*** Geta ***

  Footsteps are ing my way. Just a si, light and careful. Beastkin, most likely.

  "Lady Geta," the messenger says, moving into the clearing.

  "That would be me," I say. "Must be important for you to trek all the way out here."

  I pleted the mission a day ago, but you o build up the difficulty a bit, so I've been camping out in the forest. I was going to wait another few days, but it seems I'm needed elsewhere.

  "Yes, Princess Elora and Lord Alzi have been taken. Assumed to be someone from Edeozia Empire," the messeates. "I know you are in the middle of a quest. Isda is asking the wives to meet in Eo wait for Duchess Fluvis when possible."

  "I am done now. Do you have more messages to deliver?" I ask. Shimmer got a lot closer to Alzi than I did and I 't let that tinue. I 't be absent if she is present. It is clear her goals mirror my own and it won't do if she pletes her mission while mine goes unfinished.

  "I do not," the messenger says.

  "Thehe baron the monster has been killed and that I have to leave immediately for this business. I do not wish to be rude, but my wife and husband are in danger. I hope she uands," I say.

  "As you wish," the messenger says with a bow. She turns immediately and starts her careful, quiet jog out. Maybe I should've offered to walk with her out of here. I'll make enough o attract all the attention soon, so it shouldn't matter.

  I put away my camp, put out the fire, and start my own lumbering run out of the forest. Shimmer started after me and shouldn't be as strong, so I should be the only one back if Fluvis just save them quickly.

  *** Shimmer ***

  I shouldn't have let them help me. Sure, it would be a good idea to have others, and Mother didn't wao show too much strength. But this is too slow. We still have a full day to get to the Viridian Bird's .

  I'm sure the Baroness is pnning on staking out there for a full day and then finally going for the attack. I'll have to find a way to skip the celebration afterward. Geta is getting too close to Alzi to let her have much time with her alone.

  I don't have everything I need from her to satisfy my Mother. I still need Alzi to love me despite her e. Of course, I refuse to let such a good husband hate me anyway.

  It took Princess Elora too long to see that Alzi needs her lovers around if this marriage is to stay together. A champion won't stay a sve for long, and Alzi is due to have some enter pop it off.

  Maybe I should try to speed this along.

  I move to the mai. The Baroness at least offered it to me, but I wished to limit the amount of time I spent with them all. A mistake is possible.

  "I have a message for Lady Shimmer," makes its way out the fp.

  "I give it to her," the Baroness says. Bold bitch.

  "I should only give it to her," the messenger says.

  "If it was that important, Lady Isda would use mana to transmit it, right?" the Baroness says.

  "Fine. Princess Elora and Lord Alzi have been kidnapped by someone from the..."

  I don't o hear the rest. I just go up to the stupid bird's and roast the bitch. A mere bird would gdly give their life to me.

  I pull out my horse from the group and start to ride. I just o get ihe forest ahe trees hide me. A few hours and I'll be done here.

  "Lady Shimmer abandoning us?" the Baroness dares to ask. "Should I report your house to the guild?"

  "Should I report your house to the Queen?" I ask back. "I am going to do my duty without the extra baggage. You have no excuse for taking a message meant for me, a member of a royal house."

  "If I did that, you would leave us like you are now," she says. "I was going to have us speed up. But now it looks like I'll o talk to the guild again."

  I kick the horse into a motion.

  "My manor is the opposite way, if you remember," I yell back, coaxing the horse to speed up. "I do my duty; you should learn yours!" I'll never knoe are helping nobles so clearly in her sister's camp.

  *** Elyne ***

  "Should we return?" I ask. The messenger caught us just as we were about to head out. We had just made a perday after talking with the mayor and locals. A number of women are missing already, and I doubt anroup is looking to e this way anytime soon.

  " we?" Inanos says. "I want to be there when Alzi and Elora e back, but we really give up on this mission?"

