Marabella Brie stared at the man before her with utter disdain. She had appeared jovial and composed when she had let him into her personal office but now she had let her public face slip. So far as she was concerned, the man before her — Jacques Gelè — was a shadow of his former self and had become reduced to a greedy, sleezy piece of shit. She knew this full well. He was her estranged brother after all. He was, of course, only her half brother but they had been raised together. Their father had been just as bad as him and now it was clear that he was hoping to take advantage of her position. They hadn't spoken in over a decade and she had always used her mother's surname to distance herself as far away from her brother and his family as possible. It wasn't secret knowledge that they were related but no one thought much of it or even considered it. She had built her political career from the ground up and he wouldn't fuck it up just because he probably had some sort of bone to pick with her. She scowled at him for a long time. Plenty of people said the key in politics was to talk less and smile more, but Marabella knew better. That was only applicable in some situations, and every single one of them required the public face excuse.

"I have something to ask of you, Brie."

"And what's that? Were you somehow involved in your mother in law's extortion schemes?"

"You're wrong about that. I'm not involved in any manner with the crime syndicate my mother in law is behind."

"Hmmph. I find that incredibly hard to believe when it comes to you. You're just like our father, Jacques, and you know it."

"I'm nothing like that weasel."

"You are exactly like him. What are you here for? Are you trying to sabotage my political career now that I'm the Atlesian President?"

"How could I possibly do that? No one knows we're related. I sincerely doubt anyone would believe it if I said so either."

"Quit playing games, Jacques. Why are you here right now?"

"I need a personal favor."

"Oh. Of course you do. I should have known."

"It has nothing to do with the business."

"Everything has to do with the business. You were the only one who didn't seem upset at Nicholas' funeral...with the notable exception of his wife, of course. Let me guess: you're in league with her?"

"I want her to be pardoned so that her sentence may be commuted."

"Excuse me?"

Marabella blinked, utterly shocked that even have the nerve to ask something so drastic of her. It certainly made her wonder what Lillian Schnee could have promised him in return. Connections, perhaps, but Marabella knew full well that he would already have plenty of those through the Schnee Dust Company. Why in the hell would he take such a request from her? Lillian only used people for her own gain and Marabella had never thought her brother stupid enough to fall for something like that. There had to be another reason for his request. Just like everything growing up, Marabella knew he would be looking for what he could have to gain. She thought then it was possible he was trying to tip the scales on Lillian by forcing her into his debt. Marabella snorted to herself. It was clever. She would give him that credit and nothing more.

"I'm not going to commute a sentence like that," Marabella shook her head and crossed her arms. "She did horribly unspeakable things. I'm not going to reward that kind of behavior."

"And what, say you, to me cutting you in?"

"Get out of my office.

"I'll make you an offer you can't refuse."

"I said get out," Marabella spoke slowly, as if she were talking to their father. "Now."

"I'm shocked you want to see me," Arwyen Morell eyed Tai curiously from the passenger side of his old pickup truck. "Are you still trying to convince me to look into the case of your wife's death? If that's the purpose of all this, I suggest you don't waste your breath."

"I wanted to see you because I thought it would remind me how much I despise you," He said gruffly, not meeting her far-too curious gaze. "Evidently, it isn't working."

"Truth be told, I don't think you despise me," She smoothly replied. "You simply despise the bureaucracy I uphold. You don't have to work through our channels, you know. A PI could probably find you exactly what you're looking for."

Tai narrowed his eyes but still didn't meet hers. His hands tightened around the steering wheel while he tried to think of a cogent argument. When he came up short, he simply responded:

"What good would a merc do me?"

"I said PI," She haughtily corrected. "Which is a far different game than working with a merc...although, given that you are one, I suppose that could be an easy back channel to slip into."

"You make my work sound illegal," He irritably replied. "I'm just as legal as any member of your kingdom's damn military is."

Arwyen raised an eyebrow and shifted her entire body towards him rather than just her head. Tai only glared harder into the distance.

