Author's Note: I had to change a couple things in the first chapter, as far as dates and things go because I realized that I was not monitoring it as well as I should or who is connected to who. You might want to double check a couple of things for your own sake so you aren't confused a bit. Also, thank you for being patient I know this is not really a long chapter or as fast up as most would like. I have a couple of chapters in my head so they may go up in rare pace for me. Thanks for the reviews guys.
Chapter 2
Mirana looked out of her window in her suite of rooms, and realized that she was given one of the rooms with the worst view. She didn't care that she had the worst view. In fact, it probably was a minor slap in the face to most of the aristo bitches that she had this good of a room. Most of the looks she got from them while she was checking in last night were bordering on hostile. With all of the psychic scents in the crowded area it was not surprising that they could not pin point what exactly she was as far as her rank and Jewel strength. All they saw were her shabby clothes and luggage, so as far as they were concerned she was nothing but a working class slut that somehow bumped one of their closest friends off the list to be able to attend. The people at the desk were apologizing profusely when they realized what she was and shuffled some people around just to give her this room. They wanted to bump some of the more aristo girls around, but Mirana insisted that she stay in this room since they would not give her back the original room that she had been assigned. It was very discreet what they did, and she would probably leave them a generous tip because of that discretion. What really got to her was the fact that most of the girls on her floor were aristo or aristo looking. It did not take a genius to realize that she probably will have some very interesting enemies when they finally realized that she took this room from one of their "more deserving" friends.
She turned away from the window with a sigh and went to sit by the fire. It was only just starting to get colder outside so her father made sure that she had a fire started before the sun fell yesterday. It was supposed to rain that evening anyway and she would be grateful for the extra warmth after dealing with angry aristo bitches all day. She played with the pendant the officials gave her at check-in that she was to wear and have active while out in the common areas so no one could tell how powerful or what rank she was till the official Presentation. Even at the Opening Ball later this week she was to wear it and not tell anyone about herself as far as what she could do. The Black Widow was shaking when she handed Mirana her pendant, and Mirana knew why. The Black Widow was only a Green-Jewel, and she knew exactly how powerful she was herself, so an Ebon-Gray Jeweled Triple Gift was something she wasn't sure she even wanted to be around. Mirana felt the waves of anxiety coming off everyone who knew what she really was capable of doing with her power. It was depressing to even think about what might happen with the males when they took the pendants off at the official Presentation.
"Mirana love," her father said, standing in the doorway that connected his suite with hers. "The breakfast is set up for us downstairs. Are you ready?"
"Yes Papa," she said, getting up from her chair and smoothing her hand over the bodice of her best dress before walking over to him with her best smile. "How do I look?"
"I should have brought a large stick," he grumbled good-naturedly as she held out his hand on his left side. They were told all females, regardless of rank or craft strength, were to walk on the left side of their escorts. It was so everyone was on equal footing. The brilliance of the way they were doing all of this made Mirana impressed. All the women were to spend a week with the males, so the males may learn who they were and what they were like before finding out anything jewel or rank related. It was to prevent the regular witches and less powerful females from being ignored for the Healers and Queens. "I looked at our table, and I saw the seating charts when I went downstairs to see if they had a morning paper. We are as far away from the stage as possible considering your rank. Guess they couldn't fix the seating chart like they did the rooms could they?" he chuckled as they walked out of the room. The hallway was quiet as the two of them walked past the other doors on the floor and down the staircase. Mirana activated the pendant once they reached the ground floor and remembered she had to have it. She didn't like that when she was wearing it and had it activated she could not use anything beyond Basic Craft because she would break the pendants power. She was even more upset that she had to have it when she walked into the dining area and the only people in it besides her and her father were the staff. It would have been nice to have a break from having to wear the stupid thing longer than she had to. The food on the buffet smelled amazing, and it was still hot as she began to load up her plate while her father talked with some of the young men on the staff. He was always looking for new men to train in the ways of making chocolate so it didn't surprise her when she got through buffet before he even started because he was so busy talking with one of them about what the young man who was serving the bacon for did for work outside of this particular instance. She made her way to her assigned table, one sitting so far back in the room that it was almost in the last rows. More people began to file in the room as one of the servers came over with a tray with various kinds of tea and coffee on it for her to choose from. By the time she finished her first cup of coffee, the buffet line was brimming with people and her father now had to wait in a long line just to get started on his food.
