#sim: ewan traver

[luverofralts]

Arkhelios Adventures

"Do you have a date to the Goldman Memorial Ball? I'm still looking for someone that I don't might spending an evening with or being photographed with. Who are you going with?"

Bronwen looked nervously at her sister, who was too busy checking out her makeup to listen. The Goldman Memorial Ball was next week and time was running out to pick a date. Her father and stepmother were hosting the annual event at the palace, and all eyes would be on their family, so she had to pick wisely.

"Of course I do," Elowen replied cheerfully. "It's a surprise. Why haven't you asked anyone yet? We have a whole school of eligible guests to ask."

"Uh, well, I guess I was waiting for someone to ask me," Bronwen stammered. "I don't know who to ask. Does Remy have a date?"

Elowen rolled her eyes at the thought of their half-sister's love life.

"I think she's taking her girlfriend, Malika, but I don't know why. Those two barely spend any time together anymore, and their 'open relationship' is a joke. They spend far more time with their hookups than each other, and I'm pretty sure Remy forgot Malika’s name last week when I asked if she was coming swimming with us. I'm guessing that she'll take Malika, though, for appearances."

"What about Adam? Does he have a date?"

"Quit thirsting after Theo. You know that he's Adam's boyfriend and his date. The ball is right before the start of school, which Theo will be back for. There's no chance of you stealing him from Adam."

Bronwen tried to hide her frustration at being called out by her sister, but failed. She wouldn't mind Theo as a date, but Elowen was right. He and Adam were planning their college wedding and were bonded together to control Theo's powers. The only thing she'd ever be to Theo aside from his friend was aunt to the millions of kids he and Adam had planned.

"I don't want to steal him," Bronwen protested. "There's nothing wrong with wanting a dance or two with him. He's a nice guy."

"Who will be dancing with Adam," Elowen chided. "I'll be your wingwoman then since you can't decide who to pick. Let me make some calls and see if we can't get you a date before the ball starts."

Those words were terrifying based on every other time Elowen tried to do something nice for her sister. Elowen had no idea of what her sister liked, even if her intentions were good.

"Elowen? You called?"

A male voice Bronwen didn't recognize appeared in their hallway, accompanied with a shower of magical light.

"You summoned some boy here?" Bronwen hissed, looking for a place to hide from her sister's act of sisterly devotion. "Who? Why? What do I say? Urgh, sometimes you're the worst, Elowen!"

Elowen shrugged as if this were a perfectly reasonable thing for her to do.

"Go find out. It's Will from Princess Zarah's. He doesn't have a date to the ball either, and his moms are rich. He's perfectly nice and not dating our brother."

Elowen peeked out into the hallway where a confused boy was waiting for her.

"Where's Elowen? She said she wanted me to come over," he said, causing Bronwen to flush with embarrassment.

"Uh, she's just doing her make up," she replied nervously. "She wanted me to talk to you until she was done."

"So how are you?" Bronwen asked with false enthusiasm. Maybe she could fake being confident long enough to ask this boy to the ball. He looked attractive enough, and he seemed to know her sister well enough for her to judge his character. A blind date was better than no date to their family ball. There was no way that she was standing in front of a crowd while her entire family had a date with them.

"Good, I guess," Will replied. "Elowen said she wanted to go get fries on the boardwalk that's down the street in her message. I didn't think that you needed to put on makeup for that."

Bronwen rolled her eyes at this.

"Trust me, she never leaves home without at least wearing lipstick. Everything requires makeup."

"Okay. I guess it's a girl thing. Cool."

An awkward pause fall over the hallway, making Bronwen panic. Things weren't going the way they did in the movies at all.

"No, my brother wears a lot of makeup," she added quickly. "His boyfriend too. Plus, my dad and his brother. They all take a really long time in the bathroom getting ready for work and school."

Will just nodded in acknowledgment and checked the time on his phone. Bronwen grimaced at this, realizing that she needed to turn this conversation around and fast.

"Do you want to go to the Goldman Memorial Ball with me?" she asked, barely stopping to breathe. "It's next week and Elowen said that you're a nice guy and-"

"Sorry. You seem nice, but vampires aren't my thing. I'd prefer to date someone less undead. Nothing personal."

"Oh."

Bronwen's heart crashed inside her chest, and she could feel tears spring to her eyes. People were usually wary around her in public because of her paleness and tendency to burn in the sunlight, but this rejection still hurt. There weren't very many vampires in Twikkii Island, and there wasn't a single other vampire student in school. The only other vampire Bronwen had ever known was her mother, and she didn't have very clear memories of her before she abandoned Bronwen at Ewan's door. This was probably why she was the only family member to not have a date to the ball, which wasn't fair. None of this was fair.

"Fine. Whatever. I wasn't really being serious anyway. Elowen just asked me to ask you out of pity."

With that, Bronwen burst past Will and down the stairs before he could see the tears in her eyes.

Who cares about this stupid ball? I don't need to even go to it. After all, no one wants to dance with a vampire.

"Ewan, honey? I just need to pop over to Strangetown for a bit. Can you start dinner before I come home? I pulled out some meat from the freezer for you to cook."

Edana smiled when her husband nodded enthusiastically. Now this was a husband. As much as she cared for her ex-husband, Ewan Maricourt, he was always far too snooty and entitled to be an equal partner in their marriage. There was a reason why he'd been single since their divorce. He was a great warlock and friend, but a terrible husband.

Ewan Traver was down to earth, funny and supportive of even the most crazy of Edana's ideas. If she disappeared for days researching in her office, Ewan would have breakfast made for her before he left for work and had happily eaten dinner with her surrounded by ancient texts of dark magic. She didn't know what she had done to deserve him. His brother had told her horror stories of Ewan before he'd met her that didn't reflect the man she married. He had been a bit wild, but then again, so had she. He had two kids with two different women when she met him, and she'd narrowly escaped a cult due in part to the man she had mercilessly bullied with her brother. They were both works in progress, but they were perfect for each other.

"Did Charley summon you?" Ewan asked. "He had papers delivered for you yesterday that you needed to review. They're on your desk. You've been so busy working that I hadn't had time to mention it."

Edana nodded.

"Yes, His Majesty needs me to sign an insurance waiver. He's loaning us one of his mother's tiaras for the ball since I'm apparently an honorary daughter to him. Or so he says. I feel guilty about the whole thing, honestly. I don't deserve all the things he's done for me over the years. My fathers would be rolling in their graves to see me wear the former queen's tiara. Darktides aren't princesses, Ewan. We're pirates or demons or idiots that fall victim to a cult."

Ewan smiled and gently took his wife's hand.

"You do deserve it. Charley sees you for the person you are, and he likes you. There's nothing wrong with that. You don't have to be what you feel like your family is. You can be yourself, Edana Darktide-Traver, a witchy duchess wearing a queen's tiara with a past that's behind her."

Edana sighed reluctantly.

"Fine. You're right. You're right, okay? I'm just going to go with it and see how things turn out. Have you got your suit ready? The queen won't tolerate anything less than perfection after all the tragedy we've seen. Everything has to be perfect."

"Yeah, my suit is fine. It's my dad who's the problem. He keeps throwing a fit about having to go every year to celebrate the dead parents he never knew at a ball he doesn't care about. Even Queen Maura has heard him ranting. The queen! I guess pushing seventy makes you forget how to be respectful of your queen and your family."

"Give him some grace," Edana replied gently. "He doesn't remember his parents. The sister he trusted with his life betrayed all of us, and his little brother is the dead, rightful king of Pleasantview. I think that would make anyone a little sensitive on the subject."

"I guess," Ewan reluctantly agreed. "He's still being a child about how he treats the situation."

"Speaking of children, Bronwen is outside in the sun talking to a boy," Edana informed her husband, peering out a window. "Do we know about this? Should I intervene?"

Ewan laughed at the thought.

"You're going to have to give the kids some freedom at some point, Edana. We do want them to be well adjusted members of adult society in a few years. Yelling at every boy or girl our kids date isn't going to help that. She's probably looking for a date for the ball. It's all the kids have been talking about this week."

Edana didn't look thrilled at the idea of their children dating, but it was out of her hands. In a few weeks, the kids would be back at school, free to get up to mischief out of their parents' eyesight.

"Is that demon boy attending?" she asked, fully anticipating the response. "Can we not ban him from our own ball?"

Ewan shot her a tired look.

"Of course he is. He's Adam's date, and he's escorting Queen Claudia. The more you hate the kid, the more Adam is going to cling to him. My sister did the exact same thing with all of her dates, and my parents never learned. Those two aren't even fifteen yet. Are you with the same person you were with at that age?"

Edana didn't reply. Of course, she wasn't with a childhood crush, but she could remember those feelings, even if she couldn't remember their names. She could also remember her brother staring her in the eye and telling her that the woman she loathed with every fiber of her being was going to be in his life forever.

Ewan was right, just as he usually was. Yelling at her brother, Adam, hadn't worked then, and yelling at her son, Adam, wasn't going to help anything now. All she could do was make sure that Adam's demon date knew how much she disliked him and hope that her son made better choices in the future.

"Well, since you're the parenting expert, go check in on Bronwen and that boy. I don't want her burnt to a crisp pursuing a date to the ball. She needs to worry less about boys and more about the sun. I'll go fill out that paperwork from His Majesty before I leave and drop it off while I'm in Strangetown. Don't forget about cooking up that meat for dinner."

"Um, hi Bronwen. Your sister mentioned that you needed to talk to me?"

Bronwen had run outside to cry in private, only to nearly run head first into Davis Lane. This was obviously the work of Elowen and her good intentions. Boys didn't usually just show up at their house wanting to speak with her.

Honestly, Bronwen liked Davis far better than Will, so at least her sister's victims were getting more accurate to Bronwen's taste. Like her, Davis was a bit of an outcast himself. His parents were gods, but he and his sister were pretty ordinary, something that clearly frustrated them when people looked at them, expecting to see their parents' powers reflected in them. Destiny had been failing science class last year, or so Bronwen had heard, and Davis was well known for his inability to succeed in any sport the school made them play for gym class. Surely, Davis would see past the vampirism and connect with her for being different like he was.

"Will you go to the Goldman Memorial Ball with me?" she blurted out awkwardly before she could change her mind. If he was going to reject her, it was best to just get it over with.

"Of course!" Davis exclaimed, hugging Bronwen with joy. "I would love to! My mom's been talking about it for weeks now, but I didn't know who to ask. Honestly, I've always thought you were pretty, but I kinda thought you were out of my league."

A surprised laugh escaped before Bronwen could stop it.

"Out of your league? Your parents are gods! You must get all kinds of invitations to dances."

Davis shrugged.

"Not really. Most people are afraid of my dad and worried about my mom, so not many people see us for who we are outside of our family."

Ewan smiled from his hiding place under the back deck. Bronwen was smiling and laughing with a boy who appeared to be doing the same. It was a welcome change from her worried and stressed behavior all week. Being half-vampire wasn't easy, especially in a tropical place like Twikkii Island, and Ewan was proud of his daughter for the way she handled herself. Dating was its own challenge, especially as a vampire, and Bronwen seemed to be getting the hang of it.

But Edana wasn't completely wrong to be worried. As much as Ewan liked Theo, he was a dangerous influence on Adam and had very nearly gotten him killed. It had been an accident, and Theo had been traumatized just as much as Adam had, but it had still happened. If there hadn't been adults nearby, their family would have lost Adam and the joy he brought to them. Part of being a parent was protecting your kids from what they were too young to understand, especially if it was dangerous.

And Life and Death were dangerous. Ewan's brother, Leo, worked with Lukas, and he had a bunch of stories about what he'd seen that had chilled Ewan to the bone. It also didn't help that Edana's own brother was involved in trying to kill the Grim Reaper, and presumably Death as well. He had been killed for the attempt, but the whole incident made Ewan realize how dangerous it was to be close to Death or a reaper. Edana and Charley had been chasing down an ancient reaper for months, something that had deeply worried Ewan. The deities of Life and Death frequently left a trail of human bodies in their wake and it terrified Ewan to think that his daughter might be in harm's way if she dated their son.

But that was just the fear talking. Ever since his twin sister's death, Ewan had held onto his kids tightly. It was how he'd been raised, after all. To this day, Travis Traver still had opinions on his children's lives and how they should be behaving that drove Ewan insane. His twin, Tristianne, had made it her life's mission to ignore every expectation their father made for them, and every day, Ewan grieved her loss. She would have the answers to his parenting fears; she always had the answer to everything.

Tristianne would be smacking him on the head and asking what was wrong with him for thinking this way. Their fathers were dating the Grim Reaper, and nothing devious had come for them. He couldn't let fear dictate his life or ruin his relationship with his kids. He would call out a warning to his daughter about standing in the sun and then head back inside after inviting the teens to come play pool in the basement where the sun wouldn't be an issue. If Bronwen liked a boy with dangerous parents, then Ewan would treat him like he treated Theo: warmly, but with a heavy dose of caution.

This was never what he expected when he pictured having kids. A much younger version of Ewan would never have thought that he'd one day be juggling demons and the kids of deities as part of parenting his kids, but it was what it was. He just hoped that whoever Elowen was bringing to the ball was boring in comparison.

[nappe-plays-the-sims]

Happy Halloween!

I'm a little early, but since Simblreen is right around the corner, why not?

@luverofralts makes the cutest sims. And of course, my game being how it is, ACR runs wild and makes additional adorable kids for said sims.

[luverofralts]

Arkhelios Adventures

"Greetings, Your Grace. Welcome to the Royal Estate of King Charles Toyonaga I of Strangetown."

Leo Toyonaga and his little sister, Venisha Toyonaga, greeted the visitors to their uncle's estate with rigid formality.

"Hey, Leo! I brought that game over you wanted to borrow. Edana's doing witch stuff, so I can hang out with you until I have to pick up the kids."

Duke Ewan Goldman forgot to bow to his half-brother and instead greeted him with the casual gesture well known in the islands. His wife just sighed. Ewan was never one for formality, especially when it concerned his family, and it drove Edana up the wall. Formality had been drilled into her by her parents and her old coven until it was second nature. Her brother in law was never upset if Ewan was relaxed around him, but Edana knew that Leo knew the formalities Ewan was ignoring.

"Awesome! Josh is taking the younger kids to magic lessons later, so we have all afternoon," Leo exclaimed, returning his sibling's gesture. "Venisha was just leaving, I was going to see her out. Gee is meeting her boyfriend for the first time."

Ewan chuckled at the thought of that poor kid.

"Does he know that his future father in law is the Grim Reaper, or is that going to be a surprise?"

"I told him," Venisha huffed. "Daddy promised to be nice. He loves everyone who is madly in love."

Even Edana had to raise a disbelieving eyebrow at this.

"Does he feel that way about the person you're sleeping with, or just generally people in love?" she laughed. "Has he met Lukas yet, or God forbid, your grandfather? I think he might have a change of heart if both the Grim Reaper and Death itself came over for family dinner."

