“NO!” Lucianne didn’t know how many creatures growled that word her way, but their combined volume was enough to make her animal cover its ears in discomfort. Xandar turned Lucianne to face him, and gently shook her by her forearms as he reminded her, “Babe, when we talked about this, we said we’re putting our prisoners there, NOT YOU.” “The prisoners won’t necessarily do things our way or ask what we want, darling.” Juan exclaimed, “Lucy, are you out of your mind?! No one knows how that thing works and you just want to trespass like it was your own territory?” Lucianne argued meekly, “Well, we’re not trespassing if we have the forest&rsqu

Xandar met Lucianne’s orbs that were sparkling with curiosity before he smiled at the beautiful sight and ran his fingers down her soft hair as he explained, “Bernard IV was the Director-General of the Secret Service that used to exist, sweetheart. The Service started with him, who took in creatures of any species as long as they possessed enough aptitude, attitude, mental stamina, emotional stability and psychological mastery. They operated independent of governments and monarchies, loyal only to civilians but…” He took an uneasy gaze around the room and continued, “His successor didn’t possess the same vision or nobility that he had, and soon, it became evident that politics played a role in how the Secret Service operated.” Lucianne looked around, and then back at her slightly guilty husb

“I’d like to know more about your father, Pelly. What was the late Emperor Kosh like?” Lucianne asked after she and Pellethia sat down on a wooden bench facing a large pond with a few papilionibus (singular: papilio) - small, blue-colored animals that each had the body of a bee and the wings of spring azure butterflies. “Father was…strict and protective, like most fathers, I suppose. We lost mom when I was three and my governess brought me up after that. Father was often busy with royal duties,” her emerald eyes met Lucianne’s orbs.  She continued, “He really liked you, Rosalie I mean, not as an intimate partner, but as a friend or, in his words, a trusted ally. He used to say that Rosalie was someone one could turn to for the cold, hard truth. She was the one who…made him

Despite having already met her a couple of times and spoken to her, Tate was still nervous about seeing Margaret, who was still kept in a holding unit with her followers. Tate wanted to ask for more leniency in terms of freedom and accommodation by pointing out that Greg’s followers were free to go wherever they pleased and do whatever they wanted.  But the difference was that Greg had proven trustworthy when he gave himself up after exposing the Kyltons, pledging loyalty to Lucianne. The duke and his followers even kept her safe during the Blue Crescent attack. Margaret and her people had not done anything close to those things, so there wasn’t a strong enough reason to satisfy granting more leniency than they were already offered. Tate wore a light green shirt and black jeans. Stella was in a white shirt and dark s

Tate sat by the fountain and gently pulled Margaret to sit next to him as he began, “Mom was a math teacher, and she’d throw a fit if I scored anything less than the highest mark in my class. When I was nine, the first time I was the second-highest in math, I erased my answer and wrote the correct one before going up to the teacher to ask for a review. That was the beginning of a very horrifying experience.” Margaret’s eyes sparkled with interest as Tate continued, “It turned out that my math teacher and my mom were friends, so when I got home, I was given an hour’s lecture, grounded on the night of a concert my friends and I bought tickets to six months prior, and, to my dismay, more math homework. There was so much that I started seeing numbers and math questions in my dreams.” Margaret chu