"Look at me," She said. Hers was a voice that clearly had gotten used to being heeded. Tai did so grudgingly, and then hated himself for immediately wanting to grab her by the shirt and kiss her.

"You're imposible to work with," Tai said, his voice low. "You won't even hear me out, will you? Not if it isn't in the interests of Atlas."

"I did hear you out," Arwyen reminded him. "I heard you out in my office and all I heard were the desperate pleas of grief striken man that wants to take an eye for an eye."

"You called my teammate crazy," Tai snapped. "Do you even hear how one-sided you sound?"

"You don't have a team anymore, Tai," She said, her eyes piercing through him. "One of them is dead, one of them ran, and one of them is completely unhinged. You don't have a team anymore. You have a pathetic mess to clean up."

"Fuck me," Tai angrily bit off. "You don't even know what —"

"I have nothing against you," Arwyen calmly told him. "And, to your vulgarity, I concede that I wouldn't mind 'fucking' you."

Tai glowered. "You're playing mind games with me now. Why?"

"Frankly, I'm not," Arwyen sighed, and pulled as far away from him as she could. "I can see how you've already had two wives, Tai, but I think you underestimate me as a person. See, I'm human too. I know when a man wants me and you clearly do. Still...I have no desire to give you whatever it is about me you crave. You're a pathetic man, Tai, and you have nothing left in you but a drive to protect your children and find some pleasure for yourself."

"You're reading me wrong," Tai said, if a tad unconvincingly. "I'm just another file to you."

"Well, regardless, I think you've got quite a bit to think about," Arwyen scanned him as if she were watching a prisoner. "Are you really going to stay this way or are you going to try and make things better for yourself? Your oafish drunk of a friend isn't going to change. Why do you think your life will?"

"Don't talk about my teammate like that."

Arwyen snorted. "Like you'll stop me."

Tai briefly moved, wanting to slap her but then shaking his head.

"What's wrong with you?"

"More than you know," She evasively replied. "But I'm not giving up my secrets to someone who won't give up theirs."

Raven Branwen punched a few of the men before her, not exactly one to tolerate insubordination, and then glowered at all of them. She had found a traitor in their midst again, albeit the first traitor in over a year and a half, and now she had members of her tribe arguing in defense if that same traitor. In essence, she completely understood why. He was an elderly man, one who probably was struggling to keep going, but, in her mind, that only made things worse. As she so frequently told herself, the weak would always die and the strong would live. Renné was standing motionless by her side. She had grown rather numb to everything she had witnessed since she had left her son and husband behind. Her old self would have thought it was all disgusting ant gruesome. Her old self wouldn't have stood for what she now saw on a regular basis. Yet here she stood now as Raven's favorite and thus her second in command. Given that she still felt split between Angelica and Renné, it was often difficult for her to reconcile her feelings when she witnessed so many things that she thought should upset her on a daily basis. Now she was seeing an elderly man on his knees before Raven, begging for mercy. It was absolutely gut wrenching. She had never seen someone so pitiful.

"Please…m'lady, I'm sorry to have offended you…" He whimpered. "Please...I beg your forgiveness. I...I didn't mean to...to…"

"You betrayed us all," Raven said, pursing her lips. Her voice grew all the more menacing by the second. "You let them find out where we were and who we were keeping protected. You see, at the end of the day, the matter is resolved because I had Shay dispose of the little informant that had been trailing us. The Schnees cannot know about Renné because she is too valuable for us. You also exposed her to the entire tribe. In a way, you have exposed yourself and the six others on your right and left as traitors. This is not, however, enough to compensate for your transgressions. All seven of you will now pay. Bow your heads, and maybe you'll have a less painful death."

"Please…" He begged. "Have mercy on us…"

"You committed the ultimate betrayal," She hissed. "That will not be rewarded with mercy. You see, I have always been a fair leader. If you have any self respect left, you all will gladly offer up your lives as atonement for your crimes."

"We have always been your humble servants…" He whispered. "Don't…"

Raven snorted. "I might take you more seriously if your voice weren't quivering."