"Hey, Lukas is fine, once you get to know them," Leo protested. "I gotta defend my boss here. I'd be more afraid of what my dad thinks of him. Josh is still terrified of my dad and we've been married over a decade now. Either way, Gee's expecting her, so let's get a move on."

Ewan and Leo made their way to the living room, while Edana set about her own agenda.

Leo smiled as he passed a familiar picture in the hall. All this talk about the Grim Reaper and Death reminded him of his half-sister Anna. He'd grown up resenting the infant sister who had died and broken their shared father in a way he was only now starting to heal from. It wasn't Anna's fault their father, Vrai, had been an absent, resentful father to Leo growing up, but he'd still spent years blaming her all the same. Ever since she suddenly appeared to them as a reaper, Vrai smiled more, and being a father now himself, Leo understood. It was no excuse for Vrai to parent him like he had, but it was an explanation at least.

Leo and Anna had bonded the instant they met. They shared many traits regarding their spouses, their parenting styles and their opinion on their parents. He and Josh frequently met up with the Goldmans for dinner or games. Their family was a complicated one, but Leo wouldn't trade it for the world.

"So, how are things?" Ewan asked, opening a beer and handing one to his brother. "Josh is doing okay? I heard he had some coven meeting with the Maricourts. Edana wasn't thrilled with how it went."

"It is what it is," Leo replied. "Edana and Josh are never going to be friends. She was the worst bully to a man just trying to overcome a magical learning disability while supporting his pregnant husband. He tried to hide how he was feeling from me, but he can't. I know the things she said to him. Her brother too. I'm not sure who was meaner."

Ewan shrugged.

"She's changed alot over the years," he replied, immediately defensive of his wife. "When I met her, she was a different person. I was a different person. I mean, I used to be-"

"An entitled deadbeat dick?" Leo laughed. "Yeah, I remember. I wish I had recorded you demanding Dad hand over his title to you while he was still alive so you could seduce more people."

"Well, I do have the footage of you running out of your expensive arranged marriage with your fiancée's best man, almost making Vrai miscarry Venisha with a broken spell," Ewan teased, illiciting a laugh from his brother.

"Oh god, last year was the first year that Dad actually let me mention Josh and my's anniversary on Venisha's birthday," Leo groaned. "I wasn't allowed to talk about it still, but I think I might be making some progress with him. I hope. The man knows how to hold a grudge."

"Tristianne was the best of us," Ewan said solemnly, bowing his head. "If she was still here, she'd have our parents eating out of her hand. Even when she fucked up, she was still better than us."

Leo nodded sadly, raising his beer to the memory of his late sister.

"To Tristianne," he declared. "May we live lives worthy enough for her not to kick our asses when we die."

"And may Medora give you enough of her mother's attitude now that she's a teen," Ewan laughed, clinking their bottles together.

"Don't remind me. It seems like she's always up to something these days. She has a new boyfriend and Josh has been obsessed with making sure he's worthy of her. The poor kid's probably going to be scared away at this point."

"How's our favourite deity doing by the way? Things have been quiet in royal court meetings. Maura’s collection of tiaras hasn't been raided in months, or so the security report stated."

"Well, Lukas is obviously busy somewhere," Leo sighed. "They're always busy with some scheme. Varia and I haven't heard a peep in weeks. Just because we're the newest members of their chosen heritary line of champions, doesn't mean that I get reports from them. Even the reapers get status reports and compensation from Gee. Working for Life can be a pain in the ass."

Leo looked over his shoulder at the portrait of three of the deities worshipped by Strangetown. He'd tried to explain to his uncle that Lukas was the only valid deity in that picture, and that the demigods the Toyonagas had descended from weren't around to hear their descendants' prayers. According to both Lukas and Gee, the Toyonaga ancestors had vanished without a trace centuries ago. Still, the king didn't try to force his beliefs on Leo, so Leo extended the same courtesy to him.

"Ah, man, you know it's going to be epic whenever they do surface," Ewan teased. "Stolen jewelry, fire raining from the sky...I'm glad 'destiny' never chose me for anything more complicated than staying awake when Maura launches into one of her speeches."

"The Ocean will reign them in," Leo replied, earning an eye roll from his sibling. "There is always balance."

"Are you sure that you're not in a cult?" Ewan asked, only partially joking. "You, Vrai, and Varia all talk like you're in a cult passed down from parent to oldest child. You would tell me if Lukas ever asked you to drink the kool-aid, right? I don't want to lose another sibling to something stupid."

"I'll be sure to let you know the instant they ask. Didn't you say you brought that game over? Why are we wasting time when we could be playing? We only have a few hours before Josh is expecting me."

"Your Majesty."

Edana sank into a curtsy before the king. Charley only laughed in reply.

"Get up, you know that you bow or curtsy to no one here," he insisted. "You're like a daughter to me, an unofficial princess in my eyes."

Edana could feel her face flush despite her best efforts. It was true that he told her the same thing every time she bowed in his presence, but it still felt wrong to her. The Darktides were an ancient family, but one descended from piracy and dark magic. They held no land or titles; their name was all they had. Everything she had, she worked for. She didn't need anything material from the king, only his friendship. She and Ewan had everything they needed in each other and their kids.

"What brings you by? Not that I mind, of course. You haven't stopped in for awhile now. How are the kids?"

"Oh, up to their usual antics," Edana sighed. "Adam has a boyfriend that he's convinced that he's going to marry, and Remy is poorly trying to pretend she doesn't have a girlfriend. Elowen's report card was fairly good though. As long as they're not all failing or pregnant, I guess. Ewan says I'm too hard on them, but my dad was hard on me and I turned out fine."

"You should bring them next time," Charley insisted. "Leo's kids get bored easily and they could always use new friends."

Edana smiled. Leo and his husband Josh lived in the Strangetown castle by invitation of the king. The king himself had three children, Nick, who died years ago, Arthur, who had moved to Arkhelios with his wife Alicia to help the coven and Anneken, the heir to the throne. After losing so many people from his family, the king seemed desperate to keep his castle filled with guests and extended quarters to his nephew, Leo, and even to Edana herself. Everyone secretly wondered what Edana had done to earn her suite in the castle and truthfully, she had no idea. The king was lonely and she was alone, the last of the Darktides. The monarch had seen a trembling, pregnant young adult, holding the body of her dead brother and taken her in as a surrogate daughter. There were times that she caught him watching her with a sad expression, likely remembering the son and daughter in law he had lost, just as she did when she caught a glimpse of her parents reflected in her children.

Anneken had been overjoyed to have a sister figure and Leo was happy to see his grieving uncle make an attachment to someone again. Josh still held her at bay because of their...complicated college years, but even he was cordial whenever she came over.

"I came to ask a favour," Edana replied. "I...I want to visit my brother. If you allow it that is."

"Your brother? You don't need to ask my permission to visit the royal cemetery, you've always had it," Charley said. "It's not open to the public, Edana, and you are not the public. You can go there anytime you wish."

Edana's eyes fell to the floor as she thought about how to phrase her request.

"I know, I just...just thought that maybe, someone would have to accompany me. As part of protocol. So I wouldn't be alone."

Charley nodded, finally understanding her request.

"Well, I could send a guard with you, but you know what? I haven't paid my respects to my mothers or Nick in a few months. I'll come with you and visit them while you visit your family. I would rather not go there alone either."

Edana flushed with gratitude, smiling at the king.

"Thank you. I asked if Ewan wanted to come visit his sister in her tomb, but he declined."

"Well, we all grieve differently," Charley said softly. "My brother would go every month to visit his daughter's grave like clockwork, but now that she has returned to us as a reaper, the cemetery is far too quiet. We need to lead Strangetown by example and visit our ancestors and lost ones regularly while also leaving offerings to the gods."

Edana nodded enthusiastically, but said nothing in reply. He was right, she didn't do nearly as much as she should for the gods and rarely thought of her ancestors outside of her immediate family. The only family she ever thought about was her husband, her kids, and her brother. Maybe that was the reason for the dreams she'd been having. The ones where Adam screamed her name over and over until she woke up drenched with terror. It was probably nothing, but the intensity of the dreams frightened her. It never hurt to double-check that nothing was wrong.

[luverofralts]

Arkhelios Adventures

"Thanks for agreeing to hold the party here," Roman said, looking proudly at the decorations he'd bought and the impressive cake he'd made for his son's important day. It wasn't every day that your kid turned fourteen and Roman wanted to make the party special.

Ewan Traver merely shrugged back at him, like it was nothing to use his estate to entertain a group of hyper teenagers. Truthfully, nothing seemed to bother the duke, and it made Roman incredibly uneasy to see such a laid back parenting style. Maybe if he lived on a tropical island and hadn't been a teenage father, Roman might be the same. But then again, Adrian had grown up in Twikkii Island, and he was just as bad as Roman when it came to his clingy parenting style.

"It's all good," Ewan assured his guest. "The kids love having their friends over and we have more than enough space to accommodate them. Tell you what. If you make one of those bat cakes for Bronwen's birthday, I'd be in your debt. Not many bakeries have vampire friendly designs, and it would mean a lot to her."

"Done," Roman agreed, eager to continue his party setup and ditch the hovering duke. "Is everyone here? I haven't done a head count."

"All of them are present and accounted for," Ewan confirmed. "I think they've found the pool table. If I know my kids, they're probably hustling the group. Never bet against a vampire or witch in a contest of skill."

"Uh...huh." Roman had no idea of what to say to this man. He was the father of Theo's closest friends though, so Roman tried his best. Ewan wasn't snobby or pretentious, nor was he trapped in the same constant anxiety that Adrian felt being a duke. If anything, the man reminded Roman of an eager puppy, excited and ready for anything fun. If Roman had to blindly guess who was married to stuffy, curt Edana, he would never have guessed Ewan in a million years.

"Where is Edana? Does she want to help set up?"

For the briefest of seconds, Ewan's face fell before he could correct it. It wasn't anger or frustration that Roman had briefly saw, but some kind of sadness. He didn't resent his wife like Roman would have assumed with such an emotionally mismatched couple. Instead, it almost looked like the look he sometimes caught Abe giving him whenever the subject of Roman's family came up. Ewan was just as worried about Edana as Abe worried about him. It was touching to see, and it gave Roman hope that the children of this man also inherited that same compassion. Any friends of Theo needed some extra compassion should anything terrible happen to their friend, and if Elowen and Bronwen were anything like their father, Theo would be in good hands.

"Edana's working," Ewan explained. "She's got this huge research project she's working on and it's very important. She promised to come up for cake though."

With the noise of a birthday party around her, Edana was finding it difficult to concentrate on her work. Several excited teenagers crowding around a pool table did not make it easy to stare endlessly at photo after photo of boring historical records.

Truthfully, she would much rather be upstairs, ensuring that the teens behaved like the young magical apprentices most of them were instead of staring at ancient records. She was certain that Adam was probably letting that demon hybrid of his push past acceptable boundaries, and that Remy and Elowen were likely trying to do some juvenile prank like spiking the punch or whatever it was that teens did these days. Ewan could handle the party itself, but his wife needed to be the stern authority figure ensuring that nothing went awry.

But her brother had given her a mission that superseded everything else. No one escaped death to pass something unimportant to their angry sister. For the measures he had taken to see her, Edana knew that this required her full attention. Something big had to be at stake and she wasn't about to stand over the dead bodies of her friends again, not when she could have prevented it. What if something happened to one of her children? She would never recover from that loss. If it took hours hunched over a computer to save her family, then it was worth all of it.

He said that the Darktides were in danger, but we're not originally from Strangetown, our ancestors are from Pleasantview. Why care so much about a supernatural being from another country?

Why did the answer to a mystery in Twikkii Island all revolve around Strangetown or Josh Toyonaga's husband? They lived in Strangetown, but neither of them came to Twikkii Island regularly. They came from time to time to visit Ewan and Edana, but not often. Besides, Josh's own mother died in that explosion. He wasn't close to the former queen consort, but Edana could never accuse him of murder. She'd seen for herself how devastated he'd been at her funeral.

Couldn't Adam have been at least a little more specific about this threat? If he hadn't spent so much time being a jackass, he could have explained this threat easily and she wouldn't be forever wandering libraries to search for whatever it was she was supposed to be looking for.

"There!" she gasped, scrolling back to a picture she'd nearly missed. "Finally!"

Atem Spector and his mother, Morganna Grunt, in the palace of Alpheus Toyonaga, Strangetown, Circa 678, photo from a private collection.

"What the hell am I supposed to do with this?" Edana groaned, desperately scanning the photo for clues that might point her in the right direction.

The picture was blurry and barely showed what Atem looked like. His eyes were closed and his hair could have easily been dirty blonde or brown. The woman beside him didn't look much like her son. Green skin with green eyes. He must have taken after his father.

The year 678 would place this picture right in the middle of the Demon Wars. If she ignored Master Thorne's warning, she could probably summon a demon that old. It was only 2210, surely something that old would still respond to a summons?

No, Master Thorne was right. Adam would have rushed headfirst into summoning something that old. Edana was the smart one. The careful one. The one currently fearing for her family's safety.

She'd never seen a blood demon before. No one alive likely hadn't either. She used to sit on the memorial to Alpheus outside of the public library when she did her schoolwork as a girl. The shrine to the powerful blood demon always inspired her to strive for power like his. Perhaps that was why her coven had stumbled in the end. Power like that came with a price too high for mortals to pay. Her son's boyfriend worried her with his own power, but she was comforted by the fact that Alpheus had been a full demon, while Theo was merely a hybrid. He was dangerous, sure, but nothing like the demons of the past.

Master Thorne was displaced from another time, centuries ago where maybe he'd seen a blood demon for himself. He probably knew what he was talking about; witches and warlocks had differing practices back then, and not all of them were moral. Still, the urge to throw caution aside to play with something that far overpowered her was intense. What would it be like to see a demon so powerful? Would it be like staring at Anna Goldman's true reaper form, beautiful and terrible all at once?

"Dammit!" she swore, throwing one of her reference books across the room. "What am I supposed to do with this, Adam? None of this makes any sense! Just tell me how to save my family!"

"Edana?" Ewan's worried voice floated down the stairs, grounding her in her surrounding once more. In her anger, she'd worried her poor husband and been just as rash and improper as she forbid her children to be. This mystery was getting to her, but she couldn't worry her family or travel down forbidden paths like her brother.

"Everything's fine, honey," she called, picking up the book she'd thrown. "I just knocked a book over. I think I'm making progress though."

"Okay, well we're going to cut the cake now, if you wanted to join us. Theo's dad made it."

"Yeah, yeah okay. I'll be right up."

By the time Edana made it up the stairs, the cake was already cut and the teens were having a birthday toast with what she hoped was ginger ale. Ewan knew better than to let champagne anywhere near the kids who were all studying magic at a level he was incapable of matching. Their alcohol was stored safely in a locked cabinet, but Edana knew better than to trust a simple lock to keep the teens out. Elowen was getting better each day at subverting her mother's traps. Between her and Remy, Edana was going to have to be on top of her game to parent her children.

"To the birthday boy, Theo." Ewan toasted. The teens followed his example and clinked their glasses together to toast the young demon.