"I see you get up earlier than we do," she heard a male say from beside her, breaking her thought process and drawing attention to the man and woman standing beside the table with the typical coloring of the Hayllian people before they sat down. They were both young looking, the male was stocky with a mouth that seemed ready to smile at a moments notice and the woman with an abundance of luscious curves that Mirana wished she had herself along with the same ability type of mouth. The man had seated himself next to her and held out his hand once he was settled. "Lord Zachary, pleasure to meet you. This is my sister Paulina."
"I am Lady Mirana. Nice to meet you," Mirana said, shaking his hand and realizing he was a Sapphire Jeweled Warlord. Paulina smiled at Mirana's face while shaking her head.
"Yea, living with him is a nightmare," Paulina said as she started cutting into her steak.
"Me?" Zachary said with mocking shock as he let go of Mirana's hand to point to himself. "I am a nightmare to live with? You realize I have more stories about you than I can count!"
"Oh yea?" Mirana asked, looking to a now laughing Paulina.
"Oh yea," Zachary said with a grin as he pushed the chair back from the table. "For example, there was this one time when Mother was having a Priestess come for afternoon tea..."
Coren stood there, watching the three people at that were already sitting at the table she was assigned to for her stay here, and wished she had opted to have her breakfast in her room. The quality of the gowns they wore far surpassed the one she was wearing, and not having an escort to sit with her when she could already see one of them had an escort was almost more than she could bear. It's not that she didn't try to get things. The problem was that no one believed her when she tried to go to the aristo shops in her area. They all laughed at her or threatened to call the guards on her for giving them false notes. She made sure that the shops that kept the notes that thought they were fake did not take any money from her accounts by informing Lord Richard she did not make or approve any purchases on that day except for the one shop that did believe her but was so swamped she had to purchase gowns that were already made and no one really wanted. The escort services she contacted were no better, most of the male escorts already booked and the ones that weren't booked she wasn't about to have near her when she couldn't protect herself from them. Lord Kelvin said that he would more than happily be her escort after he…
Well, she felt it was too much to ask him after what he did for her. It wasn't that he wasn't a great man, he was. She just didn't want him to believe that she felt something for him other than gratitude. So, she came alone. The officials were kind, saying that she could possibly find what she was looking for as far as an escort in town and gave her notes to go along with the ones she already had to verify that hers were in fact legitimate. They even gave her a suite of rooms that were closer to her wealth than social status since she was as rich as an aristo now, even if she wasn't born into that class. Still, she felt like she didn't belong with them, a cast-off girl in a cast-off gown that no one wanted to deal with.
However, her food was getting cold just standing there and people were starting to give her strange looks, so she briskly walked over to the table to hear the male telling some sort of story. She set her plate down so she was sitting with a chair on either side of her while listening to the man, with her eyes fixed on the little food she thought she could manage to try and eat with her nerves so shaken up, as he was finishing up his tale. "So, there we both were, chocolate all over us head to toe right?" he said, both the girls laughing as he leaned back and put his hands on his hips. " 'And what do you suppose the Priestess is supposed to have with her afternoon tea now?' Mother said to us, and swear to the Darkness Paulina says 'Well Mother, she might have taken a vow of simplicity before she came over, so we are just saving her from temptation since chocolate is an extravagance.' "
"She didn't," the dark haired girl with violet eyes laughed.
"Oh I did," the curvy dark haired witch laughed.
"Mother gave us both a switching so bad that we both didn't sit comfortably for a week," the man chuckled. Coren was sprinkling salt on her potatoes when she saw a large hand reach over her plate as if the owner wanted to shake hands. "Hey," the man said, when she looked up and saw his smiling face, his body leaning over the table to reach her. "I am Lord Zachary, and this is my sister Paulina and this woman over here is-"
"Cory?" the tall woman with dark hair and violet eyes said hesitantly. Coren turned to her as the woman stood and came to stand beside her. "Cory? It is really you?"
