Fadri stares back at us as Landon casually wheels his chair away from the offending man, dismissing any relationship with the accused. 

"I have no idea what you're talking about-" 

The menacing growl from my warlord brings him to pause and Fadri exhales, the first time I've seen an ounce of fear in the shapeshifter since I'd met him. The exhilarating demand for truth from my husband sends a chill down my spine. 

 "Damn celestial beings..." he hisses and runs a hand roughly through the two-toned hair. "The timing is not right. I need more time..." 

The phrase catches me off guard. Did he not realize Verando's celestial being was killed? 

Verando's patience wears thin. "Let me assure you that if I must come to extract this information from you, you will greatly wish you had considered a different path than impersonating the son of one of the most ruthless murderers my kind has known. Caspian's sire was singularly responsible for bringing the consumption of humans to our breed, Caspian himself carries on the practice. My tolerance for his spawn, and those associated with them, is quite limited."

 The tone in his voice, the command he holds, I shiver at the presence of an Alpha scorned. 

It seems to weigh heavily on Fadri as his personas seem to have some memory of their original owners. He almost shrinks under the gaze of the angered male and I take heavy notes on his posture. When I had first seen Fadri, he had looked at me as if he was horrified, as if he was in excruciating pain. 

Oftentimes, when he allowed himself to drift, the face returned and I wondered if it wasn't the feelings carried over from his stolen form. 

Holding up his hands, Fadri allows his form to shift back into the pale, lizard-like man of his original self. "Kestrel can not be in two places at once, I was on Caspian's side but I changed to join the resistance. Ask Nicolas, he would tell you-"

Verando lifts his hand and turns those light daggers towards me, almost gaining a look of offense but I know better than to correct such a gaze. "He did tell me he used to work for Caspian. He's been very helpful though he is a bit.. aggressive.. for my tastes." 

I briefly recall his desire for bloodshed against Caspian's forces. 

"Gross looking, too. I can see why you hold that form." Bet grumbles. 

Verando steals a side glance to spy Helen limping her way over to us, rubbing the side of her neck with a grimace. I'm just glad to see the poor girl is alive after such a stark retaliation from her mentor. 

"If what you say is true, then where is Kestrel currently? Why didn't he come, himself?" 

As Verando speaks, I resist the urge to offer Helen my hand to heal her. I pity her small moment of bravado as I know how painful those lessons can be. While we might not be far apart in age, the number of beatings I'd taken for my attitude and inability to keep my opinions to myself had mounted substantially in the past years. 

Glancing at me for help, Fadri seems frustrated with my watered-down willingness to come to his aid yet he seems to forget I can be a fickle creature. Crossing one arm over my chest, I allow the other hand to lightly stroke my chin in a smug thoughtfulness at watching the mysterious shifter squirm. 

He'd been quite difficult to negotiate with, though he was the first to agree to come to help us, I had often wondered what was truly under the intent. As his pointed gaze, I shrug dismissively, "I'm curious, too, Fadri. I don't like being lied to."

The thought of my deception seems to irritate my warlord further as the low growl rumbles in his throat, a very real threat. His body heats, a tremor resonating on the edges of his form. 

The shifter clears his throat. "Look. I had to lie. If you had known I was working with Kestrel, you never would have let me join you. Many magic users on Caspian's side would rather be on our side but they're too frightened to leave. Did you ask this ray of sunshine what he did to the compound before they caught him?"

I narrow my eyes, placing my hand on Verando's chest as I feel him lean forward. 

"Effectively dispatch dozens of Caspian's guards? Yes, I know exactly what he's capable of and you'd do well to remember the same. Stop beating around the bush and answer the question. Where is Kestrel?"

I can't allow my cards to flash just yet, with Fadri uncertain of just how far the escalation could go, it was better he thought my husband was a raging lunatic. Landon blinks, grabbing Fadri's arm to give him a firm shake. "I think you better give him the information that he wants. I don't want to be associated with you when he comes back here looking for you."

Finally, the shapeshifter pinches the bridge of his nose with a ragged sigh and nods. "I'm not sure where Kestrel is. Caspian has grown quite paranoid-"

"You don't say." Verando snaps through gritted teeth. I purse my lips, willing him to reel it in. 

"When I was with them, Kestrel was in charge of training recruits. He would be wherever recruits are, honestly, I'm surprised he wasn't at the compound though you probably killed him with the way you charged through there." 

The answering snarl makes him tense, the shapeshifter shakes his head in irritation. "I don't know, alright? But I can find out. We communicate weekly, I can send him a message that I need to speak with him and ask him where he is. Damn it!" 

The frustrated pale man crosses his arms angrily and I carefully slip my fingers from my warlord's pounding heart to his shoulder to stroke the muscle there. 