"To Theo!"

"Alright, cake and ginger ale is on the table if anyone wants refills," Roman said. "You guys have fun, and if you need anything, the grown ups are going to be here, doing boring grown up stuff."

"Ugh, Dad, I'm not four," Theo groaned, shooting his father a nasty glare. "We don't need 'grown ups' for anything. We're fine."

"Well the grown ups have actual champagne to drink, so we'll be fine too," Ewan laughed before Roman could snap at his son. "Go have fun. We certainly will be."

"Gross," Adam said, looking at his step-father like he had three heads. "Are our parents friends now? I don't like it."

"My dad doesn't have any friends," Theo replied snarkily. "At least we know they'll get along at our wedding."

"Ha ha, you two are funny," Roman grumbled, reaching for the bottle of champagne Ewan had produced. "Go have fun while the adults have their own party."

"Your mom is getting worse," Eliana said, while lining up her shot. The three sisters were pool enthusiasts and far too skilled to hustle anyone. No one believed that they could beat any of the sisters, so most of the gambling was on which of the sisters would win.

"You're not wrong," Remy replied. "She spends all her time at home on the computer and all her time at school in her office. I think my dad is worried about her, but he doesn't want to say anything."

"What do you think she's working on?" Eliana asked. "Not all of us are witches who know what mysterious secret she's looking for."

"You don't have to be a witch to figure it out," Elowen answered. "She's upset about Uncle Adam. She's always upset about Uncle Adam. It must be his like birthday or death date or something lame like that. I see her staring at pictures of him at school all the time."

"Nah, I think she's worried about Adam Jr and his demon companion," Remy laughed. "She's looking stuff up about demons, really old demons. All the blood demons died ages ago or whatever and she's worried that Adam's going to get himself killed too. Maybe one day, Theo's going to snap and kill us all and she wants to be ready."

"Remy, be serious," Eliana said. "The last person Theo's going to snap and kill is Adam. I don't think that those two can stand to be away from each other for even an hour."

"Yeah, you're right," Remy conceded. "They're probably making out downstairs and skipping the rest of the party."

"You and Theo should really come to the school dance next semester. Josh is taking me and my uncles said that I could wear one of my mom's dresses to it. It's going to be a lot of fun, and outside students can come by invitation."

"I don't know, Medora, Theo would probably want to go, but I'm not really into dances. The ones at our own school are more than enough for me."

Adam fidgeted, trying to politely refuse the invitation to a pretentious dance that he would likely be completely miserable at. Medora was really excited and Theo would love to let loose and dance wherever he could, so it felt like he had to say yes, despite his reservations.

"What's this about a dance?"

Theo waved at his friend and boyfriend, watching Adam's face flush like he was hiding something.

"It's only the largest dance in the school that isn't prom," Medora exclaimed. "I think we're supposed to practice our social and political skills or whatever, but it's a dance! I have my outfit all picked out. My uncles are letting me use my mom's clothes and jewelry and Josh has a matching outfit that will look amazing."

"Aren't you wearing your mom's dress now?" Adam asked, gesturing to the photo behind them. "That's your mom isn't it? My step-dad's sister?"

Medora was the spitting image of her mother, especially when she wore Tristianne's clothes. The resemblance was remarkable, something Theo was sure the princess heard all the time.

"This?" Medora repeated, looking offended. "Adam, I know that you have no knowledge of fashion, especially when it comes to what a princess gets to wear, but this is not one of my mom's dresses. Her dresses cost about the same as a year of tuition."

"Oh. I guess that makes sense." Adam didn't look like he really understood or cared about Medora's wardrobe, but he didn't want to be rude to an orphan trying to connect to her mother in whatever way she could. If he lost his father or step-father, maybe he'd want to use one of their suits to remember them too. His father's warlock robes probably cost a small fortune and since his recently discovered half-brother wasn't a warlock, Ewan's robes would likely go to his only magical son.

"I was just about to get my swimsuit, but I was going to head back to get another piece of cake," Theo announced, while his boyfriend mentally compiled his likely inheritance. "Wanna come with me?"

"Oh, yeah, sure. That cake was awesome," Adam replied. "Do you want some too Medora?"

"No thanks, I'm going to get changed too. The pool is calling my name. Can you believe that I live in a castle, and we don't even have a pool on the property? My grandfather says we don't have the infrastructure to support one, but he's the king. He can hire someone to install whatever it needs."

"A pool's not everything," Adam pointed out. "It's a lot of work and uses a lot of water for a desert nation like Strangetown. My step-dad makes us take turns cleaning it when we're living here."

"Well, either way, I'm headed for the pool," Medora announced. "See you out there. And think about the dance. Seriously. It'll be fun."

By the time that Medora emerged from the house in her swimsuit, a vicious water balloon fight was already underway. A balloon narrowly missed her head, but didn't break upon hitting the ground.

"Oh my god, you never said there was going to be water balloons!" she shrieked, picking up the fallen balloon and whipping at Elowen. "How many do we have left?"

While the other guests were distracted, Adam and Theo were changing into their bathing suits a little more slowly than the other teens. They changed together all the time at school when they had gym class or when they changed into their pajamas at night, but it was never usually while they were alone. Having a few moments of privacy together now was somehow very different than at school. The air crackled with tension and before he knew it, Theo's lips were on Adam's, pulling him as close to him as he could.

"We need to go," Theo whispered between kisses, only to have Adam move his hand and completely silence all thoughts of leaving.

"Your dad is busy and no one will notice we're gone," Adam whispered back, punctuating his words with kisses down Theo's arm.

"My dad will definitely notice a hickey," Theo protested, pushing his boyfriend away halfheartedly. "You know how pissed he'll be if he catches us in here."

"Yeah, my mom will probably murder us both," Adam conceded. "It would be pretty horrible to die on your birthday."

"Worth it though. Plus then I wouldn't have to go to dinner at home with my grandma. All she does is drink and scowl at me while going on about how much money my school costs. Rien says my grandma's just going to give me some money in my college fund for a gift anyway."

"Well, it beats hanging out here with my sisters," Adam replied. "All they do is talk about their partners and tease me. Plus, Mom's still acting like some kind of zombie. I don't think she's even made a single comment once today about you or your dad."

"Maybe she likes me now," Theo teased. "Maybe she's finally seen how perfect we are for each other and wants to apologize for everything she's said."

Both boys laughed at the thought of Edana Darktide ever apologizing for anything, especially when Theo was involved.

"Maybe one day. But definitely not today."

"You're almost out of balloons, you'd better surrender while you still can.'

Elowen stared menacingly at her half-sister, water balloon in her hand, ready to be thrown. Their water battle was down to just Elowen and Remy and Elowen had the clear advantage. Remy had just a few balloons left, but she wasn't about to lose and have her half-sister gloat about it all week.

"Maybe you should surrender before I tell Dad about your boyfriend."

Remy's taunt worked, and Elowen's angrily tossed balloon easily missed its target. It landed on the ground beside Remy, allowing the witch to scoop it up and hurl it back towards her half-sister.

"So the rumours are true," Remy laughed. "Who is he? Does he go to our school?"

"Mind your own business," Elowen snapped, launching another balloon at Remy that also missed its target. "If you don't, maybe I'll tell Malika that you've been flirting with the girl in potions class. Plus the guy you looked really into at lunch last week."

"It's not cheating to admire an attractive person," Remy insisted. "Malika knows that and I'm sure she looks at all kinds of people herself. Your boyfriend probably does the same thing.'

"He does not!"

"So I guess I'll see you again at our kids' wedding?" Ewan joked, looking over his shoulder to see if Adam or Theo were nearby to hear.

The dads had finished their alcohol fueled conversation upstairs and had finally changed into the bathing suits to supervise anyone swimming in the pool. Roman wasn't thrilled to see his son absent in the yard, but some of the other kids were missing too, which meant that there could be an innocent explanation, like Theo playing a game of pool. Roman had promised his husband not to be paranoid or suspicious about Theo's whereabouts during the party, but it was difficult. Theo was probably getting into trouble somewhere, but both Adrian and Abe had pleaded with him to keep Adam's parents happy. The last thing they needed was another inquiry by the Maricourts.

"You know they're going to break up long before they're nineteen, right?" Roman replied. "They're just kids."

"Oh, I thought Edana said that you married your high school boyfriend?" Ewan said in a tone that Roman couldn't discern the true intention of. He didn't sound like he was asking the question sincerely. More than likely, he and Edana had come up with topics to discuss with Theo's parents to continue their interrogation of the Bellamy family.

"Well, eventually," Roman conceded. "I did marry someone else first, and we broke up a few times since high school."

"Well, there you go," Ewan replied. "There's hope for them yet. Edana married someone else first too and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out."

"There's no way that Theo is getting married as a teenager. All he's doing is trying to get our approval and permission to have sex."

Ewan choked back a powerful laugh at this, clapping Roman's shoulder as he laughed.

"I had no idea that you needed parental permission to have sex," he laughed. "Oh man, if I did, my father would have me die a virgin. My sister too. The look on his face when she told him that she had no idea of who Medora's biological parent was because she and her husband had attended an orgy together! I wish I had had a camera. Trust me, Roman, Adam is his mother's son. He's not going to ask permission for anything. Kids are going to be kids, just like we were."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Roman sighed. "Theo's too much like we were."

"Ah well, my brother and sister and I all put my parents through hell," Ewan laughed. "Leo was almost murdered for defying the queen of Pleasantview, and Tristianne, well, it's not right to speak ill of the dead, even if her antics were hilarious. I have three kids with three different women who are pretty much all the same age. Being a parent means watching your kids make mistakes while helping them learn from them. My dad never gave up on me, even when I deserved it."

"I never really had parents growing up," Roman said. "My mother tried to kill both me and my kids and my dad was physically present but never there with me. Theo has a magical disability that's potentially fatal if he gets too powerful without something to ground him. He's almost died more than once and I can't lose him, Ewan. I also can't watch him struggle like I did with a teenage pregnancy either. If I let go of him for even a second, I'll-"

"You'll push him away," Ewan replied. "I almost pushed my dad out of my life when I was young and thought I knew it all. Everything he did, I assumed was just to punish me for having a good time. It took a tragedy for us to come together again and forgive, don't let the same happen to you and your son."

Roman stared closely at the man he'd underestimated. Ewan may not be as sharp as his wife, but he really did care about his kids and their happiness. He was just as fiercely protective of his kids as Roman was, though he didn't look like he spent long nights worrying himself to death like Roman did. He was still too close to Edana to trust, but Roman could still appreciate Ewan's advice.

"Any tips on letting go?" Roman sighed. "I don't know how I'll sit through a wedding between two nineteen year olds without saying something."

"Well, like you said, who marries their high school sweetheart?" Ewan laughed. "I'm sure they'll have a bunch of relationships in high school and forget all about each other. The only other time I'll ever see you again is when you drop off Bronwen's birthday cake next year."

"That sounds like a deal," Roman said, allowing himself a small smirk while still worrying about his son. "Adam's not a bad kid though, I don't want you to think that Abe and I hate him or anything like that. Just try to put in a good word about Theo with your wife if there's a wedding. I have a feeling that she'll call another 'meeting' about my son if there's a ring involved."

Ewan sighed heavily.

"Yeah, I guess it's no secret that she thinks that your son is going to burn all of Pleasantview down. We're all trying to reason with her. The last thing the school needs is a reputation for harassing demon students. He's only a hybrid demon though and he only seems to endanger himself with his powers, which is what has pacified her for now. Adam tying his bloodline to Theo's though- you should have seen her reaction. I thought the house was about to implode."

"Yeah, we had that reaction too," Roman groaned. "No offense, of course. You seem like a nice family, but-"

"But your thirteen year old playing with blood magic? Yeah, I get it. Still, yelling at them didn't change anything. If you push too hard, teenagers are going to push back. Give them a little room to breathe and your son just might come to you with his problems first."

"Yeah, that will be the day," Roman murmured, scanning the yard again and still finding no signs of his son. "Theo? Theo, it's a pool party because there's a pool. Hurry up and swim with your friends!"

"Coming, Dad!"

Theo and Adam emerged from the house, dressed in their bathing suits and looking guilty.

So he was inside with Adam, probably this entire time. Doing god knows what.

Roman was about to shout at his son, when his eyes met Ewan's and he reconsidered.

Don't push him away. You can trust him. Yelling will only push him away.

"Get in the pool now that we can supervise," Roman said, though his teeth were still tightly clenched. Beside him, Ewan gave him a quick thumbs up. "This is a pool party after all."

[luverofralts]

Arkhelios Adventures

"I'm so glad you could make it, Lauren. It feels like it's been forever since I've seen you."

The youngest Durant sibling smiled at her sister. "College has been intense. I mean, I'm still in my first year, but with exams coming up, everyone is going a little crazy."

"That's how I remember it. I thought Nathan was going to burn down the student union building one exam period. I mean, he didn't even end up writing the exam, but he still went crazy with the rest of us."

"I'm so glad you met Trent," Lauren replied, looking over her shoulder in case Nathan suddenly showed up. She wouldn't put it past him. "Nathan creeps me out. There's something not right about him."

Cindra laughed, despite her sister's worry.

"Nathan likes people to think he's dangerous and scary, but he's a sweetheart deep down. Very deep down. Don't worry about him. He's harmless."

Lauren gave her sister a skeptical look but didn't push the subject. Let Cindra have her creepy crush. Lauren wouldn't be caught dead anywhere near Nathan Helios.

Everard and Luci tossed a baseball back and forth to warm up. They were about to start the official Siew family games and baseball was the first event. Luci was naturally athletic and had no doubts of her ability to lead her team to victory. Her little brother on the other hand....

At least Everard was trying to practice. Etienne was about to go swimming in the pool, and Fiolett was working on a drawing she refused to abandon. Who knew what Rien was up to? Luci had learned long ago not to count on her twin sister to do anything with her. If she had to guess, Rien was probably off talking with Adam about weird ghost sightings or something crazy like that. Ever since Theo had been sent away to school, Rien had been speaking to Adam an awful lot. Luci would normally assume that this meant that her sister had a crush on Theo's boyfriend, but this was Rien they were talking about. She was probably just telling him that he was being haunted by spirits.

"Rien? Honey, I thought you were playing baseball with your brother and sister? Did they finish playing already?"

Adrian approached his daughter reluctantly. It was obvious that Rien had no intention of playing with her siblings or being social. At least this time, she wasn't alone. Adrian had nearly tripped over Travis Maricourt scribbling furiously in a book by the hot tub, completely disengaged with the barbecue.

"I'm sorry, Dad, but I'm needed elsewhere," Rien replied cryptically. "Baseball seemed like a waste of time, considering how little of it is left."

"Uh...huh. Well, where are you needed? I can help you and then you can go play with the other kids here. I saw Travis Maricourt writing over by the hot tub, maybe you two could play alone together."

"Thanks for the offer, but it's not me who needs to socialize. You need to talk to people at the party," Rien insisted. "Hang around Queen Maura to help her. You'll know what to do when the time comes. I have my own role to play. Have you seen Princess Georgiana?"