"I...people do call me Cory but my name is Coren," Coren replied in confusion as the woman's eyes teared up. The woman sat next to her and cupped her hands around Coren's face, grinning as the tears rolled down her cheeks.
"Cory, don't you remember me?" the woman asked.
"Should I?" Coren asked, looking at the woman before turning to Zachary and Paulina, who seemed very interested in their breakfast possibly just to give them some privacy. When Coren looked back at the woman, she noticed the woman's hands shaking.
"Coren, it is Mirana. You don't remember me at all?" the woman she now knew as Mirana asked.
"I am sorry but I don't-"
"Hell's Fire, Mother Night, and May the Darkness be Merciful," she heard a man say beside them. Mirana let her face go so she could turn and see an older gentleman holding a plate piled high with food gazing at her in wonder. "Coren."
"I don't understan-" Coren was interrupted by the gentleman scooping her up in his arms in a tight hug. Mirana took his plate from him as he rocked her back and forth.
"We looked for you for so long," he breathed in her ear before stepping back slightly and giving her a fatherly once over. "Mother Night how you have grown."
"Who are you people?" Coren blurted out, looking back and forth in panic at Mirana and the gentleman who now dropped his hands from her body. "How do you know who I am? Why are you looking at me like you are seeing a long lost relative or something?"
"Because we do know you, and we are your family in a sense," Mirana said, her face now studying Coren's. "You honestly don't remember me or Papa at all?"
"I have no idea in Hell who you people are," she said just short of a yell, becoming painfully aware that people at the other tables were noticing their little drama. She quickly sat at her place and started to pick at her food while the gentleman sat on the seat beside her. Mirana didn't move.
"I am Lord Andrew," she heard the gentleman say to her as she stabbed at her eggs and refused to look at him. She didn't like this feeling, this anger that she was feeling towards them for making her feel more uncomfortable about being here when she thought that it couldn't get any worse, but also this feeling like she really should know who they were since they were both so insistent about how they both looked for her for so long. The gentleman continued to speak, though she wouldn't let him know she was acknowledging any of it. "We run a candy shop in Challiot. You use to come there all the time and-"
"You know, my mother owns a dress shop in town Lady Coren," the woman she was told was Paulina said, causing Lord Andrew to stop speaking and Coren to look up. "I noticed that while the gown you have on is rather interesting in design, I can see that it wasn't made to fit your form."
"I had some trouble with my finances, so when I finally got them sorted it was already too late to order new gowns. I had to take the ready-made ones that were close enough they would do," Coren explained, grateful that this woman changed the subject.
"I see," Paulina said, giving Mirana a look that suggested they had communicated this particular subject change that Coren chose to ignore because it shut Mirana and Lord Andrew up. "Perhaps after breakfast we can go there to order you some new gowns. Mother is quite a good seamstress, but most of the aristos won't shop there because she isn't exactly in the best part of town."
"If she could make me some new gowns that fit me better I will more than happily travel where ever I need to go," Coren said, smiling at Paulina in thanks.
"Great," Zachary said. "Will your father be joining us?" Coren ignored the way Mirana and Lord Andrew stiffened at the question as she answered.
"My father won't be joining me today," she replied, and decided to see if they knew anything about the area. "In fact, while we are out do you know of any good escort services? I am afraid the ones in my area could not provide me any escorts with decent references, and I figured that since you are both from this area you might be able to help me out further."
"You are here, alone," Lord Andrew stated angrily. Coren looked over at him and saw his eyes holding a queer glitter in them.
"Unfortunately, yes," she said, taking a sip of the water the server put on the table in front of her.
"We can take care of that," Mirana said cheerfully as she cut into her own food. "How about we finish this breakfast, and then all of us can take a trip to the shop?"
