The Queen of Doranelle sat placidly upon her throne, hands folded in her laps as she watched the members of her cadre standing before her in the palace's throne room. Displeasure was clear on her face as her dark eyes glinted with silenced anger.

"Where is your sister?" She demanded with an eerie quietness, glaring at the silver- haired Fae male with pine green eyes.

Rowan Whitethorn, Prince of Doranelle, lowered his head slightly. "No one has seen her for over two months, your majesty. I don't know."

In the shadows of the throne room's wall, there was a soft hiss. A long, copper-coloured creature's silhouette was barely visible. A serpent, silently slithering across the floor in a ribbon-like motion that was almost invisible and absolutely unseen by the others.

The Dark Queen pursed her lips in annoyance as her depthless onyx eyes flickered over to the rest of the Cadre. "I gave you one job. One mission that was so simple that even a blind male could do it. How did you mess this up?"

In the corner of her eye, she saw Lorcan Salvaterre's stony face flicker slightly with uncertainty. A faint movement that he must have thought went unnoticed. But with Maeve, nothing went unnoticed.

Maeve turned her attention fully to him, her arms folded and her eyes narrowed. "I suppose you have something to do with this? You know the female's whereabouts, don't you?"

Lorcan scoffed, "I could care less about the spoiled princess. Rowan was the one who was training her. I didn't even know she was missing until now."

The corner of her lips downturned into a slight frown of disapproval, glancing back at Rowan. "Salvaterre makes a good point. Where exactly were you when she vanished?"

Rowan cleared his throat, shooting a visible glare at his commander before answering, "My sister has a habit of doing whatever she wants whenever she wants. I cannot keep an eye on her every moment of every day."

"If I may interject..."

The bronze Serpent of Doranelle materialized into view, his coils unraveling and his fork-like tongue flicking. He shifted into a tall and lean fae male with snake-like chartreuse eyes and dark brown hair. "If I may, Your Majesty, there seems to be a liar in our company."

Maeve's dark eyes shot towards the male, "Pythios. Speak."

Lorcan's fists clenched and unclenched as his face turned to pure hatred. "That snivelling reptile speaks nothing but lies—"

"Silence," Maeve hissed as she lifted her hand and turned back towards Pythios. "Continue."

"Your commander seems to be keeping secrets," Pythios Hael said as he shot a sideways smirk at Lorcan, "The princess and Lorcan himself seemed to be on a midnight stroll. In fact, your commander was the one to aid her in the escape. He distracted Vaughan and Gavriel while she flew off into the night, made sure none of us would have seen her leave."

To say Maeve was angry would be an understatement. She stood up so fast that the entire cadre took a step back, their eyes widening in anticipation. "I could care less about the spoiled princess. Were those not your exact words, Lorcan?"

The male visibly swallowed but his expression did not waver. "You know the Serpent is a silver-tongued liar.

"My spy speaks nothing but the truth," Maeve drawled, "So there has been something going on between you and the half-breed."

"You have no idea, your majesty," Pythios crooned, a twisted grin on his face.

Maeve raised a hand to silence Lorcan before he could respond. She turned to face the cadre with a neutral expression. "This makes things a little easier, I suppose. Whitethorn, get your sister's location out of Lorcan and retrieve her. Vaughan, Fenrys, Pythios you are to accompany him."

The Queen turned to Lorcan Salvaterre with dangerous fury. "As for that one... I'll deal with him later."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lunaria Blueblood listened boredly as the Second to the heir recounted the daily reports to Petrah Blueblood. It was mid-day, and the sky was filled with dark storm clouds that were gathering above. Judging from the weather, it was clearly going to rain any second, and Lunaria hated getting wet.

"More Crochans are on the horizon," Alita Blueblood said, "Our coven is to fly north tomorrow, hunt down a group that we suspect are gathering there."

Petrah nodded, "I'll bring the word to my mother. Both of you may leave now."

"Finally," Lunaria unintentionally muttered out loud, instantly regretting the words as they left her mouth.

Petrah rose a brow, her face holding nothing but authority as she inclined her head slightly. The blue blood heir had always been a strange one. Sick in the head maybe because she was too gentle. Way too gentle to be the future matron of the clan.

It was probably a good thing for Lunaria. Any other coven leader would absolutely demolish her for speaking out of turn as much as she did.

Alita also shot her a dirty look as they walked out of the Blueblood keep. "What the hell was that about?"

"Boredom, mostly," Lunaria rolled her eyes, 'Two months in this stupid place and the way things work here is still ridiculous."

"I wouldn't complain about our ways if I were you, Fae," Alita drawled, "Last I checked, you came to us to escape a blood oath that would eternally bound you to the will of a corrupted queen."

"First of all, don't call me that." Lunaria bristled at the comment and narrowed her eyes into slits. She raised a hand as her iron nails unsheathed. "I left them. Now I'm as much of an Ironteeth as any of you. Keep in mind that I would have been the real heir had Cresseida not slaughtered my mother in cold blood."

"For an unforgivable betrayal. And you'll do well to avoid using that tone when talking of the matron." Alita raised an eyebrow and grabbed her ironwood broom, "Continuing to speak like that will earn you enough scars to last a lifetime."

Lunaria chuckled dryly, "As if I don't have too many of those already."