"Are you going to play with Her Highness, or continue your cryptic riddles with her?" Adrian asked wearily, already knowing the answer. "Please don't say anything that would scare the princess. She's younger than you and scares easily."

"I'll play nicely, Daddy. I promise."

Adrian tried not to wither at the glare his daughter was giving him. Of course, she'd inherited Roman's patented stare, the same as Theo. Whenever the kids were angry, it was like being surrounded by little Roman clones. Thank god that most of them seemed incapable of scowling like their father, aside from Theo.

"Rien, you know that I love you very much," Adrian tried. "Go play with the princess and have fun. Maybe you and I could play cards with your siblings later. That would be fun, wouldn't it?"

"Yes, Daddy. That sounds like fun."

The tone of her voice very clearly conveyed that playing cards would be the worst thing that could happen to her, despite her ominous words. Adrian bit his cheek to keep from groaning or reprimanding his daughter for lying. There wasn't a parenting book out there that could help him parent Adrienne.

"I'll see you soon," Rien declared suddenly, wrapping her arms around her baffled father. "Remember, hang around the queen. There's a collection of heirloom swords in the second bedroom upstairs. Do you remember how to use them?"

"Yes, I remember how to use many weapons. I studied all of that in military school. How the hell do you know about a collection of swords? Have you been playing with them? You're too young to-"

Rien let go of her father and gave him a sad look. Her eyes didn't look like she was twelve. They held secrets and sorrows well beyond her years in a way that Adrian would never understand. He'd never met Roman's grandparents, but Roman often mentioned how similar Rien sometimes looked to his grandmother. Whoever she looked like, there were times that Adrian stared at his daughter and didn't recognize who stared back.

"Remember, the queen needs you," Rien said again, skipping off to find Georgiana. As usual, Adrian made a mental note of this behaviour to address with Roman and despite his skeptical nature, went in search of Queen Maura.

"I heard there was a barbecue here, but I don't smell anything cooking. Don't tell me that I missed Dad's famous burgers."

"Oliver! You made it! I thought you had exams to study for." Claudia ran to embrace her little brother, excited that he'd actually kept his promise and came to the family gathering.

"Yeah, well, we're not all monarchs wealthy beyond imagining," Oliver laughed. "I'm a poor college student. An offer of free food doesn't come along very often."

"Oh, you're impossible!" Claudia teased, tickling her brother like they were still children. "A poor college student whose tuition is covered by his very rich sister, along with a generous fund for personal expenses."

"Well, I still eat a fair amount of ramen regardless. I won't let your money take away from the college experience."

"Well, maybe I'll withdraw my tuition support next semester if that's how you feel," Claudia laughed. "Then you won't have to fake the 'authentic' experience."

"Ah, who can say what's authentic?" Oliver replied, his eyes dancing with amusement. "Maybe I'll accept your charity for a few more years after all."

This was a dance Claudia and Oliver performed seamlessly over the years. She'd offer whatever Oliver could possibly need in life and he'd playfully decline, only to accept it moments later. He'd been too young to understand his sister's change in rank when she took the throne, but he'd never been jealous of her. She was the queen and he was free to live as he chose. Claudia had frequently offered her brother a royal title and estate of his own, but Oliver had turned her down every time. Apparently, the monarchy was a "Claudia and Dad" project, while the "Oliver, Travis, and Mom" project was perfectly content away from the throne.

"Speaking of charity, where are the hamburgers I was promised? I'm wasting away here."

Claudia rolled her eyes.

"Blame Dad. He was supposed to be here to barbecue after work, but I guess he got busy. You know how obsessive he is about grilling things. God forbid someone other than him gets to touch the grill so we can eat."

"Well, where's Uncle Travis? I've seen Dad let him grill before and I'm starving. Let's just start grilling and apologize later. He can't be mad when we've waited this long."

Ewan Traver watched as his uncle, Ewan Goldman, arrived in a shower of sparkling light just in front of the front entrance of the cottage. It was a relief to see him, especially since Ewan's own son, Oliver, was currently leading a rebellion among the family to replace his father with anyone else who knew how to use a grill. The family was currently split between honouring the original plan and replacing Ewan with his reluctant brother, Travis.

"Uncle Ewan! Finally! Everyone's been going feral waiting for food. You're late."

"Uncle Ewan?"

Ewan Goldman made no attempts to respond to his nephew. Instead, he stared at the ground, unable to meet the younger Ewan's eyes. A shiver ran down Ewan Traver's spine. Something was wrong here. Dangerously wrong. This intuition was confirmed when dark, glossy wings emerged from his uncle's back, wrapping around a body that had gone from looking normal and healthy to a sickly hue that radiated an unnatural cold that Ewan could feel from several feet away. When his uncle spoke, it wasn't his usual cheerful voice, but one that sounded hollow and deadly.

“I’m not here to join in the festivities. Unfortunately, I’m here for work. I’m so sorry.”

[luverofralts]

Arkhelios Adventures

"We really need to bring this cottage into the new era. We don't need pictures of war criminals on our walls for 'history's' sake. Respect the past, but focus on the future. Yes. Yes, I like that. When I get a free moment, I'll mention it to the palace art team."

Maura murmured to herself as her eyes took in everything in the cottage that she wanted to change. It was her reign, and the cottage should reflect that. While she did love the historical photos and would probably face an intense battle to move them with her relatives, times had changed. Photos of King Ben, the national hero who had saved the islands from Pleasantview, but had murdered several of his children as well as some of their spouses, the Red Queen, who had no business being on any wall because of her crimes, and Queen Celeste, who tried to overthrow the grim reaper while enslaving her zombified mother, disgraced the warm feeling Maura wanted the Siew family cottage to have. Maybe if she put all their pictures upstairs in what had once been King Ben's office, she could balance honouring the past while still creating a better future.

"I can shove that picture in my attic if you'd like. You're glaring at it like it kicked a puppy."

Maura turned to see her cousin Claudia walking up to her, her usual confident smirk on full display.

"You're welcome to it," Maura offered, smiling despite her frustration. Claudia often had that effect on her. "I'm making a list of photos that may need to be retired."

Claudia scoffed.

"Just imagine living with the portraits of terrible people whose blood runs in my veins every single day. Pleasantview would fall before it gave up worshipping the ghosts of its past."

"Well, I guess you don't have to worry about being lost to history someday," Maura teased. "Give it a century or two and you'll probably be promoted to a demi god."

"I would make an excellent demi god," Claudia agreed. "But you can't be inventorying every picture here. Some of our relatives were good people. Not many, but some. Besides, don't you have a royal archivist? I just email mine and the pictures are rotated within a day. They deal with all the safety procedures needed to store the pictures for the next hundred years and I get something new to look at. I know this cottage is for all Siews, but the monarch of Twikkii Island owns it, so it should fall within your archivist's obligations."

"I'd prefer to deal with them myself. They can store them for me, but I'll be making the choices of which picture to display. It's probably the thing I like most about this job. If my mother had lived, I'd imagine that I might have been a royal curator for her. There'd be more pictures of Trent and Callista than I'd like, but no job is perfect."

"Very noble of you," Claudia remarked dryly. "They are your half-siblings, I'd imagine your mother would want pictures of them around. Honestly, with your complexion, jealousy's not flattering. You're the queen, and Trent is an orphan. Have some compassion for your little brother or are you getting rid of those pictures because the people in them are starting to look just like you?"

"Not all of us come from the two happiest dead people in existence. I'm an orphan too. My father was murdered by my grandmother. Mom shouldn't have remarried. She just forgot about him, like he didn't even exist."

Claudia raised a skeptical eyebrow, baffled at her cousin's behavior.

"Are you okay? Usually your daddy issues aren't this obvious. Added to a pregnancy that is obviously not your wife's, you're starting to look a little unhinged. Is something happening? I can help, unless you've got some insane grudge against me too."

"It's nothing," Maura snapped, turning away from her cousin. "It's just pregnancy hormones. Everything is great. I love my life. Everyone is jealous of my good fortune, so I should love my life. And I do."

"You could always step down if you hate your life," Claudia teased. "I'd be happy to claim my inheritance from my mother and add Twikkii Island to my realm."

Maura shot Claudia a nasty look, but after a moment to think, the nastiness faded into a weak smile.

"Do you have days like this? Days when you just want to fake your death and flee somewhere you've never been? That makes me a bad person, right? I feel like a bad person."

Claudia wrapped her cousin in bone crushing hug.

"All the time. I think about what my life would have been if Dad had never found out his true parentage. Would I be happier? What job would I have? It's only natural when you're in a position like ours. It doesn't make you a bad person to have doubts about your life. It makes you human. Look, why don't you come visit me more? Or I can stop by your place and we can go to that wonderful spa we went to before your wedding. You need someone to talk to, and I'm probably the only one who understands what you're feeling. Unless you want to ask the old, boring kings of Strangetown or Crystal Cove."

Maura laughed, despite her mood. Claudia always had been good at getting under her skin.

"Okay. I promise to spend more time with you to stop from being a complete bitch all the time. Ulyssa would probably love to have me out of the palace for an afternoon anyway. For now, help me log which paintings I should store. You know our history probably better than even I do."

Claudia craned her neck, looking for a certain portrait that had always creeped her out.

"I'd vote for that one," she said, pointing across the room. "Every time I'm here, one of the dogs is always barking at it. It has to be cursed or something. Something is off about it."

"Ah. You have a good eye. It creeps me out too. It's King Ben, after all. The man was a monster. No wonder the dogs can sense his evil."

"Oh, there's a million pictures of him all around this place," Claudia scoffed. "He was a fine king. He saved your country from becoming a part of mine under my psychotic grandfather. The heroism and the murders kinda cancel each other out, I think. No, he's not the problem. She is."

"Who? Is that his cousin or something? The names aren't engraved on the frame."

"His sister, Winter," Claudia replied. "She was a hell of a witch. I have some of her books in my library. Talented, but like you, a little unhinged."

"Ha, ha. I'll add it to the list."

"Are we supposed to be doing something? I feel like we should be doing something."

Adam looked nervously around the cottage, looking for guidance. It wasn't often that they were invited to the Siew cottage and just standing in it made Adam paranoid that he might accidentally break something expensive. He'd been there before, of course, but he never truly felt welcome.

The Siew family was gathered for a family barbecue, and even those at the far ends of the family tree were invited to celebrate. Adam and Remy got their invitation because their half-siblings were Siews. Elowen and Bronwen weren't just going to leave Adam and Remy out of a royal feast just because only their mother had married into the Siew family.

"Don't start cleaning something just because we don't have titles," Remy groaned. "We're invited guests, not the help. We're not doing anything to set up. Period. Our earned coven titles are more than good enough."

"Apprentice is a better title than princess or Duke?"

Remy punched her twin on the arm.

"Yes. Yes, it is. Now let's go find our sisters. They probably know where the booze is."

"Dad! You made it! I thought you, Dad, and Vrai were going away this weekend."

Ewan Traver embraced his father, Travis Traver, surprised at his presence. Ewan had inherited the title Travis had never wanted, and took care of the Goldman estate and all the responsibilities that went with it. His father, despite being born in Twikkii Island to two of its citizens, disliked spending any time on the island. He had been raised in Pleasantview and Crystal Cove. However tropical the island was, it held no allure for Travis, so his presence there was somewhat surprising.

"Your father and Vrai went ahead. I might join them later, but I wanted to be here. The anniversary is coming up and it's good to be with family. This was where she grew up. I wanted to see it the way she once did."

Ewan paused, unsure of what to say. His Aunt Celeste, better known as Queen Celeste of Crystal Cove, had practically raised his father after their father died giving birth to their half-brother, Ewan, and their mothers were murdered. The two siblings had been unsettlingly close until Celeste's death, due to the stranglehold she had on Travis' life. She blocked his mother's family from contacting him and insisted that he name his oldest son after their father. Aside from eloping with Ewan's father, Leonid, Travis' entire life had been carefully planned by his controlling sister. But Celeste had been gone for over a decade now and Travis was free to chart his own path forward. He hadn't recognized Celeste in the year or so proceeding her death, and he couldn't forgive her for telling his biological family that he didn't want anything to do with them. Or co-running a cult obsessed with killing the Grim Reaper. Or naming the child she created to sacrifice after him. Or murdering their half-brother, Ewan, as a child.

There were many things Travis hated about his sister, but every year near the anniversary of her death, he spent time in Twikkii Island, trying to understand the little girl who had been born there and where she had gone so wrong. He hadn't had any insight on how to forgive her yet, but every year, he was hopeful.

"So, are you going to help plan the memorial ball this year? Edana has been pretty busy and I've got some of the vendors lined up, but I could use some help."

Travis smiled tightly. The queen had provided a grant to the Goldman estate to celebrate Travis' parents after it had been revealed that their deaths were caused both directly and indirectly by the crown. Unhappily, the deaths of his parents and the death of his sister fell within the same month, so every time he left to grieve for his sister, he was expected to also celebrate the lives of the parents he'd never known. The anniversary of the day that his daughter, Tristianne, had been taken from him was only a few months later. It seemed fitting that he was in a polycule with the Grim Reaper; death seemed to follow him wherever he went.

"We'll see," he said at last. "The hospital still might call me in for a few consults. A retired doctor still has his obligations to old colleagues."

Ewan mirrored his father's tight smile. That was a no. It would hurt less if his father would just tell him upfront that he wanted nothing to do with whatever Ewan or the queen planned. It would be far more honest.

"Sure, just let me know your schedule when you can. No worries if you're busy."

"Isn't there supposed to be food at a barbecue? I'm starving."

Elowen set up the pool table while Victoriana waited.

"The food won't be ready for another hour at least. Mom said we have to wait for Grandma and Grandpa to come and they're at work. Grandpa refuses to let someone else touch the barbecue when it's his 'passion'. They'll be here soon enough though."

"Very soon," Adrienne agreed. She was too young to play pool, but she enjoyed watching the game. It was the closest she got to socializing with her extended family.

"Fine, I guess I can wait. There were chips in the kitchen though, right? We could steal some of those."

"Do you like my dress? I got it last weekend in the Pleasantview mall. It was on sale and I couldn't possibly say no to it."

Bronwen spun around dramatically to show off her dress to Fiolett. The younger girl clapped enthusiastically, wishing that she had a dress that pretty. She had a lot of dresses, sure, but they were all picked out by her dads. Fiolett couldn't wait until she was a teen and could pick out dresses for herself. That was a long way off though, so she admired other people's dresses for now.

"Be sure to congratulate Roman and Abe for me. That's wonderful that they renewed their vows. If I could find it in myself to forgive Trent if he cheated on me, I'd want to renew our vows too. It's a fresh start. Good for them."

"It's not entirely like that, it's...." Adrian trailed off, trying to find the words to explain a demon wedding. Truthfully, he wasn't entirely sure himself what Abe and Roman had volunteered for, but he didn't want Cindra to know that. "Well, maybe it is a bit of a vow renewal. Theo officiated it, so I guess it's like a magical, demonic vow renewal. You couldn't talk me into one."

