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Christine

The longer I go without a response from Kirin, the more worried I grow. He's never ignored me, always responding to my queries within days, at most, but it's now been two weeks since I sent for aid. Even mother, who usually will respond just to point out my many flaws, has not sent word.

"What's wrong, Christine?" Emmanuel asks as I pace back through the training grounds for probably the tenth time in as many minutes.

I continue walking, my mind whirring with possibilities until I crash into the hard wall of muscle. I glance up to find Emmanuel frowning down at me.

"Christine, what's wrong?"

"Right, sorry. I heard you, I just..."

"You were lost in thought, I get that. Are you ok?"

"Yes. No. I don't know, Em."

He grabs my hand and leads me to the gazebo in the night gardens. Even in the day, the place has an ethereal quality that reminds me so much of home that I find myself relaxing, almost against my will.

"Talk to me. You know I'm here for you."

"I know, Em. I'm sorry."

"No need to apologize. Let me help, however I can. What's on your mind?"

"It's Kirin."

"Still no response?"

"No. Even mother dearest hasn't sent word, and you know how much she likes to send words."

He snorts and rolls his eyes, well aware of the type of words my mother prefers to send me.

"We've been seeing similar issues with everyone. None of our allies are responding. Noel and Maryanne will start enlisting magical aid in getting our correspondences out soon."

"Do you think it's related?"

"What does your gut tell you? Your instincts don't usually lead you wrong."

I frown, chewing on my lip as I consider his question. What *does* my gut tell me?

"Something is wrong. Beyond this whole thing," I gesture around us, at the cluster fuck that is everything brewing in the shadows.

"What do you want to do about it?"

"Want? I want to go find my brother."

"But?"

"But my instincts say that it's a trap to draw me away from the chain. I don't know if he's safe, but I do know that if I leave, the people here won't be."

"You are a major asset, and without your help, our team would be down a vital player."

"I know." I blow out a frustrate breath, staring into the sun until my eyes water.

"Gwen said that the new moon will bring everything to a head," he says, watching me with concerned eyes.

"Then I'll stay until after then, until the ashes of the equinox settle. After that, I have to go."

"Of course. I'll join you."

"You don't have to."

"No, but I want to. Partners in crime, remember?" he says, bumping my shoulder with a wistful smile.

"Partners, yea."

We sit there in silence for close to an hour before duties pull us from the relative peace of the moment.

~

Maryanne

Now that Alistair has finally given me the go ahead to use magical means to contact our allies, we've begun getting some responses. The fae remain unresponsive, though we have managed to contact some allies in Atlantia, Hel, and Heaven. Lunalia is largely useless, their puppet government unable to stand against whoever is pulling their strings.

The witches promise to send aid, Adrienne including an encoded warning about snakes in our den. At first, I was certain that she's referring to Talon, but the more I inspect the message, and the staff, the more worried I become.

Mercy, through Novak, showed me a memory from her time infiltrating The Darkness, as we've come to call it, indicating that the elder princes were not executed for their place in the rebellion, but actually for their complicity with The Darkness. Mercy insists that Andreas is on our side, and that he was preventing the princes from corrupting more of the rebellion or taking out key players, such as the McKnights.

With that new information, I can't help but wonder if some of the snakes in my den are refugees from that incident. Is Ariel on our side? My cook? The head of staff?

Clearly, I need to find a way to determine who is friend and who is foe.

That thought in mind, I get to work, shuffling through ancient tomes and memories until I find a solution, a spell that I can cast which would alert me to the tendencies of everyone within my wards. I need something discreet, so nobody is aware that I know of their betrayal. And it needs to be strong enough that those with natural abilities to roll wards off themselves, such as Alexander, aren't able to brush it off.

I need to wrap it into the wards, so that when it touches them, they just think it part of the normal security.

I spend hours searching. At one point, I think of bringing in Pierre, but I don't want to risk him being one of the snakes. I have to do this alone.

"Aha!" I shout, straightening my stiff back up and clapping victoriously.

A simple solution, really. A loyalty test, mixed with an invisible marking rune, tied into the wards, with a concealment charm add in for good measure. The question is, what is the ultimate test of loyalty for this? Without knowing who my enemy is, or who my allies are, choosing an object of loyalty is difficult.

Not everybody is sufficiently aware of Esme to have an opinion on her. Alistair is polarizing even among those who would die for him. Novak is... Novak. Galina and Bellamy are relative unknowns, and Andreas is still perceived as an enemy to many of the humans.

After setting everything up, I still don't have a solid idea of what to target, so I just key in the whole chain, the idea of a Divinity Chain, of protection and growth and kindness.

Next, I key in a mark. A circle with a line through it will appear, visible only to me and those I grant access, on the forehead of anyone who has questionable opinions and loyalties in relation to the chain.

After a moment's hesitation, I decide to make the mark appear on the backs of both hands, as well, so I can be sure not to miss it.

Once everything is in place, I cast a circle, weaving the new spell into the existing wards, and ensuring a constant vigilance within the wards. The wards will now constantly scan the entire estate, marking people as their loyalties change.

Once the deed is done, I approach Alistair.

"Where's Novak?"

"He's got a mission to tend to."

I groan, shaking my head.

"What's wrong, Maryanne?"

I shake my head and cast several extra layers of wards around to room to prevent any curious ears.

"Adrienne has found evidence of snakes in our den."

"Have you found a solution?"

"Perhaps. I have devised a system to mark those with questionable loyalty, but without knowing exactly who or what the enemy is, I can't ensure its accuracy."

"What did you key it to?"

"The chain."

"It will have to do. What do you need from me?"

His easy acceptance is a relief. I key him, Novak, and Esme to the ward, informing him of the details and how we should proceed in regards to it before retiring for the evening, drained and ready to crash.