I felt a slight wash of relief, knowing that his sense to protect me was still just as strong as ever. It wasn't often I got to see it in today's times, much as Helen seemed to admire it, I often longed for the possession I'd grown so fond of. I could acknowledge my ability to care for myself but there was something primal about the way he claimed my safety as his charge. 

"If this is true, this is good. We could use inside help."

Verando exhales, attempting to calm the raging wolf. His arm slips around my waist, pulling me to his side as he takes a slow inhale, his nose buried in my hair. "Caspian could easily just kill Kestrel if he thought it would put us at a disadvantage. If we go anywhere near there, it would tip him off. Maybe I could-" 

I cut him off, gripping his shirt firmly in my fist. 

Little did he know I was just as defensive of him. "Absolutely not! I won't risk it."

 I can't. 

I can't allow him to get anywhere near that compound, or that man, on his own ever again. "I'd rather the world end in fire than risk that psycho ever near you again. It takes everything in me not to hunt him till the end of days."

Frowning deeply, he considers frustration but quickly, my favorite look softens his expression. "Are you worried about me? Then how do you suppose we collect this newfound ally?"

To both of our surprise, it's Helen who steps forward. "I'll go." She announces. 

I had not even realized she'd been listening. But, to our dismay, her outburst had earned an enraged protest from the other side of the screen as Legardo scrambles into frame followed by Tyler.  

I'm beginning to realize why having family in the court was not a wise decision. Verando's genetics were potent in their command of space, between Tyler wanting Helen to come home and Legardo threatening acts of violence on anyone in the surrounding area, I can't help but think maybe my husband's disinterest is a good thing for I don't know if I could tolerate the level of commitment displayed by his son. 

Perhaps I was okay with his passive nature as of late.

For a brief moment, I can only look at Verando as he watches me in silent understanding that it would truly be us on our own if we wished to gather Fergus from my homeland. I take the tablet from Bet gingerly and examine the little beacon flickering over my home. 

There would be no room for error, the more I listened to the turmoil, the more I came to realize that my husband's plan was the only one that made sense. 

"Can we do this?" I ask him under my breath. 

He shrugs, still seething. The drama grated on him as badly as it did my nerves, neither of us preferred the controlling nature of his oldest son. "Going to have to."

Bet offers a small backward lean, "You better do this or I'm killing you both. These people are insane." Her hushed tone brings a grin to my face.

The thought causes me to chuckle, stressed as I might be, I can appreciate the sentiment as I often thought the same thing. "Daddy, I have the power to create, I've been training for months, I can do this." Helen's sweet voice brings me out of my musings. 

Why is it she'd thunder at her grandfather but squeaks like a mouse for her true sire? Verando often said that it was because she felt safe with us, over the unpredictable nature of her father. 

"You're beat to hell!" Legardo argues. "You're already proving that this is too much for you. You are still very young."

Helen scoffs, waving him off. "That was from today. Papa and I were sparing-"

Landon chokes on his coffee, Tyler gasps and Legardo looks like it's his turn to jump through the screen. 

"Sparring? In what world does sparring look like this?! Verando-" The harsh tone earns the enraged progeny a murderous glower that brings his tone down a note. In a quick motion, Verando snags the tablet from me to tap a few buttons. 

"When you're done acting like a child- when you can speak to Helen and me like an adult, you're welcome to call us back. Until then, you're effectively in time out." 

The response makes Bet widen her eyes as she holds out her hands to appease him. 

"No no! Hold on, I still have plenty of questions-" Bet pleads with him to no avail.

Verando presses a button and shuts off the screen with a heavy eye roll. "He is so melodramatic." 

Helen and I watch the silver-haired man though it's Helen who makes the first move as she moves to hug him, wrapping her arms around his chest with a ragged breath. Uncertain, he pats her back with an uncomfortable expression. The scene gives me hope that my warlord could tolerate this role.

Helen's grip is enough to produce a grunt of discomfort. "Thank you." 

"Perhaps we could all be adults and realize we are on the cusp of a war? Who's idea was it to allow family into politics?" Bet grumbles, tapping desperately on the timed-out keyboard. 

"It's a lycan thing." I sigh. 

Legardo had effectively thrown a wrench into many of our plans with his sensitivity when it came to his daughter. With Xavier so young, it hadn't been an issue in our lives but times like all this always brought me drifting back to what I would do if it was my blood on the chopping block. 

I didn't foresee this ending, we would always be at the call of those who needed our help, so it only made sense to see that in the future of our child as well. How would I feel when it was Xavier who was battered and bruised? Xavier who must go?