"That would mean walking down the aisle again," Cindra teased. "We all know you're terrified of weddings. Otherwise, Evren would have a ring on his finger by now. Are you ever going to make an honest man out of him?"

Adrian frowned, not liking the direction their conversation had turned.

"Maybe. Not that it's any of your or Trent's business. It would make the legal process of passing my title to my legitimate daughter from another marriage harder. It's just easier this way."

"It does not," Cindra laughed. "Everyone knows that Luciana is going to become a duchess one day, the queen more than anyone. She'd have the legalities all sorted out in an afternoon. You're just chicken."

"I am not! Evren doesn't want to get married either."

"That's not what Trent said after he went bowling with Evren last week. Evren told him that he's just waiting for you to make a move. You'd say no if he proposed, so he's waiting for you to do it."

"He would never say something like that to my cousin," Adrian insisted. "You're just hoping to plan another wedding, no matter who it's for."

"Who can blame me for wanting to celebrate love? Planning my own wedding went amazingly and I want to plan another one!"

"Wasn't your little sister, Lauren, around here somewhere? Plan her wedding!"

Travis Maricourt was as far as he could get from the noisy group of people as he could be. His parents weren't coming until later, so most of the afternoon was his to sneak off and enjoy. Claudia wouldn't force him to socialize and Oliver hadn't bothered to leave college for a family event since their mother's birthday. Their father's birthday was coming up, and that was probably the last Travis would see of Oliver until the next family birthday. Travis couldn't wait to start college and finally get some time to himself without his parents "encouraging" him to talk to people he had no interest in talking to.

He didn't trust his annoying relatives not to read his journal if he brought it with him, so instead, Travis brought his magical theory workbook. Theory didn't feel like homework to him, like it did to his classmates. It was fascinating to map out the bones that held up the living world, to see how the pieces of an existential puzzle clicked together. His parents talked a lot about how the worlds of life and death overlapped, and Travis simply had to know how it all worked. Not that he would change existence or anything if he learned how. He just had so many questions.

"You were right."

"I usually am. Today, I wish I wasn't, though. I don't know what this means. There's definitely a current running through here, but why?"

Izanami bowed his head, contemplating the situation.

"I don't like this," he finally decided. "This feeling...it feels old. Demonic, probably."

"It feels like it did over a decade ago," Lukas insisted. "Like when Leo was attacked...but also different. There's this sense of...nothingness. Can you feel it too?"

Izanami nodded his agreement.

"I'll contact Gee and let him know how he should do my job. You can't intervene here."

"I know that. I'll go to the school and make sure that the children are safe. I'm not taking any chances with their safety. But this will probably blow over and be fine, right? Oh! Arterius! Call him and tell him to meet me at the school. Just because he's an adult doesn't mean he's exempt from family meetings."

"Of course, dearest. I'll join you in a moment."

Lukas vanished into a shower of sparkling light. As soon as they were out of sight, Izanami closed his eyes and tried to listen to the hum of existence. Screams echoed over loud waves crashing against jagged rocks. A hurricane roared as it churned into existence. A royal ship cracked in two as it sank beneath the wild waves.

Lukas lifelessly lying encased in a glass tomb. A howl of wind that swept away the souls of the dead. The cold truth that sometimes even the dead could die.

It had all happened before, and now it was happening again despite Izanami's best efforts. A shiver ran down his spine as he felt several names engrave themselves on the list in his son's office. The deaths had been finalized. There was no hope of changing them now. It was beginning.

[luverofralts]

Arkhelios Adventures

"Maura? Can you hear me?"

Queen regent Ulyssa watched her wife's still body as her chest rose and fell with her breath. Maura was breathing, which meant she was alive. After the disastrous past few days, just watching Maura breathe seemed like a miracle.

The past few days had been a blur for Ulyssa. Maura was sent home from the hospital to see if she would recover in a quieter, familiar setting. Ulyssa's father had assured her that this was good news, and it meant that they had faith that Maura would pull through. Maura’s child had to be removed from her for both of them to have a fighting chance to survive. The infant seemed to be doing well, or so Ulyssa was told. She didn't have the energy to deal with her wife's affair child. Not when her own family was failling apart.

"I hope you can hear me, Maur. You can't die on me, not when I need you the most. Our people are scared, our children are traumatized, and it hurts so bad to even think of you dying. I've loved you since I was a teenager. You were my high school sweetheart. I can't lead this family without you."

Ulyssa closed her eyes, and the only things she could see were two of her children's empty rooms and two little coffins she had picked out three hours earlier. The royal physician had given her something to help her relax, but it was barely touching her pain.

Maura couldn't die. Ulyssa didn't give her permission to die while they were still at each other's throats. She needed Maura to wake up so that she could hold her as tight as she could and tell Maura that she loved her with everything she had. The past didn't matter. The affairs didn't matter. Becoming both queen and a mother too soon didn't matter. Ulyssa had loved only one person after Zane and she wouldn't let Maura die too.

"The funerals are next week. I delayed them as long as I could just in case you woke up. I know how pissed you'd be if you missed our children's...if you...." Ulyssa trailed off, unable to finish her sentence. "Lauren's funeral is this Friday. Cindra is going, but Trent and I have to stay here in case something else happens. I can't believe that I have to miss my little sister's funeral. I can't believe she's dead in the first place. You would know what to do if you were here. You've always known just what to do. I love you, Maura. Please, please wake up."

"Mommy?"

Ulyssa turned over to find her oldest son staring fearfully at her.

"I had a bad dream," Adrion whimpered. "I-I saw Alysiara and-and she...her face was-"

"Hey, it's okay," Ulyssa said soothingly, running to her son's side. "You're safe now. I won't let anyone hurt you, I promise."

"It's not okay. Mommy's going to die, isn't she? I don't want her to die! I want my brother and sister back!"

"Come with me. I want to show you something," Ulyssa replied, guiding her reluctant son towards his unconscious mother. "Mommy's right there. She's not going to die. She's a fighter just like you. I miss Alysiara and Spencer too. I miss them so much, it feels like my chest is going explode from all my sadness. I bet you probably feel the same way."

Adrion nodded, his eyes glued to Maura on the bed.

She didn't look scary or connected to the scary machines she'd been hooked into at the hospital. People weren't yelling orders or preparing her for surgery. She was just there. Sleeping. At least he hoped she was sleeping.

"I just want everything to be normal again!" Adrion cried, clinging to his mother tightly. Ulyssa wrapped her arms around her son as he began to cry.

"I know. I know you do. I want things to be normal too. But we have to be strong. One day, you're going to be the king, and you'll need to lead this country like Mommy does. When bad people try to hurt us, you will tell your children the same thing I'm telling you now." Ulyssa paused, trying to remember the words her father had once told her after losing her mother. "We are strong and brave, and no one is ever going to love you more than me and Mommy. I'll protect you and your siblings with my life if I have to. If anyone tries to hurt you, they'll have to go through me and Mommy and Uncle Trent and Uncle Adrian and the queen of Pleasantview and all her witches. This attack won't happen again, I promise you. You're descended from warrior kings and queens on Mommy's side and the biggest, toughest survivors on mine. We're going to get through this."

"She looks sad. She needs someone to keep her company. Can I stay with her?"

Ulyssa looked at her son kindly, smiling softly at his kindness, even if she couldn't allow the request.

"Honey, she needs to rest. There will be lots of doctors coming to check up on her, don't worry. You need to be a big older brother and help your siblings. I'm keeping the country safe until your mom can again, and we need someone to protect your siblings, to be a leader. I want you to watch what I do and what Mommy will do when she's better very closely. One day, this will be your job. Can I count on you to practice being king and protecting your siblings?"

Adrion nodded tearfully. Some of the clouds of grief disappeared from his face now that he had a mission and something to focus on.

"I'll be right back!"

Ulyssa watched as her son bolted down the hall towards the children's bedrooms. At first, she worried that Adrion was running into Alysiara or Spencer’s rooms, but minutes later, her son returned, carrying a familiar large stuffed fox toy in his arms.

"Mr. Fox can take care of Mommy while we're gone," Adrion declared. Mr. Fox was easily his favourite toy in the world. He had been a gift from Claudia, who had inherited the descendants of King Mordred's fox breeding program to her displeasure. She had handed care of the domesticated foxes over to a highly qualified candidate, but the farm they lived on was a popular place for young royals to visit. Adrion vowed that one day he'd have one of Aunt Claudia's foxes as a pet to his parents' frustration. Trusting Mr. Fox to care for his mother was an important gift from her young son and it made Ulyssa want to cry just looking at the toy nestled in her wife's arms.

"That's a very nice thing you did," Ulyssa said, trying not to cry. "Mr. Fox will take great care of your mother. I'm sure that when Mommy wakes up, she'll be very thankful to have had his company."

Please wake up. Please, please wake up.

"With Mr. Fox on duty, it's time for us to do our part, too. I'm going to be meeting a bunch of important grown-ups downstairs, and you're going to stay with your siblings upstairs where the guards will protect you. If you need anything, ask them for help. I'll be back upstairs with you guys in a few hours. I love you. Remember that."

"I love you, too."

Ulyssa took a deep breath and then released it. She wasn't used to sitting in this chair. Hers was the seat next to it. The throne for the consort. Sitting in Maura’s place didn't sit well with her. Ulyssa had never wanted Maura’s thone, and it felt wrong just sitting in it without a guard yelling at her for trespassing.

Still. Maura needed her to do this. Ulyssa would do this for the woman she loved and the country she loved and then sob about how awful it felt to sit in the throne room alone.

"Welcome Lord Goldman and...Prince Goldman was it?"

Ulyssa paused, unsure of what titles she was supposed to be using. She knew both men but, Ewan, Duke Goldman, was closer to her own age. His father barely came to royal events if he could get out of them, so Ulyssa tried not to beat herself up about confusing his title. Maybe even Maura forgot about him sometimes.

"It's Dr. Travers," the older man replied stiffly. "Prince Goldman was my father, and Duke Goldman is my son. I don't need a fancy title in my life, trouble usually finds me easily enough without one."

Ewan scowled beside his father, hoping that Ulyssa didn't pick up on Travis' rude words. She was a grieving mother, for God's sake! All those years listening to his older sister had made Travis wary of titles, roles, and ceremonies. It was an attitude adopted by his maternal family as well. They had welcomed Prince Ewan Goldman into their family as Ewan, master of the grill and the man in possession of their daughter's heart. Duke Ewan didn't see things quite that way, which often caused friction between father and son. Grumbling about the monarchy to family was one thing, openly being hostile to the queen's appointed successor was another entirely.

"We've come here to renew the pledge of our family's loyalty to Her Majesty," Ewan said politely. "There has been talk of a war since the attack. This is the second attack on the throne in a decade, and we want to make sure that our families will be safe going forward. That the country will be safe going forward."

"A war?" Ulyssa repeated. She hadn't been briefed on declaring war on anyone yet, and it was probably a burning question in many of her subject's minds. "I appreciate your concern and loyalty. I'm not ready to declare war quite yet, but unlike the last attack on our beloved Queen Cherry, I vow to find the person responsible for the deaths of my children and soon. When the time comes, I'll be sure to inform you."

"Are we done?" Travis whispered to his son, at a volume that Ulyssa could clearly hear him. "Medora wanted me to take her shopping for a dress for the Goldman Memorial Ball. I promised not to be late."

Ulyssa could see Ewan grind his teeth, trying to ignore his father.

"You're dismissed," Ulyssa declared before father and son could start an argument consisting entirely of glares. "Thank you for your kind thoughts for my family."

Ewan smiled at Ulyssa as his father sped through the building like he was allergic to it.

"He doesn't mean to be disrespectful," he replied. "It's a fight to get him to the island at all these days. Too many 'bad memories'. But he's working on it. So he says."

Ulyssa watched as Ewan chased after his father with envy. Holding court in Maura’s place was confusing and unnatural to her. She wished that she could escape it as easily as Ewan had.

"Your Majesty, you're holding court. I wasn't sure if I'd find you here. Shouldn't you be at Maura’s bedside like a proper wife?"

Ulyssa could recognize that voice anywhere. It was the voice of the nightmare that Maura could never see her as, as Claudia was always nice to her cousin. Maybe it had been Ulyssa's trying to dig up dirt on Claudia by visiting her parents that had started the permanent glower Claudia gave her, but honestly, Ulyssa had always felt it in some way. Even when they were engaged, Claudia made no secret of her dislike for Ulyssa to anyone who would listen.

Of course, Claudia would show up here at the moment Ulyssa felt weakest.

"Hello, Claudia."

"Hello, Your Majesty," Claudia corrected. "I'm a queen, and you're a stand-in. Maura is my equal and cousin. You can address me as Your Majesty while holding court."

Ulyssa gritted her teeth, but vowed not to show weakness to Claudia. Maura always said that Claudia was just trying to test people for weakness with her words. She never truly threatened people, she just listened to what they revealed about themselves.

"Hello, Your Majesty," Ulyssa replied, trying not to fall for Claudia's tricks. "What do I have to thank for your presence here?"

"Well, I came to check on Maura’s condition personally," the queen replied, sitting casually in a nearby seat that didn't belong to people outside of the immediate royal family. "Of course, I've already been informed about her, but I wanted to visit with her personally. I've also come to pass along my sorrow for the loss of your children. No parent should have to go through what you're going through."

Ulyssa couldn't judge if that comment was sincere or another trap to avoid. She decided to believe the best of the queen, like Maura would.

"I appreciate you saying that. It hasn't been easy. Truthfully, a part of me wished that I'd died with them. I don't what I'll do if Maura doesn't make it. I...I can't lose her too."

Claudia's intense gold eyes searched Ulyssa's face, looking carefully for lies. Eventually, she appeared satisfied with her results and seemed to relax slightly.

"You do seem earnest. After your fling with Roman, I've always wondered what you would do if something were to happen to Maura."

A million angry words sprung to Ulyssa's mind, but she tried as best as she could to silence them. This was clearly another test.

"Roman Bellamy is a man we are both fond of, even though he can't possibly measure up to our spouses," Ulyssa said as charitably as she could manage. "Truthfully, I haven't thought of him in years. I'm sure he sends his condolences for the tragedy that has consumed my family, but I have no interest in hearing it from him personally."

"Hmmm. You're getting better at lying, but like so many other aspects of your life, it's still a bit lacking. An admirable attempt though." Claudia paused, watching as Ulyssa struggled not to react to her words. Maura had had a poker face mastered by the time they were teens. Clearly, she hadn't instructed her wife on how to do the same. "Look, Queen Regent, I'll be blunt to save you the trouble of trying to discern my intentions yourself. I've come to talk about how our countries will need to operate going forward from this tragedy."

"How they need to operate? I wasn't aware that you had any influence on how the monarch of this sovereign country chooses to 'operate'. Maura can make her own choices and I will make them in her place."

"My children died, Claudia," Ulyssa hissed, finally reaching her breaking point. "Everything you fear actually happened to me. I don't give a fuck about your fears or threats. My children are gone. I hope that never happens to you, but I couldn't care less about your opinions about my family. I'm sure Princess Victoriana is perfectly safe with your 'forces' to watch over her."