"Excellent idea Mirana," Zachary said as equally cheerful. Coren tried to think of anything that would come off as a polite refusal to have Mirana and Lord Andrew join them on the shopping trip and to have them also help her get an escort, but all of them started talking and planning as if she wasn't there. Surrendering to the fact that she would just have to go along with them, she started eating her breakfast in earnest while thinking of how Mirana and Lord Andrew could know her but her not know them.
It took every ounce of willpower Prince Alec had not to contact his son, Allan, when Mirana sent him the message that they found Coren. Instead, he packed his bag as quickly as possible and started running to the landing web so he could travel to Hayll's capital where the Presentation was being held. He couldn't believe that after all this time that she was found.
He still remember the first time he noticed her looking at the treat display in the shop window, the look in her large chocolate brown eyes almost breaking his heart because he could see the wanting in it so strong that he almost bought her some of them himself. He knew better because the minute he gave her some treats every street urchin would think they could get something for free. Still, after seeing her come around for a few months every time he was in town when he wasn't at court, which back then was only three days a week, he invited her in for one of the sticky buns and a hot cocoa one particularly blustery day. The mite was only in a light jacket and thread bare stockings that did nothing to help against the cold, which made him wonder if she had anyone to take care of her well-being. He asked her a couple of gentle questions while she snacked, finding out she was only twenty, young for the mixed race he suspected she was since she had bright red hair, that her name was Coren, and how she did have a family but was basically ignored because her father was away working all the time as was her mother and sister. She left that day, and he expected to have a wave of street urchins to buy treats for over the next week.
She came back the next day, lugging a large book with her and slamming it on the table in front of him with a hopeful smile before shyly asking him if he would teach her the things in the book. He was shocked to see it was a Protocol book that obviously came from Kaleer. When he asked her where she got the book, she just shrugged and said she always had it with her, just like her Birthright Jewel was always with her. From that day forward, he made sure that he was at the shop at the same time every day, no matter how little sleep he got from traveling back and forth to court. The little girl came every day for almost a year without fail, till one day she stopped coming. He came every day for a week before he gave up on seeing her again. He remembered thinking that her family must have moved away or she was sent away to school since she was so bright. It didn't occur to think anything else happened to her till his brother contacted him two weeks after that, saying that she was at the shop and he wasn't letting her go home.
Prince Alec couldn't get to the shop fast enough for his liking, and when he finally got there he saw the girl. His little Coren was sitting in his brother's kitchen with Mirana, who was about a hundred and forty at the time, drinking something and eating sweets. It only took a matter of seconds for him to notice the large bruise on Coren's eye and various others on her arms, but it took hours before the little girl was officially in his custody to take home till they could prove that the father did this to her. She then lived with him and his now former wife as a daughter, safe from her family and what danger the posed for her. His sons also loved her dearly, enjoying they had a small witch at home to fuss about and care for. However, for some reason he could not understand it took Allan, his oldest son, almost a year to warm up to her. When she finally broke through his brooding oldest son's walls he put up over his heart, they were almost attached at the hip when he was home from court. He would read her stories, bring her back trinkets and baubles that only little girls could enjoy, and even took her to the gardens when the weather was nice for walks and to play with the other children her age.
Finally, after almost a decade of fighting and investigations, they petitioned for parental rights. Coren was elated to officially become part of the family, Allan asking if they were sure they wanted to do it since she was almost to her majority anyway and it wouldn't do any good for them to adopt her. It may only have been a few years of her being a part of the family to his son, but to him it was officially a witchling that he could call his own the rest of his life since he was only blessed with sons. He should have known it wouldn't have been easy.
As he caught the Green Wind at the landing web and sped his way to meet them, he remembered the night that her bastard of a father took her away from them. They must have known Allan was out of town, because two large Warlords came to the door with official looking paperwork three nights before they were to be granted parental rights. Coren was just on the cusp of turning from girl to woman, and it terrified him to send her with them, but the paperwork looked so real. They wouldn't even let her pack. All of her things that she left were still sitting in boxes next to his wife's in the attic to this day. What stuck in his mind the most, and he could still hear even though it was almost half a century ago, was her shrill screams for Allan as they drug her away. Over and over she kept crying for himself as well, but the way she screamed Allan's name stuck with him more.