Verando catches my darkening expression, offering me a concerned look over Helen's head. My lips part to speak as the Siren phases into view. None of us are surprised, much to his dismay, I had been expecting his arrival for he now knew where we were and he was our self-appointed guardian on this mission. 

Tapping his ear as if it were full of water, Tiberius shakes out his thick mane of hair in relief. 

"Wow. He's pissed off at you. I thought you were an ass." He pats Verando firmly on the back with a grin. "Nice to see you again, glad to see you are... well?" Taking a glance around the room, he nods in approval. "Well as you can be. Wow. Gained some weight too." 

He pats the lycan on the cheek and receives a harsh growl with a flash of the man's teeth in response. His time in the woods had returned him to those wild roots when he wasn't nearly so human in demeanor. 

Twiddling his fingers, Tiberius plops himself down on the couch and pats the seat beside him. "So. Tell me what's going on? What's the plan? Because, we are running very short on time and I'm frankly curious as to how you got here, Nicolas?"

As I explain our circumstances, Verando wrenches himself free of the appreciative Helen to return to his coffee to which Bet happily remembers her glass. Thankfully, Tiberius is as enthralled with the dragon's realm as I am for it is something I've found quite interesting but have lacked the correct ear to reveal such theories. 

Wide-eyed and mystified, Tiberius leans in as if I'm telling him the tales of the future and I can't help but share in the excitement. "So you're saying you traveled.. in this plain.. to a different location through the dragon's realm without a dragon?"

I nod. "Gabriel has been using it to travel it would seem though he dematerialized much like you did. I think that the dark magic has not corrupted him because there is nothing to corrupt. He seems empty. Vacant of any expression save for pure logic? He saved Verando."

Impressed, Tiberius strokes his thin beard, golden eyes glittering with curiosity. "Why oh why would he do that...?" His words roll like sweet honey, intoxicated by the power and the unknown. "Oh, Verando my darling. Please do come to me. I have so many things to ask you."

 Tilting his head to the side at the approach of my husband, Verando places the secondary mug of coffee in my hand and I'm disappointed to see the lack of added alcohol. 

"Tell me. What is Gabriel like?"

"Weird." My husband sips his drink, deadpanned, unimpressed with the entirety of the conversation.

The one-word answer does little to appease the Siren who is starving for intel. "Why did he help you?"

Shrugging one shoulder, he sips his coffee and rests his elbow on the back of the armchair I've chosen to reside in. Attempting not to sulk, I'm thankful for the boost as the morning had been quite taxing mentally. 

"How many times must we go over this? Gabriel babbled on about fear and autopsies, told me he'd let me go, and did. Honestly, I don't remember much of it. Kind of.. blocked the whole thing out; torture and what have you." Verando flips his hand dismissively, taking another swallow of his coffee.

I'd rather not think about it.

"Well you did kill a lot of people, you rascal." Tiberius taps his lips with one finger, pondering over the scenario. "He likes you. Lord knows why."

"Randy is logical." I summarize. "Out of anywhere he could have gone, including back to Caspian, he chose to find Randy. He knew he would help him."

Tiberius raises a curious brow. "Or... that Verando was the safest place to bring you. If Caspian had got a hold of you-" The warm hand of my husband rests defensively on my shoulder, not wanting to even consider the possibility. Little did he know I would have been overjoyed to see the bastard, if only to kill him, though I did not know then what I knew now. 

"Gabriel doesn't seem to be evil?" The siren concludes. 

Verando scoffs, "Because he's not? Gabriel is acting on what he thinks Nic wanted, he's finishing our work, he's just not reading the room so to speak. We intended to go to war with the humans, that is where we left our society. Gabriel has done just that." 

Continuing my work had been a thought we had been tossing around for a while, something that kept coming up but was difficult to explore. 

Did it change anything? Did it give us any insight other than the fact that Gabriel had a goal that we once might have shared? 

It alluded to nothing but passion, causing me to settle into my chair as I watched my hands. I would have done, and still would do, anything for my people. Gabriel had my passion, as much as he could in his non-emotive state. 

Helen sits cross-legged at my feet, pressing on me in a way that I had grown accustomed to given the amount of time I spent with her. With Verando touching my shoulder and Helen at my feet, it felt more so that I was now the warlord. 

Perhaps Verando was right. 

"We have a tracker on him now so we can watch his movements. We need to make the wedding look like it's happening in the capitol, we need to attract Caspian away from the compound so that when we face Gabriel, he is alone." I steal a guarded glance at my husband with bated breath. "We need to bait Caspian into thinking that he has a reason to stay far away from Romania, something he can't resist."

Tiberius inhales excitedly, "A Siren song?"

I nod, the plan beginning to take shape in my head. "A date and a cryptic message."