#have some Arkhelios politics

[potential-fate]

As the others filed out to the back yard, Roman glanced over at the dining room table where Wanda had sat only minutes before and frowned. He’d heard her ideas more than once, both about synths as well as how Arkhelios could be improved. It was an impossible topic to avoid when she constantly debated Salem about it. Roman knew that the argument they’d been having in the study earlier was an old one, just with new words. Wanda wanted more regulations and programs that would protect and serve minorities, including synths, who she considered essentially human.

Grandfather, of course, fell on the opposite end of this argument. He and Abraham Helios had founded the town with the idea of freedom, above all else. Roman knew that his grandfather believed Abraham had taken it too far in the end though. Why, Roman hadn’t been told, only that there was a greater rift between the two patriarchs in town than Salem would ever admit to.

Nonetheless, Salem and Wanda stood on opposing sides of this argument every time she brought it up (and she was always the one who brought it up). Wanda claimed to want to help those who had less, and Salem believed that it would only impede their own progress, and affect the freedom of everyone else. He still firmly believed in the same concepts of self reliance and self-mediation being a cornerstone to what their freedom was based on.

[luverofralts]

Arkhelios Adventures

"What do you think Ulyssa's going to talk about today?" Adrian asked wearily. "Yesterday's briefing on garden maintenance was something else."

"She's just working on the easiest tasks in the court records," Trent replied. "Give her a break. I'd pick garden maintenance over the budget allotted for defense too. She's trying her best."

"And you're being too generous. Ulyssa is just fine at making decisions. She's certainly made some big ones in recent history."

"And there it is," Trent sighed. "You do know that you're not still married to Roman, right? He didn't cheat on you with Ulyssa, though you certainly act like you were the injured party. It's not like you're not benefitting from the queen regent. You did recieve the notice about Adrienne, haven't you?"

Adrian groaned, remembering the gold lettered notice that had been directly delivered to the house from the palace.

"Ulyssa's gone too far. I haven't told Roman yet, because I know that Maura will shut that down the instant she wakes up. Making Roman's daughter a princess? It's unheard of and will only draw attention. People haven't forgotten her affair with the man, and making Rien a rank higher than her sister and her father will only look like favouritism and a desperate attempt to win back Roman."

"I'll keep that in mind. I wasn't intending to lust after Roman with my actions, but seeing as you're something of an expert on that subject, I'll be more careful in the future."

Adrian and Trent froze in place, mortified to be caught gossiping by the true monarch of Twikkii Island.

"Your Majesty," they said in unison, bowing their heads respectfully and hoping that she hadn't been standing behind them for too long.

"Adrian, I would have thought that you had better political instincts than this," Maura chided her cousin, gingerly sitting on a nearby lounger. "Rien saved my life and likely those of several of my children. There is no greater noble rank than duchess that I could elevate her to without making her her sister's equal. The last time I checked, Luciana hasn't provided the Crown with patriotic service, and her sister has. The two girls are, therefore, not equal to each other and Rien must be raised higher to compensate. When you have to bow to your daughter at royal events, perhaps you'll remember her service and endeavor to act like she would."

Adrian remained silent, bowing his head. The queen was truly back and she was pissed. It didn't matter how well Adrian had acted in the heat of battle, Maura had to punish him and likely anyone else she blamed for the loss of her children. Adrian could understand that need, even if he couldn't defend it.

"As always, you are wise," he replied formally. "I'm sure that Adrienne will continue to serve the crown loyally."

"Gentlemen, do we have any leads about this unprovoked attack on our great nation? Maura informed me that there were bodies recovered."

"Unidentified still, I'm afraid," Adrian answered. "Crystal Cove has granted us emergency access to their genetic database, but nothing came of it. There was a weak match, but the comparison DNA was too degraded to identify it. The Pleasantview coven is working on a magical solution."

"How nice of Claudia. I'm sure that she'll ask us nothing in return for this help."

"How are you feeling?" Trent asked carefully. "I wasn't informed that you were conscious. We've all been so worried."

A dark look passed over Maura’s face, but a small smile graced her lips.

"I was cleared to return to work early this morning. Ulyssa has done her best, but this situation needs an expert to handle it."

"Shouldn't you be resting? You almost died, Maura. Are you in pain? Do you need us to get you anything? You can take the day off and spend it with your children. No one would think less of you if you did."

"My children need to see action being taken to protect them. They need to see how a monarch devotes themselves to their country. I'll have all evening to spend with them, but first, I have to do my duty and keep them and everyone else safe. Get me everything you can on the DNA match from Crystal Cove. I can ask Claudia for the coven's report, but I want to see to scientific results myself."

"Of course," Adrian said quickly. It wasn't technically his job to prepare data for the queen, but he would do it anyway. The job of a duke was to serve the crown however they could after all. Maura had teams of researchers and experts, but maybe she was distrustful of non family members at the moment. Adrian certainly couldn't blame her for that.

Maura was silent for a moment, clearly weighing her next words carefully.

"I don't know where my father is buried. If he was buried, that is. I need to know where his grave or remains are or any monument currently standing in his memory. I need the records of who paid for any memorial for him or any artists commissioned to make a monument. I need his itinerary for the day he went missing and where he was last seen. Get Crystal Cove to run a search in their genetic database using a sample that I'm sure they have from me. I want to know where his DNA shows up. Does he have siblings, cousins, or even other children? If they won't grant the search, use Claudia's name and I'm sure they'll comply with our requests. And gentlemen, this is to stay between the three of us. No one can know that I am asking for this. If anyone does ask, say that it is because I am planning my own chamber in the family mauseolem, and I want my father added to rest next to my children. If they ask about the DNA, say that it's Claudia's idea, and I'd imagine most people won't challenge you further."

"Your father?" Adrian repeated. "That should be easy enough. I'll make some calls."

"I'd appreciate it, along with your discretion. This is a sensitive matter, unrelated to our terrorists. After my brush with death, I just have some personal questions I need to answer."

"I'll see you tomorrow. I need to cut things here short for another appointment. Remember, be discrete."

Maura paused for a moment.

"Thank you two for doing what you did at the cottage. My life was saved because you two acted swiftly and took control of the situation. You did good work and helped carry Ulyssa through her duties as regent afterward. I trusted you with my life, and you protected me. However, so did Spencer and Alysiara, and you failed them completely. If anything else happens, and my children are hurt again, there will be consequences. You're dismissed."

Adrian and Trent rose and tried to leave Maura’s sight as quickly as they could. Her mixed message of gratefulness and anger wasn't something they wanted to continue to hear. Both of them would try to fulfill her requests, as far away from her as possible, until the queen's mood settled. She was enduring a senseless loss and coming to terms with nearly dying herself in a similar manner to how she lost her mother. It would take a long time for Maura to completely heal from this dark period in her life, and until she had, her half-brother and cousin planned to stay out of her line of fire.

As Maura began her slow descent to the throne room to openly hold court, a visitor to the castle strained their ears, hoping to pick up any gossip that might be travelling around the many rooms.

It was all above board, of course. The general agreement stated that when Lukas approached a building owned by a monarchy in the living world, they would present themselves in their female form, so that palace security had ample time to identify them. Lukas' female form had been gained after their second reincarnation as an abandoned infant. They had been raised without their memories as a regular human child in an orphanage in Crystal Cove. Because they did not recover their memories until they were a teenager, Crystal Cove had Lukas' fingerprints, DNA, and medical records as they would any other orphan in their system. After Lukas nearly toppled the Crystal Cove monarchy as a young teen, security had been put in place against them, assuming that they could not take another form outside of their reincarnated female body. Lukas proved them all wrong once they came into their full power as an adult and could switch between their various reincarnations at will, making the monarchies tremble at the thought of a god they had no leverage on, who made no secret of their desire to rule the living world even of it was not allowed. All the living world had against Lukas was the information collected on their female form, and Izanami had encouraged his spouse to make some silly peace deal with them under threat of divorce. He really gave the humans too much credit.

Lukas had spent their entire existence sneaking around the living world and influencing certain events to their benefit. Even a known security profile couldn't slow them down, as much as the humans hoped it would.

Lukas needed every piece of information they could gather about the attack on the Twikkii Island monarchy. It was their job to maintain order in the living world and prevent dark forces from tipping that balance to their husband's realm. Death was separate but equal to Life, and balance must always be upheld between the two. A mysterious attack mirroring the murder of the previous queen was something that might just tip those scales, and Lukas needed to know why. Strangely enough, none of the humans seemed to want to help them gain this knowledge, so what other choice did Lukas have but to sneak around palaces, maybe "borrowing" some new earrings if they had time?

To Maura’s relief, the first person to appear before her throne was Claudia, who had insisted that court be canceled for the rest of the day so that two monarchs could address their nations' security. Maura didn't have the patience to hear from strangers when her energy was already starting to fade. The doctors had warned her not to push herself, and Claudia's arrival had been the perfect excuse to retreat back to a comfy chair and ignore the rest of the world.

"You look better than I'd expected," Claudia began, eyeing her cousin with worry. "I know Mom and Dad said that you weren't scheduled to die, but you gave us all quite a scare."

"How do you think I feel? I thought I was dying. My two children are dead. My...."

Maura trailed off, unsure of what she wanted to say to her cousin. Claudia was her best friend and her family, but she also ruled the most dangerous country to exist in modern times. But there were also things that only Claudia could tell her, and Maura needed answers.

"Claudia, I know we have to talk about how we're going to move forward from this attack on a national level, but there are...things that I need to discuss with you on a personal level. Some things that only you can answer. Can I trust you not to breathe a word about this to anyone?"

Claudia looked intrigued at the question, but didn't immediately say no.

"Even Miruna? I try to make a habit of not lying to my future wife, but if it's that important, I may make an exception. Is it important?"

Maura nodded quickly, only to discover that moving her head too fast was still painful.

"It is, but Miruna is trustworthy, and she might know a magical solution," Maura conceded. "I don't even know where to start. All of this has just been one giant nightmare that never seems to end. When...when I was unconscious, I dreamt that I saw my mother. Or maybe I did see her, I have no idea what's true or not. But she had Alysiara and Spencer with her and when I woke up, it was true that they had died, so maybe that proves that my dream was something else entirely."

Claudia leaned back in her chair, absorbing her cousin's words before composing her reply.

"You were dying," she confirmed darkly. "For the longest time, we weren't sure that you would make it. My parents didn't have a concrete answer on your condition for days. From what they've always told me, the dying can end up in the afterlife prematurely, visit, and then return to the living. It doesn't happen often, but it's not unheard of. Your experience is probably genuine from what I've learned from having two reapers for parents. What did your mom say? Did she reveal the names of her killers? Maybe something scandalous about the family? I mean, the Siews have always had money, maybe Grandma buried secret treasure just like the Darktides of old. That would be a twist."

"Claudia, I'm being serious," Maura insisted. "There was no treasure, no ID on any of her killers, nothing. No, it was worse. She said that my dad’s still alive."

"No!" Claudia gasped, looking just like she had as a teenager when they'd play Truth or Dare. "But Grandma killed him, I thought. She never denied it and I thought for sure that she-"

"Nope. They declared him missing and then dead so that my mom could get remarried," Maura confided. "I have Adrian and Trent digging through records and investigating what they can, but it was a long time ago. I might need your help with some of it."

"My help? Sure, but I can't ask my parents to confirm if he's alive or not. They get pissy when you try to get a simple yes or no answer from them about dead people. Well, so-called dead people in this case."

"No, it's not your parents who can help, but the queen of Pleasantview," Maura replied, her eyes pleading with her cousin for help. "My mother said that the Red Queen might have been involved. He was headed for Pleasantview when he went missing and she was a psychopath, so maybe there's something there."

Maura held her breath, hoping that Claudia wouldn't find the question and implications about the country she ruled offensive. To her relief, Claudia laughed.

"Oh, god, yeah, that's a fair assumption. I don't think we've even scratched the surface on half the shit she did. I assume you want me to confirm or deny her involvement?" Maura nodded. "I'll have my best researchers on it. I'll lie to them about why, of course, but I simply don't have the time to do it myself. I've been rather busy these last few days trying to calm the global community down."

Lukas frowned. The queen's father? How was that relevant? It likely wasn't, and Queen Maura was just venting after her visit to the afterlife. It was fair for her to do, as annoying as Lukas found it. Mortals always got emotional when they first glimpsed the existence waiting for them after death. Still, this sounded like it could be juicy gossip, even if it didn't help Lukas' plans.

"Is that all you learned from your visit? It must have been incredible to see the realm of the dead. My parents talk about its beauty all the time."

"It was...memorable," Maura replied. "I think I was just in the welcoming center. Lots of skeletal decorations and unsettling things as far as the eye can see. I think I'd rather spend a few more decades in this realm, thanks."

"It's hard to believe that one day, this realm won't be ours to protect. When we're dead, what will we do with all our free time? No more long meetings or ceremonies that seem to last forever. I can't imagine it."

Maura smiled thinly.

"It's too recent a possibility for me to think about. I plan to keep those meetings for as long as I can. Adrion would probably prefer it that way."

"Right, sorry. I was raised by dead people, I have no sense of normal boundaries. Let's just move on from that entirely then. I'll search my records for your dad, and we'll regroup later. How are you managing otherwise? Is there anything you need help with? Purely out of cousinly love, I promise. I swear to god Ulyssa thought I was trying to steal your silverware the way she was watching me. The last thing I need is to conquer a kingdom where the monarchs seem to be targets."

Maura shot her cousin a look that conveyed her disapproval of that last sentence, but Claudia seemed oblivious.

"Oh yes, I've been bombarded with information all morning to catch up, but Ulyssa mentioned something unusual to me," Maura said. "Something about you buying a bedroom in the cottage? Right after an attack that could have killed any one of us, you suddenly want a legal piece of that lot. Why? What possible use do you have with a part ownership in our family cottage? And don't day that it's part of a cunning invasion plan, I'm really not in the mood for jokes."

Claudia smiled, suddenly very interested in their conversation.

"Oh, that. That is part of a cunning plan, though not for invasion. It's for protection. I own most of Pleasantview, a tower in Crystal Cove, the ruins of Sedona, and now part of a royal property in Twikkii Island. I just need something in Strangetown, but honestly, who needs Strangetown? Even when Empress Anastacia ruled the Crystal Empire, Strangetown was the lone hold out. They like being alone on the global stage, so let them protect themselves. It doesn't matter if they're my mom's family or not."

"And your plan is? My painkillers are wearing off, Claudia. You're going to have to skip over your distain for your great-uncle and his weird beliefs."

"Right. Well, you know that I've been following Theo's magical career and helping when I can, right? He's truly talented, and the coven expects great things from him. I was reading a progress report on him a while ago, and it all just suddenly seemed too obvious. Maura, I've been to the archives where they will search for your father's records. I've spent days living in there, pouring over what's possible and what's been done in the past. In the old days, Tredony not only survived, but thrived because of magic. Ancient magic. Blood magic."

"Oh my god, Claudia," Maura groaned, suddenly feeling a headache start in her already sore head. "What have you done? Blood magic? Are you serious? You know that they stopped teaching that for a reason, right? Didn't they have to dust off books in some dark, guarded crypt for Theo to learn from? If no other sensible demon practices blood magic these days, why should you?"

"Because Theo can control it," Claudia replied quickly. "Because no one else uses it, so they can't undo it. Because it's something whoever is after our family can't manipulate. It will keep us safe. It turned the small nation of Tredony into the powerhouse Pleasantview is today. Even Miruna supports this plan, and she's seen what Theo can do."

"Even if I thought that this was a good idea, how the hell does blood magic figure into your land buying spree? If you've somehow destroyed the cottage even more than it already has been this week with strange magic, my mom might just visit me again as a ghost and murder me herself. I'm supposed to protect it as strongly as I would the palace. I swore an oath as queen to keep it for future generations to enjoy."

"And you are," Claudia insisted. "We are. Blood magic needs names and titles, and ownership of something to be effective. You have to throw yourself fully in the spell for it to work. You give up a part of yourself. You show the world a part of you and bind magic to it. To protect something, you have to claim ownership, that it's now a part of yourself that you can wield."

Maura stared at her cousin, trying to follow her logic. She read reports about Theo from her international security team, but there was very little included about how magic worked.

"You know that Roman and Abe got demon married, right?" Claudia explained with a sigh. Maura looked like this was new information to her, though Claudia doubted it was. "In demonic marriage, you give up a part of yourself and receive a part of your partner in exchange. You cut a part of yourself out and bind it with magic, and in turn, you receive ownership of a piece of your partner. You sacrifice something to own that you want to control. I own parts of various countries and can therefore cast magic on them. I can protect what I need to protect, and help the innocent people that I don't actually rule at the same time."

Maura tried not to visibly recoil at this admission.

"So, you owning a piece of the cottage will let you cast blood magic to protect it? God, Claudia! What if you're wrong? What if someone can undo your magic some day? Every living soul outside of Strangetown could be at Theo's mercy if he ever decided to stage a coup and never even know about it!"

"Victoriana is his sister by blood," Claudia replied soothingly. "My heirs will share blood with him every generation after I'm gone. From what I'm told by the coven, this makes a very large difference magically. It'll be fine."

"Well, at least you only have your hands on the cottage," Maura sighed, rubbing her temples. "At least the palace is safe from your scheme."

When Claudia didn't immediately agree with her, a familiar sinking feeling washed over Maura.

"The palace is safe, correct?"

"Well, it is because of my magic," Claudia replied cheerfully. "Theo and I paid a visit to the palace while you recovered, so it should be safe from now on."

"Did Ulyssa sell you the palace too?!"

"Uh, well, technically, I already do own the palace," Claudia offered, earning a glare from her cousin. "I am the living heir of the oldest heir of our grandmother, and with that blood claim, magic actually sees me as the true queen of Twikkii Island."

"It what?! What the hell are you playing at? I'm the legal queen!"

"Legal, yes, but not magically legitimate. Magic operates by strange rules, you know that. Someone pulls one sword from a stone, and they're magically legitimate. You don't need to throw a fit about it."

"And Victoriana is going to magically inherit my throne instead of Adrion? She'll have blood magic control of the security of my nation and Adrion won't?"

"Maybe?"

Lukas glanced around them, hoping that the raised voices didn't attract unwanted attention. So far, very little of their eavesdropping was relevant. The laws of magic weren't unknown to the deity, but it was still good to have confirmation that Pleasantview was messing around with blood magic.

Now, there was a throwback. Lukas had assumed that the days of blood magic were at an end. All those demons fighting against each other in increasingly sadistic ways had been frustrating to deal with. Izanami used to keep a bottle of scotch on his desk whenever casualties of blood magic hit his death list, only to have their carcass resurrected or the ties to their blood magically littered over the centuries, sending false reports that stumped even his reapers. Lukas dearly hoped that those days were behind them.

There were rituals that could transfer magical authority to Maura or her son, but Lukas had no interest in revealing that magic at this time. If the issue festered and the state of the living was threatened, maybe, but some things were better kept quiet until they were absolutely needed. So far, none of this gave the deity the information they needed.

"Master Maricourt knows what he's doing. Miruna trusts him completely, and with Evren's knowledge of an alternate world and its magic, plus Theo's abilities, the Pleasantview coven can be trusted to attempt controversial magic."

Claudia was still defending her plan when Lukas resumed eavesdropping, making them groan. Someone had to move this conversation on the right direction.

"Something important has been brought to my attention," Lukas intoned, focusing their attention on Claudia.

"Something important has been brought to my attention," Claudia repeated, looking surprised to be speaking.

"Something from the coven. It's very important," Lukas added. With all the dubious sources the queen received her information from, Lukas was betting on her coven being the most likely to have news that would benefit the deity.

"Something from the coven. It's very important."

"More meddling from the witches?" Maura asked with a sigh. "Where else have they put blood magic in my home?"

Claudia frowned, but felt compelled to continue speaking, even if she didn't know why.

"No, it was something brought to me from Master Maricourt. He was informed of a series of prophetic incidents among his coven that the queen should be aware of. Apparently, there is a list of names being spoken from the dead or the supernatural that no one has been able to piece together. Sometimes, it is one simple name, other reports list several names. No one knows how they connect to each other or what they could mean."

"Names?" Maura repeated. "What names exactly? Maybe I've can help tie them together."