He contacted the District Queen's Master of the Guard the next morning and confirmed what he already suspected, but by then it was already too late. When the guards, Allan, and he arrived at the residence of Coren's family the next afternoon, they were already gone. The house was spotless and no traces of them were left. They all looked for almost a month, and couldn't find anything about them. His son was never that same after that, retreating into court life and serving the Queen on missions more than he was home, and his wife never emotionally recovered from the loss of the girl she loved as a daughter, making it easy for the sickness to wipe her out like so many of the others that perished that year. Now, they had her back. They could have her back in their lives, if they could get her to just remember who they were.
"Yarek had the right idea to only attend the mandatory functions," Jared sighed as yet another group of girls walked away from Luc, giggling and giving him coy looks in an attempt to seem attractive. Luc could only think about smashing most of their skulls in at the moment. "I cannot even get a drink in peace right now. I was stopped three times on the way to the bar by girls who were so very interested in finding out where I was from and who my parents were."
"You too huh?" Luc murmured. Yarek had a very clear sense of how he wanted to do this. His cousin was clever in figuring out that he could eat in the rooms and not have to go to anything beyond the few events that were required for all to attend. The officials would not like him being so anti-social, but they were about to upset a Sapphire Prince with connections to two Black Jeweled Warlord Princes. Luc wished that he had the luxury of being that way, but his people needed more females, and even if they brought back only one it would mean the world to them. He was hoping for a Black Widow more than a Queen since he wouldn't feel obligated to serve a Queen.
"At least at dinner it will be more formal, and I will have Yarek to entertain me," Jared said. Luc was thankful for the dinner being formal, because the women coming up to them randomly were getting tiring. If he didn't know any better he would have thought the charms the Black Widows gave him were not working to disguise his nature. "Uh-oh. Better prepare yourself," Jared said, nodding to a trio of very aristo looking witches with an older female following them at a discreet distance. All of them were blonde, had blue eyes, and were giving off an air of entitlement that made Luc grind his teeth together. They were also making a beeline for him and Jared.
"I never thought I would see someone here who would be worth my time to talk to," the one wearing a green dress that was cut in a way that it was just short of being indecent said to Luc, looking him up and down like he was something to eat more than talk to.
"What makes you think that?" Jared said, stepping slightly in front of Luc. They all agreed that Jared would be the one to act as the dominant male of the group to throw people off in case the charms didn't work. However, it seemed this female didn't want anything to do with Jared even though she gave him a smile and answered him.
"Well, the clothes you bother wear speak volumes about your wealth, and your tall friend here acts like he knows how to behave in front of ladies," she told him sweetly, side stepping Jared to place herself in front of Luc. The other two introduced themselves to Jared as she held out her hands in formal greeting, palms down. "Lady Jolin. It is a pleasure to meet you."
"Lord Luc," he replied, placing his hands under hers. The officials wanted all males to introduce themselves as "Lord" to give the males an even advantage as well as act like they were subordinate to all the females. Some of the men at his breakfast table were complaining about it at length, but he thought it was quite clever. He was constantly tired of dealing with women who wanted him for just status and wealth. The way this woman looked him up and down made him think that she was one of them however. She was practically licking her lips and undressing him with her eyes. "I trust that you ladies are having a wonderful time in the Capital."
"Oh we are," one of the blondes that were talking to Jared gushed. Her dress was a very good quality and cut just about as decent as Jolin's but blue in color. "My family and I live close, but we never visit the Capital as often as we should."
"I live just a few minutes away from here," the last blonde in the yellow dress replied. Luc noticed she was a lot more decently covered and her uncertain look told him that she really wasn't comfortable in this setting. He also noticed how Lady Jolin and the woman in the blue dress seemed to dismiss her when another male came over to introduce himself. Luc stepped aside when he saw Lady Jolin's eye get that predatory gleam as she took in the quality of fabric the male had as well as the amount of gems he had on his buttons and cuff links.