"Your family was attacked, Regent. Only your family. The Durant family was targeted, and my daughter could have been killed just for sharing a cottage with them. I don't intend to let that happen again. I can easily defend myself, but I will not tolerate anyone who puts my daughter in danger. If the heir to the Pleasantview throne is harmed in any way, there will be consequences. Not just from me, either. Forces with power beyond your imagining will make their displeasure known, and you don't want that, trust me."

"Oh, she is well protected," Claudia replied, ignoring Ulyssa's outburst. "But there is always the danger of being caught unaware. My security didn't recognize the danger here until it was too late. I trusted Maura’s team when I should have relied on my own. Twikkii Island seems to be unsettled when Pleasantview security personnel are seen in the streets. Making the public feel secure isn't my responsibility, and in the future, I will have my security team here with me. They're here right now and so far, no one has noticed."

Ulyssa nodded curtly. She had never seen Maura disagree about Claudia's security team. If anything, having them around might benefit Twikkii Island security. Claudia had a much larger budget to work with and a loyal coven of powerful magic users.

"As long as they are discreet and willing to inform our security of their findings. I see no issue with that."

"I'm going to need ownership of a piece of the cottage," Claudia continued. "Not the entire lot, just a fraction of it. Legally. Let's say the room that is already reserved for my use. This is nonnegotiable."

Ulyssa's blood ran cold despite Claudia's pleasant smile. What would Maura say? She was always worried that Claudia might come for her throne someday. Claudia did have the stronger claim legally as the daughter of Queen Spencer’s oldest daughter. If she was going to pursue that claim, she would probably also be targeting the Strangetown throne as well, seeing as her mother had been the oldest heir of their oldest heir. Was this what was happening? Was Claudia finally making a move to conquer while Maura was fighting for her life?

Ulyssa didn't think so. She had watched Claudia and Maura together over the years and Claudia seemed to earnestly care about Maura. Besides, if this really was a coup on Claudia's part, it was far too clumsy and ineffective. If Claudia really was planning to take over the throne, Ulyssa had always imagined such an attack to be more aggressive, striking fear into the hearts of everyone in her path.

"What do you need with a small ownership on land belonging to the crown?" Ulyssa asked, trying not to show weakness. She had no idea how successful she was.

"For your protection. For my protection. I'll explain it to Maura when she's back in charge. For now, you can get the paperwork started. I'll have one of my lawyers meet with your representative tomorrow. After everything I've done for Twikkii Island over the years, I'd expect it as a gift, but unfortunately, money needs to be exchanged. A single simoleon will do to make the transfer legal."

"You want to buy part of the land owned by the crown for a simoleon?" Ulyssa repeated, blown away by the sheer audacity of the Pleasantview queen. "Maura would never agree to that! No one would!"

Claudia smiled.

"Maura will. It's such a small ask after all I've done for her. For all I'm going to do in the future."

"Think on it," Claudia said, rising from her seat. "I'll have my lawyer visit tomorrow around noon. Give Maura my best. I think she's going to like my special project. Oh, and congratulations on your new daughter. Be sure to let me know what her name is, and I'll send a gift."

Ulyssa struggled to keep her composure. It would be so rewarding to flip Claudia off, but Ulyssa was half convinced that the woman had eyes in the back of her head. Claudia was the last person Ulyssa needed to piss off at the moment, so her hands remained firmly in her lap.

When she was confident that Claudia had left, Ulyssa rose from her throne and signaled to a royal guard that she was ending court early. This merited some deeper thoughts on the matter. Snuggling with her children while reading what little the Twikkii Island monarchy had on Claudia was probably much closer to what Maura would want than thanking wellwishers for their sympathy. Twikkii Island wasn't going to fall for Claudia's scheme on Ulyssa's watch.

[luverofralts]

Arkhelios Adventures

Queen Maura stared at the assembled crowd waiting for her to speak on the ground. She remembered watching her grandmother address the nation from the balcony on the highest floor of the palace. Queen Spencer had made it look impossibly easy, but then, she had spoken from there for decades. Maybe at some point, her grandmother had struggled with the task like Maura did. Probably not, but Maura could dream.

"Thank you all for coming to the Goldman Memorial Ball to honour two of our nation's greatest citizens, cruelly lost in the shadows of war. The current Duke and Duchess Goldman will be our hosts for the duration of the day, as we celebrate Prince Ewan Goldman and his posthumous Duchess, Elizabeth Traver in the place the prince spent much of his early years. Please welcome Duke Ewan and Duchess Edana."

Ewan and Edana were positioned at the entrance of the palace with a speech prepared to begin the festivities that would give Maura precious minutes to prepare herself for a day of maintaining the illusion that she was in any way prepared for this.

It was another royal event where hundreds of innocent people gathered, expecting Maura to guarantee their safety. She hadn't been prepared for a family barbecue that had ended the lives of two of her children; what possible guarantee could she give that their guests were safe today? Even worse, her surviving children would be milling around the room with these guests, in places she couldn't guarantee their constant protection.

She sighed heavily and took a reassuring breath in to steady her nerves. Her security was well trained and prepared for trouble. Claudia was bringing her own security and Roman's demon son as well, so there was even more protection against Maura’s mysterious enemies.

Mysterious and anonymous as an assassin. A trained assassin just like the man I thought I knew so much about. My dear old assassin father who faked his death to abandon me.

Maura shook her head vigorously, trying to free her mind of any thoughts about the past. This was the present and the future. Her life lay ahead of her, not in the pain of the past.

Maura descended down the stairs just in time to walk out with her wife, Ulyssa. Ulyssa had been just as much of a wreck as her wife all morning and the two women shared a miserable look before reaching the door.

"Please let this go smoothly today, without any bloodshed," Ulyssa whispered loudly, casting her eyes upward in case any deity could hear her plea. "Please. Please."

Maura couldn't have said it better herself.

"Welcome, Duke Goldman," Maura exclaimed loudly, holding her arms out to embrace Ewan. "The palace is yours for the remainder of the day. Do your ancestors proud."

"T-this isn't televised is it? Are millions of people going to see me dancing?"

Travis Goldman looked around anxiously looking for new crews and cameras, but he didn't see any. Just because he couldn't see them though, didn't mean they weren't there.

"No, this is just for the nobility," Claudia assured her little brother. "Some things need to stay out of the public eye, so we maintain a level of secrecy and interest. What people can't see for themselves drives speculation. Just like when Master Maricourt holds a coven meeting that apprentices aren't allowed in. It makes you curious, right?"

"That can't really be the reason for all this," Travis scoffed, making his sister laugh.

"No, not really," Claudia confessed, still laughing. "It's a memorial ball for the family and nobility, so it's supposed to look somber and respectful. The speeches will go to the media, but none of the dancing or fun. It's a good type of event for Maura to restart the royal schedule with after the palace mourning period. No cameras, a limited guest list, and all the security I could bring with me without causing a scene. This will be good for Maura."

"Being queen sounds complicated," Travis noted. "I'm glad that it's you on the throne and not me. When do you get time to read?"

Claudia tried to stifle her laughter as best as she could so she didn't interrupt Maura’s conversation nearby.

"That's a good question," she replied. "You and Ollie just enjoy your lives in the nobility, and I'll take care of the throne. Trust me, it has its benefits."

After several minutes of Maura speaking with the Goldman family, Claudia was allowed to greet her cousin.

"Hey. How are you holding up? Nothing bad will happen today. I promise you."

Maura hugged her cousin gratefully.

"You don't know how much that means to me," she said quietly. "Ulyssa and I have been losing our minds trying to get the kids ready while trying not to think of the worst case scenarios."

"That's understandable, but you have a limited guest list and both of our royal security teams. Plus, both Theo and Adam are in attendance, and trust me, those kids can pull off amazing things together. There's nothing to worry about."

Maura tried to smile, but she wasn't fooling the cousin who knew her better than anyone.

"Of course. Those are all perfectly logical reasons to believe there won't be any disturbances. Only...my children died at a barbecue with family only in our secure cottage. Nowhere is safe, Claudia. My mother died on our yacht while guarded. There's no reason why I should feel safe in my own home and you know it."

Claudia sighed. Maura had a point, but being paralyzed by fear was only going to lead her to the same path as Crystal Cove's ineffective king. There was no way that Claudia was going to let her cousin be ridiculed like King Liam.

"Just trust me on this one," she assured Maura. "This is going to be fine. If even the tiniest thing goes wrong, I'm prepared. Hellfire will rain down on anyone who poses a threat."

Instead of reassuring her, Maura’s anxiety doubled at these words.

"Not actual hellfire though, right? You're just using a metaphor and not telling me why you brought a teenage demon to my home to protect me...right? Claudia, this is my home, even if magic or whatever, thinks you have a better blood claim to it. You can't burn down this building that's stood for centuries just to protect one ball!"

Claudia waved away her cousin's concerns dismissively.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Nothing will happen, but if it does, then we're good."

Claudia could hear Maura start to stammer back a reply as she walked past the queen and into the castle. A devious smile graced her lips as her plan fell into place. Now Maura had something tangible to think of instead of worrying about assassins breaking through the windows. If assassins came, Claudia had security to deal with them, but how likely was that? No, now Maura wouldn't spend the day worrying about outside threats. Knowing Maura, she would now follow her cousin and Roman's fire prone son around, worrying about hellfire burning down her throne room instead of reliving the trauma of losing her children. Maura was lucky to have such a thoughtful friend. Besides, everyone knew that hellfire was cold and easily manipulated by magic. Even if Claudia had retained Theo's services for her defense, hellfire was the last thing Maura should be worried about.

Adam stared at the ballroom with an ever growing anxiety of his own. This would be the first time that he'd see Theo in months, and his heart still froze in his chest at the thought.

Theo would want to kiss him. He'd be physically touching Theo's skin again, just as he had before when touching Theo had nearly killed him.

But Theo was fixed now, or so he promised. A god had reassembled all the broken pieces of Theo's powers and he was safe to touch. Adam could close his eyes and still feel Theo's hand running across bare skin, sending shivers down his spine. Giving in would feel so good, but Adam couldn't. Something would go wrong. It always did, no matter how safe he felt. He loved Theo, but he couldn't deny how terrified he was to be standing near him again. It had just been Adam on his own for months now, recovering without Theo's help. Did they even still have things in common anymore? Adam knew that he'd changed since Theo left, and he didn't doubt that Theo had done the same.

"Look at Adam. He looks like he's about to have a stroke. We should get him a drink or something before he explodes and ruins the ball."

Bronwen stared at her stepbrother with concern, while Remy shrugged with indifference.

"He always looks like that," she remarked. "Theo's going to show up any minute and then he'll be fine. It's just nerves."

"Where's your date?" Bronwen asked, noticing that Adam wasn't the only Darktide looking anxious. "Did Malika stand you up?"

Remy scowled at the name.

"She had something come up," Remy replied, trying to keep the bitterness out of her voice so that her stepsister wouldn't think that it bothered her. It didn't. At all. "It's for the best though. I didn't really like dancing with her much anyway."

Bronwen nodded, not willing to waste a perfectly good ball listening to her sister complain about her love life.

"Where's your date anyway?" Remy asked, hoping to deflect from her own problems. "Did your perfect demigod stand you up?"

Bronwen laughed happily, only deepening Remy's resentment.

"No, his mom dropped him off and security won't clear him while Life is around a secure royal property. He texted me saying that his dad was going to intervene and that he should just be a little late."

While the other Darktides were stressing about their own love lives, Elowen was pretty content with hers. Travis was dressed in his uniform, his hair brushed and not a book in sight. He was a perfect prince or Duke or whatever rank his sister would give him when he came of age. He held Elowen just the way she'd imagined he would while dancing, and he didn't miss a single step or step on her toes. No one thought of him being anywhere nearly as trained as his sister, but this dance revealed Travis' considerable skills. Clearly, he had been hiding his talent from the world.

"Well, Duchess Goldman, how is your ball so far? None of the kids are causing trouble, the queen looks like she's distracted, and everyone looks like they're having fun. I'd call this a success."

Ewan spun his wife around cheerfully, immensely glad that so far everything was going to plan.

"Yes, so far so good," Edana agreed. "I don't see Adam's demon anywhere. Maybe Her Majesty left him at home."

"You know that's only going to make Adam cling harder to him," Ewan chided gently. "You know, some of us dated people just to piss off our parents and when they didn't react, we moved on."

"Not me or my brother," Edana snapped. "I had respectful matches the coven approved of and Adam? He always brought home polite, beautiful witches. Which is why I just can't understand our children. Did you see who our daughter is dancing with? Travis Maricourt! His mothers were cruel, psychotic, evil-"

"Okay, how about you leave chaperoning the kids to me?" Ewan suggested, spinning his wife to distract her from Elowen's dance partner. "Travis Goldman is a perfectly nice boy. Do you really think one of the Goldman kids is going to do anything evil? You've met my aunt and uncle. Trust me, Travis is nothing to worry about. And as for your brother, I don't know why you can't see that he wasn't some saint. Obviously, he met his kids' mother somewhere, and she wasn't a 'polite' woman. If you ask me-"

Ewan wisely ended his thought before he could dig himself too deep. A dance floor wasn't the place to confront his wife's deep-seated brother issues. If he pushed too hard against the image of "poor Adam, lost saint corrupted by an evil woman" Edana was going to snap, just as she always did when her brother was mentioned. There were some days that Ewan wished that he could have met Adam before his death and punched the guy in the face.

"Yes, you're right," Edana conceded, though her eyes still burned with an indignate anger that Ewan knew all too well. "My brother was a bad person, how ever could I forget that? My son surely won't make the same mistakes and my daughter won't be tempted by the son of such powerful witches. Everything will be fine."

Ewan sighed, but tried to keep his expression neutral so that the queen didn't see his frustration at a ball he was hosting.

"Edana, the kids aren't our lost family members. None of them are Adam, or my sister, Tristianne, or even you or me. I know we're still not masters of the whole raising teenagers thing yet, but I know that none of the kids are going to follow someone else's path. They're going to find new, unexpected ways to drive us crazy and we need to be prepared for that instead of chasing the past."

"Would you like to dance?"

Remy looked up from her phone to find Princess Victoriana watching her. She instinctively looked to her side to see who Victoriana was talking to, but there was only Bronwen, still texting her date.

"Me?" Remy asked curiously. "Sure, I'm the best dancer around. I'd love to."

"Great! I was hoping to dance with an expert," Victoriana laughed. "After all the lessons my mom has put through, it'll be good to have someone be able to keep up."

Terror grabbed at Remy as she thought about all the dance lessons she'd ignored over the years. She could bluff her way through dancing with a future queen...somehow.

"Your mom keeps giving me a dirty look," Travis remarked as he perfectly executed the complex footwork few other dancers could master. "I get it; she knew my bio moms. Does any of that bother you? I promise I won't be mad if you don't want to date me because of my bio family. A lot of people get weird with me when they learn about them. Well, and then even more weird if they find out my parents are reapers and my sister is the queen of Pleasantview. I have a complicated family."