"Unlikely. Even my oldest scholars can't figure it out. I was beginning to think that it was just a hoax among the witches, but Edana Darktide has devoted most of her time to solving this riddle lately, and she isn't one to chase after riddles. I'm not really sure why I'm telling you this. This is something still being investigated. I must be getting sentimental after nearly losing you."

"Gee, thanks. It's nice to know that it only takes me almost dying for you to loosen your tongue. What are the names? Maybe while we're searching for my father, we can run down these names too."

Claudia shook her her head.

"No, we have them identified, it's just what they share that we're missing. The first name given was Atem Spector, son of the Grim Reaper. The second was Riley Reeves, we're confident that this is Life’s sister, though we have found very little else about her. The last was Alicia Wenlock, a former resident of Crystal Cove, who married into the monarchy. Alicia lived during the Demon Wars, we think Atem was first written about when Strangetown fell into destruction millenia ago, and we have no timeline for Riley. None of it makes sense yet, but we're working on it."

"Those don't sound familiar to me. I wonder why these names keep popping up. Has there been any lately, especially after the attack on us?"

"Not that I know of. Things have been quiet since the attack according to Master Maricourt. I'm sure that the quiet won't last long though."

Unknown to the two monarchs, Lukas nearly started hyperventilating in the palace corridor. It was careless to lose focus when they were supposed to be hiding, but their mind and heart were racing wildly and all concern for secrecy was gone.

This was worth the effort of coming here. The mortals were engaging with prophetic visions and the leader of the Pleasantview coven and his ex-wife were collecting a long list of all too familiar names. Lukas could add even more names to that list.

Morganna Grunt. Victoria Evans. There were likely more that they were forgetting, but Lukas had been just a tiny bit busy being discorporated at the time of their deaths, so they felt justified in not having a conclusive list of victims memorized.

They remembered when Atem nearly set the headquarters of the Strangetown reaper team ablaze, looking for answers about his mother, Morganna's, mysterious disappearance. They couldn't forget the helplessness of watching Alicia and Victoria's bodies turn to nothing, not even ash. How Riley....

No. They couldn't think about her. They refused to think about Riley or the way her death had destroyed their family in ways that hadn't healed over the many centuries.

But why were mortals hearing these names repeated? That was what Lukas should be focusing on. They couldn't change the past, but they could influence the future. No one else should have to suffer the pain the Lane family had suffered. Any mention of the names of the lost had to be investigated. It was severe enough that Lukas would probably have to involve their husband going forward. Izanami would smother them with protective concern, but he needed to be told that his realm might be in danger again. That his spouse might be in danger again.

"I'd better go catch up on appointments, but I'll be back in an instant if you need me," Claudia vowed, rising to hug her cousin. Despite her irritation with Claudia's magical choices, Maura held her cousin as tightly as she could. They had cheated death and couldn't afford to slip up now. Even the thought of losing her frustrating cousin brought unwelcome tears to her eyes.

"Come back soon. We'll talk when we have more information about our conversation today. And Claudia, next time, just tell me that you're stealing your ex-boyfriend's kid to do dark magic in the place I live. I am the queen, no matter what blood magic thinks of my claim."

"Of course. I don't plan on any more spells involving you in the near future, but I'll keep that in mind."

Blood magic. People collecting Riley's name like it was a trading card. Memories of a demon with golden eyes cackling as Lukas' body rapidly deteriorated before their family's eyes. It was all too much to handle. They had to leave this place before they were discovered, but Lukas' feet felt glued to the floor.

Izanami. He would know what to do. All they had to do was teleport home and Izanami would fix all of this.

[luverofralts]

Arkhelios Adventures

"It's a shame about the Harvest Moon Ball. I guess I'll have to save this mask for next year."

Miruna Maricourt stared at her reflection. She had really been looking forward to the ball, especially because every political leader needed to blow off steam after the events in Twikkii Island. She and Claudia had retired to their bed chambers for the night, but neither one of them was tired. The news about the canceled ball had caught everyone by surprise and rumors were flying.

"Do you really think that Crystal Cove received death threats?" Miruna asked. "I've heard people say that you and I were involved with shutting the ball down and that we have some demonic army trained to invade while Liam sorts out the backlash. That man will run that country into the ground if he keeps up like this."

"It's cowardly for Liam to back out of hosting it," Claudia agreed. "You don't let threats and terrorists win, otherwise people will know that they can walk all over you. Invading his country would be a breeze if I ever wanted to. The people would gladly welcome a leader who knows how to protect her people without giving up a single thing. Doesn't he realize that getting the international leaders in one place with their guard down is priceless? He could actually obtain information that would protect his realm instead of hiding."

"That was my thought as well. Get a few monarchs or their families and staff drunk and just wait for the confessions to start rolling in."

Miruna's staff appeared in an instant at the first sign of an intruder. The figure on the ground wasn't making any sudden moves, but Miruna's duty was to protect her queen and her fiancée at all costs. She couldn't let her guard down for a second. She recognized the intruder at least, though she had to idea of whether that was a good thing or not.

"Lukas, you're up late. To what do we owe this honour?"

Claudia crossed her arms defensively, but tried not to betray her interest in the intruder. Very few people could get through the magical wards around the castle, so intruders weren't a regular occurrence. Obviously, those meant nothing to a deity.

Claudia had always been intrigued by Lukas. Growing up, her parents didn't really mention them unless Lukas had gone on an emotional rampage, leaving a mess in their wake that fell to the reapers to clean up. They popped in and out of the reapers' business from time to time, but was otherwise absent from their husband's realm. Claudia had never seen Lukas up close before, and had certainly never expected them to show up in her bedroom. They seemed to crackle with wild energy, power bursting from within them that lashed across the room. It was nothing like the power Claudia had seen her parents display over the years. It was mesmerizing.

"You need to talk that idiot into having the Harvest Moon Ball," Lukas demanded. They looked pissed off, only increasing the energy Claudia could feel building in the room. "It's happened for centuries, even during the Demon Wars. That war lasted nearly a decade and they never canceled it once!"

"The ball? What do you care about a ball?" Claudia asked curiously. "Is it a trap you're working on? A calculated conspiracy to overthrow the Crystal Cove government again? You'd have my support; Liam is a terrible leader. His mother is my Aunt Juniper, and she's nothing like him at all. It's sad."

"Claudia!" Miruna hissed, looking worried. "If they take over Crystal Cove, what will stop them from conquering us as well?"

"A valid concern," Lukas agreed. "Unfortunately, my duties don't allow me the time to run a mortal country, and my husband would be disappointed in me for troubling the mortals in ways I'm not allowed. I'm afraid your reign is quite safe from me."

"But not the good tiaras," Miruna added snidely. "Our last inventory counted two missing, one of which I was planning to wear to the Harvest Moon Ball."

Lukas made a dismissive gesture at this, and Miruna glowered back at them. She stared expectantly at her fiancée, but Claudia was still staring in awe at the deity. She had felt the presence of the world of death all of her life, and to suddenly see the exact opposite manifested in one being was fascinating. She wondered how many times her father had seen Life in his travels at work. He would love to be here geeking out about the mysteries of the universe. She would have to call him when Lukas left.

"You didn't answer my question," Claudia stated, working on finding her royal composure. "What's a ball worth to you? There's the Goldman Memorial Ball coming up soon in Twikkii Island. Just move whatever you're planning to there."

"We're not doing your dirty work," Miruna added, her words dripping with venom. "You go talk to Liam if you need this ball so badly. He's afraid of you, and we're not."

"What the hell did I ever do to you?" Lukas demanded. "It's not like this is hard. Just talk to the man and make it clear that you want the ball reinstated."

Claudia eyed her fiancée with concern. She was uncharacteristically angry at the deity. Miruna was the sweetest witch in her coven and a favourite of the young witches she taught. She had no reason to argue with the literal god that had appeared in their bedroom.

"You can't seriously just expect to walk into my bedroom and boss me around. You can't control me or Claudia like your fake reapers and your little line of minions you force to serve you. If you want something, then I refuse to do it."

"Miruna."

Claudia's voice silenced the tirade her fiancée was about to launch, but Miruna's face still looked angry. What Claudia had wanted to shout was, "Miruna, what the hell are you talking about?" but that wouldn't present a strong, united image in front of a god.

Claudia tried to decipher Miruna's reaction quickly so she could prevent the next outburst and steer the conversation away from whatever was triggering the witch. It couldn't be a work thing. Outside of following Theo, Lukas rarely appeared in magical matters. Their kids did go to the same school Miruna taught at, but if it was a school matter, surely Claudia would have heard about it. Victoriana also attended there and Claudia knew that she could count on her daughter for important intel.

If it wasn't about work or magic, what could the problem possibly be? Miruna rarely did anything else. Her magical career was everything to her and it consumed most of her waking hours. She even missed some royal occasions that a future consort really should attend because something magical popped up. If her father suddenly died, Miruna could step into his role immediately without the slightest bit of effort.

Maybe Lukas' husband was the problem. People did tend to avoid Death if they could, even though he seemed like a perfectly nice man. Miruna didn't have any dead relatives that were important to her, at least not any that Claudia knew about. Miruna's mother had been a deadbeat parent growing up, but as far as Claudia knew, she was very much alive. There weren't many people who Miruna was truly close to. Her work friends, her coven friends, her half-siblings...Claudia was drawing a blank on any other important relationship in her fiancée's life. Unless....

Claudia's heart sank, realizing just why her future wife was glowering at a deity. It was a problem with Lukas' kids, just not their biological ones. Miruna had dated Arterius for several months in high school. They used to be inseparable even before dating. He was her best friend and her boyfriend. It seemed inevitable that the two of them would end up married, but the relationship soured as they grew older. Miruna knew that Arterius' parents didn't approve of the match, even if they didn't say anything verbally. It was in the way they stared at her or the sigh they'd release when Arterius asked if she could stay for dinner that night. Miruna used to vent about Life and Dearh when she and Claudia were dating, but Claudia hadn't taken it seriously. What were the odds of Miruna running into Arterius' parents ever again?

Claudia wasn't sure of how to proceed. Was she jealous of the anger Miruna felt for an ex-boyfriend' parents? Did this mean that she wanted Arterius back? Claudia knew that she didn't want Roman back in her own life, even if she wouldn't mind him in her bed for old time's sake. So did Miruna feel the same? Was she marrying Claudia for money and power, or for love? Did Claudia mind if her future marriage was based on something other than love? It was something to think about when there wasn't a deity in her bedroom.

Claudia blinked and missed Lukas slipping from their female form into their male form. Was Lukas showing dominance by shifting, or was it motivated by throwing Miruna off guard? Claudia wanted to devour every secret the deity had and write them in a book to reread at her leisure. She was definitely calling her dad when this meeting was over.

"Look, I'm not here to take over your throne or attack you or whatever it is you hate about me," Lukas sighed. "I just need that ball to happen, and Liam is afraid of you in a way that he isn't afraid of me. I need him to feel pressure from the living, not from a god. Let's just say that I've been encouraged from 'headquarters' to interfere less in non crucial mortal matters."

"So we'd be doing you a favour?" Claudia asked, her eyes gleaming with excitement. "I've never had a god owe me a favour before. Could I ask you for anything in return?"

Lukas looked dismayed at the thought, which told Claudia that she was on the right track.

"Within reason. Within what I think is reasonable, which isn't a lot. I don't usually do deals, that's all Izanami's department, but it's within my power to make one. Only because you're a queen and the daughter of reapers. I don't think I've ever seen anyone brave enough to ask me for a deal before."

"Claudia...." Miruna trailed off, looking at her fiancée worriedly. "You can't trust them. Just say no and kick them out of here."

"All I have to do is get Liam to agree to the ball, and I can ask one favour from you?" Claudia asked. When the deity nodded, Claudia grinned. "Yeah, I can do that. Can I ask why you care so much about this ball?"

"Is that your favour?" Lukas replied wearily. "I don't share my motivations with mortals unless they work for me. And even then, they're better off not knowing."

Claudia quickly shook her head while Miruna groaned.

"Nope, never mind then. I'll save my favour for when I need it. Do we need to shake hands or sign something to make our deal? I have a pen around here somewhere."

Lukas paused, legitimately unsure of the proper procedure of deal making. Demons made physical contact to form deals, but Izanami hated making unneeded physical contact with anyone. Lukas' own powers were probably closer to a demon's than their husband's, but Lukas didn't feel the same pull to energy that they'd heard demons describe. They didn't need energy or souls or whatever it was that demons wanted and Izanami had only played with the mortals out of boredom.

They quickly summoned a brilliant fire into their hand and snuffed it out in a millisecond. Humans loved theatrics after all.

"There, it's done," they lied. "One favour in exchange for the Harvest Moon Ball resuming its planned schedule. I'll be back to check in on your progress later this week."

"Claudia! They're dangerous! What if they want the ball to happen to unleash something terrible? We could be helping set up a plan against Crystal Cove!"

"Life can't kill people," Claudia laughed, miming a monster attack. "My parents said so. Death, on the other hand, is scary and can kill you whenever he likes. Life doesn't operate that way. Just look at Leo Toyonaga. He works for Lukas and he's just fine. I can get Liam to reinstate the ball in an hour. Nothing bad will happen, and even if it does, you and your dad will be there to protect us."

"This is a bad idea," Miruna hissed. "What if this is all a setup for another assassination? What if they're just helping their husband get the next victims to all gather in the same place?"

"Then they'd just pick the Goldman Memorial Ball," Claudia scoffed. "All the same people will be there, and it's hosted in Twikkii Island. That's the target I'd pick if I wanted to hurt the Twikkii Island royal family."

The couple continued to bicker, while Lukas finally allowed their mind to wander. The message had been delivered, and they could go home and leave all the mortals' suspicion behind. Claudia wouldn't understand their need for the Harvest Moon Ball to continue, and they didn't feel the need to explain themselves.

True, they had partially asked for their daughter's sake, as Destiny had been crushed to hear that the ball had been canceled. They also had the selfish desire to attract attention in front of the Crystal Cove royal family and feel all eyes lock on them and the incredible outfit they would no doubt be wearing. If Claudia had pressed harder, they would have admitted those motivations to her. Their reputation would only be strengthened by the queen thinking them to be a self-involved narcissist who only cared about attention. It would make people underestimate them.

The real reason? That was a closely guarded secret. One that only Izanami could possibly guess, and even he might not understand it completely.

The mortals had stirred up memories Lukas hadn't thought about for years with their chasing after the ghosts of reapers. Each name they whispered among themselves, looking for clues, had been a person once. Nearly all of those people Lukas had known. The Demon Wars were nearly a millenia ago now, and still Lukas could picture Alicia Wenlock dancing in the grand ballroom and breaking hearts wherever she went. Victoria Evans had nearly exposed her reaper status to the entire ball after getting caught with her equally dead wife in the coat room. So many memories, both good and bad, threatened to overwhelm the deity. The Harvest Moon Ball had been a constant in their lives. Losing it to a cowardly king's choice wasn't an option.

The barriers between the living world and the dead were thinner around the time of the annual ball, which Lukas fully intended to exploit as well. If ghosts were being seen and the foundation of the universe was once again in danger, then Lukas might need to catch a stray phantom to interrogate. The ball was the perfect hunting ground. Holding the annual ball year after year without end over the span of centuries had ingrained the tradition into the lot itself. Breaking that pattern might break some of the magic Lukas was counting on. Breaking traditions that old was often dangerous.

"Dammit!" Miruna swore upon noticing that their visitor had vanished. "They're gone. What if they took something when we were talking?"

"I don't see anything out of place," Claudia replied. Her eyes narrowed now that they had privacy. "When were you going to tell me that you hate the two strongest creatures in the universe? My parents work with Life and Death. I sometimes need their cooperation when situations come up. I can't have you suddenly turning feral whenever they show up."

"I won't," Miruna responded coldly, folding her arms. "I don't know what you're talking about. I just don't want to see you throw everything you have away. Both deities are dangerous and untrustworthy. No matter what they want, it will always be trouble. Don't trust them just because your parents think they're great. They don't know what it's like to lead a powerful nation, along with a coven. This is our world, leave the gods to theirs."

"And this has nothing to do with Arterius?" Claudia snapped. "Nothing at all about how the two of you broke up because his family didn't approve?"

Miruna's already cold shoulder grew even colder at these words.

"I'll be sleeping in the guest suite tonight," she declared. "Maybe you'll come to your senses tomorrow."

Claudia waited until the sound of footprints disappeared and then reached for her phone. Miruna was just bitter. She'd come around in a few days, but until then, Claudia had a call to make.

"Hey, Dad? We need to talk. Something bizarre just happened, and I think you're going to want to know about it. No, nothing's wrong. It's crazy, but Lukas was just in my bedroom! Yes, that Lukas. No, I don't think they took anything. Have you ever stood next to them when they changed forms? It's incredible! I'll come over tomorrow and we'll make a note of it for the archives. I think future monarchs might have an interest in more information about what Lukas is really like. It was so cool!"

[luverofralts]

Arkhelios Adventures

Dear Adam,

I miss you so much, you have no idea. Things at school are boring like always. There's just so many theory classes here and so much to memorize. When I finally do get to go back to school, I'll probably be able to teach the teachers some things.

For my bi-weekly escape from this place, I got to join Brion for dinner with his family. (It's not a date. Don't be jealous, you have no idea what it's like here. I can hear you being jealous from here.)

His family was pretty nice, which they should be, considering that they study good magic. They study good and evil aligned magic here, like we read about in some of our older textbooks. No wonder they sent me to the evil aligned school. I think I only knew one spell on the good spectrum. You know, the one that finds light in the darkness that babies use as night lights? I had to resort to toddler magic to find a spell they wouldn't consider evil. It's nuts here, I wish you could see what it's like. Remy wouldn't last a day here.

His mom made spaghetti, but it was nothing like Dad's. Who would have thought I'd miss anything that was sold at his dumb restaurant?

How is that going anyway? Did they find someone to replace me on weekends?

Brion looks nothing like his family (is that rude to mention to him?) His mom and dad are worse than Jorah when it comes to talking nonstop about their kids. His brother Abercius was nice, same for his sister, but there's something going on with that family. You can sense it in the air when you first walk through the door. It feels just like being at home in all the usual bad ways.

I'm trying to be polite. You would be so proud of me for not making comments about their weirdness. They have a church in their house, Adam. A church! It didn't say what or who they worshipped in it, but it's kinda an unsettling thing to walk past on the way to the bathroom.

After dinner, we played a game while my parole officer made sure that I didn't break any of my sacred vows to not talk about the outside world or the magic I'm learning about. She looked just as miserable to be there as I was at least. Maybe next break, she'll leave me unsupervised. I can only hope.

Brion's a decent guy, maybe one day he can come visit us and you can meet him (seriously, I can hear your teeth grinding. He's just a friend).

Remy would probably get along with his sister, Helena, if she could behave herself for more than two minutes. There's something weird about his little cousin, though. She seems familiar in a way I can't place.

I think I need to do more homework here to understand her. If I had my phone here, I'd take a picture for you to see for yourself. Maybe I can paint a portrait later. This place is so messed up, but I'm getting used to it. Just like the first years do at home in Pleasantview.

I hope this letter finds you like we planned. Just about everything else I do is monitored, but I don't think they really think that the Void could be an option for us to talk. They seem pretty indifferent to it, actually. They don't seem to even respect the Demon Sovereign, despite some of the people I've met here obviously being demons. No one really talks about demons either, so that rules out most of my life and interests when trying to talk to people here. I can mention painting and hint about doing magic. Playing guitar is okay to discuss but never do and I'm sure to tell everyone about my beautiful girlfriend, Remy, waiting for me to return.

Please write me back soon, I'm dying of boredom here, unless you count writing long papers on the theory of demonic energy transfer exciting. (It's not)

❤️❤️

Theo

[luverofralts]

Arkhelios Adventures

"Thanks for coming, Your Highness. It's been awhile since I've been to the archives. Probably not since school."

Edana chuckled nervously, her eyes darting around the room looking for danger. After many, many talks with her ex-husband, Edana had been forced to admit that a visit to the Strangetown royal archives was necessary to help narrow down her search for the reaper her brother had urged her to find. It contained countless texts that couldn't be found elsewhere on a variety of topics. Vampires, reapers and zombies? All covered. The history of the Strangetown coven was recorded here, going back countless centuries. If the information her brother had wanted her to find could be found in the living realm, it would likely be in the archives.

