It had been a while since Clyde had left her side in the middle of their time together. She had watched as some unknown woman had taken him somewhere in a hurry. What had bothered her the most was the kiss. It made her scoff at herself as she picked up her book and shoved it right back in her face. She had been thinking about it for days. It had bothered her and she didn’t quite understand the whys. 

Her golden hair was kept down and she was wearing a similar dress to that of the day Clyde had left. This time it was white and gold. A soft gold circlet sat around her head with many gems of different colors to decorate it. It complimented her red and gold eyes. She lounged on the bench and brought her teacup up so she could softly sip on the freshly brewed tea. She stopped mid-sip to realize it was the same tea that Clyde and her had when he had first shown up. She put the teacup down and sighed as she called for a servant. “Can you get me some rose tea, please. Just dump the other pot out into the flowers.” 

“Yes, Ma’am.” The servant hurried off and Lily was honestly upset with herself. She wasn’t honestly getting attached to a man she barely knew…. Was she? A scoff left her lips again as she pulled the book closer and buried herself in the great story of a knight who was also in love. She rolled her eyes but realized most of her books involved something similar. There was no getting her mind completely off of it.

“Ma’am?” The boy came back and gave her the teapot and cup for her to drink from. “We have visitors on the way from the gate.”

“Bring them in. I’ll be here.” She offered a smile as she poured herself a new cup of tea and softly sipped on the sweetness of it. “I don’t know why I would be getting visitors at this time of the month but they are most welcomed.” The boy ran off to escort the visitors to his Lady.

Traveling across the desert with a soulless vampire was hard. Angelique had gotten away from the two elementals at least three times, leaving victims behind her before they captured her again. The enchanted shackles around her wrists didn’t stop her from using her strength and witts. She waited until they rested the horses and was able to get away. Clyde caught her a once, but it was Anastasia that would catch her. She wanted to beat the vampire senseless, but that wasn’t going to happen when Clyde was around.

Entering the city of Arri, the guards spotted Clyde. It took them a moment to figure out who he was, but it wasn’t until he spoke they knew who he was. “Clyde to see Queen Lily.” He said as he walked beside the horse who had a vampire strapped to his back. “We’ll send someone there for you. Start heading here.” One guard said while motioning to move.

Anastasia stabled the horse she borrowed and walked by Clyde. The way she dressed got looks by some of the men that walked the streets, they’re weren’t many. Her shirt was white and showed off most of her skin, it was sleeveless, had a low V neck ad showed off her stomach. A matching leather vest was over it.. Her green pants were low waisted. A belt was looped through her pants and on hung around her waist, the buckle of that small belt was gold with feathers. Her hair fell down her back in long waves. Her curvy body was the culprit of the stares.

He was quiet during their whole way here besides talking to the snapping Angelique. “What is wrong?” She asked looking at him. “I didn’t say goodbye.” He said while looking ahead as they walked. “Oh… I am sorry about dropping by like that and taking you away.” She put her hand on his shoulder for a moment and let it fall off. He had told her many things about Lily. She was sweet but strong and could hold her own. Their moments together was still fresh in his mind like it was yesterday.

“I wonder what mom would say. You’re in love with another woman. Tsk tsk.” The dark hood over her head made her not be able to see anything but she could still speak. Anastasia eyes glared over to the vampire on the horse's back. “Shut it.” She walked over to her and hit her over the head.  She was on her stomach afterall, only way to assure she didn’t run off on the horse.

Clyde’s mind started to run wild after his nieces comment. Was in love with her? Could her be with a woman's life her? “No..” He thought to himself. He wasn’t in love with her, he couldn’t be. He promised never love another again. He couldn’t do that to Margrett. She was his one and only.”But she is dead..” His face stayed blank as they walked towards Lily’s home. He suppressed a sigh, he had no doubt in one thing. He had feelings for Lily and he couldn’t stop it.

Butterflies flew around in his stomach as the entered where she was. They were granted passage to see her. Anastasia stayed behind him with a struggling Angelique, they had removed her from her horse but not the hood over her face.

“Lily. I need your help.” He said with a frown looking at the book in front of her face. “This is my daughter, Angelique. We need a place where she can’t get out. I need your dungeon..” He got straight to the point. “I am not your daughter.” Her words simple and out for everyone to hear. She said it loud and didn’t miss a beat. The words struck his heart. “Shut it girl before i gag you.” Anastasia said into the vampire’s ear.

Clearing her throat, she smiled over to the book. “I am Anastasia. Clyde’s beloved sister.” The elemental didn’t wait to introduce herself. She didn’t want the queen to think she was his lover. After all, “He is in love with her.” She thought with a smile as she held onto the vampire tight.

