"Mommy!" Isabel squealed as she ran to her mother holding her hands up.

Santana smiled as she lifted her daughter up and pressed her lips against her cheek. Her breasts were hurting and her stomach had grown, and it was impossible to hide her pregnancy further. And with Charlie gone, at least Russell was allowing her a little project so she could figure out how to make lives better after the rebellions were put down. She glances up at her daughter's maid and waves her off, she needed to spend time with her daughter. "Do you want to go to your grandmother's garden? And look at the flowers?" She asked.

Isabel shakes her head, instead resting her head on her mother's shoulder. "Story."

Santana laughed, and rubbed her daughter's back. "And what story should I tell you today?"

"Daddy!" Isabel shouted.

"Of course," Santana rolled her eyes. Isabel only adored her father because he didn't seem to have an issue with letting her eat as much cake as she wanted. She had cried for ages when he had left again, and she knew Charlie had done everything in his power to stay. She was certain there had been tears in his eyes as he rode off to go after Mota. "Well, do you want to hear the story about how your mommy and daddy met?"

"Yeah!" Isabel nods eagerly.

"Well, once upon a time there was a beautiful flame princess, who spent her days alone because everyone was afraid of her." Santana begins, she should get one of the artists to draw the story out so she could show Isabel. "And her parents decided that she needed a husband."

Isabel nodded, her attention was completely on the story. It was rare for someone of her age to be entertained by the words.

"So, she was given to this barbarian of a man, he was hairy and he smelled funny," Santana said as she rubbed Isabel's head gently.

"Daddy."

"Yes, your daddy." Santana laughed, Charlie would be horrified with this story. He would insist he had been dashing. "The fire princess was very scared and after they were married she stabbed him." Charlie would definitely hate this story. She's about to continue when there was sharp knock at the door. "Come in," Santana said looking up at the door.

A servant who looks slightly out of breath immediately stands at attention, his eyes flick to Isabel for a moment. "Your highness, your presence has been requested in the throne room. It is of the utmost urgency."

Santana hesitated, for a moment before smiling at her daughter, who looked like she was about to fuss. "Time for a cake break," she said quickly, smiling at how easy Isabel was to distract her and she picks her daughter up. She relaxes when she spots Isabel's nanny close by. "She deserves a slice of cake, take her to the kitchens."

"Of course, your highness." The nanny said sweeping Isabel up and carrying her away.

Santana adjusts herself before making herself to the throne room quickly, frowning slightly when she spots Rachel making her way from the opposite wing. "Rachel?"

Rachel blinks spotting Santana, "Do you know what's going on?"

"No, I was telling Isabel a story when the servant came to fetch me, I was hoping that you knew," Santana admits honestly as they enter the throne room, and she spots Judy who looks positively distraught and her heart sinks immediately. "Is Charlie okay?" She demands turning to look at Russell who looked worried himself.

"I don't know." Russell said with a frown, "The news from Westerville has broken."

Flames erupted around Santana's feet, she had told him to be careful. The fighting had been different than usual, sneak-attacks which caught the troops off guard. The chaos made Charlie's abilities harder to use in the situation. "What do you mean you don't know!"

"We don't know if it's Charlie or Lucas," Russell clarifies.

"I may not be able to burn the palace down, but that's something that we must find out immediately." Rachel insists.

"No one is dead, injured perhaps, but no one is dead. I know Motta isn't foolish to kill one of my sons, he's doing everything in his power to stop me from riding to Westerville and bringing the entire port down with a wave of my hand."

"I don't understand, both Lucas and Charlie are pure destruction when they want to be. Judy's garden can attest to their destructive power, why would they be in any danger of being captured?" Rachel asks.

"Charlie can't use his abilities when he's submerged." Santana swallowed.

"Lucas has trouble using his abilities when there is very little water in the air." Judy supplies. "Russell insisted that they needed to learn their weakness."

"Westerville is a port city it's surrounded by water! It's not like they're in the dessert!" Santana swallowed licking her lips. "What does Motta want? If he wants Charlie to marry his daughter—"

Judy frowned, "You have a daughter, and you're pregnant yet again, with a chance you may have a male child. If that was what Al Motta wanted, he would demand your head and that of any children you created together. Charlie is clever."

"No one in this room believes that," Santana said throwing her hands up. "He's not clever, I've witnessed him fight, and there's rarely a thought other than, 'hit it harder until it stops moving'. He's even said as much." The panic was creeping. "He's the one that wanted to get pregnant—" Santana turned to Russel her anger flaring. "He warned you multiple times about Mota, you let it get to this point."

"Unrest and—"

"You're taxing the people to much, Lucas kills the crops, people are starving in your empire which you rapidly expand. Both Charlie and Lucas take huge swathes of land but you're not nurturing the diverse city-states, there's a schism growing and you're sitting here while one of your son's is captured."

Russell stood to his full height the ground quaking under his feet, there was a large crack and suddenly all the window. "My sons are the finest warrior's in the empire, if one of them got captured it's because they got careless."

"Or they're exhausted, it's been a long year. You haven't seen the injuries that Charlie's sporting—"

"Enough," Judy said her voice hard, causing both Santana and Russell to stop in their tracks and turn to her. "The policy is something you two can bicker about until you're blue in the face, but that does not bring my son's home. What are you going to do about it? A parent should never outlive their child, and you know how we struggled and you swore to me you would protect them and make them strong."

Russell hesitated for a moment. Before taking his seats, "And I kept my promise, we'll wait for the demands—assuming that Charlie hasn't managed to free himself."

Santana let out a frustrated sound before turning to storm out. If he came home safe she was never letting him leave to go to war again. He might not be the clever but he was observant enough to know that Motta would be a problem before anyone else. He had a better grasp of things than most people gave him. She turns to a servant. "Find me my daughter." She needed to be around something familiar, and that reminded her of him and gave her hope for the future and Isabel was just that. She needed her father, and so did the child that was growing inside of her.