For the most part, Lewis let Simone do most of the explaining. She was better at telling these things eloquently and concise. There were a few moments where he felt as though he had to chime in, but they were few and far between. The questions next though, surprised him a bit. The King and Queen seemed to have a few of their own, but it was Llynette who was taking charge of the miniature interrogation.

“We play with them all the time,” Lewis said with a smile. “Of course, we both have to do a bit of work, but we make sure to spend a lot of quality time with the kids. There’s a scheduled day for it individually, as well as time set aside each day for the whole family. It can be a little hectic, but we all love it.”

Llynette looked at Lewis with wide eyes, “Wow…all of them get time?” She almost gave her own parents a disappointed look.

“All of them,” the ex-assassin said with a smile. “Everett and Alshaya…they’re quite the little fighters. They like listening to stories and pretending they’re knights in shining armor ready to slay the dragon. Then, there’s Jules and Corrine. They’re much less active, and prefer to paint and do crafts. Janus and Lila are young still, and are content with playing with toys and just in general running around. Then there’s Fiori…we bond by going shopping for seamstress materials….”

“So many,” Llynette said, astounded by the amount of things Lewis and Simone did for their kids.

“Mira loves showing off her sea friends….she’s a wild one. Then there’s Rex, Lucas, and Ezili, who are all pretty much adults at this point. They spend a lot of time doing their own thing, but they drop by and say hi when they can. And then baby Glyn…he’s too young to do much playing, but he loves being sung to….Simone’s really good at that…”

Simone smiled at Lynette and chuckled, “Lewis retired from his job so he wouldn’t miss any moments the children had. He missed Alshaya taking her first steps and he’s never forgiven himself for that one.”

Llywellyn looked frustrated for a moment. “Was I there for Llynette?”

“No, you were in a council meeting.” Simone blinked a bit at him wondering why now of all times it mattered to him. “Remember you told me it had to wait.”

Llywellyn looked frustrated with himself.

“What matters is that you don’t miss it next time,” Simone looked at her counterpart’s pregnant belly. “You have all the time in the world to make things right. Trust me, sometimes things don’t go as planned. Sometimes it takes a lot to grow as a person. You just have to be willing to change. Sulwal can handle itself. Your family is only going to be young for so long and the bonds you make now will last forever.”

That seemed to hit home at least with Llywellyn, “I’ll try harder and make time. Make sure Simone frees up time too.”

“Good, but today is our time with Llynette. We did promise and we don’t break out promises,” Simone smirked at Llynette who got excited.

“So… What do you want to do?”

“PLAY ALL DAY! AND ALL NIGHT!”

“I can do all day but once the sun is down you have to go to sleep,” Simone negotiated like a pro.

Lewis and Simone booth smiled when Llynette stated that she wanted to play all day and night. Simone, used to having to negotiate with terrorists, talked her into the full day, until the sun went down. And reluctantly, Llynette agreed. And so, after breakfast, the trio set off to play all day. The first few hours were Llynette showing the two around the castle and its outskirts. Despite this being a copy of the world they knew, there were a few minor differences, which Llynette was proud of.

Then, as they sat down for a lunch picnic in the courtyard, Simone pointed out all of the flowers and their names, stating that they had a lot of these in their own personal garden at home. Llynette found herself entranced with how smart Simone was, and was happy that she was learning all these new names.

“Momma always gave me books on them, but I didn’t know all of this,” she said, excitedly. “There are so many more plants, right?”

Simone laughed, and went on to explain more about the other plants they had at home. “There’s the wisteria leading up to the castle…it’s absolutely amazing,” she said to the young girl. “I wish I could show you…”

The last few hours were spent playing games around the castle, and once the sun started to set, Llynette tried to argue for more time.

Lewis and Simone, though, could feel the pull of the magic taking hold. They had fulfilled their promise, and the world was ending.

“We can’t stay, Llynette…I’m sorry,” Lewis said as he knelt down and gave her a hug. “The magic is taking us…we’re going home.”