Lily peeked up over her book and had his scent on her nose. She wrinkled it and put the book back up but he insisted on talking and it wasn’t an apology. Taking the book she slammed it shut enough to make Nymph who was watching from another bench flinch. Taking the book she hit Clyde with it straight against his cheek. Cuts appeared up and down her hand and blood lightly trickled she winced but other than that ignored his existence.

“Oh man, you fucked up,” Nymphaea was giggling but Lily was quick to grab the book and throw it at her daughter. She almost hit her but Nymph had managed to see it coming.

“No comments from the idiot gallery,” Lily was harsh with her words and Nymph saluted her.

“Whatever you say, Mom,” there was a grin on the girl’s face as she watched the group.

“Go tell your grandmother that we are prepping to bring someone to the castle. Don’t take your time either. I expect it to be prepped by the time we get there.” Lily shot a glare at Nymph who seemed more aloof than usual.

“Yeah, yeah. Dungeon, cell prepped, tell grandmother… Probably in the reverse order, I just listed.” The young girl got up and left through the doors.

Lily put a smile on her face as she approached Anastasia and looked over at Angelique. “I’ve heard about the troublesome one from the wind.” She was obviously angry as she even failed to acknowledge his presence. “I have a troublesome daughter as well. I find a bucket of holy water generally keeps mine in good standing.” She was joking for the most part but she did use a bucket of diluted holy water to make sure Nymph’s demon blood was in check. 

“Let’s take a walk, shall we? The walk to the castle should be fine. Word of advice, if she gets loose in the city… it will probably be my little sister who hunts her down quickest. I would prefer to avoid getting Toya involved. She’s been looking too eagerly for a fight lately.” All of this with a happy smile on her face as clapped her hands and a servant appeared.

“My lady! Your hand,” the woman was quick to wrap something around it and Lily just sighed.

“Honestly, it’s just a scratch. Nothing to fuss over.” Lily smiled.

“My lady you said that about the arrow wound in your side as well.” The servant poked a hole in her story and it just made Lily chuckle.

“Tis just a little wound I promise.” Lily shooed her and she took the teapot, cups, and book back inside. “We can head there now. My grandmother should have the cell ready if Nymph didn’t decide to run a muck on the way there.” They took a short cut from her manor to the castle and she found the stairs leading down to the dungeon and stopped short. "The spells on the dungeon are tight. As long as she in there she can't get out." The dungeons were made out of a sandstone-like material but the runes around each of the cells were something else entirely. Nymph was sitting outside of the one prepped and she looked up at her mother like it had taken them a decade to get there.

"You took forever," Nymph groaned as she leaned against the bars.

Clyde should've saw the book coming at him. He didn’t realize how much he hurt her by leaving suddenly, without a goodbye. He could tell from her actions she was not happy with him. The book that hit him left a feeling of pain, she sure knew put her point across without any words. Rubbing the spot where the book landed, his eyes looked over her. She was beautiful no matter what she wore.

“You deserved that.” Anastasia said to him with a laugh. Seeing him get hit in the face by a book was a priceless moment. She was pretty glad she was there. Clyde sighed, he did deserve that. He did just leave without a goodbye or a thank you.

Nymphs comment ended with a book being thrown at her. The moment almost made him laugh, but his laugh was silence by the blood he saw coming from her hands. She didn’t seem to notice and continued to speak. “Thank you.” He managed out after she told Nymph what to do. He didn’t expect her to say anything to him. She was rather mad with him, and like all women she was using the silent treatment against him. He stayed quiet as she walked over to his sister.

Anastasia looked at the girl in her arms then back at Lily. In all seriousness she voiced, “We are going to need a few of those buckets.” Holy water was a great way to break through barriers.

Seeing her hands be wrapped, Clyde frowned. It was because of him that she hurt herself. He needed to find a way to make it up to her and apologize.

With a nod, they all started to follow her, even the reluctant Angelique. A few times Clyde had to hold on to her as well. She didn’t want to go to the dungeon. By the time they reached the dungeon, he had to lift her over his shoulder.

Seeing Nymph beside the cell, he set his daughter down at the entrance. He ripped off the hood. Her dark wavy hair fell behind her, and his blue eyes stared hard at him. Her lips were chapped and skin was starting to sweat. She was craving blood and they needed her dry. Another day should do it.

