man who sees Crystalline wouldn’t dream of not touching that,” Lotus now added. Eldora laughed a bit at the thought too. “You would need to see her to understand. Though her grandfather was once the God of Wisdom. She was raised there to learn to deal with her blindness. She’s quite intelligent and kind but I image the kindness comes with her blood.” Lotus brought the drink up to her lips now and Eldora smirked.

“Could always pair him with Liz.” The wine shot out of Lotus’s mouth as Eldora spoke. There was a laugh that followed with Lotus.

“Oh god. Because Colden needs to be around a depressed lycanthrope. That’s just what he needs.” Lotus spoke before glaring at Eldora. “Are you ready yet? I would have assumed you would interrupt us as soon as you were ready.”

Eldora chuckled a bit. “I was more interested in the conversation but yes. I’ve been ready.” She fetched a map and took the new talismans that Kirika gave her. She rolled them onto the map and the parchment began to sizzle as scorch marks appeared. Kirika leaned in to get a better look. “Not Kurayo. She is hiding out in the mountains near Baltil. Underground.” Eldora mused a bit.

Kirika tilted her head. “Aaryona had said she hadn’t seen Mother in Kurayo when I asked. She was at the meeting briefly. She doesn’t know what Colden looks like so she couldn’t tell me what he had been doing there.” Looking at Dante and Steele she sighed a bit. “Aaryona runs a vampire family there for the time being. She is one of Angela’s brood.”

Lotus stretched a bit after putting her wine glass down. “Guess we should get ready to go kill her. Unless Eldora isn’t fully recovered just yet.”

Steele and Dante, obviously outsiders to the affairs of Rosenites and particularly of the ones from the Black Court, both seemed at odds with this punishment. Dante, merely because the thought never crossed his mind to have a child- that just seemed like it would put a damper on his fun and Steele because it just never crossed his mind period. Then again, he didn’t think he would be as close as he was to a Rosenite, much less Eldora out of all of them. So he was conflicted by the matter and how this would play out towards the future.

While Dante was tended to by Lotus, Steele looked to Eldora and shook his head. “There is still time to digest all of this. Not that I am afraid of this, just confused on what to think about all of this. This is something that was sprung up and we just happened to be here”, he cared to explain while looking towards his brother. Dante nodded as he collected his nerves. “Despite what I think about the boy, Colden can’t be allowed to die, not under the circumstances his mother wish for him. Regardless of what happens, I tend to see her demise with my own eyes, being present there to see which of you get that honor of ending her.” Dante looked to Lotus, “Worried? Me? Of course not. I was just…shaken up a bit, love. I just want to see this all end and we can do as we do best.” He masked his worries with that all too well known smile of his.

It wasn’t by any means to belittle the Rosenite law, it was just ironic that they spoke of laws and rules when it came to the center of chaos itself. It cared not of order from mortal or god alike, save for its master. But the conversation was lead back to Colden and Steele shook his own head. “The length he would go through to spite those he thinks are against him, couple with his sin of envy will make it seem like ending him would be the better option and spare us of headaches. It goes further than just Cyprus for once; he thinks he destined for your throne”, he spoke to Kirika. “Obviously even father wouldn’t support his crazed attempt any longer when he learned that he would die in the trials. And your mother will fuel his ambitions if it means getting him to comply with her whims. I suppose that if we can severe his love for her and get him to see that he will not have what he seeks, then getting him to see reason and such will make it all the more easier.” He didn’t know if the boy had a type of woman he’s prefer, but obviously his sisters knew a lot more than his brothers did. Dante perked up a bit when he overheard this Crystalline. “Perhaps I should go and meet with her first? I have to make sure that she is…compatible with Colden…” His smile wavered just a tad with Steele’s disapproving glance. “Never mind then”, he pouted.

Everything fell back into place with the initial reason for the meeting and peeking onto the map, he could that Cyprus was hiding someplace in the mountains. Looking to Eldora, he thought for a moment before sighing. “I suggest that if this is to be done, then we need to be prepared for it then. If you wish to go on or stay, then fine. I will remain here until tomorrow. You too Dante.” He didn’t give the Rabbit a chance to vote on this one.