Travis seemed to brace himself for rejection, while Elowen's heart wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention. It was too focused on the word "date."

"You want to date me? Like be my boyfriend?" When Travis nodded, Elowen's entire face lit up. "Yes! Yes, I'll be your girlfriend!"

"You're a pretty good dancer," Victoriana lied, dodging Remy's wandering foot as she fumbled through the dance moves. "Do you practice at school? We have to at my school since so many of us are future leaders and will have to attend a lot of balls in our lives."

"No, we mostly focus on magic," Remy replied. "Spells, potions, healing magic, sometimes curses. It's pretty dull, especially if you're not planning on being much of a witch when you graduate."

"You still feel that way?" Victoriana asked curiously. Remy was always full of surprises. "With power like yours and your family all being in the coven, it would make sense for you to follow a life of magic."

Remy rolled her eyes, forgetting that she was dancing with a princess.

"It's all overrated. Just look at my brother. He's attached himself to a hurricane of demonic power and he seems miserable all the time, especially after nearly dying and being scarred for life. My dad leads the coven, but he's lonely and can't ever keep a partner for more than a few years. My mom- well, you've met my mom. You know what she's like. Magic ruins people's lives. I don't see what's so great about it."

"I don't think magic is to blame for all of that," Victoriana replied. "You're just so good at it; I'm surprised that you seem to hate it so much."

"I'm not good, I'm practically failing," Remy said quickly, before Victoriana could compliment her any further.

"You're failing on purpose. Everyone knows that. If you actually tried, you might even be better than your brother. Hell, you could even take your father's place and run the coven one day. I'd appoint you when I'm queen."

Remy laughed nervously, unsure of what exactly the princess was planning.

"You really like to talk like you're queen already, don't you?" she asked warily. "Your mother and Miruna's baby will be head of the coven, that's already been decided. I don't have the proper bloodline even if I wanted the job-which I don't, by the way. Thanks for the vote of confidence though."

Victoriana shrugged.

"Well, keep it in mind," she suggested. "It was just a thought."

Princess Georgiana tried to play her video game as quietly as possible. The last thing she wanted to do was be a part of any of the festivities in the ballroom. Dances were loud, annoying, boring things and as part of the royal family, Georgiana was expected to smile and stay focused on being a princess. While her parents were focused on the ball, Georgiana planned to hide by the large plant in the hall until she could take off her stupid formal ware and play video games wearing her pajamas in her room. Adrion was the future king, let him worry about dancing.

And Adrion was doing his part as best as he could. While Georgiana hid in the hallway, Adrion and Viola danced with the adults, always being sure to keep a calm, royal composure while there were guests at the palace. Their parents looked happy and relaxed, so Adrion and Viola trusted that they were safe. Balls weren't really that bad. There was food and music and they got to stay up later than their bedtime until the guests left or their parents sent them upstairs.

Theo walked by Princess Georgiana, who was doing a poor job of hiding from the adults. He shook his head, thinking about weird it was that his half-sister lived here in this palace. Then again, he had just spent the summer living with his other half-sister in a different palace with his dad's ex-fling. His life truly was a strange one.

But Adam was here. Finally, he'd be face to face with his boyfriend again and everything would be right in the world. He knew that Adam had been acting even more anxious than usual, and it was probably Theo's fault because of the accident that had nearly killed Adam. Theo wasn't stupid, he could understand Adam's fear. It was just up to Theo to help him move past that.

"Theo? Is that you?"

Adam stared at the sight before him, hardly believing his eyes. Theo stood before him, dressed in his formal apprentice uniform, looking nervously around to find his date. Adam was immediately overwhelmed by a whirlwind of feelings he didn't know how to process.

There was a battle raging in Adam's mind that he lost the moment Theo walked in the room. There was no fighting against a force like that.

Theo looked as gorgeous as always. He smelled like fancy soap he'd probably used at the castle. Adam could feel the connection between them crackle through the air between them. A mild static charge ran through him as Adam felt Theo's power linger in the air between them. He really had been altered by Lukas. Theo didn't feel anything like he used to. Power radiated from him, pulsing like waves that tried to submerge Adam in their dark depths.

"Theo!"

Adam's arms were around Theo before he could even announce his presence. It felt good to be in Adam's arms again, breathing in the familiar smell of the cologne his father insisted he wear to formal events. A million memories rushed back to him in an instant, his heart leaping with joy to finally be reunited with the boy he loved.

"You're late," Adam whispered as he pulled away from his boyfriend. "I didn't think that you'd make it."

Theo shrugged apologetically and Adam lost himself in Theo's guilty smile. Theo had a smile that could melt steel. Adam didn't stand a chance.

"I got held up in security," he replied. "There was a line because a certain deity triggered a million security measures designed to keep them out. It was a whole thing, but I'm here now."

"Well, it's a ball, I guess we should dance," Adam said finally, his brain short circuiting trying to count the freckles on Theo's nose. There seemed like more than usual now. "Everyone else is."

Theo nodded and extended his hand. Adam placed his hand in Theo's and walked towards the dance floor.

Electricity jumped through each finger as they brushed against Theo's. It hummed through their bodies as they pressed together to dance. Could other people feel the intensity between them or was this something only they could feel?

"I've missed this," Theo said quietly to avoid eavesdroppers. "The dream realm couldn't even come close to matching this. I'm actually touching you again."

Adam instinctively snapped to attention at these words, pulling slightly away from his dance partner for his own safety. It took a moment, but his brain did catch up, realizing that his fears were unfounded. He could see the hurt in Theo's eyes when he had pulled away, but he hadn't had any control over his reaction. Clearly, there was a long road of regaining trust between them.

"So, did they teach you how to dance at your school? You're way better at dancing than I remember," Adam asked, desperate to restart their conversation with anything else.

"A little," Theo replied. His gaze lingered for a few seconds longer than he'd intended on the large scar on Adam's face, which Adam noticed and turned his head away. "It was mostly the castle training though. Queen Claudia trained me for a bunch of scenarios, including dances. They did let me study some battle magic at school, though, which has forms similar to dancing. Torkel was a really good teacher when they let me talk to him."

More than anything, Theo wanted to touch the scar his magic had left on Adam. To trace it and see if he couldn't fix what he'd done. Adam was still looking away though, setting a clear boundary. Theo wasn't to mention the scar, and even if Theo wanted to try to help, he wasn't welcome to try. He could respect that. He already felt guilty enough, and he didn't need to feel any worse.

"So are you almost ready for school?" Adam said after an awkward few moments of silence. "My dad is already stressing about it. We're getting an exchange student this year from Jubilant Accosts, maybe you know him. His name is Sebastian something."

Theo shook his head.

"No, I didn't meet anyone named Sebastian. To be fair though, I didn't meet a lot of people there. I was pretty much locked in my room reading ancient books about demonic energy transfer. Maybe he went to the school across the street. They study light magic and healing. Do you know where our rooms are going to be at school yet? I guess we won't be roommates anymore, but hopefully, we're on the same level. We can still sneak out to watch the stars either way."

"No, I haven't asked about rooms yet. Knowing my mom, I'll probably be stuck with Remy again."

"Remy? But she's your sister. They don't assign siblings together so that people meet other students."

"Yeah, well, I guess I'm the exception."

Theo and Adam quickly gave up on conversation and focused on their dancing. There'd be plenty of time to catch up later where things might not be so awkward.

At least Adrion and Viola were having fun.

[luverofralts]

Arkhelios Adventures

"Master Maricourt. You're late."

Ewan Maricourt straightened his spine and attempted to remain professional. He had been busy preparing for the Pleasantview Academy of Magic's fall term when a surprise visit from the queen had been announced, and all hell had broken loose. Student records and teacher paysheets were crumpled on the floor of his office as Ewan scrambled to find formalware appropriate for the queen.

"I apologize, Your Majesty," he said with a graceful bow. "Preparations are underway for the new school year and there is much to do. Any visit from you, though, is a gift to your humble servants."

"Wow, Dad's really off his game to be kissing the ring this much, even before school starts," Remy worried. "What does the queen want? To borrow Theo for even longer?"

"I hope not," Adam muttered. "I haven't seen him all summer. Between Mom and Her Majesty, there hasn't been a second of time to even see him in person."

"So just break into his dreams like you did last time," Remy suggested, causing Adam's scowl to deepen.

"No, I think that was a one-time kind of thing. Besides, he's not in some magically protected place this time. He's practically down the street at the palace! It's so stupid."

Remy scoffed, unwilling to listen to Adam drone on about his inconvenient, star-crossed love. Soon enough, he'd be jamming his tongue in Theo's mouth and the whole school would have to watch the two of them talk about their many annoying plans for the future.

"Well, absence makes the heart grow fonder," she sighed. "God help us if that's true."

"Master Maricourt. It's good to see you."

Miruna met her fiancée and smiled at her father. It had been too long since she had been to see him. Despite working with little magic users at the Princess Zarah Academy, she didn't have a lot of time to spend with the rest of the Pleasantview coven.

"Your Highness."

Ewan bowed to his daughter, trying to remain professional for the sake of the queen. There was a seriousness about her that he couldn't read. Between her worrying attitude and setting up class schedules, Ewan was about to collapse from stress.

"Let's talk inside," Claudia suggested, as if Ewan had a choice in the matter. "There's coven matters that must be discussed before the start of school."

Princess Victoriana rushed to the door to greet her mother, followed closely by her Uncle Travis. Victoriana was supposed to be on the school grounds helping prepare the school for the new term, but Travis was a surprise.

"Travis! What a pleasant surprise! Mom and Dad let you stay at the school early? That doesn't sound like them."

Claudia hugged her little brother, genuinely surprised but glad to see him. Maybe their parents were off at work. There had to be some reason her overprotective parents let their youngest child out of their sight when school was right around the corner and they would only see him on weekends.

"They're busy with work," Travis confirmed. "There's some portal open somewhere, and some reapers are missing or something. They didn't really explain, but it means that I get to help sort the books in the school library today instead of enduring an afternoon of family board games."

Claudia groaned with sympathy, knowing exactly how tedious family board games were with their parents. They didn't even have any of the good games, just cooperative games where everyone either won or lost together. Every time someone insinuated that her father might be as evil as his biological father, Claudia just imagined family board game night, and the idea seemed impossible.

"Lucky you," she laughed. "Well, I won't keep you. I'm sure you have a stack of books calling your name. Don't forget to call Ollie and me from time to time this term. We may not all live in the same house anymore, but I do miss spending time with my little brothers."

Remy lurked outside the hall where the queen and Remy's father had disappeared into the coven meeting chamber. There was something ominous in the air that she couldn't quite place, and it was driving her crazy.

She had been at the Siew cottage when the queen of Twikkii Island was attacked and had seen violence first hand. Within the past year, she'd witnessed dead bodies strewn in a royal cottage and had watched her father frantically try to keep her twin brother from dying in his arms in the room down the hall. It had been a dangerous year so far, and Remy couldn't seem to shake the sense that more danger followed the queen today. A meeting this unexpected had to be something big.

"How can I help, Your Majesty?" Ewan asked cautiously, taking a seat next to the queen. "Is everything well? I can call the rest of the coven if you wish."

Claudia shook her head, and some tension left Ewan's shoulders. A private meeting without the coven meant that any threat she was here to discuss would be minor.

"No, this involves your role as head of this academy," Claudia explained. "There has been a request to accept a new student this term. That place we agreed to send Theo to study? Well, it seems like they would like us to return the favour."

"An exchange student? I thought that realm was sealed outside of emergencies like Theo's meltdown. The amount of documents I needed to sign just to get his foot in the door was astronomical. What's the catch here?"

"No obvious catch, though I'm sure there is one. There always is. On paper, it's just a request to send a sixteen year old boy for the school year, living in the dorm with a meal plan. Unofficially? I have no idea. I know very little about Jubilant Accosts outside of what the onboarding team told us regarding Theo. They're strict and...religious, that's all I know."

"They descend from a medieval society just as Pleasantview evolved from Old Tredony," Ewan supplied. "The forms I had to sign for Theo were written in the Old Tredony language. I guess they thought we still spoke it for some reason. I had to get a coven elder to even understand what language I was looking at. But as long as they send me a list of whatever is needed, I can add this boy to the register today."

Claudia nodded. Her hands folded in her lap, signaling that she had more to say but was waiting for his full attention.

"I want to have eyes on this boy day and night," she said at last. "I will have one of my royal guards posted at the school to supervise him. Ewan, I need you to protect this school and its students and never let this boy out of your sight. It...it makes me uneasy to accept this student, but it's the best way to know what this strange land may want from us. Why are they reaching out now and why this boy? We sent them Theo when he was a danger to himself and others. Perhaps this boy is in the same situation."

Ewan frowned.

"But it was our demons and our council that even nominated Jubilant Accosts for Theo in the first place. The demonic sovereign enthusiastically supported the idea. It's a place as ancient as Pleasantview and-"

"And just as dangerous," Claudia interrupted irritably. "There are sections of Pleasantview darker than one could ever imagine, and I trust that this place is no different. Maybe they want to develop a relationship between our nations or maybe they're interested in something darker. After the attacks on Maura, I can't take that chance. Every sense in my body is screaming that this is dangerous, but I can't risk a bad relationship with an unknown power. I need you to protect this school and watch this boy."

"Of course, Your Majesty," Ewan replied. He understood the dilemma the queen was in and how dangerous the road may be before them, but this was just another important thing to cram into his already packed schedule. It looked like he'd be sleeping in his office again. "What is the boy's name? Does he have parents or siblings to call ahead of time with the supply list for the semester?"

"His name is Sebastian Wall," Claudia replied. "No parents, no siblings, no home address. All I've received is a name and an age and that he can perform defensive and battle magic with ease. He'd like to study our history and learn healing magic from what I've been told, and I'm more than happy to authorize that. If he wanted access to our battle magic, that would be out of the question."

"Of course. I'll hide some of our more dangerous tomes in the restricted area, just to be safe."

Remy wasn't sure if she felt better having eavesdropped or not. True, the queen wasn't worried about an offensive strike any time soon, but the possibility still lingered. What did this strange nation want, and why only send one teenager? Was it just because Pleasantview had sent one teenager to them? Was he a spy? Was he going to attack Pleasantview like Twikkii Island had been?

Still, a teenage boy was no challenge to Remy. She had every boy in Pleasantview eating out of her hand (aside from her twin, of course), winning this Sebastian over would be easy. She would do her patriotic duty and keep an eye on this newcomer for Her Majesty. There was no way Remy could handle being at ground zero of another attack. This Sebastian was going to fail at whatever he had come here to do.

"Do you ever think that we'll have our portraits hung up at school someday?" Travis asked a very bored looking Victoriana. He'd run into her on his way to the library and he usually didn't mind talking to his niece. She was well educated and reasonable, unlike most of the teenagers who attended his school.

