Ada didn't even look up from her book when Ethel had been transferred in by Miss Hardbroom, "Here again, Miss Hallow? You'll be needing your own desk in here before long."

Ethel's eyes darted up to look at her,"Miss Cackle, it wasn't my fault."

The girl flinched when Hecate, looming over her shoulder fumed at her, "You were not asked to speak, girl."

No, she wasn't. It was her flaring temper and glib tongue that had gotten her here in the first place. She wanted to scream and curse and cry until her throat was raw and her lungs were empty. In the end she found her silence just as deafening.

Ada breathed in deeply, "I know you're under a lot of pressure. For one so young to endure such pain..." She stopped herself when she saw Ethel tense up and avert her gaze. "Violet Stormfeather is... I don't need to tell you she's not someone you want to offend."

Emboldened all of a sudden, Ethel, again unbidden, spoke. "She doesn't frighten me, Miss Cackle. And neither do those savages she calls family either. Without her family name she is nothing, a broom without twigs."

"Then you are a fool. " Hecate's eyes glittered darkly. "Yours is a vanity unmatched, Ethel Hallow. Have you any idea-" Hecate almost had to clamp her tongue between her teeth to keep from saying something she ought not to. She exhaled and with it she let out a dry mirthless titter, "Of course you wouldn't, you're too young.."

Brooding in her armchair, her chin resting on the knuckles of her right hand, Ada Cackle's voice was like silk against the crackling and spitting of logs as the fire roared from the hearth, so much so that Ethel half relied on lip reading. "Ethel, did your grandmother ever tell you about The Red Reign?"

The words tasted black on Ada's lips, "Ruxandra Ishtar is many, many years old. And yet she does not look a day over fourty, Do you know why that is?"

She shook her head. "No." She didn't want to know.

"The Ishtars aren't just a family, they're a dynasty. The craft they practice has long been forsaken by the ages."

"Black magic." Hecate's voice was stone. Even Ada could not conceal the shiver that crawled down her spine. "Blood magic.."

"Miss Cackle." Ethel Cleared her throat, "Everyone knows about The Red Reign." It was true. Even in the non magical world The Red Reign was considered one of the most horrendous atrocities of the nineteenth century. Decades had been and gone yet there wasn't a soul in the witching world whose insides didn't churn at the mention of The Ishtars and their unnatural, barbaric inclinations.

Ethel continued, Ada's stare was pressing but curious. "My Grandmother never told me much, and my mother told me even less, but the little I do know is far more than I wish to, so if I could please just-"

Miss Hardbroom cut in sharply, slicing the air with an urgency that took Ethel, even Ada, aback. "You have openly slighted a member of that family, girl! Do not make the mistake of thinking that there will not be severe repercussions if an apology is not issued immediately."

Ethel Hallow did not so much as blink. She turned her head from Miss Hardbroom to Miss Cackle. "May I leave now?"

The headmistress tilted her head, and Ethel Hallow made her descent back into the throng of wagging tongues.

"So, tell me about that gargantuan sparkler that not so subtly sits on your finger?"

Violet blushed a little at Felicity's bluntness. The aftermath of the Hallow girl's spectacle had died down some, now she sat with her peers clustered around her while Felicity Foxglove sat across from her, lashing the air with question after question. The Item in question adorned her left middle finger. A fourteen karat ring crowned with a Sapphire that seemed to emit an ethereal glitter, haloed by little - but no less bright - studded diamonds.

"It was a gift." She smiled.

"From The Countess?

"No..it was from my father. Apparently my great great great grandfather had it made for his wife, and when she died he gave it to his eldest daughter, who then gave it to my grandfather to give to his wife. It was then passed down to my aunt, who the gave it to my father to propose to my mother with."

Without warning Felicity delicately clasped Violet's hand between hers and unabashedly admired the ring. "Woah.. Prince Constantin had amazing taste."

"Prince?!" Mildred almost choked on her potato.

"Ahh, yes..well...back in the seventeenth century my ancestor was King of Moldavia for a time."

Violet feigned a bashful smile, perfectly in tandem with a raised eyebrow as Maud, emerging from the dinner cue with Enid at her side appearing to have heard Mildred from the other end of the hall.

"Mil, do you know anything about Countess Ruxandra of Wallachia?"

"A little. I know about The Re-"

"WELL ANYWAY-" Maud cut her off, loudly and abruptly and not half so discreetly as she wanted to, "- Anyway...her younger brother is Prince Nikolai, Violet's father."

"You certainly know your history, Maud." Violet, impressed gave the girl a quiet, closed mouthed smile.

Mildred's mouth kept flapping open like a fish out of water "So, so that means you're a-"

"I'm not a princess, Mildred. Yes, all male issue in my family are granted the title of Prince. In Romania, I'm afraid even women of noble birth do not have that luxury."

"So what's it doing on your finger if it belongs to your mum?" She heard Mildred ask innocently, she was sitting to her left eyeing her with an inscrutable look on her face.

Violet leaned in close to her her and whispered in her ear. "Don't look so sad, I'm not engaged." Mildred felt her breath tickle the shell of her ear as she pulled away, winking.

She did eventually answer Mildred's question. "It was given to me when my parents separated." For a moment, a ripple of sadness reverberated throughout her entire body, the memory of her mother very nearly succeeding in reducing her to tears.

Out of nowhere, Violet lurched from her seat, "Will you take a walk with me Mildred? This place is like a bloody labyrinth." She let out a breathy chuckle and turned to Felicity, maglet still firmly in her hands, "I'd love to chat some more, Felicity, maybe we could catch up after school tomorrow?"

Felicity's answer was a swoon and a series of incoherent babble.

"I'll take that as a yes, then." She giggled as Mildred led her out of the Great Hall, "Thank you, Mildred. To tell you the truth...I...well since I've been here...no, never mind, it's silly."

"No, go on." Mildred squeezed the girl's forearm gently.

"Well..it's just...all that nastiness with that Hallow girl."

Unbidden, Mildred came to Ethel's defense in an instant, "She's not all bad...She's had a really tough time lately."

And now I reel her in. "I know but...you...well...thank you for being so kind, you're like my very own Prince Charming." What Violet did next redefined the very notion of poor timing.

Light, urgent footsteps echoed off the walls and from the corner of her eye Violet saw Ethel draw nearer with each step. She couldn't help but notice how the echoes of those very same rhythmic footsteps had ceased, along with time itself, it seemed, when, with a wanton smirk she pressed her lips to Mildred's cheek.

AN: So very sorry I haven't updated for ages! Writer's block is a bitch! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Immortalgothgirl

xx