Princess Anneken smiled politely.

"Of course, Edana. I'll be right here on the ground floor. Dad wanted some paperwork from Casper Darktide's reign of the Strangetown coven anyway. I'll save him a trip."

It was a lie, of course. Anneken had a million other things to do that needed to be done urgently, but Edana was family. Sort of. While Edana searched boring stacks of books, Anneken planned on getting a cappuccino from the coffee shop connected to the archives and reading the latest gossip magazine. Even though she was going to be queen one day, Anneken utterly despised stuffy archives. When she needed something old and musty, she would send her own heir to do the research.

Edana had barely made it into the first room when she heard it. Her blood froze in her veins, her chest suddenly unable to take in air.

"Edaaaana. Did you really think you've won?"

"Turncoat! Oath breaker!"

"Eden, why would you do this?"

Edana plugged her ears and tried to shut out the voices assaulting her. A bemused woman watched Edana with distain, flooding her mind with anxiety. That woman was dead. She was gone and dead and never coming back to this realm again under orders of the Grim Reaper.

"This isn't real. It isn't real. You're all dead. I did the right thing! Leave me alone!"

"You know, most witches don't abandon their coven when they're needed. You once stood before me and swore an oath for life. You are a part of us still. When we all died, you should have too. Traitor."

Edana stared at the woman before her, still unable to move out of sheer fright. She was exactly as Edana remembered her, right down to the hair accessory she loved to wear, imagining it as a sort of crown. Her grey eyes were filled with hatred and anger and a never-ending sense of entitlement. It wasn't enough for her to covet the throne of Strangetown from its rightful rulers, no, she had aspirations of becoming a god.

"You aren't really here. I'm hallucinating this. People are going to see me talking to myself and think that I'm crazy, but that's fine. It means that you aren't really here and haven't escaped hell to come bother me like Adam."

Edana breathed as deeply as she could manage to try to calm herself. This was all in her head. Anneken was just downstairs and she could verify if Charlotte Medora Maricourt, her former coven leader, was truly haunting her if need be.

She closed her eyes and then opened them, expecting to see the ghost of her coven leader disappear from sight. To Edana's immense disappointment, Charlotte hadn't moved. Edana struggled to recall her supernatural criteria from school.

Well, she wasn't transparent like Adam had been when he appeared to her. Her body and bones had been salted to prevent zombism or a ghost. There was no way that she had faked her death, Edana had seen her corpse herself and had helped her ex-husband prepare the salt. This had to be a hallucination or some sort of waking nightmare she couldn't escape.

"Still deciding if you're crazy or not?" Charlotte asked, faking concern. "I'd love to watch you squirm longer, but this is getting rather tiring."

No one would ever clear her to be a reaper, Edana decided. The Grim Reaper would never allow it. There was no one else in the room channeling her ghost and though her actions always seemed to fit a demon, Edana knew the exact pedigree of their leader and demons were never mentioned.

"You're boring me!" Charlotte called. "Clearly, Adam got all the smarts in your family since you can't recognize a curse when it's sitting right in front of you."

Edana blinked with confusion, stepping backward to put more distance between the two of them.

"A curse? How? When?"

"When you broke your oath to the coven, stupid. Some of us aren't children and know their way around dark magic. My father and I experimented with magic in ways that no one thought possible. Did you really think that a witch who was barely twenty could leave my coven, go against her sworn leader and expect no consequences?

"No, I'm not engaging with this bullshit," Edana decided, turning her back to the angry reflection of her former coven leader. "I'm not cursed, you're not real, and I'm clearly not going to find what I'm looking for here. This has been a spectacular waste of time."

She paused, waiting for the spirit or curse or whatever it was to call out to her. If it truly was Charlotte Maricourt that she was speaking with, that woman could never resist having the last word.

"You can't step foot on coven land without facing your abandoned peers. You are no longer a part of our coven and you are no longer welcome on our land, even if your precious king says you are. You are expelled from our coven for treachery."

"That's impossible. I run the Strangetown coven now and my ex-husband and I disarmed all of your hidden traps ourselves. You're gone, Charlotte. Gone and forgotten."

"Not by you, it would seem."

"Your son is a teenager now. You've been dead for a long time. No one would let you escape your punishment. This isn't real. I refuse to believe this is real."

Edana stormed off towards the safety of the exit. She was getting out of there immediately, no further questions asked.

When she passed a bored looking barista on her brisk walk towards the exit, a wave of anger ignited within her.

She and Adam always made fun of Josh Toyonaga's inability to make both magic and a decent cup of coffee when they were younger. They used to sit together and mock the people strolling by, casting low-level spells to rub their talent in Josh's face while he struggled to serve coffee. It was mean and immature and she'd reprimand any of her children if she caught them doing the same, but it had felt good at the time. Despite her regrets about her past choices, the memory still made her smile. She and Adam were all the family they had left at the time, which meant that she was never alone as long as he was there. Her brother. Her coven. Everything she had left in the world.

"I'll have the strongest coffee you have. As quickly as possible."

Coffee in hand after leaving a generous tip, Edana searched for a place to collect her thoughts.

It would be just like Charlotte to curse anyone who left the coven. That was the type of person she had been: petty and vindictive. Edana could still hear the terrible voices ringing through her mind, though they were much more distant now.

After all the drama with that Bellamy child and her son, Edana should have thought about possibly being cursed herself. She had broken her oath; it all made sense. Still, this was the first time she'd ever experienced anything related to a curse. Losing so much of the coven at once had likely weakened it. Being the last one standing had made it irrelevant. There was no way that her coven could ever be allowed near the living world again, which meant that this incredibly weak curse was merely a reflection of those who had created it. There was no way Charlotte was able to maintain the magic needed to actually properly curse someone in her grave. At most, such a curse could only hold on in limited areas, meaning that leaving this lot would end the effects. If any of her former coven had survived, perhaps the curse would be stronger, a fact that Edana was suddenly grateful for.

This curse had only popped up in this one building, and she hadn't properly visited it in years. Avoiding the archives would be easy. She had been in other coven owned buildings without a problem since the coven fell. This complication was unfortunate, but it gave Edana a valid reason to search for records of her ancient reaper elsewhere. It was a mixed blessing, but nothing that she couldn't work around.

While Edana finished her coffee and stormed off to find her royal companion, another visitor to the archives stood in solemn respect before an ancient painting.

It was a ritual he performed as often as he could. There were times when his duties called him away from Strangetown and his ritual was interrupted, but he always came back. He would always come back as long as this building stood.

There was only a single remaining portrait of Morganna Grunt known in existence and the royal archives was where it was displayed. It was countless centuries old, dated just after the fall of Strangetown. Few people cared to learn about it as Morganna wasn't a queen or a revolutionary. She was just a girl who had lived through a dark period of Strangetown history. As far as the world knew, Morganna had lived and died just as any other mortal did. She was ordinary in a world that focused on the extraordinary. The only person who had known the truth of her importance was her only son, Atem.

For centuries now, Atem held a private vigil for the young woman on the left of the painting. He was rarely disturbed in this quiet, unassuming portion of the archives. Everyone always gravitated towards the rooms about the famous or infamous Strangetown residents. That suited Atem fine; he liked the silence.

A good son would bring flowers to the closest thing his mother would ever have as a grave, but Atem couldn't bring himself to do it. Leaving flowers might alert other guests to this otherwise unassuming painting and draw unwanted attention. Besides, it wasn't like Morganna could appreciate the gesture. She was dead, yes, but she was also dead and gone.

Becoming a reaper and working for Death gave dead souls both a purpose and a chance to experience life again, even if was just a pale imitation of life in the end. The hours were long and the pay was barely enough to blend into the living world successfully. But reapers had already died once in their lives, surely they had to be out of danger in death.

Atem shook his head sadly, trying not to get lost in the pain of the past. He'd been married once, and he'd had a mother once too. Both of them were lost to a magic so dark that it could kill the dead. A magic so powerful, any mention of it had been wiped from textbooks and the mere mention of it cursed the speaker into silence until they relented.

As much as Atem longed to reminisce about the past, it was getting late. His visit had to be quick today, as he was assigned to train the newest reaper in Arkhelios. No one trusted Zane on his own just yet, especially when his last few assignments had been done so poorly. Being the oldest and most powerful in their team, Zane's training had fallen to Atem. He was a son of the Grim Reaper; certain duties fell to him even if he didn't want them.

As he headed for the exit, Atem stopped to smile at another painting on the wall.

"See you around, Alpheus," he chuckled to himself. "I wish you were still around to see how irrelevant you are these days."

[luverofralts]

Arkhelios Adventures

"Ro. Ro, come on. You gotta wake up. Adrian's gonna be here in an hour. Come on, Saturnia's not going to take herself to school."

Roman grumbled something against Abe's shoulder that sounded like a protest and Abe had to laugh. After actually getting Abe Jr to bed at a decent time, the evening had taken an amorous turn, ultimately resulting in his husband snoring loudly into Abe's ear in the morning.

"No, Adrian can take her; I'm staying here. We're not moving today, I'm comfy," Roman whined. He nuzzled himself even further into Abe's neck, illiciting more laughter.

"Get up," Abe laughed, pushing his husband towards his side of the bed. "You're going to be late. Adrian can't cook to save his life, if you don't go, he's going to burn down the restaurant."

"That's what we have insurance for," Roman teased. "We'll be fine."

He tried distracting Abe with another kiss, earning himself a few more seconds in their warm and inviting bed, but Abe persisted.

"You're not burning the place down for the insurance money on my watch, Bellamy. You're worse than Theo, and he at least has the excuse of being a teenager. Come on, get up."

"I finished my muffin, Daddy. How are the omelets?"

"Getting there. Thanks for helping chop up the peppers. You did a great job."

Saturnia beamed with pride, happily taking her freshly baked breakfast to the table. She did do a decent job of cutting things up for her age, and Roman just knew that when she was Theo's age, she'd be eagerly helping at the restaurant without having to be begged like her brother.

"Breakfast smells good. My favourite bakers have been busy."

"We're out of pancake mix, so it's omelets this morning," Roman announced, sliding a plate to his husband. He slid a smaller portion towards his daughter, who loved baking, but didn't love eating eggs. "Try this much, Saturnia. It'll taste better because you helped make it yourself."

Saturnia wrinkled her nose at the plate, but began carefully poking the omelet obediently. Out of all of their children, Saturnia was easily the most reasonable. She was always willing to try things and was open to new ideas, unlike most of their children. The day Theo or Luci took their father's advice would be the day Roman died of shock.

"Hey, Bellamys! It smells good in here."

"Grab a plate, Adrian, I'm running late," Roman replied, his mouth full of food. "There's plenty there."

Adrian didn't have to be told twice. He'd already eaten breakfast, but he wasn't about to miss Roman's cooking. One of the greatest benefits of being married to Roman had been having access to his cooking all day, breakfast to dinner. The man had a gift.

"So, uh, hey, while I'm here, what were you thinking for your birthday this year?" Adrian asked. "Thirty is a big number. I mean, Abe and I are already old men, having earlier birthdays and all. Maybe for yours we should host a get together and celebrate all of ours at the same time."

"My mom won't come to a party or host it," Abe immediately replied. "I'm sure I could get the rest of my family to come to a free dinner though. Would, uh, your family attend, Adrian? Hypothetically of course."

"I'm sure Trent and Cindra will want to come," Adrian answered politely. They all knew the question hadn't been directed at his entire family, just the cousin currently wearing a crown. "I'm sure Her Majesty is far too busy to attend a birthday party for someone of my rank."

"I could make something for the party!" Saturnia exclaimed, cutting through the adults' tense conversation. "I can help make the cake too, like we did for Theo's birthday!"

"It sounds like a good plan, if we can pull it off in time," Roman said. "Thirty is a big milestone and a party would be fun. You do only turn thirty once. What do you think, Abe?"

"I'm all for it. Just let me know what needs to be done, and I can make some calls during Abe's nap."

"Then it's settled. Our three in one thirtieth birthday party will be the next big social event in Arkhelios. Don't tell Wanda, or she'll try to step in and plan it for us."

Abe scoffed at the thought.

"You mean, she'll have her assistant plan it and host it at her giant mansion without asking us if that's even what we want," he said.

"That place is huge, she'd get my vote to host," Roman countered. "No need to clean up our place and lock the valuables away from your siblings. We just arrive, party and leave."

"It's a thought," Adrian conceded before Abe could protest Wanda's involvement. "Roman, we need to leave in the next ten minutes. There's a delivery of shellfish arriving this morning. There will be plenty of time to plan our shindig later."

"Have a good day with the baby," Roman said, catching Abe in another kiss before heading to the door. "I'll miss you."

Adrian raised his eyebrow at Abe as he walked by with a knowing smirk.

"Someone's in a good mood today," he snickered. "Come on, Saturnia, let's get ready to teleport while your dads say goodbye. I have a feeling that our presence here isn't going to speed things up."

Abe grabbed his husband again, pulling Roman in for another passionate kiss as Adrian walked down the stairs.

"If you make it back on time, I'll have dinner ready," Abe whispered into Roman's ear. "I can leave the kids with my mom for a few hours once they're fed and we can pick up where we left off this morning."

Despite his best efforts, Roman blushed at the idea, something Adrian would probably tease him about if he saw.

"I'd like that," he replied sincerely. "I don't say this often enough, but you make me happy, Abe. Really happy. Remember when we first found out about Theo and we had all those dreams about our future together?"

"The ones where you were going to make pancakes for me every day while Theo was the perfect, quiet baby?" Abe laughed. "We were so stupid back then, I can't even imagine what my mother really thought about our ideas."

"Nothing good, I know that much. Probably what we would think if Theo was pregnant. But seriously, Abe. My therapist keeps telling me to share my feelings with you, so you feel secure that nothing...adulterous will happen again. You're everything to me. I mean that."

"Ah, well, I'm not perfect either, you have to remember that," Abe replied. "Stop beating yourself up about the past. College was pretty rough for me, and I hurt you too. The important thing is that we found our way back to each other. That and all the mandated therapy Maura ordered after the, uh, fallout. I'm sure she had an agenda with it, but it probably saved our marriage."

"Yeah, uh, about our marriage, I had something that I wanted to ask you about. Maybe we could talk after our alone time tonight?"

"Well, that's ominous. You can't just leave me with that all day. 'I love you Abe' and 'let's talk about our marriage'?

"Well, yeah, when you put it that way. I just...it's embarrassing."

"Too embarrassing to talk to me about? You can tell me anything, Ro."

Roman took a deep breath and just blurted what was on his mind.

"Ithinkweshouldgetremarriedbydemons."

"What?"

"I think we should get remarried by demons," Roman repeated, more confident in his words now that they'd been uttered and Abe didn't suddenly run away like he feared. "I miss feeling connected to you. What we had before was special, and even when we were being forced to get demonically married by the Sovereign, I was kinda excited for it. I know it always freaked you out though, but I've been thinking about it for awhile now and I think it's what I want."

"Demonic marriage?" Abe repeated. "Theo was just a kid when we last discussed it. He's certainly improved with his magic since then, if you still wanted him to perform the ceremony."

Roman's face lit up with excitement when Abe didn't immediately shut him down.

"Really? You think it's a good idea?"

"Honestly, I'm surprised that you never pushed back against the Sovereign when she said it wasn't necessary," Abe replied. "I mean, I was a little relieved that our six year old wouldn't be performing complex blood magic on us, but the idea was nice. To feel what you feel again, knowing how much you loved me, it was a little overwhelming at first, but after everything we've been through, and all the issues that we've dealt with, I think I'd like to experience that level of connection with you. We could even have our own ceremony the way we want it, not like the one that the Twikkii Island royal family dictated."

"I could make a proper cake this time!" Roman said eagerly. "Well, if you have time today, contact your sister and see what we need to get started, and we can talk to Theo when he's home this weekend."

"Roman! Time's wasting! We have to go!"

Roman dragged his husband out to the front porch to meet up with Adrian and Saturnia.

"I'm so happy that you're open to this," Roman exclaimed, kissing Abe once more while Adrian tapped his watch in the yard. "We can start over with a clean slate."

Abe smiled.

"Yeah, I really think that-"

Abe paused, unable to take his eyes off the two men walking past their house.

"Ah, Zane, buddy, you've got to let that sandwich go. You can't eat that much cheese all at once, it's not natural."

Roman momentarily peeled himself away from his husband to stare at the men walking by.

"That man looks so much like Zane Hydes. It's uncanny."

"If he was thirty when he died. He's way too old, Zane was just a teenager. It's weird, though. Really weird. Maybe he's Zane's biological brother or cousin. Wanda always says that their family tree is a mystery that she doesn't want to solve."

"I can't imagine why, with her mother."

"Look, why don't we try that fancy grocery store downtown? They have all kinds of cheese there. Just try to stick to the budget, you know how much funding we get here."

"Like a nice Brie?"

"Ha, keep dreaming. Maybe for Winterfest."

Roman and Abe stared as the two men made their way down the street.

"Do you think we should follow up on this?" Abe asked wearily.

"Nope. Not a chance in hell. If you want to tell Wanda her dead brother's doppelganger is walking around town, that's your own problem."

"Yeah, no. I'm just going to pretend this never happened."

[luverofralts]

Arkhelios Adventures

"What's the problem? Have you guys decided how I've ruined things now?"

Theo stared at his parents with hostility, while Adam grimaced. Theo was able to talk back to whoever he wanted and he usually got away with it. If Adam tried to be snarky, he'd be cleaning out the kindergarten potions cauldrons for a month.

"Hello Mr. Bellamy, Mr. Helios-Bellamy, Mr. Thorne and Your Grace, Duke Siew," Adam recited politely. Theo rolled his eyes at this, but Adam remained polite and quiet, waiting for the adults to speak.

"Can I eat one of these cupcakes?" Theo began to reach towards the delicious looking cupcakes on the table, but Roman swatted his hand away quickly.

"No, you can't have a cupcake, especially when you have an attitude like that, mister. Those are for your sisters' party tomorrow and even if they weren’t, I don't appreciate your tone."

Theo glared at his father, but Roman glared right back. Roman had perfected the infamous Bellamy glare; there was no way he was going to be swayed by it.

"At least Adam is polite," Roman continued. "Evren and Adrian are here in an official capacity and you need to show them respect."

"Well, Theo, I think we've made some progress with your parents," Adrian interrupted before Roman and his son started brawling at the table.

"Progress is a strong word," Roman added quickly, earning a tired look from his ex-husband. "We've discussed what we're willing to talk to you about. I'm not about to be pushed around by a coven of narcissists."

"Roman, please," Adrian sighed, looking to Abe for support. Abe shrugged helplessly in reply. "If you think dealing with Maura is bad, these people are ten times worse. There's a lot more of them and they're all in powerful positions."

"Claudia is part of that bloodline," Roman replied. "We go way back; she'll take my side. I know she'll see reason here. She runs Pleasantview; just about everyone else submits to her."

Theo frowned at these words, unsure of what to say, if he should even say anything at all. Of course Claudia would be sympathetic to his father, she had a child with him. If he came to her for help, would she tell him the truth about Victoriana, or continue to lie to him by omission? Could Theo truly be safe if the queen of Pleasantview were to defend him? He wasn't entirely sure just how far her reach extended.

"The queen can't protect you. You're one of us now."

Theo was startled from his thoughts by a raspy voice. It was hard to tell which direction it was coming from.

"Theodosius Geoneesis, I've been watching you for some time now. You show much promise."

He couldn't place the voice to any one direction. It was almost as if it was being spoken directly into his mind.

With a sudden jolt of awareness, Theo could clearly see a man bound by strange markings appear before him.

"W-who are you?" he stammered, looking for Adam's reassuring hand. It was no use; his arms were frozen to his sides somehow.

"Tell Adam that he's of interest to the family as well," the man instructed. "We are quite pleased with his progress."

Theo tried repeating the same glare that he'd given his father, but this stranger didn't seem to be moved by it. Even if the mysterious man didn't back down, at least Theo would die in defiance of mysterious forces and not shrinking away in fear.

"Tell him yourself!"

The man paused, watching Theo with renewed interest. Theo was about as frightening to him as a hissing, scared little kitten, but his bravery was still remarkable.