The Second grunted in response as they continued to walk and Lunaria fell silent after that. She decided against bringing up the numerous times Alita herself had questioned the matrons, and all the trouble she'd landed herself in for it. The witch preached brutality and obedience and heartlessness, but Lunaria suspected that she didn't even believe in the words she spoke.

Rolling her eyes, Lunaria examined their surroundings and took a moment to study everything. The forest was quiet and half dead, tree branches littering everywhere and no animals in sight. It was a contrasting view compared to the life-filled forests of Doranelle. Those had always been lush and teeming with wild beasts.

Doranelle. Lunaria was thankful for the silence that washed over them like a wave in the ocean. It gave her time to think and clear her head, something she had never really gotten a chance to do. Part of her wondered how her brother was doing after she left. Would he have taken responsibility for her lover's actions? Would Maeve have assumed Rowan to be the one that allowed her to escape?

She pushed the thought from her mind and turned back to Alita, "So. What are we doing for the rest of the day?"

The Second had become the closest thing to a friend Lunaria had in the witch clans. Of course, the supposed non-existence of "friends" had been drilled into her head since she arrived, but Lunaria had seen relationships build between other witches too. Thea and Kaya, the younger witches of a Blackbeak coven for one, clearly had an affection for each other. Juno and Eos, who were of Petrah's coven, also seemed to be very close.

Alita narrowed her eyes, "Well, I was just planning on getting a head start on the hunt for the gathering Crochans in the north."

"You really don't have any hobbies, do you?"

Alita bristled and iron teeth momentarily flashed, "Lune, if you feel like flying off and going whatever you waste your time doing, literally go for it. Look, there's a flying turkey headed our way right now. Turn into a hummingbird and join him or something."

"Are you drunk or something?" Lunaria questioned as she furrowed a brow. "Turkeys don't fly."

"Hey, there's a second turkey with it. Hmm, I think that one looks more like a pigeon."

Lunaria turned to look at the sky in the distance and her breath caught in her throat. It wasn't two turkeys, or pigeons. It was two familiar animals. Animals that she'd never think she'd see again.

In the sky was a massive white tailed hawk, pine-green eyes narrowed and beak clicking impatiently. Below him was a smaller bird—an Osprey to be certain.

"Alita..." Lunaria's eyes widened, "Alita, we have to get out of here."

"Hmm?" The witch tilted her head, "Why?"

Without warning, Lunaria was knocked down by a massive white wolf who leaped out of what seemed like nothing, teeth bared in a furious snarl and black eyes that held nothing but pain.

Fenrys.

She hissed as her iron claws pierced into the wolf's fur, blood beginning to coat her fingers in a thick layer. He snarled with rage, but the giant animal kept her pinned to the ground, teeth inches away from her vulnerable neck.

"Hey, you didn't tell me that you got a puppy," Alita said unhelpfully as she watched, "Can I pet it?"

Suddenly, the unmistakable shape of a king cobra seemed to materialize out of thin air. It struck Alita's leg three times, hood flaring and fangs dripping with venom. It hissed once and swayed in a motion that was hard to look away from.

Alita cursed loudly and shook her leg, but the Serpent clung on. Droplets of blue blood littered the floor and the Second to the heir hissed in shock. The witch snarled as her iron nails slipped out of their sheathes as she made a move to slash at the Cobra. But then, as if it were never there, it vanished into thin air.

The hawk thundered down onto the ground in all of his glory, shifting into a handsome well-build male with silver hair that was a mirror to Lunaria's, and dark tattoos that streaked across his face.

The Osprey landed next to him and shifted as well into a tall male with dark eyes and dark hair, "Lunaria. We've been sent to retrieve you."

Lunaria bared her teeth at the two Fae males as she struggled against the wolf holding her down. "How did you find me?"

"Salvaterre told us everything," Vaughan sneered in response.

Her breath caught in her throat as she paused in her movements. Lorcan. He betrayed her.

The large white wolf finally moved off of Lunaria and shifted into his Fae form, his beautiful face showed no emotion. "Her majesty wishes for your return. Let's not turn this into a fight, Lune."

Alita looked at the three Fae males with narrowed eyes, Her iron claws unsheathing. "Who the hell are you people?"

"Stay out of this, witch," Rowan growled as he glanced at Alita, "This doesn't concern you."

With a snarl, Alita bristled. "If it concerns a member of my coven, then it concerns me too. I'll ask you one more time. Who are you?"

Lunaria silently watched the exchange between the witch and the three males, considering her options as she pulled herself up and off the ground. She knew she couldn't even take one of the males in a fight, much less all three of them.

Fenrys was silent as well as he glanced between Lunaria and Rowan, his face still completely unreadable as he muttered something to the silver haired prince.

"Agreed," Rowan grunted as he approached Lunaria. "Come along, we're wasting time. I hope you realize leaving Doranelle like that was an utterly stupid decision, sister."

Alita raised a brow at him and then turned to look at Lunaria. "Sister? You're related to a pigeon?"

Lunaria took a shaky breath as she slowly turned to the witch, "Alita you should go, tell Petrah. I'll deal with this."

"This is getting ridiculous," Rowan deadpanned as he made a move towards Lunaria. He grabbed her wrist and began to forcefully pull her away.

And without warning, Alita snarled as she lunged at the Fae male.