“Nymph, don’t look her in the eyes. You should head back upstairs and not come down here.” He closed the cell and it locked. Turning to Nymph, he looked at her. “We can’t take the chance of you falling under her mind control, Okay?” He said it in the nicest way possible. He knew how she was very temperamental.

Turning to look at Lily he spoke to her, even tho she wouldn’t speak back. “You should keep anyone who can fall under her control out of here.”

“Yeah, don’t need me getting out. If you do, I will kill everyone.” Angelique said as her eyes moved to her father. “I’ll will kill you last, so you can watch me kill your girlfriend.” The vampire looked over to Lily. “Mother was prettier than you.” Looking over to her daughter, she smirked. “And look at you. Ugly as shit.”

Before Nymph could look at her, Clyde put the hood over her face and picked her up before she could start something. Heading back up the stairs he set her down as he walked a few steps away from the dungeon door. He ripped off the hood and glared into her face. “She will try to get under your skin just so you can look at her. You can’t fall for her schemes.”

Anastasia didn’t bother to follow them, but stayed beside the cell. The vampire needed to be watched. Right now, Clyde couldn’t he had some apologising to do.

Lily nodded at Clyde’s words and shooed Nymph. “Come on, the last thing I need is a hormonal teenage half demon on the rampage in town.” She gave her daughter a smile as they started to walk past Angelique. The words that poured out of the girl’s mouth made Nymph try to turn around but Lily stopped her.

“No, the best way to deal with people like her are to ignore her. In our house we do not answer slander, we do not react with violence unless necessary, and we certainly don’t entertain people like her. Now go.” Lily pushed her again and Nymph let out an aggravated noise.

Coming down the stairs past her was Toya. “What did you do to piss her off now,” Toya’s words were hardly quiet as she jabbed at her sister. “I heard we got a new inmate for the keeping. Would be nice when… you know you let our murderer into Arri so I can prep.” The Rosenite was smaller than Lily was which was a shock. She had long brown curls and the same eyes as Lily though not as peaceful.

“Well, our little murderer did say she would kill everyone.” Lily walked alongside the younger one who was now laughing.

“I’ll fucking gut her if she tries. If she can get past me she has to deal with Ang and she isn’t in a mood to deal with anyone.” The youngest met up with Ana and Clyde to give her hellos. 

“I forgot she was busy dealing with that nasty business with Dalanesca. She can’t be overly happy right now with that.” Lily looked sad for a moment but Toya shrugged. “Anyways this is Clyde and his sister Anastasia. The one in the cell is Angelique.”

“Looks promising. I can have people down here to help you look after her Anastasia. If you need rest you can get it. Not always nice looking after someone with a personality like that.”

“Oh, you would know. She is acting just like you.” Lily smirked and Toya looked upset for a moment. “I’m kidding Toya calm down. You’ll burn the whole place down with a glare like that.” The youngest left them after that and had a guard placed down with Anastasia.  “She really is a good person. It just takes a little bit to get used to her. I’ll have some dinner brought down for you later.”

Lily turned and for a moment she was going to say something but she decided against it to be stubborn. She went back up the stairs and out back to her manor. She found her bench once more and waited until her tea was brought back to her.

Looking over to Lily, he listened to her comments to her daughter. Was what he done so harsh to her, she had to ignore him? Pushing the thoughts away, he watched Nymph leave. Then soon after Toya appeared. The crazy one of the sisters he had met. She reminded him of his sister Ana. 

He stayed for a moment as she spoke, they were speaking of his sister for a moment, so Clyde wanted to stay. They started to walk and the moment she spoke of gutting his daughter, he stepped in front of her, his eyes narrowed at Toya. “If she doesn’t anything else, I will be the one to handle her. She is my daughter, not yours.” He turned to walk away but stopped, “And watch who you call a murderer.” He glanced at Lily as well. “Maybe I should call your whole family murderers?” Everyone he knew had murdered someone at some point in time. Toya was a warrior of a sort, and so was all of Lily sisters. Maybe even her. She never spoke of killing anyone but everyone in this land had killed someone. 

With that, the elemental walked to the doors of the castle and outside. As soon as he exited, he stood outside the closed doors behind him. He inhaled deeply and closed his eyes. He couldn’t believe the situation he was in. Couldn’t they go back to a week ago? He wanted his day filled with laughs instead of word of murderers. He usually kept his cool in any situation but when it came to his daughter, he couldn’t. Leaning his head back he looked up towards the blue sky. He needed to get away from both of them. His daughter and Lily came into his mind. He needed a minute alone, so he took it.

Walking away from the castle, he walked, not really knowing where his feet were taking him. His mind was absent of thought as he tried to relax. He soon was in the bazaar. His eyes looked around at the busy area. A smile came to his lips as he thought about dancing with Lily. That day felt so far away.