"You remind me of my daughter," the man said, with true fondness in his voice. "She too never knew fear, even when it was justified. Child, I am not your enemy. It was you who chose to bind yourself to our blood; I am simply acknowledging this change. You'll feel pulled to our Adam regardless. I merely wished to speak with you on the subject. You are very young."

Theo pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to focus. His mind was spinning, and he was questioning what exactly was real in this moment. Could this sudden appearance of a foreboding warlock be happening to him? Surely it could just be some kind of stress migraine and nothing else.

"I'm not of your time," the man said gently, seeing the confusion in the angry teen. "I'm of no one's time anymore. Those days are past and can never return. The Ocean has granted me another role to play and I serve Him faithfully. I am a guardian of time and my blood enchantments sweep across the centuries throughout eternity. The laws of time are mine, and they will obey me."

Theo frowned, trying to absorb what he could from this strange man.

"So you time travel then?" he asked, looking skeptical. "I don't get it. Why are you talking to me? Do I need to time travel to stop something horrible?"

The man laughed, startling the teen.

"No, time travel is not permitted outside of guardians of time," he replied quickly. "That is not your path. It is the path of only a handful of people over the ages. It is my path and I pray it will never becomes yours."

He paused for a moment.

"I, too, used to practice blood magic in my lifetime. It cost me dearly."

Theo recoiled as strongly as if he'd been struck.

"Well, it's what I'm good at and I'm not giving it up!" he snapped. "I'm learning all about it in school and Adam's helping me. I don't care what you think. You haven't even told me your name; you don't get to lecture me about what I should do."

"Then I have nothing to say," the man laughed, clearly teasing the confused teen. "I will see you around, young Theodosius. I'll be watching your path with interest now that our blood is connected. Until we meet again."

Within the blink of an eye, the man disappeared from Theo's sight. With great relief, Theo could feel his arms relax and his ability to move return.

"What the hell was that?"

"Theo! Language!"

Roman's sharp words jolted his son back to reality. Things were back to normal: his father was yelling at him, Adrian was trying to hold back a laugh, and Adam was watching him with an anxious look.

"Did none of you see that?" Theo demanded. He looked at the adults around him, hoping for answers. "That guy with the weird markings? The time traveling, blood magic user? He said he had a daughter? Did absolutely no one else see him?"

Abe sighed deeply, sharing a concerned look with Roman. Of course they had no idea of what their son was talking about; that seemed to be the story of their lives.

"What did he look like?" Abe asked. At this point, he had given up on the idea of a quiet, normal life. His goal now was to make sure the kids made it safely to adulthood and weren't hauled off kicking and screaming by some kind of monster. "Have you seen him before? Did he threaten you?"

"A man with weird markings who practiced blood magic," Evren repeated, lost in thought. "And lost to time as well? Did he give you a name? There are many blood magic practicing warlocks across time. Just because they've died out now, it doesn't mean the ones in the past are gone, especially if they're messing with time."

"Could he be from your time?" Abe asked. "Maybe someone who followed you here across dimensions and time? Are they sending a search party for you finally?"

"He's not leaving even if people do come looking for him," Adrian said curtly. "His place is here with me and the kids. I'm not sending him back even if it was possible."

Evren gently took Adrian's hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"I'm not going anywhere, my love," he vowed. "I wasn't even the target of the message. Clearly, the man wanted to speak with Theo."

"And Adam. He wanted me to tell Adam that the family was pleased with him and watching him and me."

Every adult in the room groaned, thinking about the implications of a mysterious figure watching Adam's actions. They were already trying to placate the Maricourts, and now, yet another obstacle was standing in their way.

"This stays between us," Adrian said finally, weighing his choices. "No one is letting the Maricourts know that a lost faction of their family is watching Adam because of Theo."

"Agreed." Roman stared at his son, hoping to drill the importance of this secret into his flippant, teenage brain. "You're not to mention this to anyone, Theo. Adam, I can't make you keep silent about this, but I'd consider it a great personal favour if you did. You may not be allowed to see Theo if you tell your parents. They're already demanding this pointless review as it is and I know they'd only put more pressure on us if this got out."

Adam nodded solemnly.

"I understand," he said quietly. It wasn't like he told his parents everything about his life anyway. Both he and Remy were highly motivated to keep their personal lives private from their parents. "You're probably right. My dad might not care, but my mom definitely will. There hasn't been a witch or warlock capable of controlling time in centuries, and even then, we mostly assume the ones who could were somewhat mythical. After everything my uncle did to try to control the powers of the Grim Reaper, my mom would probably spontaneously combust to hear I was being watched by someone who can mess with time."

"He wants me more," Theo pointed out. "Your mom doesn't have to worry, this guy's just watching you. The guy came to me in a vision and called me something weird, I don't think you have much to worry about, Adam. I can handle this."

Evren flinched as Roman and Abe reacted as strongly as he'd expected. The two looked like they were about to correct Theo about the boundaries of what he could handle, but Evren stepped in quickly. The last thing they needed was for Roman and Theo to start fighting again.

"Now Theo, you aren't equipped to handle this threat on your own," he said gently. "I'm not equipped to handle it and I've studied for years in magical theory. This is a situation that requires many people to solve. Are you strong enough to defeat Adam's parents in a duel?"

Roman once again looked irate at the question, but Evren held up his hand to silence him.

"If you can't defeat his parents, then what hope do you have of defeating someone even they can not defeat? And by yourself at that? You're an excellent student and truly gifted, but this is something beyond your skill level. We will all help together."

"I guess," Theo sighed, slouching miserably in his chair. "But Adam and I are stronger together and we could use blood magic again and-"

"What part of no more blood magic with your boyfriend do you not understand?" Roman shouted, his patience finally at an end. "You're only in this situation because of blood magic! Evren is older and more experienced, and you refuse to listen to him! Why do you have a death wish, Theo? Are you trying to kill your father and I with worry every time you leave the house?"

Theo's glare was his only reply. He moved his hand to make an obscene gesture but was interrupted by his father's sudden gasp of horror.

"Is that a ring? Where did you get that? Are you engaged now, too?" He paused, his mind reeling with disastrous scenarios. "I'm going to be a grandfather before I'm thirty and with in-laws who hate my son! They'll get custody for sure, and I'll never see my grandchild, and Jorah will look at me with pity even more than he does now."

"Ro, you're spiralling again," Abe interrupted, rubbing his husband's back reassuringly. "Theo's not pregnant and we're dealing with the Maricourts. And who cares about Jorah?"

"I do," Roman snapped. "He printed out Winterfest cards with his perfect little family and has been handing them out. My kids are Winterfest babies and I can't even get Theo home to take a picture with his family or the twins to brush their hair or put their phones down! I'm the Bellamy family leader and I'm being shown up by the Durants! What will everyone say when Theo has a shotgun wedding in Pleasantview and never comes home?"

"Theo, tell your father that you're not engaged," Abe said with a resigned sigh. When his son only glared back at him, Abe turned to Adam, who appeared to be cowering in his seat from the sudden accusation.

"It was just a gift to help him with his spells, sir," Adam replied cautiously. "We're not engaged."

"Well, we should be then," Theo snapped. "Dad never trusts me! Just because he was a dick as a teenager doesn't mean I am. I might as well do all the things that you accuse me of, since you're convinced that I'm actually doing them! Why aren't you on Rien for talking to dead spirits? That sounds dangerous. Or what if Saturnia burns the house down cooking? Maybe Luci is taking steroids to do better in a competition! Who knows? What kind of asshole sees a gift from Adam and thinks, 'clearly this is something terrible and I need to have an insane opinion about it'? Even Aunt Lucy is a better parent than you are."

Silence filled the room as Theo continued to glower at his father. Roman was uncharacteristically quiet, reflecting on his son's words. Abe frowned.

"He's not wrong, Ro. I mean, maybe we-"

"Lucy doesn't have to deal with this! But fine. I'm too strict. My restaurant is failing, the Durant family is perfect, Ulyssa's back in town and my son hates me when I'm just trying to protect him. I wish that just once someone in my family had tried to protect me at his age, but no, I'm terrible."

"Roman." Adrian's voice was soft as he reached for his ex-husband's hand. "Projecting your own trauma onto your son isn't going to help him. You lived a different life than he is now. You were sexually active at a young age because of your own insecurities and expectations, and you've given Theo a life where he doesn't need physical intimacy to offset family drama."

Roman frowned, but remained silent. Abe reached for Roman's free hand and gave it a comforting squeeze.

"It's nice that Adam cares about our son," he said slowly. "A crystal might be the perfect solution for our problem, and if it isn't, then it's still a nice gesture. Thank you, Adam."

Theo looked at his father with gratitude. It may have taken a long time to happen, but finally one half of his parents saw reason.

"We still need to decide what to do about this rogue warlock and the Maricourts," Evren said quickly, using Roman's silence to change the subject. "We can't ignore this. What if this warlock is also appearing to the Maricourts or one of the covens? Theo, if I pulled up a selection of portraits from historical coven records, do you think that you could identify the man you saw?"

Theo nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah, his markings were really cool. I wonder how he got them."

A worried look crossed Abe's face, but he pushed past the worry in the spirit of trusting his son. Yelling at Theo to not follow up on that curiosity would be pointless and would probably just set Roman off again. Roman currently looked like his world was about to end, so Abe decided to give him his space now and comfort him later. Too much had been weighing Roman down for a while now. Abe hadn't even realized that the Winterfest card they'd received from the Durants had troubled his husband, though he could see why in hindsight. Everything with the Durants was difficult now.

"He likely won't have the markings in his photo," Evren continued. "That detail is odd and will probably help us narrow the search. Maybe this would be a good extra credit assignment for you to research. The markings are undoubtedly connected to blood magic and may give you some perspective."

"He called me Geoneesis, which was weird," Theo replied. "Maybe it's his daughter's name since he said I reminded him of her."

Evren froze in place, a look of terror on his face.

"I'm sorry, did you just say Geoneesis? Forget that name immediately. Never let it leave your lips again, and do not let anyone else know that you know it."

Theo scowled while Adam froze in his seat, his anxiety clearly getting the better of him.

"Why? What's the big deal? Is it a curse? Is it a spell?"

Theo waited eagerly for Evren's response while Abe began rubbing Roman's back as a preventative measure.

"It's just as deadly as any curse," Evren said darkly. "Your knowledge of blood magic added to your knowledge of that name would make you an instant target of the Maricourts."

Roman couldn't hide the groan that escaped him at this, instantly conjuring a million different dark scenarios in his mind.

"Why? I don't get it," Adam asked quietly. "I've never even heard of that before. If it was important, wouldn't my parents tell me about it?"

"There is much that you will learn as you progress in your studies," Evren replied. "You're still a student and an apprentice. This is knowledge that is passed on only when you graduate as a full warlock and swear several oaths to the coven. That word, which you are going to forget, would give you dangerous power against any Maricourt were you to cast a blood magic spell on them."

Adam immediately perked up at this, finally realizing the threat before him.

"Oh my god," he whispered, staring at his boyfriend in shock. "It's my dad's name! It's all of their names! That name is what the G stands for! With that knowledge, you could successfully cast blood magic at a strength that could threaten any Maricourt who has taken that name for themselves!"

"Cool," Theo said with a mischievous grin. "Maybe I do have an edge over your parents after all."

"Oh god. This is a nightmare. What could possibly be next? It's always something."

Adrian reached over and grabbed his ex-husband's hand once more while Abe continued to rub Roman's back. The gesture seemed to comfort Roman somewhat, de-escalating the conversation. Abe and Adrian shared a worried look across the table. Roman's anxieties and dejected self-loathing was becoming a problem too big to ignore. Now matter how hard they tried to support him, Roman always seemed to be beyond their help, repeating his failures like a mantra. Drastic steps had to be taken before Roman truly snapped or Theo's relationship with his father was damaged beyond repair.

"This isn't a big deal," Evren lied. "We'll go to their meeting at the coven and put any hostility to rest, while having this knowledge in our pocket if we need it. Things will work out. Maybe Theo's visitor came to give him an edge against the coven."

"Maybe. I'll see what I can learn from Maura," Adrian replied. "She is going to be meeting with Duke Goldman under the pretense of a review of his properties later today. She promised to fish for any relevant information about Duchess Edana and her plans."

"Good luck," Adam scoffed, crossing his arms. "She doesn't tell Ewan anything important. Elowen says they fight all the time about how vague she can be about her job."

"Well, it's a start," Adrian sighed. "I'm sure that we can resolve this situation quickly and diplomatically. We're all reasonable people after all and all of the Maricourts have to answer to some sort of authority in their lives."

Theo stared at the grim faces of his parental figures while Adam wrung his hands beside him. Judging by everyone's worried faces, Adrian's prediction might be a lot harder than he made it sound.

[luverofralts]

Arkhelios Adventures

Queen Claudia watched as her father talked the ear off Ulyssa's brother in the yard. It was just like her parents to take in strays who showed up on their door, regardless of the danger. They were frustrating that way. They'd learned it from their own family members and perfected it while working for their boss. The current Grim Reaper was a softie with a soft spot for families since his own fathers had been so absent in his life. It had been the Grim Reaper, Gee's fault that Claudia existed in the first place. Her parents were too important in living society to qualify to be reapers, and should have at least been told to wait a few centuries before reapplying to the program`. Gee had recognized the same devotion to family within the couple and approved them anyway. It was only when it was too late that Gee realized that he'd approved the former heirs to three thrones to return to the living world and allowed them to procreate. Many other reapers would have solved the problem by killing Ewan and Anna's children before they could become complicated political entanglements, but Gee had other plans. Children would never have to die to fix his mistake, especially the children of his good friends.

Claudia could see the danger that the Durant siblings posed, even if her parents didn’t. It was incredibly suspicious to find Maura’s wife loitering around Claudia’s secretive parents and if she had to guess, Claudia assumed that this encounter hadn’t been approved by her cousin. Whatever game Ulyssa was playing was all her idea; Maura would never show such an interest or be so bold. Maura had always been fine with keeping her distance from the Goldmans. Even as kids, Claudia and Maura had been instructed to play together, but Maura had made convenient excuses whenever Ewan or Anna came to spend time with her.

So what was Ulyssa’s game here then? Claudia knew that the queen consort didn’t have the magical skill for a curse or spell against Pleasantview. She didn’t even likely have the skill for a voodoo doll made from Claudia’s hair, so that explanation was out. Jorah was clearly the distraction for some other plan, so while Ulyssa sipped tea with Claudia’s mother, Claudia ran through her list of possible schemes. Ulyssa would slip eventually and when she did, Claudia would be ready for it.

"So what's it like dying?" Jorah asked, moving his game piece as he spoke. He and Ewan were bonding over a fierce game of Don't Wake the Llama. He could see Ulyssa's irritation through the window where she watched them, but he ignored her. His plan had saved them from Claudia's wrath and he had spent over an hour bonding with an actual reaper. A reaper who had already promised to come to dinner one night in Arkhelios to grill some burgers with Jorah.

"Truthfully I don't remember," Ewan replied, countering Jorah's move with his own. "I died as an infant and it was a long time ago. It's peaceful from what I've seen. A quick moment and then freedom from pain or suffering. Reunification with your deceased loved ones. It's nothing to fear."

"Do you ever work in Arkhelios? Have I seen you around without knowing it?"

"We work in teams," Ewan confided. "Every nation has a team assigned to them so that we can collect the correct souls at the correct time and ensure that the correct functioning of the living world is unharmed. I work in Pleasantview, so no, I don't work in your area, but rest assured, there is a team in place to protect Arkhelios."

Jorah paused to consider Ewan's words. He'd never thought of a supernatural team sent to harvest souls as serving as protection over the living realm. If anything, he'd always thought of them as villains or threats because of the nature of their jobs, but it was true that people were going to die naturally regardless of a reaper being there to help them pass. Having policies and trained professionals in place to help ease that transition was really a kindness extended to mortals by Death when he thought about it.

"So I was reading about the Great Demon War and the reaper sightings from that period. Would that be an example of how reapers protect the living? By fighting threats from beyond the living world? Have you ever been to the Void? Does the Demon Sovereign have to obey your rules? Can she be killed by Death if she breaks the rules? Is she actually evil or just misunderstood? I'm asking for a friend."

Ewan laughed.

"I'm afraid I can't answer all of those questions. There needs to be some secrecy maintained or life just isn't as fun. It's meant to be lived first and then the gaps are filled in once your life ends. It'll ruin all the spoilers you're meant to enjoy one day."

"Do you know when I'm going to die?" Jorah pressed. "All of my kids are going to outlive me, right? You can tell me that much, right?"

"Unfortunately that's above my pay grade," Ewan laughed. "We get told who to escort to the afterlife shortly beforehand. I can't change the death and I don't decide anything about it. Not even the Grim Reaper can. It's above even him."

"What's above him?" Jorah gasped, completely ignoring everything else around him. "Death? He decides when someone dies? What if someone is murdered? Does he know that's going to happen or can he prevent the murder if he wants to save the person?"

"That's a spoiler, I'm afraid," Ewan said with a wink. "Some things have to be a surprise and some questions can't be answered. Honestly, you're better off not focusing on all of that. Life is so short and eternity is forever. Live your life before you lose it and you'll find out the answers to your questions soon enough."

"Fair enough," Jorah grudgingly conceded. "I get it. Can I ask you about your family then? I've read so much about your parents and great-grandparents in books but you're the real thing. You know them."

Ewan fidgeted in his seat while he processed the request and Jorah immediately regretted asking about it.

"Hmmm, maybe when I stop by Arkhelios," Ewan promised, his eyes hooded with secrets. "If you've read about them, you know how difficult it can be to come to terms with the actions of your ancestors. My dad is the best dad I could ever hope to have. My other father is a monster who can't go ten minutes without committing some kind of war crime or monstrous act. I've tried to raise my children to be just like my dad and be happy and loving and kind to others. Unfortunately, these days my daughter seems to be happy following the path of my father. There are so many devious voices in her ear and demons happy to lead her into darkness. That's why I try to demonstrate kindness whenever I can. There's a darkness within her that I fear the throne will encourage. There's a darkness in all of Casper Maricourt's bloodline."

Jorah paused, unable to think of an appropriate response to this admission. The closest example that he could relate to would probably be the Bellamy family and he only had limited contact with most of them. Ever since the affair with Ulyssa, Jorah hadn't seen much of the Bellamys. Roman's mother certainly was evil, though not on the same scale as a ruthless king…not that Jorah knew about anyway.

"Do…do you see him at all?" Jorah asked quietly. "Is there a hell that he's in? Did they just send him to the Void when he died? Is there a king of the afterlife? Do people fight over it?"

"I…I have seen him. Just once and not alone. He…wasn't kind to me," Ewan sighed. "Always choose to be kind, Jorah. Whenever you can. It separates us from the darkness. You strike me as a man who already knows this, but never let yourself forget it."

Jorah paused, realizing that Ewan was upset by the conversation and had ignored all of his secondary questions.

"I'm sorry," he apologized. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. I just have so many questions and I love learning about new people and places and I'm afraid that I'll never have the chance to speak with you again."

"I promised you a barbecue, and I don't break my promises. I understand your curiosity, I would feel the same way in your shoes. Maybe we could just pivot away from my father for now. It's bad enough looking in the mirror and seeing his reflection." Ewan gestured quickly at his face. "The hair is a dead giveaway in Pleasantview, especially with the Maricourt eyes. I'm glad none of my kids have inherited them. I'd be tempted to dye it or wear contacts, but it doesn't seem fair. It's my hair and eyes, why should I have to change them because of someone else who died years ago?"

Jorah nodded compassionately at the reaper, who seemed to be working some personal issues out across from him. The last thing he wanted was to scare away his new friend and on top of that, Claudia might murder him if she saw him making her father upset. 

"So reapers eat obviously," he said quickly, gesturing at the grill beside them. "Do you have to sleep? How did you get a body? Is it different from the body that you died in? Can demons possess you?"

Ewan smiled, grateful for the change in subject. 

"We don't need sleep, but we can if we want," he replied. "Our non reaper romantic partners seem to find it unnerving when we're up all night without them and still refreshed in the morning. Death assigns us a body when we graduate training and yes, it's connected to our previous physical body, but it's not completely the same. As for demons, I've never encountered one with the ability to possess others, but they stem from a corruption of life and we stem from the natural course of death, so I'd wager that we're immune to their threat. But enough about me, what about you? How many children do you have? How did you get into autograph collecting?"