“But I had so much fun…it could be like this every day!” Llynette had tears in her eyes. “I want to go home with you…”

Lewis smirked. “Wouldn’t that make your parents sad?”

Llynette shook her head, “They are just a dream aren’t they? I want to be with you!”

Simone and Lewis looked at each other and frowned as they hugged her. “We will always love you.” In the few short hours, they had been with her… The little one had grown on them both. She was spunky like Simone but also had a lot of Llywellyn’s more charming personality traits like his tenderness and meekness at certain situations.

They were pulled out of the dream realm by Angela and Xeik. Angela was looking over Simone when she noticed Simone was holding someone.

“…What the hell?” Angela’s eyes got wide. “I think we gave them too much magic Xeik.”

Llynette peeked her eyes open, “Who are you?”

“My name is Angela and this is Xeik… Who are you?”

“Llynette!” She giggled a bit.

Xeik remembered back to the other world, “The daughter of Llywellyn and Simone… Of course, they brought her home…”

Simone popped her eyes open and sat up. She was panting and she had wounds on her. “Where is she?”

“I don’t know…”

“Llynette… Llynette?” Simone was shocked to see her. “Never mind for now. I need to find Saphielle.” She made her way to Ciara’s office hurt. “I need you… to find someone in the guild. Goes by Saphielle. She just tried to kill me and Lewis. I barely made it but I want to curb stop that corrupted bitch.”

Ciara's official office was on the first floor for easy access and had two large white doors as the entrance. The walls were a darkened shade of violet while the floors were the shade of white. The entire room was filled with cave plants, bookshelves, and some couches to make guests feel comfortable. In the back of the room was a large desk where Ciara sat, writing up a letter to send to some nobles about using some of their musicians at a ball one of them was hosting. Her eyes jumped up from the words as she saw Simone enter her office, injured. The fae woman almost jumped out of her chair and quickly walked over to Simone's side as she started explaining. 

"I remember every face that we let into the guild. Return to Lewis. I'll be back with Saphielle in a moment. If she sees that you're alive, she might try to flee." Ciara explained quickly with a smile. 

Simone had probably seen that smile before whenever one of the visiting nobles tried to make a deal with one of her artists that was unfair. It was a smile that meant whomever had wronged the guild was about to pay the price. The fae woman stepped out of her office and went straight for Saphielle's room. Each member had their own room, except for apprentices. Saphielle was a full member and thus, she had her own room. Just as she was about to head down to the room, she stopped in the hallway when she heard Saphielle's voice muttering beneath her breath. 

"He will be mine. He will be mine." Saphielle repeatedly whispered over and over. 

Ciara didn't say anything but stepped out from around the corner. Saphielle looked up in surprise to see the fae woman. Ciara simply smiled and opened her mouth to sing. The fae woman's voice was like honey and brought a warmth to Saphielle's heart. The magic from the fae woman's song wrapped around Saphielle's mind as the world around the foolish girl began to fade away. Instead of Ciara, Saphielle would see Lewis with open arms. Delighted at the sight, the delusional girl ran to Ciara and embraced her. 

Ciara's fingers began to grow long into sharp dagger-like needles. She pierced Saphielle's arms in the embrace, spilling blood all over the clean floor. The girl screamed out in agony and tried to pull away from the tight embrace. The illusion faded away to reveal Ciara. Saphielle's scent had the taste of distinct terror as she saw a black ooze dripping from where Ciara's eyes were supposed to be. Violet magic surrounded both of them as they were teleported to the room with Simone and Lewis. She released the girl and quickly shut the door. 

"Do you want to do this here my dear Simone? Or should we do this in the special room?" Ciara asked with a calm sweet smile. 

Her eyes had returned to normal as she regained her composure. Her nails were still long and terrifying and that sweet smile remained. The special room was a little room Ciara and Simone used sometimes in case of attackers. Normally some idiot or fan found their hideout for guild members and bothered someone. They usually just locked them in a dark room to scare them away. But it was secure enough that Saphielle wouldn't be able to go free, even if she had magic.