Renné could hear Angelica shouting at her to look away. Angelica didn't want her to see what was about to happen, what they both knew what was to come. Yet how could she look away when the woman screaming at her was the woman she used to be? How could she do a thing when her fight was so clearly blatantly and violently internal? She swallowed hard and watched Raven step towards the first offender, the elderly man that had been so kind to Renné when she had first joined the tribe. She knew he had only done what he had because she had asked him to in a moment of pure desperation. Now, he was going to pay the price for something that he had only done out of the kindness he held for her. Renné saw him give her a pleading look, and this time she looked away. She couldn't look him in the eye when she was the reason he was about to die. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see Raven raise her sword with the late afternoon light reflecting off her blade. Renné quickly wiped away the tears that she was starting to shed when she heard his head fall off his body and topple mercilessly to the ground with a sickening splat. The same continued for the others. Renné wanted to puke but swallowed it back. She couldn't see this. Not while she was so torn.

Willow Schnee could only look out the window of her bedroom, her long silk shawl draped over her shoulders. She hadn't changed out of her pyjamas but she also saw no reason to. Jacques had been out of the manor all day to speak personally with Marabella Brie about a potential pardon for Lillian. Winter had been silent all day, mainly reading alone in her room. Weiss was with her tutors. Whitley was napping. There was no need for Willow to leave her bedroom. It was nearly seven in the evening, and she imagined Jacques would return soon. At that point, she knew either he would be in one of his more pleasant moods or he would be angry beyond belief. The latter always scared Willow. She never knew how or when he would turn it on her, let alone what the consequences could be if she stepped too hard on his nerves. Whether she knew what she had done or not, Jacques saw nothing. He expected her to always be strong, the perfect wife as if she were a doll. Willow knew the only two reasons she stayed were their children and her conviction that he truly loved her even if he was often nothing more than a selfish asshat that wanted money and nothing more. Willow pursed her lips, trying to see aside her thoughts. Her mother was far more worrying than him.

If there were one person in the world Willow Schnee was afraid of, and indeed it was a struggle to even unnerve her, then the person she feared most would be her mother. In part, this had to do with the recent revelation of Lillian's involvements in shady company business and her first son's death. Willow shook at the thought. Everything they had learned in the past few months made her tremble from her core to her extremities. It was not a new sensation for her, as she had always had shaky hands, but it was becoming worse. If things got any worse, she was certain she would need to start taking strong anti-anxiety medications on top of the birth control pills that Jacques forced her to take. Willow hated it, but he had made it excruciatingly clear that he would be angry if she got pregnant again. Jacques had only ever wanted a son. She remembered him snapping at Winter a few weeks prior. It was then she realised he had been serious when he had told her after Whitley was born that he was glad they didn't have to keep trying to produce an heir. He had claimed it was for Nicholas' sake but Willow had always known better. People assumed she didn't know much, that she was a mousy, under educated woman. They didn't realise that she was smarter than she showed.

Willow curled her fingers around the ends of her silks, frowning. She still hated how Jacques so often snapped at their eldest. It wasn't Winter's fault that her father had wanted her to be a boy and had forgotten about her once Whitley had been born. If anything, Willow thought it was rather cruel of her husband to single out Winter for whatever flaws he perceived, all while ignoring the fact that his daughter was still a young child. Willow sighed, staring down at her feet for a moment. She couldn't help but feel upset by the way she knew Winter was being affected. It stung that she was only a child. Hell, it stung that Jacques was so disconnected from the pain and strife he caused in their family. It had only gotten worse since her father and sister had died, and worse still since her mother had been imprisoned. Willow cursed her mother under her breath. The only person she blamed for their troubles was Lillian. It had been her from the start. Still, she couldn't rationalise her husband's cruel words to their eldest. You were lucky to be born. He had told their little girl while he slapped her. What upset Willow more, though, were her own words. What she had said to her brother. Maybe I'm about to celebrate becoming an only child. It was a terrible feeling, but Willow had never hated herself more than she did now.