"I have three beautiful children," Jorah gushed. "Two daughters and a son, Hamnet, Judith and Susanna. They're turning six this year and they're amazing. Hamnet and Susanna are twins, so it was like having triplets when they all arrived, thank god that my husband was only carrying one kid, though we've talked about more. Maura actually introduced us to the idea of autograph collecting. I would never have thought about it in tiny Arkhelios, but with my sister suddenly meeting world leaders and famous people, it became easier to find people to sign our books. Maura was our first signature and we've got all of Maura’s family too, even her mother, watcher rest her soul."

“How fun. Claudia would have liked that when she was younger, the boys too probably. They’ve always been more hands on with things while Claudia will sit back, evaluate her options and then act. Oliver and Travis would like chasing down people to sign their book. Claudia would probably make them do it for her.’ Ewan laughed and Jorah joined in.

“Yeah, my Susanna is very similar,” he admitted. “She has her siblings under her spell when she wants to. I’ve found them making her bed for her a few times. Kids, right?”

“Exactly. I wouldn’t trade mine for the world though.”

Jorah smiled. Despite all of his excitement about finding rare supernatural creatures, Jorah seemed to have found something even rarer- a kindred soul.

“I completely agree.”

While Jorah was busy making friends, his sister set about her mission. Claudia was talking with her mother about an upcoming lunch event she was hosting and her watchful eye on Ulyssa was currently occupied. Where to begin though?  The bedrooms upstairs might be filled with secrets worth blackmailing a queen with, but the stair were being blocked by Claudia. To get upstairs, Ulyssa would have to sneak outside and teleport while no one was around..

A car pulled into the driveway, alerting Ulyssa as she tried to innocently explore. Claudia’s brother was home with his guest. This could be just the diversion Ulyssa needed to get past Claudia. Everyone would come out to welcome Oliver and Ulyssa could excuse herself to “use the washroom”.

To her surprise though, she recognized the friend exiting the car with Oliver. She would know him anywhere.

“Junior?”

Theo stood behind Oliver, almost hiding from the godmother he’d never expected to see in Pleasantview. It had been years since he’d seen her in person and he’d nearly forgotten the nickname she had for him. This wasn’t just his godmother though, this was his dad’s affair partner. The reason he had a half-sister no one talked about. The reason his parents decided to have a band aid baby that neither of them would have wanted otherwise.

“Hi Aunt Ulyssa. What are you doing here?”

‘Are you sleeping with Oliver’s parents too’ was on the tip of his tongue, but he didn’t dare say it. Oliver was a cool senior in the fanciest school in Pleasantview and had a lot of powerful friends. When the witches’ council had paired them for an assignment, Theo had leapt at the chance. There was no way that he would offend the coolest person he knew just to insult his godmother.

Ulyssa beamed and stepped towards her godson, only to have him back away from her. She wanted nothing more than to hug him and catch up with the drama in his teenage life, but she could see the betrayal in his eyes. Her godson hated her. He was named after her, but she’d broken his trust and now he could barely stand to be around her. All of her Claudia related schemes flew out of her mind with this realization.

Theo hates me, and he deserves to. There’s nothing I can say that will fix what I’ve done. His eyes though- they’re just like Roman’s. I can’t bear miniature Roman glaring at me like this.

Claudia watched the reunion derail on the front lawn with interest. Ulyssa’s weakness was laid bare before her and Claudia didn’t even have to do a single thing to force it. Whatever game Ulyssa thought she was playing was doomed to fail. All Claudia had to do was invoke Roman Bellamy and the queen consort would fold. Ulyssa posed absolutely no threat, but Claudia was still interested to see what her cousin’s wife was up to. Knowing where an enemy thought you were vulnerable was valuable information for the future.

[luverofralts]

Arkhelios Adventures

“Malika? Malika where are you? You were just here a second ago.”

Mark Mishra frantically tried to locate his cousin. He and Malika were at the Pleasantview Academy of Magic for the day, touring the campus as Princess Zarah Royal Academy students. Both were prestigious schools that taught the rich children of Pleasantview’s elite, but only one focused entirely on magic. The magical ability needed to be accepted at the academy was impossibly high. That or you needed to have the right connections.

Both schools had a friendly rivalry that had spanned centuries though several times during the year that rivalry would be suspended for festivals and events that briefly united the students. Today, Pleasantview celebrated the Feast of the Red Queen and both schools gathered together to celebrate.

Mark had intended to spend the day with his cousin, but Malika seemed to have other plans. She’d been nervous all morning, chewing her nails and making sure that her hair was absolutely perfect. If he didn’t know any better, Mark would have guessed that she was trying to impress someone.

Malika peered nervously around the room, trying not to bump into the expensive busts that decorated the hallway. How did the school keep so many valuable items just lying around? Her own school had a collection of ancient artifacts and expensive furnishings, but the students still ate snacks in the hall and bumped into shelves from time to time. Maybe it was magic that protected the things that looked too expensive to touch.

She tried to remember where she’d been instructed to stand. It was by the painting of a woman in a red dress, she was sure of it. However, to her frustration, most of the portraits in the hallway were painted in red dresses. Red was the official colour of Pleasantview, chosen millennia ago to immortalize yet another mysterious woman in a red dress. It was also the colour of blood and anger, two things that seemed to be encoded in Pleasantview society. 

“Malika! How are you enjoying the festivities?”

Malika turned to find Evren Thorne standing behind her, smiling politely. She had never really considered a magical career, especially considering her controversial nephew, Theo. Wbuna had warned her daughter about following witches. Nothing good came from magic, especially the demonic magic that had killed her father. Still, not all magic users seemed to be bad. Evren and his kids were friendly whenever she ran into them in Arkhelios, and Malika had only decided to come today to spend time with another magic user.

“It-it seems really great,” she stammered. “Have you seen a portrait around with a woman wearing red? I’m supposed to meet someone there.”

Evren laughed, still offering her a welcoming smile.

“There’s a lot of those around here,” he replied. “I assume you mean the Red Queen’s portrait? It is her holiday, after all. She’s down the hall to the right. Be sure to grab some of the cookies out by the kitchen on your way. Roman and the girls stayed up late baking them all. There’s probably still piles of boxes at home, waiting to be sent here. We’ll be eating them until they graduate at this rate, so grab some to take home with you.”

“Yes, Master Thorne,” she said politely, hoping that she got his proper title correct. Witches weren’t granted official titles by the government, they had either passed their mastery exam or apprenticeship, or were still studying magic. Given his formal robe and status at the academy, Malika felt pretty confident that Evren wasn’t still a student.

Malika followed the hallway like Evren had told her to and stopped in front of the first portrait with a crowned woman in a red dress. Surely this had to be the Red Queen. There was a crown on her head and a fortune in jewelry depicted. Malika’s mother barely had a nice pair of earrings to her name and this woman had earrings that looked like they could pay for a mansion if sold.

Under the portrait was a small gold sign that read “Master Spencer Maricourt, Coven Leader. Served at the side of Their Majesties, Queen Anastasia, King Rassilon I and Queen Raynah I.”

So not the Red Queen then. Dammit.

"Waiting for someone?"

Malika’s heart leapt at the familiar voice, and she whirled around to find Remy Maricourt watching her with an amused look.

"Remy! I found you! Thank god, I thought you'd never show up and I'd have to spend the afternoon with my cousin. That or join the coven. There's a lot of people from Arkhelios here. Wanda's made quite the impact."

"Hmm. Well, joining is harder than it looks," Remy replied, her face becoming uncharacteristically guarded. "Funny you should be waiting at this portrait. That bitch there is the reason my dad has such a hard time getting anything done. She was the last true leader of our coven and if you weren't descended from her exclusive bloodline, you're apparently garbage."

Malika frowned, trying to quickly piece together Remy's family tree in her mind. It wasn't like she hadn't gone over her family tree before; they had been secretly meeting for months now and Remy's family was a large part of why. As a Maricourt, Remy had expectations to live up to in Pleasantview and with her mother's Darktide blood on top of that, the pressure to perform was high. Adam faced the same pressures as his sister and their half-siblings, but with Theo on his arm, some snobs were willing to cut him a break. A blood demon descended from a Great house was just too enticing. Malika was just part alien, and aliens didn't command the same respect in Pleasantview as demons. Maybe in Strangetown, but not in these regal halls.

"Are you not related to her?" Remy asked, finally giving up on tracing her girlfriend's genealogy. "But your dad is the leader. The position is passed down a bloodline, isn't it?"

"Spencer’s only surviving son, Casper Maricourt, married Queen Raynah I. They had a son together, King Casper I. He killed everyone else in the family."

"Excuse me? The king did what?"

Remy shrugged as if the idea were a normal fact of life and not the most troubling thing she'd ever heard.

"Raynah remarried, had a million kids that should have inherited the throne. Little Casper was supposed to be Spencer's heir and lead the council. He decided that he wanted to be king instead. He killed every eligible sibling and his mother. Nearly killed his dad too. That's why Casper Sr has that huge scar on his face, haven't you seen it? He teaches at your school."

"Professor Maricourt was married to a queen and was almost killed by his son?" Malika gasped, trying to picture the soft spoken history professor fighting for his life. "But he grades papers and looks so young! He would have to be centuries old if that were true!"

When Remy shrugged again, Malika’s mind raced, trying to imagine any of her other professors being ancient and the parent of a mass murderer.

"See for yourself," she said, gesturing to another, less prominent portrait on a nearby wall.

An unscarred, youthful version of the now weary looking professor stood proudly next to a young teen who could have easily been his duplicate. Both wielded the famous wand of the Pleasantview coven, though only one of them looked content about their station in life. The younger Casper looked miserable, his face reflecting the anger that must have been raging in his heart. Just looking at his picture sent chills down Malika’s spine. There was something unnerving about the way his eyes focused on the camera lens. It reminded her a little of the way Kamalani once looked at her. After Omar's death and Kamalani being revealed as his murderer, Malika had had nightmares about the demon for months. Could she really handle living in a country where there was a Kamalani around every corner? Ones that killed their own family for power?

"Hey, he's dead, don't worry. He died a long time ago. Queen Maura’s ancestor defeated him and the throne passed to his kids…more or less."

Malika felt a reassuring hand squeeze hers and felt herself unconsciously start to relax.

"Sorry," Malika said, trying to regain her composure. "I'm fine, it's silly. I'm just being stupid. I just…I just think about my dad and what he must have felt in his last moments. About how Kamalani must have…how anyone could…."

"Hey, it's okay. I'm sorry, I should have thought about your dad," Remy apologized, hugging her girlfriend tight. It didn't matter who saw them together at the moment, Malika needed her more. "You could always talk to your professor, he might be able to give you some advice about grieving a murder." She paused momentarily, thinking about what comforting thing she could say. "Come on, I'll show you something."

Malika followed Remy down the hall and to the right, just as Evren had instructed her. Remy came to a stop in front of a portrait of a woman wearing a beautiful red dress. 

"This is the Red Queen," she said respectfully. "Queen Juniper Goss, the only daughter of King Casper of Pleasantview and Queen Holly of Crystal Cove. She protected the people of Crystal Cove from her father and made sure that Crystal Cove remained separate from Pleasantview after his death. She brought peace to her people her entire life and prepared the way for her brother to reign over Pleasantview. She was the beginning of the great promise made to our people and we honour her for it."

"Wow. She's pretty. That's who the holiday is for?"

Remy nodded.

"The Crystal Cove coven made the crystals below the portrait for the very first festival. You'll see more of them if you stay for the dinner later. Their king is Queen Juniper's son, King Liam. They have their own celebration and then he and Queen Claudia meet each other at the ruins of the royal tombs and we have a huge party with the Crystal Cove witches. Adam snuck some wine last year and got so drunk that he threw up. I can't wait to see what he does this year."

"So Queen Claudia is Juniper's daughter?" Remy asked, staring at the portrait curiously. "She looks a lot like her. She must have had her when she was really old. Liam looks like forty years older than her."

"Ah, well, not really. Claudia is her niece. The other half of the promise made to our people. It's complicated."

"Complicated?" Malika repeated incredulously. "I don't get it. If you can't rule a coven without the proper bloodline, how did the queen's niece override her son for the throne? Liam should be king of both countries, right?"

Malika paused, choosing her next words carefully. 

"How far have you gotten in magical lifestates class?" she asked. "Have you finished studying vampires? I'm pretty sure it's the chapter after vampires."

Malika blinked with surprise at the odd change in topic.

"We're at werewolves," she replied curiously. "Now you have to tell me what's going on. Not after a question like that!"

"Well," Remy started nervously. "Let's just say that what's dead doesn't always stay dead."

Malika gasped, images of Narcissa, Ian Chun and Tabitha Durant running through her head in horrifying detail. Wanda kept the zombie population of Arkhelios safe and far away from the public, but still Malika had had run-ins with some of them in the past. Between the horrid smells and frightening spasms of their body, Malika could honestly say that she was terrified of zombies, even if they were wearing a crown.

"The queen is a zombie?" she whispered in horror.

"Don't they teach you anything at your dumb school? Her father is a reaper! As in the Grim Reaper?" a familiar voice called out, ruining Malika’s mood in an instant.

Theo.

"Butt out of my conversations!" Remy snapped angrily. So much for keeping a low profile and their relationship a secret.

To her displeasure, her twin brother and Theo were intertwined on a couch, watching Remy with interest.

"So, you and an Arkhelian girl, huh?" Adam teased, making his sister ball her hands into angry fists.

"You're dating an Arkhelian guy!" she replied. "If you tell Mom or Dad about Malika, I'll make you regret it."

"Please," Adam scoffed, clearly enjoying having the upper hand for once. "You score even lower than me in school, I'm not afraid of what you can do. Besides, Theo's stronger than both of us combined. He'll protect me from whatever you try."

Adam stuck his tongue out playfully at his twin, but Remy didn't fall for his bait.

"No, but I doubt all that power will save you when I tell his parents that he's got his hand resting on your crotch."

Malika giggled as Theo and Adam pulled away from each other in an instant, each boy looking as embarrassed as Remy had hoped. 

"That's what I thought," Remy laughed. "I won't tell if you won't tell. Mutually assured destruction."

Adam glowered at his twin. As usual his twin had the upper hand. Going to Theo's parents with any allegations of sexual activity might just leave her twinless.

"Fine. Let's go get some punch, Theo. This area is getting crowded anyway."

Adam scurried off, dragging Theo by the hand, leaving Malika and Remy blissfully alone once more.

"Boys," Remy sighed dramatically. "Thank god you're a girl and have common sense. I can't imagine trying to date a boy and putting up with all of that. Sometimes I wonder if Adam and I really are twins or if he's just a jerk that was dropped off at our door one day. He's so frustrating!"

Malika giggled, thinking about her own complicated family tree. 

"Adam's not so bad," she laughed. "My own siblings can be a pain, but they mean well usually. Now Roman, that's a different story. Clearly he takes after his mom."

"Clearly."

The two girls laughed for a moment, despite their secret being compromised. Maybe they didn't have to hide their relationship from Remy's family after all. Adam had just teased them about liking each other, same as Remy often did about Theo. Maybe her parents wouldn't care about her not dating a witch. 

"What was Theo going on about anyway?" Malika asked, despite her reservations about zombies. If the undead were walking around Pleasantview, she needed to know about it. "Does the grim reaper really walk around Pleasantview making royal zombies? Do people really see him?"

Did he come for my dad when he died? Has Dad ever seen him?

Remy shrugged. 

"People say that he was seen when the Pleasantview castle burned down," she replied. "He supposedly wandered around the ruins, looking for the dead and killing anyone left alive. But that's just a story. Who knows what he really did? He's real though; I've seen him myself."

"Really?" Malika breathed. "When? What does he look like? Did he talk to you? Did he threaten to kill you?"

"Nah, he was just picking up his kids from school," Remy laughed. "They go to school here. Apparently they have enough magical skill to qualify to attend classes here. His partner is something weird too. Not a witch, but definitely powerful. You might run into them at the celebrations tonight. I'll introduce you if you want."

"I-if I want to meet Death? I don't know about that," Malika stammered. It was just her luck to have to shake hands with the embodiment of death itself. Why did she think that leaving Arkhelios would ever make her life less complicated? "Um…maybe? So the queen's father is death? How does he have a claim on the Pleasantview throne? How does he even have children?"

“Don’t worry about it,” Remy laughed, seeing the look on her girlfriend’s face. “I won’t introduce you. Baby steps. And the queen’s father isn’t death, he just works for him. Her mom too. Like I said, it’s complicated. But who cares about family trees and inheritances when we could be having fun? Lets go grab some cupcakes before they leave the kitchen. I’ll be pissed if Adam and Theo steal them all like they always do. Come on!”

Malika reluctantly grabbed Remy’s outstretched hand, looking over her shoulder at the expensive looking bust behind her labelled “King Casper I”. If things seemed dangerous and unnerving back home in Arkhelios, Pleasantview was turning out to be a waking complicated nightmare. There were so many rules and expectations layered with tragedy and greed.

She wouldn’t give up so easily though. Malika had made a promise to Wanda to do her best and she wasn’t about to break it anytime soon. Besides, if she went back to Arkhelios, when would she ever get to see Remy?

“Coming!” Malika replied and allowed Remy to lead her in the direction of the kitchen.

[luverofralts]

Arkhelios Adventures

“What the hell is going on in here? Dad? You’d better be wearing pants!”

Crown Princess Theodosia of Crystal Cove stormed the main palace, looking angrily at the mess around her. Cups of wine and articles of clothing littered the front entryway and the princess was absolutely certain that she knew how they’d gotten there.

For most of her life, Theodosia had been cleaning up her parents’ messes. Her father loved to party and have countless meaningless flings, while her mother had thrown herself into dark magic and had been killed attempting to destroy the Grim Reaper with the delusional, nearly extinct Strangetown witch coven. Her twin siblings had never shared the burden of their parents with her, and since her sister, Holly, had died in the explosion with the queen of Twikkii Island, her brother had been even less helpful. While her father was a widower, his flings were no longer considered adultery, but his daughter still thought less of him for them.

She had been married to a near stranger, the former queen of Pleasantview Queen Charlotte II after a diplomatic incident required a sacrifice to Pleasantview be made. King Liam hadn’t asked his daughter what her thoughts on the matter were before the engagement was announced. He’d stood at her rushed wedding and grinned like this was all going according to his elaborate design. Theodosia loved her father, she truly did, but most days she felt like she was the parent in their relationship. Her mother had already been pressuring Liam to abdicate the throne in favour of their daughter for years when she died. If she were still alive, he may have gone through with it. 

It was hard enough knowing that she had to run a country one day, Theodosia didn’t need the stress of being the default leader of her family, especially considering that her father was still alive and seemingly interested in filling the role. All his daughter could see was the seemingly endless political fires she had to put out due to Liam’s carelessness.

“Dad?”

The princess stormed past a group of party guests enjoying the sights of the palace from the kitchen floor. To her horror, she could vaguely recognize one of them as an occasional visitor from Arkhelios who she had the misfortune of meeting before under circumstances like this one, along with what she was desperately hoping wasn’t Twikkii Island’s palace head of security.

“Dad! We need to talk!”

As she suspected, Theodosia found her father wooing a man she wasn’t familiar with. She tried to breathe as her therapist had recommended, but staying calm was increasingly difficult with every second she stood there.

“Pelle, you’re amazing,” the king gushed, brushing his lips against the other man’s hand and watching him melt. “Maybe I could speak with the staff and organize a room for you so that we could spend more time together.”

“Absolutely not! Mom has been dead for just over a decade, and Holly less than six. We are not having any more scandals with you parading people younger than your children around the castle. Think of your reputation. Think of the country’s reputation. Do you really want Claudia to walk in here some day and evict you from your luxurious lifestyle because she’s convinced our people that she’s the better option compared to you?”

The king frowned, though he looked like he was weighing his daughter’s words.

“Claudia has no claim here,” he said at last in his defense. “Your mother is dead, and I’m not married, so who I decide to spend my time with is no one’s business but my own.”