"Lord Luc, Lady," he said, holding his palm up.
"Lady Marilyn," she murmured, placing her hands over his just long enough to be considered polite before snatching them back. He raised an eyebrow in amusement as he watched her shift her eyes to Lady Jolin and her companion.
"Are you ladies often together for functions like this?" he asked politely.
"We met just yesterday at check in," she muttered.
"Oh?" Luc asked, watching as Jared introduced himself to the male and started talking with all three about the quality of the accommodations.
"My father is in Queen Jordyn's First Circle," she told him. "Lady Jolin was very interested in being my friend when she found out. I haven't been able to shake her."
"She is distracted now," he told her, nodding to the group. "You could sneak away."
"She is assigned at my table somehow," Lady Marilyn sneered, before giving him an apologetic look. "My apologies Warlord. My father often tells me that my temper is a mirror of my mother's."
"Not apology needed," Luc said, smiling. "Why don't you try to escape now? I am sure my presence will distract her long enough to give yourself a break."
"Thank you," she said, giving her a grateful smile before weaving her way through the tables to the door.
"Where is Marilyn going?" Lady Jolin simpered with a pout that he thinks she thought would look pretty, but it just made her look like a duck.
"I am afraid she was feeling unwell," Luc lied smoothly. "She went to her suite to lie down for a while."
"Her father was supposed to show up for this lunch," Lady Jolin's companion whined.
"I believe she said something about him possibly being around for the formal dinner tonight," Luc lied again. He usually didn't lie like this, but the way Jolin was acting was sending all kinds of warning signals. There was something about the way she was acting that he couldn't put his finger on. Before he could say he wanted to leave to see if Yarek had enough to eat for lunch, Jolin had her arm threaded through his and was basically dragging him to the doors to the garden.
"Well, perhaps you can find a way to entertain us till then," she said demurely.
"A walk in the gardens would be the perfect activity to do before your afternoon nap lady," the older woman who Luc had honestly forgotten about till that moment. He felt Jolin's arm tense for a moment before relaxing. Her smile made him think he was a spider caught in a trap.
"Yes, it would Mag. Thank you," she said, continuing to drag him. "Please join us."
"I suppose Lord Jared and I could go for a short stroll," he said as pleasantly as possible.
*Why do I feel like we are going to regret this?* Jared asked on a spear thread as Katrina took his arm.
*Because I think we might.* Luc sighed as he gave Jolin what he hoped was a pleasant smile as they walked out of the dining area.
Coren didn't understand why they were still sitting in the shop Paulina's mother, Petunia, owned after all of the business was done. It took a short time to get measured and to pick out the fabrics. They could have easily met the escort back at the estate since they were going to have to be back there for dinner shortly anyway, but Mirana insisted that they meet the escort that they arranged for her there. It was rather strange how Lady Mirana and Lord Andrew cared for her. She didn't understand how they knew her or why they were so insistent that she listen to them, but something inside of her was niggling away at her, telling her that they knew something that she didn't and she should trust them.
"Coren," Lady Paulina said, sitting next to her on the couch in the public area of the shop. The window curtains were closed and the sign even said that the shop was closed, giving everyone a measure of privacy. There was an odd flavor about Lady Paulina when both of them took their pendants off that made her feel strange. It was similar to the psychic feeling she had around her sister, only cleaner. Lady Paulina took both of Coren's hands and gave her a reassuring smile. "I need you to trust me completely, and let me in your self."
"What?" Coren screeched, sending Petunia into the back of the shop and Zachary behind her. She started to panic when she felt his hands on her shoulders, preventing her from getting up off the couch. "Please, please don't hurt me," she whispered, trying to keep control of her bodily functions when she spotted the hourglass pendant around Lady Paulina's neck accompanying a Red Jewel. Lady Paulina didn't say anything else as she clamped both of her hands on either side of Coren's head and started to channel craft. Coren didn't fight it, knowing that if she saved her strength for fighting back later on it might save her, but as Paulina started to open the doors she didn't know where shut and cut away at the cobwebs that she didn't know was in her head, she started to think that she didn't need to fight back at all.