  "Elora would want us to finish it," Syro says. "Alzi is a bit harder to know about. Would she care if we were back? Would she even notice it? She hates us as it is, so she may not mind us not being there. But us not being there could be used as proof we don't care."

  "She would care about the mission," Ioelena says. "She es from a vilge like this. She uands they don't have the fighting power we have. Aurora should be able to smooth that over, and there is a good ce we won't miss her return. Duchess Fluvis still has to catch up and then fight and then bring her back. Our pn won't take us that long. A day or two, and then we return."

  "Yes," I say with a sigh. "We also took most of the maids that fight with us. That is the reason it was so easy to take them. If we don't even save the vilge, what is the point? It starts to seem like we just did this so she would be captured."

  "Move smart," Ioelena says. "The worst thing we do is e back hurt and make her heal us at the end of it all."

  "I agree," I say. "We will pn on taking two days. There is o rush this and make it worse. We should tell the maids as well."

  "The's go," Inanos says, standing up.

  *** Leena Ashmark, Headwife of Ashmark family ***

  "Was it a good idea to do this?" my first wife asks. "Aren't we going to have an issue with assassins? A Princess and likely Champion going into that unstable woman's hands for so long is going to have backsh."

  "We have a duty to our Queen," I say. "I am tired of repeating this versation. We did what we must. The dragons were weak and growing weaker. Alzi is different. Ohat may grow strohan the current dragon Queen. we really let Egwyn have that to themselves?"

  "But if we all die for it," she says yet again.

  "Then we die for it. We khe risks when we agreed to be spies. Be happy we are allowed to leave," I say. It ainful getting everything in pce for this. Our husband never saw what ecial about Alzi and got us in too much trouble. The Edeozia family was looking at ending us anyway. Being too much of a liability.

  We have had to run night and day to get some distaween us and the capital. Soon, we should be crossing over into the north, but the snow is making it harder to cover our tracks.

  We got lucky that the Queen picked a house where we khe tunnels. Not that we couldn't have pulled this off without that knowledge; it just made it so much easier to put some more spies in there.

  The Queen would never give her daughter a house we lived in, but she didn't notice the builder was w on two manors at the same time. The zy thing didn't e up with two tunnel youts for them. I had to verify the information, but that was easy enough and made it quite easy to s out a few maids for my own.

  Finding all but Elora, Isda, and Alzi were away for a bit, and then, the extra information about Alzi's level was just a cherry on top. Something to prove my worth.

  Queen Yumanea was starting to get close to finding out the truth with all our other mistakes. The stupid assassin guild actually kept records of who ordered what. I guess that should have been expected if they were operating in the capital. The Queendom of Egwyn is hardly a failing nation that 't keep its capital safe.

  Didn't help the stupid Kitsune was stirring everything up even more. So, we had to run after this ohe Queen would find some reason to kill us even if she didn't find proof of our involvement.

  "What if they get Yuki to e after us?" she asks.

  "That would be perfect," I say. "She basically failed against the guild. Think she would do better against our family? We'll be ready for an assassin. Build our house around keeping them out. Let the silly Kitsune e, and we will repel her, then talk to her Mother. That will have her pulling out, and the Queen will likely give up if the 'best' assassins 't get us."

  "She didn't fail, did she? We both know the guild didn't kill her, so she likely got out with what she wanted. Which would be our name," she says. "We just keep on stag up reasons to e and kill us."

  "She won't have that much help," I say. "If a war breaks out, then they won't have the resources to e after us. If a war doesn't break out, they wouldn't dare send a rge force to kill us."

  "I'll an's balls off if they attack us," she says. "His stupid hate for Alzi and your inability to trol him got us into this trouble. You better find a way out of it. Cause I know it isn't over. They o make Alzi happy, and a great way would be to serve your head and his balls to her on a silver ptter. I don't think they need us alive for anything."

  "They won't get them or any of you. I promise," I say.