“Do you really think that’s going to stop Pleasantview?” Theodosia hissed, glaring at the young man literally trying to hide behind her father. “That’s never stopped them historically and it won’t now. Unless you want to watch a second Crystal Empire take away your throne, you have to play your part. Mom’s not here to protect us anymore with whatever hellish dark magic she had and Pleasantview is still a prime suspect in Holly’s death. You are going to run this country into the ground if you don’t change things!”

“I-I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to cause a scene,” the young man said earnestly. “I never wanted to-”

“Pelle, relax. You haven’t done anything wrong,” King Liam sighed. “If I want you to stay here, then you’re allowed to stay here. Theodosia isn’t queen yet, even if it seems that she’s forgotten that fact. Her mother filled her head with nonsense about an abdication long ago and tried to bully me into doing it. The country is still here and thriving over a decade later, so what did she really know?”

Silence swept across the room as the princess continued to try to lower her blood pressure. Her mother had been terribly wrong about many things in life, but she hadn’t been wrong to suggest that her husband “retire” from the throne, especially when this current mess was the result of Liam making his own choices.

“Pelle, I’m sure you’re a nice person caught up in the glamour of the castle and my father’s...charms,” she said coldly, ignoring her father in favour of his lover. “You’re not the first person to do so, and I know that you won’t be the last. Let me tell you about your predecessors. I have four recognized half-siblings from my father’s many affairs. There are likely more, but those are just the ones I know about. The ones who grew up without a word from my father. The ones who had mothers and fathers plead with the palace for child support or for the father of their child to spend a single moment with his child. The ones that I write WInterfest cards to every year under my father’s name so that they don’t have to feel the same crippling rejection from their absent father that I do. You are nothing more than a plaything, a toy. He’ll get tired of you too, so be prepared and use protection. I would hate to see history repeat itself with you.”

“That’s both treason and unfair,” Liam growled, but quickly withered under the glare of his daughter. “I had a traumatic childhood. I didn’t have my parents to raise me or protect me or teach me how to endure a loveless marriage to your sociopath of a mother. I’m doing my best here. Everything is fine. There’s hardly rioting in the streets because I entertain guests in my private quarters.”

A vein in Theodosia’s head was beginning to throb angrily. She tried massaging it away with no luck. Some days she wished that her mother had been the one to survive the marriage and that her father had died in her place. Queen Celeste had been emotionally unbalanced, incredibly self-centered and frankly, an actual danger to society, but at least she owned it. Her mother had accepted blame and talked to her daughter about critical things that a ruler needed to govern effectively. She had had insight and ideas and strategies for her kingdom, where her husband...didn’t. One parent was maliciously ambitious and the other had spent his life running away from his problems. No wonder Theodosia had been plucking grey hairs from her head since her early twenties.

She wanted to rage and scream about the injustice in her life, but there was an audience and her mother had trained her better than to throw tantrums about her father’s childish behaviour in front of the public. Who was her father to whine about his orphaned childhood when Theodosia had never once been allowed to have a childhood at all? She’d been the one to try to clean up her parents’ messes, while also helping to shield her young siblings from the disaster that was their family.

“I have a meeting to discuss the Harvest Moon Ball,” she spat. “Something that the monarch should be doing. By all means though, you stay here and cry about your dead mom who you don’t even remember. My losing both my mother and sister could never compete with that, Your Majesty.”

The princess curtsied dramatically, mocking the respect she was supposed to have for her king and father. What she really longed to do was flip him off and shout obscenities like the frustrated teenager she was never allowed to be, but she was better than that. For his part, Pelle did try a clumsy bow as she retreated, though the princess was far too angry to notice. 

"Your Majesty! What a surprise."

No sooner than when she’d entered the hallway, yet another situation appeared. Queen Claudia was in the main hallway, lazily looking at the portraits on the wall. Had talking about the threat Pleasantview posed somehow summoned the monarch or was this just exceptional bad luck?

Theodosia tried to suppress her surprise at the queen of Pleasantview and her heir just walking into the castle unannounced. Formality had never been Claudia's strong suit, and she clearly had no intention of changing. Theodosia remained convinced that Claudia enjoyed the element of surprise and the uneasiness it inspired.

From down the hall, Theodosia's wife, Charlotte, was just leaving the kitchen with a small snack in her arms. Her wife frantically signalled her to be on alert and Charlotte laid her snack aside and came running as elegantly as she could. 

"Your Majesty," Charlotte said with a deep curtsy. "We didn't expect you here, what an honour."

Claudia couldn't help laughing at the situation, despite its seriousness. Charlotte had been the monarch that she'd replaced in Pleasantview and now she was bowing to Claudia. The whole thing was silly, but protocol was protocol. She and Charlotte weren't close and hadn't spoken outside of events in the past few years, so formalities needed to be established. She had Victoriana as an audience, looking for an example of how to treat foreign royalty.

"Your Highnesses," Claudia said, following proper procedure and not bowing or curtsying to either princess. Beside her, Victoriana remained silent. "I'm just visiting today. There's a matter I need to consult the archives about. A private matter. I've consulted the archives in Pleasantview, but I need some titles from your archives. I trust this is the estate where the records are kept?"

Theodosia nodded gracefully.

"Yes, since this is the king's formal residence, all the archives have been moved here as is the custom. Did you need any title in particular? I can summon the royal librarian to assist you if you'd prefer."

"It must be nice having so many royal residences that you have to move archives around," Claudia laughed. Theodosia's mask of politeness never slipped in reaction. "You guys have what? Three castles? Four? I'm jealous. I only have one royal residence and the ruins of the old one. I'm thinking of expanding my estate to catch up with you guys. Maybe add a few new houses."

Claudia watched the princesses closely, hoping that her light threat had hit her targets as she'd hoped. Neither woman moved from their place, still politely bowing and showing no reaction. Pleasantview had a history of absorbing Crystal Cove over multiple centuries, freeing it and then capturing it once again years later. There was a good reason why both women were so cautious of Claudia and it never hurt to remind them of why. Claudia had no intentions of going to war to conquer any country, but it was good to mention every so often that she always could if she ever changed her mind.

"I think I'll just poke around by myself for now," Claudia announced. "I'm looking for the archives regarding the Empress' reign. I assume that they'd be here?"

A worried look passed between Theodosia and her wife, though they tried to hide it.

"E-empress Anastacia?"

Claudia fought the urge to roll her eyes. It was hardly acceptable behaviour for a queen, but it was so tempting.

"Yes, there's only been one empress, unless I'm missing one," she replied irritably. 

"But, she reigned over Pleasantview mainly, surely you have all the records you need in your archives. Everything from the Crystal Empire remains under your control, if I'm remembering correctly," Theodosia answered.

She was remembering correctly. There wasn't an inch of this castle or this government that she hadn't meticulously studied in preparation for her eventual ascent to the throne. Whatever Claudia was looking for should be in Pleasantview, or at the very least, be able to be sent to Pleasantview at the queen's request. Why did she need to arrive in a foreign country unannounced to look for records she already had?

"I'm sure having a quick look won't hurt either. Victoriana, stay with the princesses until I return," Claudia ordered. "It will be boring in the archives, so go explore with them. I'm sure you two don't mind looking after her for a bit?"

"Of course not," Theodosia said, clenching her teeth in a grimace she hoped was convincing. First she had to babysit her father and now she had to entertain a foreign princess without notice. She had had plans of her own for the day, but they had all been ruined, as usual.

"Have fun," Claudia called out, heading in the direction of the castle archives.

When she had disappeared from eyesight, both Crystal Cove princesses sighed deeply, releasing the breath they'd been holding.

"What do you want to do? We could play a game if you want," Victoriana suggested, oblivious to the tension in the air. "Or watch TV."

"I have to go for another meeting on the Harvest Moon Ball, I can't stay and babysit Claudia's kid on top of everything else. Make sure my dad's still wearing pants by the time the witch council meets tonight. Maybe someone on staff will look after the kid until Her Majesty is done pretending that she owns the place."

With that, Theodosia stormed down the hall, intent on accomplishing at least one of the items on her schedule.

[luverofralts]

Arkhelios Adventures

“I like your hat. Do you enjoy magic classes?”

Princess Charlotte smiled politely at the girl, but only got a small pout in return.

“My mom made me wear it,” she replied sullenly. “Something’s wrong with me and she says I have to wear it until she fixes me.”

Charlotte frowned. At first glance, nothing appeared to be wrong with the princess, aside from whatever dye Claudia used to dye her daughter’s hair seemed to be fading. That at least gave Charlotte some idea of what Claudia was really here for. Whatever was in the Crystal Cove archives wasn’t being sought out as a threat like Theodosia always assumed. Claudia was here on a mission as a mother and Charlotte could certainly relate to that. She would do anything for her own daughter.

“Well, while we’re waiting for your mom, why don’t we do a little tour?” Charlotte suggested, eying the preteen carefully. While Victoriana was a princess and used to waiting around fancy buildings with nothing to do, she was still a child and prone to tired outbursts and whining. Charlotte’s daughter was around Victoriana’s age and she knew too well how boring royal life could be for a child. “This isn’t your first time in this castle, I know. Unfortunately, the king doesn’t have any children in his residence, so anything fun like toys or games are usually in the other residences. Since you come here sometimes, maybe you could teach me some history.”

Victoriana shrugged, but didn’t seem opposed to the idea. Learning history was critical for future success her mother always said and Crystal Cove’s history was full of interesting historical events like wars and coups. Pleasantview’s history was filled with wars too, but they almost always won them. Crystal Cove had a history of love and loss, triumphs and failures.

“The study guide is over there behind that pedestal,” the princess replied. “The tour guides always hide them there so they can gather the group in a small area before starting.”

Charlotte followed her gaze and found exactly what she was referencing hidden behind a potted plant on a small bookcase. She smiled uneasily, unnerved that the child knew more about the functioning of the castle than even she did. This knowledge might have sent her wife into a panic, but Charlotte had seen the innocent, optimistic girl Claudia had been when she approached Charlotte about taking the throne Charlotte hated. Years had passed, but Charlotte still believed that innocent teen had the same heart. She knew all too well the demands of the Pleasantview throne and how most rulers needed to rule with fear to survive. Claudia was teaching her heir how to intimidate, but Charlotte believed that the threats were empty. Her own mother, the tyrannical Queen Charlotte I, had been a monster and enjoyed the fear she instilled in her subjects and children. Claudia could talk convincingly to the rest of the world, but Charlotte couldn’t see her mother’s twisted spirit reflected in Claudia’s words.

If that wasn’t convincing enough, Charlotte knew that Claudia was the child of reapers. While there were certainly terrible reapers and reapers drawn to violence and power, overwhelmingly most reapers were thrilled just to experience life again and respected the balance of the universe. Very few people knew this about her, but Charlotte’s own non-royal mother had been a reaper posted in Crystal Cove. What she once saw in the evil queen, Charlotte would never know, but she had been allowed to meet her reaper mother now that the queen was dead and unable to prevent it. From what she had seen of reaper culture and behaviour, there was no way that Claudia would act on the threats she so casually made; she had been raised to be better than that. Life and death were not for mortals to decide and the balance must be always preserved and respected. Surely this belief had been ingrained in Claudia as well.

“Hmm. Well, let’s start this tour then,” Charlotte said with what she hoped was a reassuring smile. “I’ll start and then you tell me if I’m missing something.”

Charlotte shuffled the tour guide papers quickly, looking for the beginning.

“Okay, as you probably know, before the Civil War, Mordred I reigned over Pleasantview, while Crystal Cove was ruled by Queen Sophia I. Queen Sophia had a handsome son named Albinus who fell in love with a beautiful commoner from Pleasantview, Spencer Lane. Spencer’s beauty was so great that it tempted Mordred's heir, Princess Zaria. Tempted, really? These guides are long overdue for an update. Anyway, when Spencer fell pregnant at seventeen, it was assumed that Prince Albinus was the father and Princess Georgiana of Crystal Cove was born. She was followed by a boy, Prince Spencer a year later. ‘Gesture at photo’-oh! That’s Georgiana in the middle of the portrait and Spencer to the right of her. Upon reaching the age of seventeen, as was the custom in Crystal Cove, the young princess submitted a DNA sample for the Crystal Cove genetic database, only to discover that she did not have a genetic link to her supposed father.” Charlotte paused for a moment, reviewing the script’s notes again. “These days you’re entered in the database at birth, or marriage in my case. It’s been that way since the Demon Wars over a millennia ago. It was an easy way to screen for demons passing for humans and to reunite families that were separated by the war. Have you read about that war in school too?”

Victoriana shrugged.

“I guess. Pleasantview didn’t fight in it, so it’s not as important,” she answered. “That’s Crystal Cove history and I’m not going to rule over Crystal Cove.”

“Let’s hope not,” Charlotte chuckled, hoping to keep her tone light and positive. “Though, as one former queen of Pleasantview to a future one, I think that you’ll be great at it.”

The young girl beamed at Charlotte in a way that felt genuine and unrehearsed. She hadn’t yet formed the cold, forceful mannerisms of her mother, but Charlotte had no doubts that they’d manifest pretty quickly once she became a teenager. That was the way of Pleasantview, just as she’d been raised.

“Princess Zaria was stripped of her title by her father because of this scandal, and Crystal Cove rejected the young girl for her half-brother Spencer, who was was then made crown prince. Georgiana fell in love with a yellow eyed demon, named Damien Baena, who she was forbidden to marry by King Mordred’s orders. Damien’s bloodline was too closely related to the royal bloodline of the demons for Mordred’s liking, among other reasons...or so we’re told. Georgiana would not be persuaded however, and she and Damien eloped and soon had a set of twins. Mordred’s cold heart softened upon seeing the infants and he reluctantly endorsed the marriage. She was the White Princess of Pleasantview and soon took her mother’s place in the line of succession.”

“Do you think that if I put my DNA in the system, it would tell me who my other parent is?” Victoriana asked breathlessly. “I mean, maybe they live in Crystal Cove or they moved there. Maybe my mom fell in love with a prince or princess here. I mean. it happened before.”

Charlotte’s heart sank, looking at the excitement in the child’s eyes.

“Oh honey, I’m sure that’s not the case,” she replied, trying to be sensitive. “Theodosia and her siblings are a bit older than your mother, and they haven’t really interacted with her from what I’ve seen. I’m sure that your mother will tell you one day, when she’s ready.”

“Yeah, I guess.” The princess slouched noticeably, looking defeated.

Charlotte could sympathize with the young girl, but had no way of comforting her. She knew all about feeling lost in a family tree with no idea of where she came from. Claudia had never acknowledged her daughter’s other parent though, and if Pleasantview didn’t want a fact known, there was very little the future queen consort of a smaller country could do to impact that.

“Well, um, here! This is the next portrait in the tour, King Spencer of Crystal Cove,” Charlotte said quickly. “Georgiana’s half-brother. Queen Sophia mentored him after finding out about his sister’s maternity. He launched a campaign to disinherit his father for agreeing to raise Georgiana as his own, knowing that she was the child of a foreign princess. When Sophia arranged to have her wife, her son and his wife murdered to eliminate them from the line of succession, Spencer had her arrested for murder and treason and assumed the throne. He was known as the Black Prince, whose heart and attire were as dark as the night. As soon as he had the throne, civil war broke out in Crystal Cove, fueled by Pleasantview who wanted their princess to assume the throne she’d been raised to inherit in Crystal Cove. A lot of innocent people died because of one family’s problems.”

“Why wasn’t he known as the Black King then?” Victoriana interrupted. Charlotte was surprised that the young girl who seemed to know everything historical had any questions for their tour.

“Because many people viewed him as an illegitimate ruler,” she answered, flipping over the card in her hand to make sure her answer was correct. “They saw Georgiana as the legally adopted daughter of the crown prince and wanted her to rule instead of her controversial brother. Many people wanted to share a ruler with Pleasantview as long as they could remain a separate realm. As I’m sure you know, Pleasantview has a great deal to offer a smaller country.”

When the girl remained silent, Charlotte tried another distraction. Clearly the question of her true parent’s identity had distracted Victoriana from their little tour and the last thing Charlotte wanted was to start a royal tantrum before Claudia got back.

“Do you know Sedona, the little area of Pleasantview the queen visits every summer? It used to be a country. Spencer married the queen of Sedona for money and political power and destroyed it. It went bankrupt and Pleasantview absorbed it after the war. I always liked visiting Sedona every summer when I was growing up. The monarch visits to remind the people of Sedona that they are a part of Pleasantview now, but it’s a always a lot of fun for everyone. Last year your mom had a whole festival, remember? She wouldn’t be able to do that if Spencer hadn’t destroyed the country in the war.”

It wasn’t great to promote the loss of the sovereignty of a nation, but it had been centuries since the civil war, and the people of Sedona now couldn’t remember a time when they had controlled their own country. While Charlotte’s mother had always been cruel to the people of Sedona, Claudia really had turned the tradition into a celebration of the unification of their countries. There were a few royal bloodlines left in Sedona, but no one had pushed to reinstate the monarchy since the country fell. Maybe that decision would change in the future, Charlotte couldn’t say. It didn’t look like Sedona would separate from Pleasantview anytime soon.

“So who won the civil war?” Victoriana pressed. “Pleasantview, right? We win everything.”

“Uh, not everything. That would be a dangerous idea to take away from this tour,” Charlotte quickly corrected. The last thing Charlotte needed was for Victoriana to get ideas about Pleasantview’s seeming invincibility. “A peace was brokered and no one won really. That’s how the Crystal Empire came to be. Spencer’s son and Georgiana’s son were engaged and married. They united the two warring factions and Crystal Cove and Pleasantview consensually and peacefully. Their daughter, Anastacia, named for King Mordred's mother, ruled the Crystal Empire as Empress. And the rest is history. This castle was constructed long before the civil war, during the reign of King Keegan, but it was where Prince Albinus and his family resided for much of their lives. It was also where King Spencer was held awaiting his trial for treason, murder and various other war crimes.”

“And where people died in the pool!” Victoriana added excitedly. “My teacher says the pool’s haunted and that there’s as many ghosts here as in the ruins of the Pleasantview castle. Which is a lot. Have you seen any of them yourself? I think I saw some once at home, but Mom said it was just my imagination. But! But Grandma and Grandpa says lots of souls passed through our castle on their way to the afterlife, so I probably did see some. The tour guides usually point out that spot over there by the stairs where someone was murdered by demons. The tiles are still stained with hints of blood and dark magic; they can’t clean it all off! Isn’t that cool?”

Charlotte frowned, making a note for herself to avoid the area the princess had pointed out. That did sound like a horrifyingly possible fact about this castle that she could have happily lived her life not hearing.

“Very cool. Why-Why don’t we try something else to pass the time? It looks like someone left a game out after all. Why don’t we forget about ghosts and demons for the moment and try to pass the time in a less...educational way?:

[luverofralts]

Arkhelios Adventures

“So am I putting the horror movie in or the romantic comedy? Which movie do you think is going to get Adam to make out with you faster?”

Eliana Traver popped some popcorn into her mouth, watching as Adam and Theo flushed furiously at the comment.

“Don’t be so loud!” Theo hissed anxiously. “You know how paranoid my dads are about this sleepover. I’ll never be able to have friends over again if they think this is going to turn into some kind of orgy.”

Having a sleepover wasn’t a simple request these days. When they were children, it was perfectly fine if Theo slept over at Adam’s or any of his other friends, but now that they were teens and he had a boyfriend, his parents refused to allow sleepovers like they used to. It was only with some begging and some very solemn promises, that Theo was allowed to have a few friends spend the night, including Adam. Theo had sworn that nothing would happen between him and Adam with the presence of their friends, which was plausible. Leah and Eliana certainly didn’t want to make out with Adam, and Theo would never cheat on his boyfriend,or so he believed. Roman could see as clear as day that Theo’s gaze lingered a bit too long with his female friends, but that was for Theo to work out on his own. Thirteen was still an acceptable age for a sleepover with heavy parental supervision, or at least so Roman thought. He’d never really had friends of his own growing up to spend the night aside from Abe, and those visits could hardly be called sleepovers.

Roman looked over at his young son, who was currently wielding a pillow against his friend in a fierce pillow fight. There was no way that either he or Abe would be sleeping this night, but it was good to see their son happy. Trust had to be earned and until Theo could prove that he was trustworthy, his parents would be in every shadow, waiting with a magical cold shower.