"Are you sure you can trust her? We just met her," Lord Andrew said as they watched Paulina work. Coren's eyes were still tightly shut, but her shaking had stopped and Zachary let her go. Petunia came back with a tray of refreshments, and a large bottle of brandy.
"Papa, I told her that if she hurt Coren I would break her back to Basic Craft myself," Mirana told her father. When Paulina revealed that she might be able to help Coren, Mirana revealed to Paulina what she was as well. Mirana didn't want to take off the pendant that she wore around Zachary quite yet, not wanting to take the chance he would bond with her even if he was just an escort. The officials said it was likely to happen which was why some of the poorer males of the society offer their services at chance to meet a female to serve. It wasn't that she didn't like Zachary, she thought he was wonderful. She just didn't want to break any rules inadvertently.
"I think they are almost done," Lord Andrew murmured as Paulina began to shake, but Mirana knew better. She could feel the anger coming off Paulina, and knew that the woman was just getting started. It took almost another fifteen minutes before Paulina took her hands off of Coren's head and grabbed the bottle of brandy on the table as she stood. Paulina moved to a chair in a corner, and almost downed half the bottle as they watched Coren sit there with her eyes shut, hands clenched in fists for almost ten minutes before opening her eyes to look at Mirana and Lord Andrew. The both of them watched her swallow hard before slowly standing and inching toward them uncertainly. When she was in arms reach, she shifted her weight uncertainly and gave Mirana a wary look.
"Miri?" she asked warily. "Cousin Miri?"
"Cory," Mirana sighed as she enveloped the now sobbing woman in a hug.
"Mother Night I can't believe I forgot you," Coren sobbed, clinging to Mirana tightly. Lord Andrew put his arms around both of the women, holding them till Coren stepped back to look at Mirana with a teary grin. "Can you forgive me for forgetting you? For not knowing who you were?"
"It wasn't your fault," Mirana said, brushing one of Coren's curls behind her ear and noticing that her eyes were no longer brown, but green. A bright green. The shock didn't fully have time to register when there was a pounding on the shop door. Zachary peered out the curtain before opening it and letting Mirana's Uncle Alec in the shop. He froze as soon as he saw Coren, Mirana feeling anxiety and excitement coming off him in waves as he looked her up and down. Coren widened in shock at the sight of him, her bottom lip starting to quiver as the tears started down her cheeks once more.
"Papa Alec?" she barely whimpered out before he scooped her up in his arms and sat on one of the nearby sofas as her sobs started a new. She clung to him, crying his name over and over as he ran his hand over her hair and cried with her while rocking her back and forth in his lap. Mirana walked over to a now drunk Paulina, prudently turning her back on the two in order for them to have privacy.
"I would like to thank you," Mirana said quietly. "I don't know how I could ever repay you."
*You know what the sick thing about all of that mess inside of her head is?* Paulina sent Mirana on a distaff thread as she looked her in the eyes with anger that the alcohol hadn't quite dulled yet. *I had to leave more of it inside of her head. I cut away at the roots, but if I had pulled anymore of the cobwebs out or forced anymore doorways open, I would have broke her. There is still so much inside of her head that is trapped because of the girl that calls herself her sister. I went to school with that piece of work, and I recognize that particular psychic scent anywhere. If I have anything to do with it that woman will not be anywhere near Coren ever again, or her family since I have a feeling her father was the one that ordered her to do that to Coren. The roots were so deep I almost didn't get them out. They had to have been there since before you guys even met her.*
*She will never have to go near them again* Mirana sent back as she turned back to a now quieted father-daughter pair on the couch. Coren was sitting next to him and happily telling him about her businesses while Alec listened to her, grinning like a fool. If Mirana had anything to do with it, she would make sure that not only Coren would never have to feel the loss of family again, and her Uncle would not lose the girl that was the daughter of his soul as well.