"Well, I definitely will when I inherit the throne one day," Victoriana replied, as if this should be obvious. Clearly, Travis thought of her as a princess and not as a future queen. "I'm sure you will someday too. With your genes, you'll probably be running this place when you're done school."

Travis laughed at the thought.

"No thanks, I'd rather continue my studies over teaching. Have you seen how much stress Master Maricourt is under just getting ready for the year? I'll pass."

"Elowen! Elowen, I need to talk to you! Dad and the queen had a secret meeting that I need to tell you about!"

Remy flagged down her sister frantically, casting a spell for privacy between the two of them as she ran. Elowen curiously stepped into the resulting magic circle, baffled at her sister's urgency.

"Why were you listening to Dad's meeting with the queen?" she asked even though she knew the answer. Remy had to know everything, even if it was a private matter between her father and the monarch of her country. "Wait, is this a curse or something? Am I going to get in trouble for knowing this information?"

Remy waved away her sister's concerns and leaned closer to whisper her message. Elowen almost pulled away out of self-preservation, but then decided that if Remy was going to recklessly put herself in potential danger, Elowen should know what to tell Remy's father when it inevitably blew up in her face.

"There's going to be a student from wherever they sent Theo," Remy whispered, despite the privacy spell she'd cast. "The queen is worried that he's somehow broken like Theo was or some kind of spy. You have to help me watch him when he comes. It's our duty to the queen."

"Wouldn't our duty to the queen be to stay out of her conversations?" Elowen asked warily. "She knows better than we do when it comes to this situation. I'm sure she has a plan."

"But we could stop another attack!" Remy hissed.

"You don't know if this student is going to be dangerous!" Elowen insisted. "How would he have anything to do with what happened in Twikkii Island? He's coming to study here."

"Fine. If you're not going to help me, just keep an eye on him. I'll do the rest."

"Adam! I'm surprised you're not hounding me about Theo. He's lived down the hall from me all summer, and he says that you've barely been talking to him. He does have a cell phone, you know. His dads call him every day since my mom basically kidnapped him."

Victoriana smiled at Adam, only earning a weak smile in return.

"He's sworn an oath to Pleasantview by studying here. Your mother has the right to keep him for extended personal studies. I...I just don't want to interrupt him. He's got to be pretty busy. Plus, I'll see him at school in a while anyway. I've been busy in Crystal Cove learning how to double the size of the crystals I grow. I'll have a new one to give him by the time school starts."

"I guess. Well, text him that," Victoriana replied, looking at Adam strangely. "Not everything has to be a surprise, you know. Don't tell him I told you this, but he's been worried about you. You don't seem...excited to see him again, which has to be impossible. You two are crazy about each other. You broke into his dreams to talk to him again."

Adam smiled another weary smile that didn't seem genuine, raising the princess' suspicions.

"A lot has happened since we've seen each other really," he said cautiously. "He's been gone for so long and I've changed so much since then. I'm sure he has too, especially with all that he's learned. It's okay when we talk on the phone or text, but seeing him again in person? Holding hands again and kissing and...what if we've changed? He says that he's fixed, but what if something happens again? And my parents won't let us be roommates again, obviously, but what if he's on a different floor entirely and we never see each other outside of class? It's all just too much to think about."

Victoriana hugged her friend fiercely, hoping to dislodge his many fears about his relationship. Theo had been right, Adam was spiralling with anxiety about the future when he didn't have to face the future alone.

"Hey. Just talk to Theo, and you'll be fine," Victoriana promised, releasing him from her grip. "You can't be in a relationship by yourself. It's weird for Theo too, you know. Talk to him."

Adam nodded, but his expression was still conflicted.

"Yeah, thanks, Your Highness. I'll do that."

[luverofralts]

Arkhelios University

“Duke Goldman! How lovely to see you again.”

Maura kept her tone polite as she’d been trained to do since birth. The day had already been incredibly long, and it was barely over. After the duke’s visit, she still had several more appointments and a meeting to go through that she was dreading. It was a beautiful day out and despite ruling a country, Maura wasn’t free to go out and enjoy it. While other people got to swim or take long walks on the beautiful beaches of Twikkii Island, Maura would be reviewing graphs and approving budgets. No wonder her grandmother had been miserable to her family; the job as monarch felt more like a prison than anything and it took all of her strength not to run out of the castle in defiance. This was her job. She had a nation to protect and she knew it. It was all up to her.

“It’s great to see you again, Your Majesty,” Ewan Traver, Duke Goldman said with a smile. “I know you’re busy, but I had something I wanted to discuss with you. A close friend of mine thought he might be able to help with your initiative to update the palace gardens. I know you’re looking to maintain security while still having the garden look impressive and I thought....”

Maura tried to retain the smile on her face while still looking interested in talks about the back gardens. Couldn’t any of her family members just come to her like they had in the past? Did she really need to listen to a grand proposal about lawn care? Ewan had fun; she often saw him at the family cottage laughing and playing with his wife and kids. He had a small estate to run and all the time in the world to do what he pleased. When she and Ulyssa had children would she ever have time to play with them or would she be stuck in meetings all day?

“King Charley and Prince Vrai of Strangetown have arrived, Your Majesty,” a voice behind Maura interrupted. “Security is just clearing them now.”

“Thank you.”

What was the Strangetown king visiting about? Maura could hardly remember. Something about their shared security treaties? The upgrades to the ferry service between their two nations? Whatever it was, it would undoubtedly be tedious.

“And if I had even a limited contract, I’m sure that I could improve those statistics in as early as three months.”

Maura focused again on the man eagerly awaiting her response and smiled.

“Submit that proposal in writing to my office and I’ll have someone evaluate it,” she replied politely, completely unaware of what had just been proposed. “It certainly sounds promising. Thank you for your time.”

Ulyssa happily played on the drum set in the ballroom, feeling her frustrations leave her. She was supposed to be en route to the home of the recently revived Duke Siew, but his estate wasn’t far from the castle and Ulyssa would simply teleport there instead of drive. Teleporting meant that her security would teleport with her and she wouldn’t have to spend twenty minutes in a car, staring out the window while four armed guards watched her. It wasn’t as if there were any real threats to her safety. Most of the recent “threats” had all been fraudulent- bored people looking for attention or teens who underestimated the reaction of the castle. And her doctor’s appointment after seeing Adrian? That would be a breeze to get to; what would be hard was protecting any conclusions of that appointment.

“King Charley. Prince Vrai. Welcome to Twikkii Island.”

Maura forced a smile. It wasn’t like the two brothers from Strangetown were difficult people. Maura usually enjoyed their company at balls or formal events, but did they really need to visit and add one more appointment into her schedule? Surely a secured phone call or email could have been just as effective and she could have read or spoken to them in more comfortable clothes and without a heavy tiara.

“Your Majesty,” both brothers replied in unison, Vrai quickly bowing to the queen with higher rank.

“Shall we sit down to discuss your business with Twikkii Island?” she asked, gesturing towards the comfortable chairs in the throne room. “I can have some drinks brought in if you’d like.”

Maura watched the prince’s eyes dart around the throne room, clearly uncomfortable with standing in it. That made some sense to Maura as Vrai was once married to her now deceased grandmother and had probably spent countless hours in the throne room with the woman he loved. As far as she suspected, Vrai had been the only person her grandmother had ever loved, though Maura’s mother would have angrily corrected her if she were still here. But her mother wasn’t there. She never would be again.

“On second thought, let’s move our meeting to my office upstairs,” the young monarch said tactfully. “It would make my security team much happier and I’d much prefer the change in scenery from this room I’ve been trapped in all morning.”

Both men nodded their approval and followed Maura out to the hall towards the staircase. Vrai paused briefly, looking very much like he was evaluating something in his mind. After a moment’s pause, he cleared his throat and looked sheepishly toward Maura.

“Before we do have our meeting, there’s something I should mention,” Vrai announced quickly. “Someone is here- someone I didn’t bring, you have to know that. They usually follow me around -long story- but I didn’t bring them here. They’re not a threat-or at least they’re not usually a threat, but you should still probably know that they’re here all the same.”

Maura raised an eyebrow, suddenly interested in where this conversation was going. Beside Vrai, his brother groaned, massaging his temple.

“Oh god, here too?” he groaned. “Where?”

“The visitor entrance near the parking lot,” Vrai replied. “I couldn’t be sure until I saw the kid. It’s definitely him though.”

“Him? That’s against the treaty!” the king sighed, looking towards the door they’d just entered through as if it could explode at any second. “Why did we ever sign the agreement if they never intended on following it?”

“I told you that you can’t make a deal with a tornado. Order is against its very nature. You can’t order a god to listen to you.”

Maura stared at the brothers, completely lost.

“I’m sorry, I don’t understand,” she said diplomatically. “Are you saying that we’re in danger?”

“No,” the king replied. “But your jewelry might be. Usually their husband makes them return it within a week, but they’re like a magpie, always on the hunt for shiny objects to hoard. How lucky for me that they’ve chosen my brother as their newest pet.”

“What?”

“Smile, Davis! Daddy will want to see all the pictures from our tour of the castle. We’ll get him a keychain from the gift shop when we go for ice cream.”

“No need. Daddy can come along with you for ice cream, after we all do the tour.”

“Daddy!”

 The pale, stereotypical tourist groaned, realizing that they’d been caught.

“Who told you?” he demanded, holding his arms defensively. “I brought our son, I’m not going to do anything with Davis around.”

“No one needs to tip me off; I just wanted to spend some time with you. Although, the red hair and glasses you use in most of your disguises certainly helps.”

Death stared at his spouse kindly and Lukas sighed dramatically in response. This was a game they frequently played together, a playful game of hide and seek of sorts. Lukas would frequently get into trouble among the humans, and then wait for Death to come “stop” them. The living mortals were often frightened by the game, adding to the legend of Life and their constant struggle against Death. To the two deities however, it was simply how they flirted with each other.

“Dearest, you know the agreement you made with the living,” Death continued. “I’ve caught you fair and square, now you must use the form their security officers have been made aware of. I’m certain that you’re not going to try to steal their throne for yourself, but you know how they worry. The children need a positive role model while they’re young.”

“You steal a throne once and they judge you forever,” Lukas grumbled, waving their hand and transforming into their feminine form. “Here you go, right down to the clothes in the security alert. You ruin all my fun. The queen has the most beautiful set of earrings I wanted to try out.”

“Next time,” Death promised with a laugh.”I’ll try to arrive a little slower if you promise to put more effort into your disguise. For now though, let’s just have a nice outing with our son. I may even try to consume the mortals’ desserts that you love so much.”

Ulyssa wandered through the hallway of the living quarters listlessly. She had a long list of places to be and people to speak to, but she struggled to find the energy. She was just so tired and there was just so much to do. At least she had a reason to be so tired, aside from the long hours she kept. Her doctor’s appointment had confirmed what she had been hoping. She was pregnant.

She tried thinking of romantic ways to tell Maura know this news, but she struggled. The way things had been between them since Maura’s coronation, a text might be the fastest way to tell her this news. Before Maura’s coronation, Ulyssa could have planned a romantic dinner or made a card or surprised her with a box of baby clothes. But now? Maybe she could tell Maura when they went to bed together. Maura was usually first to fall asleep though. Maybe a note left on her pillow?

Ulyssa sighed at the thought. How unromantic. She stared at the many photographs on the castle walls with new respect. A small piece of all the people who had lived in this castle before her was now living inside her. Ulyssa carried both Twikkii Island’s past and future inside of herself which was an overwhelming thought. All of these people had made Maura and walked down these same halls. She was bringing the Durant family into this crowded bloodline in a way that she hadn’t understood until this moment. She was going to be a mother.

“There’s not a lot of new pictures posted here. I figured that Maura would have the walls covered with all of the pictures she takes, but I guess she’s busy now.”

Ulyssa turned around to find Trent alone, standing behind her. Cindra wasn’t anywhere that she could see, but if Ulyssa knew her sister, Cindra would be down in the kitchens, grabbing the pastries Ulyssa had smelled baking earlier.

“She doesn’t take a lot these days,” Ulyssa replied, grateful to see a friendly face. “Plus it feels wrong to take these pictures down. They’re historical. This whole place is historical.”

“These are my grandmother’s pictures,” Trent insisted. “These are all the people she knew and loved. There’s not even a single picture of me up there, or even your wedding photos. It’s time for you to make the space your own. This is your home now; we just live here. Have some fun in your life. I promise you, Grandma’s not going to come haunt you if you change the lamps in the hall.”

Ulyssa smiled at her brother in law fondly.

“You’re right,” she said. “There has to be some upsides to living here. You’re a good guy, Trent. If you hurt my sister though, I’ll have you murdered. Don’t think that that’s a joke. If I don’t, then my dad will.”

The two laughed together and Ulyssa could feel the slightest bit of peace flare up inside her. She had a loving wife and would soon have a child that they would love together. She had so many good things to look forward to and a family that would support her through the rough patches. For the first time in months, the future looked bright.

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Sims Download: The Travers

Ewan Traver has three daughters, two of which he has joint custody of. Bronwen is Ginger’s child and half-vampire, and Elowen is Edana’s child and half-witch. Ewan isn’t supernatural in any way, so keeping up with them keeps him on his toes. They live in tropical Twikkii Island away from most of their family, but Ewan tries to see his brother Leo whenever he is visiting Edana in Strangetown.

Download (left to right): Elowen, Bronwen

Download Ewan

[luverofralts]

Simstober 30

Fright Night

Halloween isn’t entirely about candy; it’s also about scaring small children you hardly know.

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Christmas in Twikkii Island.

Where you're melting in your ugly sweater, but don't want to disappoint your parents who express shipped them for every one to wear for pictures.

The cousins all band together to snoop through the presents. Some winter decorations are also repurposed as toys until they're allowed to see what Santa brought them.

What a great haul this year!

Daddy's had too much Christmas and the kids had too much sugar. Ewan and Leo flake out post-dinner while Josh wrangles the group of hyper toddlers.

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Ewan’s finally moving out of his parents’ house! Now to make room for three kids and two step-kids on the weekends.

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I’m not anywhere close to playing this part of Edana’s story, but I’m blowing off some stress by taking pictures anyway. The Ewan she ends up with is the first one she fell in love with, Ewan Traver. When they first met in their early 20s, Edana was trying to rescue her brother from a cult, and Ewan was failing out of college. They had a one night stand that resulted in their daughter Elowen, but just when Ewan was maybe going to see if she wanted a more serious relationship, Edana was swept off her feet by Ewan Maricourt, who was far more mature and shared her magical ability.

Years pass and Ewan Traver starts to mature, learns to be a better partner, and inherits his dad’s dukedom. His daughters convince him that he still has deep feelings for Edana, who he sees often enough since they have joint custody of Elowen. He pours out his heart to Edana, who has always hoped that he wanted more with her than friendly co-parenting, and they reunite. She doesn’t really care for the duchess title, but really, it’s only an official portrait and like showing up to the Christmas ball that is actually expected from her, so her magical career is unaffected.

[luverofralts]

Ewan and his half-vampire daughter, Bronwen. Now that she’s older, she understands that Daddy is not on the menu, but teething has still been rough.