Adam for his part, was shyly reading on the couch while his boyfriend embarked on a pillow war. The boy was always quiet and polite and deferential to the Bellamys. Roman had known that Adam’s parents were strict and expected much from him, but he hadn’t expected the boy to be this calm. Theo was a wave of energy crashing through the house, attacking his friends with pillows and a few tiny spells that his school would not approve of. Maybe Theo would make his boyfriend less quiet over time. They had been friends since their childhood though, and Adam hadn’t changed much in that time.

Well, opposites do attract, they say. Still, this might be the boy Theo’s crying about in a year or two. Not very many people marry their high school boyfriend. God knows how rough Abe and I have had it over the years.

“Did Luciana’s boyfriend show you that move?” Eliana chuckled, swinging for Theo’s head. “He tried the same thing in gym class...where I kicked his ass.”

“Language, Eliana! There’s little kids running around here who don’t need to hear bad words when they’re playing,” Roman called out on instinct. Correcting children’s foul language was an automatic reaction now that he had a teenager and two preteens.

“Sorry, Mr. Bellamy!”

“Mr. Bellamy? God, Abe, what happened to us? I’m used to royalty calling me Mr. Bellamy as an insult and now our teenage child’s friends are calling me that. When did we get so old?”

“Wait, Luci has a boyfriend?” Abe asked, horror in his voice. “Since when? Theo’s barely old enough to have a boyfriend and he’s two years older than them.”

“They both do currently,” Roman replied casually. “Though I think it’s a new one this week for Luci.”

“What do you mean the twins have boyfriends? They’re children!”

“They’re also almost teenagers, Abe,” Roman chided his husband. “It doesn’t mean anything at that age, it’s just a status thing. Kids collect boyfriends and girlfriends like they do Voidcritters cards. Lots of younger kids had boyfriends when I was at school. They even had a school dance for them where absolutely no one dared dance with each other. It’s normal. Adrian’s even met a few of them.”

“A few of them? How many boyfriends do the kids have?”

“A couple of them were girlfriends,” Roman informed him, as if that made any difference. “They’re still figuring out who they want to be. These things take time. When they’re older and actually start dancing with each other at school dances, that’s when I’ll worry.”

“And when were you planning on letting Saturnia date?” Abe asked, terror in his voice. “She’s just a baby still.”

“I know, Abe,” Roman sighed. “This is why I didn’t tell you. You’re making a big deal over nothing. Don’t worry about future parenting problems, just focus on keeping our son from making us grandparents tonight. One thing at a time. We’ll discuss your concerns with Evren and Adrian when they come for dinner tomorrow. They’ll tell you the same thing though. I’m pretty sure that even Lucy had a few dates as a kid. She told me she did anyway however true that might be.”

“That doesn’t make me feel any better about it.”

“Uh, Adam...I need to talk to you about something. Something that might be important. I’m not sure if this is the right time for this conversation, but maybe we could schedule a talk tomorrow when we’re alone?”

Theo shifted his weight awkwardly, trying not to reveal his nervousness. It wasn’t every day that he had to tell his boyfriend that he might have a half-brother out in Pleasantview after all. A very attractive potential half-brother at that. Ewan had seemed like someone who liked starting trouble, and Theo could easily imagine him lying about his family to get attention or cause problems.

“A-are you breaking up with me?” Adam asked nervously, the threat of tears in his eyes. “I’d do anything for you, Theo. We can fix this.”

Theo’s baffled look at the idea seemed to calm Adam somewhat, despite his worries.

“What? No! I’d never break up with you,” Theo promised, grabbing Adam’s hand. “I told you that we’d be together forever. We’re going to be together forever and ever, I promise. It’s just that-”

“Theo! No hand contact over ten seconds, you know the rule!”

Theo dropped Adam’s hand quickly at Abe’s warning. His parents really were going to spend the evening refereeing this party, weren’t they? The mood was broken though and despite Adam’s curiosity, Theo didn’t want to drop news of this potential enormity in front of an audience.

“Sorry, tomorrow maybe. When we have privacy.”

“Can I at least have a clue? I’m worried,” Adam asked, searching for an answer in Theo’s expression. “Are you in danger? Is it demons again?”

Theo tried to find an innocent way of phrasing this potential secret, but came up empty.

“Um, it’s something about Pleasantview. There’s this guy that I met that I need to talk to you about.”

“Another guy? You met someone else but you don’t want to break up? I don’t understand.”

Theo winced at the impression he was unintentionally giving his boyfriend. It really was true that he was better off if he never tried explaining things. Everything he said was somehow always the worst thing to say.

“I’m not leaving you for some hot guy in Pleasantview,” Theo groaned. “Just- we need to talk about him. For once, you might be the scandalous one in school.”

Adam frowned, but didn’t press any further. Theo clearly didn’t want to talk about this issue in front of other people.

“Okay, tomorrow then,” Adam said firmly. “I trust you, Theo.”

“Hey, the rest of us are still watching a movie, lovebirds!”

Theo laughed at the two frustrated girls who were impatiently gesturing towards the living room television and their stockpile of popcorn.

“Sorry!”

In the end, the group settled on a horror film. Theo’s parents were not so secretively hanging around the living room and a romantic comedy might trigger more interruptions from them. Their choice had meant that Saturnia was shuffled to bed early before she got nightmares from the screaming coming from the television. 

Theo wasn’t scared in the slightest by the movie, but he’d leaned against Adam all the same anyway. Nothing in the movie could possibly match the nightmares that Theo had encountered first hand in his short life, but it was nice to think that he had someone to hold his hand in case movie zombies were more frightening than the real ones. Luckily for him, Abe Jr had needed to be fed and put to bed and their parents trusted that the shrieks of horror coming from the living room were all because of the movie and not the start of a teenage orgy.

Still, once the movie ended and the teens were left to their own devices, the atmosphere one again veered into hormonal territory that the Bellamys were hoping to avoid. There was only one option to prevent the night from escalating with teenage hormones.

Roman deliberately took a seat between Theo and Adam on the couch, a large book in his hands. He addressed the scattering group of teens in an authoritative tone.

“Who wants to see pictures of baby Theo?”

All the blood seemed to drain from his son’s horrified face as Theo’s friends eagerly rushed to the couch, falling for Roman’s trap. Even Adam scooted closer, suddenly incredibly interested in the book in Roman’s hands.

“Dad, no,” Theo groaned as his father turned the first page. “No one wants to see those. Let’s play Truth or Dare or something. Anything.”

“I bet you were a cute baby,” Eliana gushed, peering at the first photo eagerly. “Probably with teeny tiny little baby demon horns.”

“Dark forms usually come after the first few years for hybrids,” Adam informed her. “They look human at first, probably a defense evolved to protect an infant from an angry mob of bigoted humans. Hybrids haven’t always been this accepted in human society.”

“Look at his little booties!”

Not for the first time that evening, Theo wished to fall into an unending pit of embarrassment because of his parents. Unfortunately for him, his parents seemed to know just how to embarrass him in front of his friends.

“Aww, you’re so little,” Eliana cooed. “What a cute little outfit!”

“We had some baby clothes given to us at his baby shower,” Roman said, pointing at yet another photo of Theo in a similar outfit. “His favourite was this fuzzy pajama set. He’d cry if he couldn’t wear it at night, which meant we had to wash it constantly or spend the night soothing him. Do you remember, Theo?”

Theo scowled at his father, refusing to answer the question.

“Yeah, we didn’t know what to do when you outgrew it. Ulys-your godmother bought it for you.”

 Roman’s voice faltered once his brain registered what he was saying. It was true, Ulyssa had bought him that pajama set a lifetime ago. She and Lucy had fought about how much he liked it and who the superior godmother was. At the time, Roman could have never imagined a life where he wasn’t allowed to acknowledge the gap in his life where Ulyssa had once been or one where Lucy wasn’t hopelessly living with doomed feelings for her. He had promised Abe that he wouldn’t contact Ulyssa again and while reminiscing about their friendship wasn’t actually cheating, it still felt dangerous. Even if Abe was fine with it, the look on Theo’s face felt colder than it had been a few seconds ago.

Roman turned the page, hoping to do the same with his memories.

“And here I am feeding you,” he continued, trying to rid the left over emotion from his voice. “You were just over five pounds when you were born, which was less than Ironman would have liked. So we tried feeding you as often as we could, even if you struggled a bit with it at first.”

While Theo prayed for a quick, merciful death, he did take notice of Adam’s reaction to these humiliating pictures. If anything, he seemed to appreciate Roman’s reminiscing.

“You were so young when you had him,” Adam murmured. “I mean I know you were, but seeing pictures just...you look like our age.”

‘No shit’ was what Roman wanted to say, though he managed to stop himself before he did. That revelation was precisely why he and Abe had planned this little walk down memory lane.

“We were a couple of years older than you are,” he said instead. “Just babies ourselves. It was a lot of work taking care of an infant as a teenager. We had help and even then it was hard. On top of that, Theo was born with a curse and nearly died. None of it was easy, and I hope none of you have to experience what we went through.”

“He was so cute though,” Leah gushed. “Look at those little fingers.”

“Is that Crown Princess Theodosia? How do you know her?”

Roman stared at the photo. He hadn’t pulled this album out in years and over time, more photos had been quickly shoved in the book. This photo was taken just before Theo’s birth, back when Roman’s main priority in life was to find someone rich and powerful to hold onto and bring to Arkhelios. When his grandfather had cut his allowance and stopping funding his lifestyle, Roman had briefly had to work in a bakery to earn money. The shop was still around if he remembered correctly. It was hard to forget about a pastry store that shared a space with an electronics store. For some reason, people in Pleasantview decided that they needed to buy a doughnut and a servo at the same location. Roman had never understood the appeal himself and had been incredibly angry because his grandfather made him get a job when all his classmates were filthy rich.

“I don’t know the princess,” he replied slowly. “She came in the shop for a snack and I guess someone took a picture. Back then, it probably seemed like this would be the closest to royalty as I’d ever be. She did influence our naming Theo though. We wanted him to have a name as grand as hers.”

“She’s our dad’s cousin,” Leah stated proudly. “She and Charlotte come to Winterfest dinner sometimes. She does still like pastries.”

“Who doesn’t?” Roman laughed. Something about this photo was bothering him, though he couldn’t put into words what that might be. It had been a time in his life that he didn’t usually think about, though most people would probably say that it was the least stressful that his life had ever been. Long before he learned that his mother was a homicidal demon or what it felt like to pace the floors at midnight, hoping the baby let him sleep through the night. Despite his feelings at the time, there was something comforting about his work there, something that gave him fulfillment he hadn’t expected. It was something to reflect on when he wasn’t entertaining teenagers.

“Oh, I must have bumped into the stereo,” Theo announced theatrically, turning the volume knob loud enough that rock music began to drown out his father. “Who wants to dance?”

“Ooh, me! I love this song.”

Leah leapt from her spot on the couch to start dancing with Theo to the stereo music. Adam also stood up from his spot on the couch, but lingered hesitantly instead of joining the dancing.

This boy really is shy. Probably more shy than Theo, which is saying something. Maybe Abe and I don’t have to worry as much as we are about him. He’s not even dancing with Theo. We might have a few more years of peace with those two after all.

“Alright, no dance parties, some family members are already sleeping and there will be hell to pay if they wake up. So music off, let’s get those sleeping bags out and set up in the room here. Abe and I will be back in ten minutes to check in on you guys.”

Roman debated about leaving the family album on the couch, but his point had already been made and he didn’t want to subject his son to too much teasing. His point had already been made.

“Oh, and the sleeping order is boy, girl, boy, girl on the floor,” he added before leaving. “If I come back and see you and Adam sleeping next to each other, one of you is going to be sleeping outside. Good night.”

[luverofralts]

Arkhelios University

Queen Maura II of Twikkii Island appeared out of nowhere in the blink of an eye, scanning the room for her formerly deceased cousin.

“Adrian? I was told that you were back, but I never- I couldn’t even hope that it could be true.”

“Maura!”

Adrian embraced his cousin happily. He’d agreed to meet Roman at the hospital to be checked over, but Roman had texted Ulyssa about the sudden resurrection of Maura’s cousin and the Queen demanded to see him immediately.

“I don’t even care how this happened, I’m just so happy to have you back,” she cried, not daring to let go of an actual, living blood relative in case this was just a cruel trick. “It’s been just me and Trent and your girls in the family for so long. But you’re back!”

Adrian could see the desperation to see another family member in his cousin’s eyes and squeezed her even tighter.

“I was told about Grandma and your mom,” he replied quietly. “I’m so sorry, Your Majesty.”

“Yeah, me too,” she whispered. “I don’t suppose you learned who was behind the attack in your mysterious time on the other side?”

Adrian shook his head sadly.

“I was trapped somewhere else, or so I’m told. I never even saw my parents the entire time I was gone. But who would attack us like that? It makes no sense. Twikkii Island is tiny compared to a place like Pleasantview! We’re a vacation hot spot, not some military installation.”

“Well, we’re about to change that,” Maura replied, looking nervous to be speaking on the subject. “Claudia’s been helping train our military and buy- well, it’s not important. You’re alive and that’s all that matters. Ulyssa and I will have to have you and Trent for dinner this week. It’ll be a real family reunion, just like old times.”

Elaine stared at the tiny infant resting in an incubator with relief. Abe was still unconscious, but the doctors were optimistic about his recovery. The emergency c-section had gone well and the newest member of the Bellamy family was stable and doing well, considering the circumstances of her birth.

The little girl had Elaine’s blue eyes. Roman had commented on them the instant he first held her and Elaine hadn’t been able to forget them since. She loved all of her grandchildren, but seeing a tangible physical connection between her and this infant was breathtaking. If this little girl didn’t ignite her grandmother’s living room furniture on a regular basis, Elaine probably had a new favourite grandchild.

“She’s so tiny,” Roman whispered, stroking his daughter’s hair as closely as he could around the medical equipment. “She’s come into the world just as dramatically as her sisters. I guess we were lucky with Theo.”

“You know, Elaine’s a very popular name.”

Roman smiled politely at his mother in law and redirected his attention on the tiny infant in front of him.

“It’s a great name. I’ll mention it to Abe when he wakes up. I’m not naming another child on my own. Hopefully Adrian doesn’t have a problem with our daughters’ names, I never thought he’d be able to use them for himself. I’m glad I was wrong about that.”

“The doctors did say that Abe would be fine, right?” Elaine pressed, her attention focused once more on her son. Roman was Abe’s official next of kin and no one felt obligated to fill in his mother about his condition. “He’s not...your mother didn’t send him anywhere? Is this a coma? Do we need to call Wanda and have her perform a spell?”

If the circumstances were different, Roman would have laughed at the half-whispered horrified way she’d asked that last question. It had taken them a long time, but the extended Helios/Bellamy family was finally learning to embrace the supernatural nature of some of its members. There was something strange buzzing in the back of his mind ever since he’d regained consciousness after rejoining Adrian. A weird connection hummed whenever he went near Abe or their infant daughter and he’d felt it before near the Rivales children who had come to fight off his mother. He vaguely understood that the demon sovereign had been trying to bind Kamalani’s bloodline together instead of just him and Abe, but he had no idea if she had been successful. It didn’t feel like when he’d been connected to Abe and the more time passed, the weaker the pull felt. Maybe the effect would wear off with time. What Roman wanted to know was the sovereign’s intentions regarding his and Abe’s proposed demonic joining. Had her demands been overruled by a stronger power? Did Roman even want to mention the idea when he inevitably ran across her next? 

That was a discussion for another time though. Right now he had a brand new daughter to focus on and a husband to watch over. If his mother was truly incapacitated, there was nothing left on the planet that could keep him from Abe’s side when he needed him.

“Our daughter was in jeopardy and Abe’s been pretty banged up,” Roman replied. “They’re hoping that he’s just recovering from all the drugs they had to give him and the c-section. If he’s not awake by this time tomorrow, then they’ll start to worry.”

“And Theo has a cat that’s magic and he gets to take it to school and his school is really far away.”

“Wow, really?” Adrian listened intently to his daughters as they both fought to tell their father the important things he should know about their lives. They could have been babbling nonsense and it would have been the greatest thing he’d heard, but hearing how reasonably well adjusted and happy his children were was everything to him. Before his death, Adrian had spent hours dreaming about being a father and what his twins would be like and now suddenly here they were. They mostly focused on what their older brother was up to or the things the dog had done that were funny, but each story was an amazing confirmation that he was a father to two bright, happy children who were slowly growing into their own unique personalities and thoughts. He especially loved how close they were to their older half-brother. After watching Maura struggle to connect with her half-siblings for years, Adrian had been half afraid that his girls would feel the same way about Theo.

“Are you going to leave us again? I don’t want you to leave again.”

Adrian’s heart broke hearing the worry in Luciana’s voice. As much as he’d missed knowing his children, they’d missed him too. It sounded like Abe was a decent stepdad and was already far more mature than when Adrian had first met him, but there was no replacing their actual father. Adrian was immensely grateful that Roman had made such an effort to tell their kids about their father. It would have been easy to just have Adrian’s picture sit on a shelf while Abe took over the role of a dad, but Roman had made it very clear that the girls had a stepfather, not a replacement dad.

“No. No, I’m not going anywhere,” he reassured the toddlers. “Never again. I won’t let anyone get between us and if someone does try, Adrienne will come back to get me again. I’m not letting you two out of my sight.”

The toddlers smiled, but this new promise reminded him of the earlier one he’d made to Roman. He had to get checked out by a doctor before he could promise to be around for his kids. Adrian would fight death kicking and screaming if it came for him again, but he knew there wasn’t a chance in hell of him winning that battle. He had to know if this was a second chance at life for him or just a brief window to say his goodbyes properly.

“Come on, let’s go see how Daddy’s doing.”

[luverofralts]

Arkhelios University

A lone woman emerged from a shower of magical sparkles and looked around her. This quiet desert was where she was supposed to meet a powerful witch? It didn’t look like anything special. Even the quietest suburb in Strangetown or Twikkii Island was busier than this. There wasn’t even an official meeting place for this so called Arkhelios coven.

“Ms. Walsh!”

The woman turned to see a pregnant woman waving excitedly at her and tried not to sigh. This was all so informal and amateur. If it hadn’t been for the story of the little demon child that had come from here, she wouldn’t have even answered this witch’s email.

“Mrs. Bellamy, I assume?” she asked warily. “You’re the head of this...thriving coven?”

Wanda didn’t acknowledge the judgement in her voice and continued speaking in the calm manner she’d planned.

“I am, but as president of Arkhelios, I don’t always have to time to devote to it. I was hoping that your arrival meant that you were open to helping with that task.”

“I am open to it, yes. I’ve devoted my considerable life time to protecting magical education and magical rights. I can see that there is considerable work still to do here though.”

“Ah, well, we have an architect drawing up designs for a building as we speak,” Wanda assured her. “Evren is very good at what he does, even if his magical skill isn’t as developed as some of the warlocks you’re familiar with. We’re a little short on teachers for any programs, but there’s been a lot of interest lately. I’m sure that interest will increase when people hear that Winter Walsh will be assisting us; you’re a legend.”

“Anyone who lives for two hundred years will build a reputation like mine,” Winter replied politely. “I’ve been very fortunate. You lose a lot of people along the way though. My spouses, my children, even my dear little brother. There’s a lot to consider if you aim to follow in my footsteps.” She gestured to Wanda’s pregnant stomach. “You may lose that child too. You may bury it when it’s old and grey and you still look like a young adult. My studies are not for everyone.”

Wanda nodded, trying to fathom a loss like that. There were so many applications for magical skills; she had no idea of where to even start her studies. Her brief time spent helping Theo with his homework had left her intrigued and hungry for other obscure magical skills. Could she practice blood magic? She doubted it, but there were so many possibilities out there to study, abandoning blood magic didn’t bother her at all. If she could learn from other foreign witches and warlocks, maybe she could find a branch of magic that would call to her in the same way that blood magic called to Theo.

“Of course. Well, there is much to talk about, and lots that we can learn from each other. Let me call my assistant and get you settled in your residence. The others are excited to meet you.”

[luverofralts]

Arkhelios University

“You!”