“Pretty flowers for pretty ladies!” A man called from beside him. Turning to look, he saw flowers of all different colors. A frown came to his lips, he needed to make up for leaving and now for the words he had said in anger. Flowers would be a good start. Grabbing a small bouquet of yellow roses mixed with white, he paid the man a coin. 

He needed something else that would be special, not just simple flowers. Walking through the rows of shops, something shiny caught his attention. Turning he looked at the rows of jewelry, most were too many gems or chains, until his eyes fail on one. Gold leaves stretched around the bottom, three diamonds on the sides and ont in the middle that dropped down to a slightly bigger diamond. “Its perfect.” He said aloud to himself before handing to woman money and then shoving it into his pocket. 

Clyde didn’t wait another moment before turning and walking out of the bazaar. As he walked along the path towards the castle he started to talk to myself. He practice saying sorry and then her name. He tried to put his feelings about everything into words but failed. He just had to wing it. 
He knew where she would be as he made his way to her. She loved the garden and it was where he had met her. When he saw her he gulped. Before he sat down beside her, he stood there with a small bouquet of flowers. He stayed silent for a moment before speaking. His eyes were on a book and he sighed. He was done with the silent treatment. 

“Lily.” He said her name before taking the book from her then shoving the roses into her face. He took a seat next to her and sighed. “I am sorry for leaving suddenly. I should’ve said goodbye, but I didn’t have time. Angelique was always on the move and we didn’t have time to waist. I love my daughter more than anything and she needs my help. I did this to her, so I need to fix it.” He paused for a moment as he looked into her eyes. “I didn’t say thank you for everything you did for me. So thank you and I am truly sorry.” He looked took a moment to think of his next words. “I am also sorry for earlier. I shouldn’t have said what I said about your family. Every family has its cross to bare and I should of reacted differently.” 

He slowly pulled out the necklace from his pocket and held it out for her. “Thank you for all you have done. You could of turned my family and I away, but you didn’t and I thank you for that.”

That was the thing about Lily. Once upon a time her power had rivaled Angela’s enough that she could have sat in the top tier of power in Arri. However, her heart was never in the kill and she hesitated a lot. She did not have the willpower to force herself to take a life no matter how vicious nor cruel they were. She couldn’t do it by herself. That made her weak. She winced at Clyde’s words and Toya was rather annoyed by his reaction but otherwise, they ignored it. Lily ignored it. It was probably better that way.

She had lavender tea made because her nerves were slowly unraveling. She was lounging on her bench with a good book now. It was the only way her nerves could come back together before she snapped again. At first, she heard her name and she flat out ignored it. She was still angry and she was still stubborn but when he took that book from her the look of annoyance melted from her face. She took the roses with hesitation as she held them up to her nose and breathed in the scent. She was contemplating something as he spoke. “You were right about me being a murderer. Both my daughter and Nymphaea’s father.” She held out her hand so the runes could show. “Ever make a decision that burns you to the core so bad that you can’t bare to even look at yourself in the mirror for years. That when you look at your daughter and see her father that you wince. She looks so much like him you know. Acts like him too. No matter the justification that I can use, I made my decision. It doesn’t matter whether or not he was going to kill Nymph. It was still a nasty choice that I didn’t want to make.” 

Her voice faded back out as she looked over at the necklace and gave a soft smile. She gently took it from him and thought about his words. “Not turning people away when they need something is what I do Clyde. Any of my other sisters would have sent you packing. You see they aren’t tolerant of people like her. We send people to death for less than what she has done. Toya’s words were out of anxiety and I fed into it into of fighting her because of that. Our home isn’t as well protected as we would like. With everything going on we seem to forget that our circumstances are not to be held by everyone who comes here. Whether it be Dalanesca trying to kill Angela. Cyprus trying to kill me. Or Toya looking for her lost children. These aren’t problems that should weigh on everyone but we have a hard time looking past them. Do not take Toya’s or my words to heart. Just like I won’t take yours. You are right, we are murderers, thieves, liars… we’re everything. I will not deny these things.”

She lowered the flowers from her nose finally and gave him a sad smile. “I shouldn’t have hit you with the book. I shouldn’t have done a lot of things but I can make up for those things as well.” She reached over and pet his face gently. “If you let me that is.”

Clyde looked at the woman before him. He had apologized and didn’t expect her next words. She had killed the man she once loved and her daughter. She had to do those, a daughter who didn’t want to be in pain was not a murder. It was mercy. He thought of the few mercy kills he had once had to do. Pushing the thoughts away, he wanted to only concentrate on the woman before him.

