Like something was wrong, but with no clues as to what it might be.

She no longer trusted Quinten. Or his One God.

Since meeting Daniel, her Night Fae side had been pulsing. She felt an unusual attraction to the man. He was clearly human, but his cum had properties not unlike her own. Fae-like. She had felt such a powerful attraction when she had first felt him in the tavern in Acron so many long months ago. Her instincts led her to handing him a platinum piece and telling him to go get tested. It set something in motion, but it had needed to be done. She was sure of it. She had done it and returned to her party members. They had met to discuss the egg. Eric had been acting strange back then. They had all felt it but dismissed it to his normal arrogance.

Back when Eric was still alive and still very much an asshole, she thought. When everything started to go wrong. Brian had warned me, didn't he? Told me to watch over Eric. And I had refused. My memory of when he tried to cast Charm Person on me will never fade. My hatred for him clouded my judgment. And then the oath he tricked me into accepting. And now he's dead.

She still had a hard time reconciling everything from back then.

Meeting Daniel, by chance, with a potential that boggled her mind even then, and for him to be the one to find Eric's body and take possession of the egg-it all was impossible. And then for him to gain spell caster powers and show such power through sexuality, of all things, it staggered her mind. It was far too coincidental for her likes. It was almost as if the egg had sought Daniel out.

Having spent so much time with Daniel since then, she had discovered more questions than answers. Take his parents, for example. They just weren't anyone. They had been the premier apothecarists in the Realm.

Then they had simply packed up everything and fled to the Wilds under some guise of finding rare plants at the source. Grace didn't believe that for a second. They had been far too influential and had far more access to strange and exotic plants here in Whitehaven that their reason for heading out there seemed fabricated.

What had they been truly looking for? she wondered.

And then they died and somehow Daniel escaped, only to encounter Grace and her party and then the body of Eric. With the egg. Her powers were strange to even her, but when her instincts screamed as loud as they did to her, she listened. She hoped she wasn't finally doing something too late.

She pulled out the egg and examined it for the hundredth time. It was smooth like polished marble and rose from a black colour at the broad base to a bright white at the top. It felt solid and like a stone, but it was far heavier and very warm to the touch. No one would see it and recognise it for what it was: the female Phoenix Egg. It was the only one in existence, for there could only ever be one Phoenix egg in the world. She put the egg back in her pocket.

She was hearing rumours that something horrible had happened down south in the lands of the Fae. Grace had tried to look into it, but no one knew anything. The King had closed the southern border and it would explain why her normal sources knew nothing. She had sent messages to friends in Yanwey asking if they knew anything, but so far, she had heard nothing. Sylvan had his spies everywhere and any attempt to uncover secrets was met with surprisingly swift retribution.

Her investigation into Eric's death and where he had found the egg hinted toward the south. When her party had left Acron as a group intent on finding the egg and fulfilling their oath to the King, Eric had vanished soon after. He had run off into the night, Leaving a note that said nothing other than he was fine. They had searched for him, but he had covered his tracks. And then he was found dead under a tree, once again outside Acron.

I have to head south and soon, she decided. Something is going on and I don't like it. Eric got caught up in this and died for it.

And now I find myself loathe to hand this egg over to Arbuckle. It feels... wrong. But I made my oath. It's too late to change my mind.

If Grace were being more honest with herself, she would admit she desperately wanted to run to the Wilds and throw the egg back as hard as she could. Some strange part of her wanted to hand it to Daniel. But that made no sense at all to her. Daniel was going to be powerful; she knew that to the core of her being. But right now, to her, he was only a potential spell caster. He was a novice, but with amazing potential.

And tied to a fucking witch's circle, of all things. Tracking him to that farmhouse of his, and already bound to two witches, almost made me shit myself. I almost ended them all right there. But they had been so clueless, hadn't they? So innocent. Like children. It stayed my hand.

Grace shuddered. She knew all the stories of what a circle of witches could do. She had seen the effect of the last witch war. So many innocents dead, with their souls consumed, forever gone. They're evil. Every single one of them. Always and forever. In many ways I get Quinten's hatred.

But she also knew that Daniel and his ladies were different. They were so innocent; stumbling around Acron like children suddenly given a new toy to play with. She had tasted them all. It was part of her powers. By having sex with people, she gained insight into who they were and a taste of who they would be. And every single one of them had been good people. She trusted those instincts and so she had protected them as best as she could. She delivered them to the Academy and then took steps to make sure the headmaster would protect them. It was all she could do, shy of killing them herself.

Except now I need to convince the King to also protect them. That's important.

Her musings turned to Amber Aine. The daughter of a powerful witch who had raped a spell caster to birth her daughter. Then Gwydion used that same spell caster to rape Amber's mother in front of her daughter. The spell caster had been hers, and Gwydion could never suffer the slight. Glenda had stepped in then. But it had been too late. Thankfully, two circles had been destroyed in the ensuing witch's war, but the damage had been done. Now Amber was a pretty fucked up woman and Likely always would be.

The door to the study suddenly opened and King Arbuckle strode in.

He never noticed Grace standing in the dark corner and he went straight to his desk. Sylvan walked in behind him and casually Looked over right at Grace. Surprised, she nodded her head at him.

"Your Highness, Grace is here."