Jorah stormed into the kitchen the moment he heard his sister’s voice lecturing Valerian in the other room. Ulyssa was later than usual, which had almost given Jorah hope that she would skip her visit for today. Roman had already dropped off the usual group of kids for the afternoon, and it was almost peaceful in the Durant house for once. Cain was quietly starting his homework, while Jorah had lost Theo and Rose somewhere in the house playing hide and seek. Jorah had been assured by Roman that Theo knew better than to hide on the roof or anywhere else dangerous, and if he somehow managed to hurt himself, Roman wouldn’t hold Jorah responsible. Jorah certainly didn’t envy the rules Roman had to lay down for his son; if and when he had kids of his own, Jorah felt confident that he wouldn’t have any trouble keeping them off the roof.

Ulyssa popped her head into the kitchen curiously, then beamed when she saw her brother.

“Oh, good. You’re here! I brought you some-”

“Who do you think you are?” he demanded, startling her. “You told Wanda about my private business? This is why I didn’t want you to know! You always have to ruin everything for me! There’s never been one time in my life that you’ve let me make any boundaries of my own! Everything is about you, you, you. I don’t know how the queen manages to live with you since everything has to be done your way. You’re always right about every single thing!”

“You’re mad that I tried to help you?” Ulyssa asked incredulously. “I went out of my way to help you achieve the dream you’ve had since we were kids, and you’re mad at me? I had to call in a favour from Wanda to get you that potion, and she gave up some of her free time to brew it for you. You should be thanking me instead of throwing a little fit about your privacy.”

“Thanking you?” Jorah repeated, staring at his sister like she’d grown a second head. “I never asked for your help! I don’t want your help! I just want to spend a single god damn day in my own house without seeing you here in ordering people around! Stop telling me what to do!”

“So Valerian, how are things?” Maura asked politely, trying to ignore the commotion in the kitchen. It sounded like things were getting surprisingly intense for a fight Jorah was involved in, but Maura had repeatedly warned her wife that even the most mild mannered person had their limits. She’d supported Ulyssa’s plans to help coax her little brother into leadership in the past, but even she could see how Jorah wasn’t thrilled with the constant intervention. Ulyssa didn’t get a lot of personal freedom in the palace, and Maura had just chocked her obsession with “helping” her brother up to Ulyssa needing to feel in control of one area of her life. The day when Maura took the throne and could make whatever decisions she wanted was very far off, and Ulyssa needed some outlet in the meantime. Maybe starting their own family sooner than they’d planned would give her enough distraction to mend the relationship with her brother and stay out of his own decisions.

“Things have been interesting,” Valerian replied with a nervous chuckle. “Those two certainly keep things interesting anyway. Thank you for thinking about us with that potion Wanda made. Ulyssa overstepped, but I’m pretty sure she did it for the right reasons. She meant well, even if she went a bit far.”

“Don’t worry about flattering me,” Maura laughed. “I know what my wife is like. You should see what she and Roman get up to when their egos start inflating. I honestly don’t know how Arkhelios is still standing with those two and Lucy running around here.”

“Fair enough,” Valerian agreed, watching the kitchen doorway in case objects started flying around. He’d never seen his husband this upset at his sister before. Usually Jorah just endured the teasing and the unsolicited advice, but his encounter with Wanda the night before had him screaming obscenities in their room loud enough for Lauren to bang the connecting wall until he quieted down.

“Um, I’m not sure how to politely ask this, your Highness, but uh, do you think that maybe you could ask your grandmother to give Ulyssa some kind of charity work, or a project? Not that she’s not welcome here, I love having you guys over, but-”

“But she’s a bit of a petty tyrant?” Maura finished, smiling at her nervous brother in law. “She knows what she wants and how to get it, that’s what I love about her, but I understand. Trust me, I understand. I’ll see what I can find to keep her busy. Maybe giving her the task to find that Mark kid a project would help. That would solve my obligation and give her something to stay out of her brother’s hair.”

“Not that you’re grateful or anything, but I found several other potions that might help, and personally delivered them here,” Ulyssa snapped. “Just so you can have the family you’ve been wanting since we were kids. And since I delivered them myself, you don’t have to worry about anyone else learning your horrible secret that you’re so concerned about. God forbid people find out that you and Valerian aren’t as picture perfect as you claim to be.”

“Yeah, it’s so noble of you to keep interfering in my life,” Jorah snarled, unable to even look at the wide variety of potion bottles that littered the kitchen. “I’m so thankful that you once again have ordered me into doing exactly what you think I should be doing. What a saint you are for taking the time out of your supposedly busy life to come boss me around and tell me what strange garbage to put in my body. What would I ever do without you?”

“Poor Jorah, your life is so hard. You barely do anything around here and are content to just mope around instead of taking any action yourself. I’m such a bad sister for helping you, whatever was I thinking?” Ulyssa replied in a mocking tone.

“I can’t get anything done around here because you won’t let me!” Jorah shouted, flipping his sister off when she made a mocking face at him in reply. “I don’t need your help! I don’t want your help! Why don’t you just go fuck off to your castle and leave me and Dad and Grandma alone. No one wants you and your stupid schemes around here!”

Ulyssa looked shocked to learn that Jorah even knew how to make obscene gestures or swear. In her head, he was still that pudgy little boy making wishes on falling stars with Lucy. Even now that he was apparently seething with rage, Ulyssa still couldn’t take him seriously. Her baby brother was about as threatening as an angry cat meme. It was good that he’d found someone like Valerian to marry. Even if Jorah had ever managed to win over Roman’s affections, living with the half-demon would have been a disaster for her little brother. He wasn’t made to handle the same stress that she, Maura and Roman lived with daily. Even if he denied needing her help, Ulyssa knew that deep down, Jorah needed guidance and reassurance. It was her fault that he was in the position of family heir, and she would help him anyway she knew how until he could do the job on his own.

As the adult siblings devolved into name calling and childish punching, some of the unattended children took an interest in Ulyssa’s potions. Rose had been scared off by the potential threat of something magical, while Theo was thrilled to see so many familiar bottles from school in a place like Arkhelios. He could recognize at least two types of healing potions sitting on the counter and a love potion some of the older kids joked about making to help them on dates. It was all above Theo’s head since love and dates were gross things adults did, but he was still excited to see magical items up close without someone older shooing him away from them.

He had read pretty far in the work book the demon sovereign had given him, but he didn’t have access to any of the materials the more advanced spells called for to practice with. He was progressing well with bonding animals to each other, but he still caught his parents sharing worried looks whenever they discussed the magic Theo would have to perform for their wedding. If Uncle Jorah didn’t want Aunt Ulyssa’s potions, then Theo would be doing them a favour if he took one to experiment with. Maybe he could make it even better, and his aunt and uncle would thank him for making a useless potion useful. He might even get extra credit at school. All he needed was a drop of blood and some whispered latin, and Theo would be showered with praise for his generous help. No one would even know he’d altered it until the potion exceeded all expectations.His plan to astound his family was flawless.

Ulyssa and Jorah had taken their sibling spat outside, slapping and shoving and sometimes even pulling hair or biting each other like they were still six and not in their twenties. Their annoyed spouses sat like civilized adults in the living room, waiting for tempers to cool. Surely the two of them would have calmer heads after they worked out their aggression. Maura just hoped that that wretched town gossip wasn’t milling around with her camera.

“Cindra?”

Nathan entered the kitchen from the hall, looking for his ex-girlfriend. He’d snuck in through her bedroom window just like he had when they were teens, but had been surprised to see that it was empty. She’d been the one to call him over to visit. He just assumed that she wanted him to enter the house in the way he usually had back when they were dating.

“What are these?” he wondered to himself, eyeing Ulyssa’s stash of potions with curiosity. He didn’t have any clue what most of these did, but if someone had stashed this many potions in the Durants’ kitchen, there was probably a good reason.

Maybe Roman left these here. Who else would have a stash like this just lying around? I wonder if any of these were what he was taking to suppress his dark form. Would it work for me? Can I suppress.....

A sharp pain in his head dispelled any fantasies Nathan might have had. There were no words exchanged, but he could feel the darkness pooling in his mind, making its displeasure known.

Nathan grabbed the closest bottle and took a quick sip of it in defiance. It tasted like strawberries and cherries and raspberry jam. He could smell a faint scent that still lingered after he’d put the bottle down that reminded him of the roses he could remember his father bringing home after fighting with his mother.

The darkness wasn’t moved by the sweet aroma, and Nathan sighed irritably. It had been worth a try.

“Oh, Nathan you’re here. Did you do something different with your hair? You look good.”

Nathan turned to see his ex giving him an approving glance, something she hadn’t done for some time now.

“Cindra? You weren’t in your room,” he said, returning her lustful appraisal. “Sorry, was I supposed to meet you there? Did you have...ideas?”

She shook her head quickly, recovering from her momentary lapse in boundaries. Nathan was her friend. Her friend. Whatever they had together was in the past.

“Oh, I wanted to help you study for our final exam that’s coming up,” she replied carefully. “I noticed that you’ve missed most of the classes this semester, but you’re smart enough to catch up in time for the exam.”

“You’re the greatest,” Nathan said, feeling some warm feeling bubble up inside of him seeing her smile at him. He wasn’t even lying. Cindra was the best person he knew, which made her way too good for him. “I could spend an afternoon studying. Just remind me to show up for the exam when it’s scheduled.”

“Are you feeling any better now that you two have gotten your feelings out?“

Jorah hugged his husband tightly, wincing a little when he made contact with the bruise that was beginning to form on his shoulder. Ulyssa may have become a princess, but she was still his older sister and she fought just as dirty as when they were kids.

“Yeah, I think we’re good now. I think I may have gotten my point across. She seemed better when they left, right? I’m not imagining that?”

Valerian rolled his eyes.

“Yes, the two of you tired yourselves out just like Theo and Keiki usually do after a brawl. I’ve never seen a princess throw a punch like that.”

“She’s not a princess here, she’s just my sister,” Jorah pointed out warily. “And I can admit that she meant well, as long as she’s not back here tomorrow with another list of demands or magical home remedy.”

“I doubt that she will,” Valerian remarked. “I have a funny feeling that Maura might intervene a little more in the future. No one wants a future queen consort pulling her little brother’s hair in some kind of a brawl regularly.”

“Yeah, well, you know,” Jorah stammered, looking embarrassed by the look Valerian was giving him. “I’m sure it won’t happen again. We did talk some things out after. I promised her I’d give her magical nonsense a try and she promised to forward all of her suggestions to Dad until I take over for him officially.”

“Did she give you instructions for all this stuff?” Valerian asked, eyeing the pile of potions. “Do I have to take some or do we both have to take something together....?”

“This one is closest I guess,” Jorah said. He picked up the bottle of blue fluid and chugged it as fast as he could. “Not bad. It tastes like a berry smoothie kind of. Should I try another one?”

“Hm, maybe I could try this purple one? It looks chunky for some reason. Is that normal?”

“No, I can feel this one kicking in,” Jorah declared, suddenly full of energy. He gave his husband a seductive look. “We’ll try the others later, I’ve got a good feeling about this one. We’re going to the bedroom. Now.”

“Are you okay? I don’t see you on campus much anymore. You really should try going to class since your mom is paying for it.”

Nathan kicked at the dirt, winding his seat on the swing so he could spin around.

“I go sometimes,” he replied moodily. “It’s all so boring. None of it has any use in my life, and I never want to be the Helios heir. It’s supposed to be Abe’s stupid job and all the stupid courses are what Mom wanted him to take. She wants me to be an accountant or a lawyer or some stupid shit like that. It’s not for me.”

Cindra frowned.

“What do you want to be?” she asked quietly. “There are some days where I really worry about you. If you know what you want to do, then talk to your mom about it. If she can adopt Roman Bellamy, she can listen to your concerns about your future.”

“You don’t understand,” Nathan sighed. “No one does. It’s my thing to figure out, and I’ll do it by myself. I don’t need my mom’s help.”

“You can talk to me, Nathan,” Cindra said. “I know we’re not dating anymore, but I’m still your friend. You look like you’re not sleeping. Are you still having those nightmares? I’m right across the hall, you can come to my room if you can’t get back to sleep. Are you...Are you sharing your dorm with anyone else lately?”

Nathan looked away from the woman who offered him kindness. Cindra wasn’t like her older sister. She and Jorah were quiet, compassionate people who went out of their way to ease the suffering of others. Nathan couldn’t be sure why she was asking who he was sharing a bed with. She had made things clear that she wanted to be his friend, but she also still seemed attached to the idea of having him fall asleep next to her. Were women always this complicated? As much as he detested his brother’s relationship with Roman, those two at least always seemed to know what they wanted from each other.

Nathan wanted to take her up on her offer. He wanted to be normal and boring and devoted to whatever it was his mother wanted from him. He wanted to talk investments and science and whatever it was that Abe and their mother went on at length about. It would never happen though. Nathan wasn’t his brother and that was who Cindra needed. A boring, stable man who was capable of giving Cindra the happy household of children just like she’d had growing up. Someone who could lead the Helios family with his wife by his side.

Nathan could never give her that, no matter how desperately he wanted to want to.

“It’s not a good idea, Cindra. Trust me, it’s just not. I’ll only hurt you, and I can’t do that to you.” He smiled weakly at her, and Cindra sadly smiled back. “You’re my best friend.”

Cindra processed his words for a moment, then nodded her understanding of the situation.

“I’ll always care for you, Nathan. You’re my best friend too.”

[luverofralts]

Arkhelios University

“I hate it here.”

“I hate it here even more.”

The two teens stared at the sunny Arkhelios sky and cringed. When you came from a castle, living in a small home in the middle of nowhere was more like a punishment than an opportunity.

And the adults had tried to frame it as an opportunity. Theodora rolled her eyes watching the weird adult witches excitedly babble about their mission. Her mother was the future Queen Theodosia of Crystal Cove, a place where witches were scarce and Pleasantview was always hovering beside their shared border, looking for a reason to invade. As the illegitimate daughter of Princess Theodosia, Theodora was just important enough to represent her family in public, but not enough to escape the worst assignments. Her grandfather wanted witches to strengthen their position with Pleasantview and some crazy desert witch had offered him exactly that, so it was up to Theodora to pretend to look interested in whatever these backwater witches said. She had taken magical lessons since she was a small child, so she was more than capable to accept the mission, but leaving home and the palace was a huge adjustment. The house the witches provided for the new immigrants was large by the standards of the neighbourhood, but was like a shoe box compared to what she was used to.

At least she had someone her own age to commiserate with. Lexy was officially a Strangetown princess, though her father was last in line to the throne and had been assured by his father that he would never see any political power for himself. Her grandfather hated her mother with a passion and as long as she was married to his son, the entire family would keep them from piercing the inner circle of power in Strangetown. So when a call for educated witches went out, Lexy’s mother, Alicia, had leapt at the chance to make her father in law regret not trusting her. She was formally trained in Pleasantview and had spent her entire life trying to get a seat on the council with no success. If the established covens wouldn’t take her seriously and her father in law refused to see what she brought to their family, then it only made sense for her to try her luck somewhere else. Unfortunately, that meant that Lexy had to come with them to an empty desert where the big attraction was a strip mall. Her brother had been accepted at the witch academy in Pleasantview, where he would live in a dorm with interesting people and modern marvels of magic. He only had to live in this dump when school was out.

Both teenagers were princesses and yet still expendable. If they were going to survive the culture shock of moving to the middle of nowhere, they would have to rely on each other.

“You’d better not screw this up for me.”

Wanda stared into the eyes of her biological father and tried to express just how much she’d make him regret letting her down. This was her big moment and it had to go perfectly.

It had been hard to convince witches to relocate to Arkhelios, but Wanda had been persistent. She and Hunter spent hours on the phone, picking off the rebellious or unhappy witches from established covens. If no one abandoned their promise to relocate after seeing Arkhelios, then Wanda had enough support to really get a true Arkhelios coven going. If someone was a warm body who knew how to hold a wand, Wanda had petitioned them to come. Beggars couldn’t be choosers after all.

Fitz Cowden didn’t have a lot of political power in Arkhelios, but he was at least dedicated to helping his home improve. Ever since the awkward day that Melvin had introduced them as father and daughter, Wanda had done her best to ignore the man and he didn’t seem to mind. It was far too late for them to connect as a parent and child, and neither one seemed to be interested in thinking about the woman who had connected them in the first place. The less Wanda thought about her mother, the happier she was. She was going to be a great mom to her unborn child just by doing the opposite of whatever her own mom would have done.

Still, Fitz wasn’t without valuable connections. Wanda needed educated witches coming to teach in Arkhelios, and little potential witches to be educated. Arkhelios didn’t have a large pool of students, let alone ones capable of magic, so Wanda had to be a little more creative to solve her problem. Fitz had adopted his own non-biological children from an agency that had since closed, but he’d volunteered with several other adoption agencies since then to improve his dismal election numbers.

The biggest adoption service in the area was in Strangetown, where Roman had briefly worked. Hunter had filled out paperwork years ago to see if he had been left there as a child before learning of his true parentage. There was an adoption service in Crystal Cove as well, though it didn’t have the same finances as Strangetown.

At her urging, Fitz had contacted anyone he could think of to help get students in Arkhelios. As a result, there were three magical candidates sent to live and learn in Arkhelios, with the promise of more if the program was a success. The orphaned daughter of Lexy’s aunt and uncle was also was promised to participate, despite her residing in the castle with her remaining family when school was over. It was a huge gamble that could blow up in a million ways, but Wanda remained confident. As long as Fitz didn’t say or do anything terrible, she could handle the witches...probably.

Evren Thorne lingered as close to the crowd as he could, hoping to blend in. Once Pleasantview had been convinced that he was not planning some kind of demonic revolution in this barren desert, he had been free to go. The only problem was that he had nowhere to go. His home had been far away and lost over the centuries he’d missed. Everyone he knew was probably dead, if he was even in the same reality he’d left at all. There had been squabbles among the witches about whether he had merely been displaced in time, or in time and dimension. The details didn’t matter to Evren; they all came to the same sad conclusion. All that he had known was now gone. He would never see his friends or family again. The coven he had left either didn’t have an equivalent in this reality, or it had been lost to the centuries, buried by time.

When they had seen the “merely adequate” skills he possessed, the council had volunteered Evren to supervise the Arkhelios project. He was an orphan of time and a trained Pleasantview warlock, so he could relate to both groups of newcomers. He tried to explain to them that he was really just an architect with a magical background, but he’d been overruled. Now, when he wasn’t curled up on the bed thinking of all he’d lost, he spent his days just trying to stay out of that Wanda lady’s way.

“Hello, Princess Toyonaga,” Wanda called out to her new partner, bowing in the formal address of Twikkii Island by mistake.

“It’s Master Maricourt or Master Toyonaga if you forget the correct one,” Alicia snapped, making Wanda recoil slightly. “I don’t acknowledge the titles that prick in a crown had to give me. That should have been in the files you were sent by my office.”

Wanda nodded politely. Dealing with other formally taught witches was usually a challenge, and this woman seemed to already have a chip on her shoulder.

“Of course, Your Highness,” Wanda replied, sneering the last word so that it was obvious how accommodating she would be to this woman’s demands in the future. “I look forward to our afternoon meeting once everyone is settled in their quarters.”

Before she could even process what was happening, Ginevra had pushed past her, wearing the worst outfit Wanda had ever seen.

“Hi! I’m here to volunteer!” she exclaimed wildly, waving her arms. “I got Fitz’s simstagram call for volunteers a few days ago. I’m here to help. I love Strangetown, and I can welcome newcomers from there.”

“The posting was for qualified volunteers,” Fitz replied angrily. “Do you even know magic? Do you know how to teach children? What the hell are you wearing anyway?”

“I came straight from work,” Ginevra said defensively. “I did a show at the orphanage last year for charity. I’m always in Strangetown.”

“Did you perform as a clown?”

Wanda gently pushed her father aside and smiled at Ginevra.

“I’m glad you want to help out,” she said kindly. “I’m sure we can find something for you to do. Everyone is welcome here. Who knows, maybe you’ll pick up some magical skill that you can build with us. The more witches we have here, the better Arkhelios will become.”

The orphaned children looked wearily at the adults passive aggressively attacking each other. They were incredibly grateful for the opportunity to leave the orphanage and learn magic, but things in Arkhelios appeared to be just as chaotic as Strangetown had been.