“You have a good soul, Lily.” He commented. She was a woman who didn’t turn anyone away. She was caring and sincere. A few of the things he was starting to adore about her. Holding her book on his lap, he removed his hand and brought it up to her cheek. What she said about herself was still getting to her. “You are not a murder.” He held her cheek for a moment as he stared into her eyes in silence.

Slowly dropping his hand he removed his hand and brought it down to hers, and took the necklace out of her hands. Putting his hands around her neck, he leaned in as he clasped the necklace around her neck. Their lips were inches apart and he could feel her warm breath on his skin. For a moment he wanted to kiss her, but he pulled away. It wasn’t the time for kisses when he was still worrying about his daughter.

Bringing his hands down to hers, he grabbed them softly and turn them around so he could untie the wraps and look at her cuts. His actions had caused this. As he ran his hands over hers, a light glow escaped around their hands. Soon her hands were healed from the scratches. He was only able to heal little wounds, if he could’ve, he would of healed her arrow wound. Holding her hands for a moment he noticed they were soft. His were a bit ruff from all the horse riding. Delicate , small, and soft. He smiled as he held her hands. “There. All healed up.” He said as he looked up into her eyes. He didn’t remove his hands, he held hers.

Lily nuzzled his hand softly as she pressed her lips against the palm of his hand. It was a simple gesture as her green eyes landed back to his blues. The silence spoke more about the two of them than any words they could ever say to one another. Soon his hand left her face and he was taking the necklace he had gotten for her so he could clasp it around her neck. They were so close and she could feel his breath on her lips but neither moved. Instead, she moved her nose enough to gently rub against his.

That was all she moved towards before he set to healing the small cuts on her hands. She was sure with the way Clyde was that he felt responsible. The glow he had was a soft warmth much like the desert just at sunset. She gave a small smile as they held hands. “Thank you. I know that it worried you.”

There came the silence once more as they sat together just holding hands innocently. Their eyes spoke what they were having trouble saying. She ran her thumbs over his rough skin softly as she thought about everything that had happened. When he pulled her up she cuddled close to him and wrapped her arm around his. “Of course,” she leaned up and kissed his cheek lightly. It was so brief it must have felt like the flutter of butterfly wings.

They took their walk and she ended up taking him all the way to an indoor garden. The entrance was so dark that Lily was laughing as she guided him down the corridor. However, once the room opened up there were hundreds if not thousands of glowing flowers that softly illuminated the room. “One of Arri’s night gardens. We have them outside but for those that want to experience them during the day we have these indoor ones.”  Fireflies gently danced around them and she found herself staring at a bush of tiger lilies. “Absolutely a work of art I think.” She saw different varieties of plants that were clearly specimen designed only for this garden.

Clyde walked beside Lily to what she called, a night garden. His eyes saw no sunlight shining through. Only the flowers and fireflies lit the area. The sound of running water filled the air and the soft sounds of crickets. The time of day was also unknown to them. He looked at the flowers in awe. It was a beautiful sight to see. Something he never really seen anything like it. “You put me in awe every time you show me something new.” He said down to her with a smile.

As they walked through the flower garden, they came to an open circled area. The sounds of the garden almost sounded like music. An idea came to him mind. Bowing with her hand still in his he smiled, “May I have this dance?” He asked then he softly moved her hand onto his shoulder then put his hand on her waist. He grabbed her other hand and slowly started to dance around the area. His eyes locked with her as they moved with the sounds of the garden. He twirled her once then another time. This time he didn’t catch her like he was supposed to. She crashed into his chest. Looking down at her, into her eyes. He slowly moved his lips down to kiss her, he couldn’t wait anymore.

Before their lips could touch the doors of the garden crashed open. “There you are Clyde.” Ana paused as her eyes widen in realization. “Aww how cute! The lovebirds have made up! Absolutely cute.” Anastasia smiled looking at the two who were in eachothers arms. Clyde sighed and let his arms drop from Lily, turning the elemental narrowed his eyes at his sister. She had did this on purpose. “Lily..Clyde.. would you mind showing me around this amazing place?” She asked with a smile on her face. “Ohh! Let’s do some shopping?! I am in need of some new boots.” Ana moved her right boot side to side, showing how worn they were getting. "Yes, Anastasia." He agreed. He hadn't seen his sister in so long. He did want to spend some time with her without his evil daughter around.

The next morning they would do whatever they could to get Angelique back. For now, they had to do something besides sit around and wait.