Y'all lucky I love you and felt guilty for that cliffhanger.

Lucy stopped short before reaching Kaleb, her hand hovering over his face. Instead she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and pulled out a silver key.

"Open, gate of the unicorn! Monoceros!"

"Hello, Mi- What happened to him?" Monoceros asked, looking at the man on the bed.

"I don't know. I don't care. Can you heal him?"

"No. My healing is only meant for my contractor."

"Please, Ceros. You're my only healer. It's the full moon so I know I can't call Cris. So, please," Lucy said, her eyes brimming with tears.

Monoceros sighed. "I can't heal everything. There's three- no, four broken ribs. One wrong move could puncture his spleen or lungs. A fracture in his femur. A concussion. I can heal the lacerations, the sprains in his wrists, and maybe the poison overdose. His right shoulder is dislocated but the pain from fixing that will probably cause him to move too much."

"Wait. Back up. Poison?"

"Yes. The fact that the Immaculate Light didn't force it out of his system tells you how much they used. The fact that it didn't kill him is very nearly a miracle. I would guess a paralytic mixed with an aphrodisiac given the erection." Where Virgo spoke with a monotoned voice but could joke, Monoceros always sounded like she was a textbook aloud.

Lucy looked down at the dragon on her shoulder. It was glaring with its teeth bared. She sent it away so that she could reach out to touch his face.

"Heal the poison. His heart is too slow and with the broken ribs, I can't risk chest compressions. After that, heal the worst of the contusions and take the bandages with you." Monoceros was nodding along until the last order. Before she could ask, Lucy said, "Time moves slower in your realm than here. I wanna know who did this and with what. Hopefully, it won't deteriorate in the time it takes me to call Erik."

"Understood."

Lucy sat on the bed, holding Kaleb's hand, and watching the pain cross his face.

"How is he?" Thane asked from the doorway.

"Bad. Who did this?"

"I think it's best if you talk to his siblings. Not Mr. Arman or Mr. Farron though."

"Cris and Emi are both mating. I could call-"

"It's dialed for Vander," Thane said, handing Lucy the comm.

"Kaleb? Why are you-"

"Van," Lucy said, choking on his name.

"Shit. She was there, wasn't she? I'll be there in a sec."

"Thank you, Thane. Go home. I don't think there's anything else for you to do here," Lucy said once she handed back the comm.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"All right, Miss Lucy." There was a faint pop of Thane teleporting out.

Monoceros emitted a soft glow when she healed. It would almost make him look ethereal if he wasn't still covered in injuries.

"Miss Lucy, I took care of most of the poison. I left some to keep him unconscious. I can sense that he's in a bad headspace, so I would recommend that it be the lunar slayer that he potentially wakes up to."

"Thank you, Ceros." She summoned Gemini. "I need you to turn into Cris."

"We cannot," Gemi said.

"He's too strong," Mini added.

"I know it's dangerous, but I know that you can turn into him. Please. I need his healing."

Gemi and Mini looked between the man and Lucy's desperate face.

"This is probably the only time that it's relatively for me to turn into the slayer," Gemini said out of Cristoff's mouth.

"Shit! Cris? I thought-"

"It's not," Lucy said, stumbling into Vander when she tried to climb out of the bed. "It's Gemini. You know who did this, don't you?" she asked once they were in the living room

"Yes."

"They've done this before, haven't they?"

"Yes," Vander said through clenched teeth.

"Who. Are. They?" Lucy said slowly. The world was starting to spin. In the bedroom, Lucy heard the distinctive chime of Gemini disappearing. "Huh. There's two of you now. I'd rather have two of Kaleb."

"Let's get you back to the bed," Vander said. "Your magic is really low."

She let him guide her back to the bed and scrambled clumsily to lay by Kaleb. Clutching Gemini's key, she heard them tell her that they'd half-treated most of his injuries so that they were no longer life threatening. It wasn't great news, but she was grateful that they'd thought like that.

"Lucy, sleep," Vander said after she'd told him that.

"And call Erik," she mumbled.

.~*~.

Kaleb awoke with the sun as he always did. After the day before, he was happy that he was waking at all. In fact, at one point, he was fairly certain that they'd had to resuscitate him. It had been the first time that he'd sincerely worried that Kurino would kill him. His family would probably be protected from her if that happened, but it wasn't ideal.

As he laid there, it occurred to him that he felt surprisingly good. He ached everywhere but he didn't have the uncomfortable feeling of bandages and dried blood nor the stinging pain of the whip injuries. Both wrists had been sprained when he'd fought the magic cancelling cuffs. Between bouts of the paralytic, he'd dislocated his shoulder. Out-right beating him wasn't usually her style, but she'd been enraged so he was certain there'd been multiple broken bones.

A soft whimpering sound had him finally opening his eyes. Asleep next to him was Lucy. At some point in the night, she'd started cuddling a pillow to her chest. He reached out, groaning as he did, and cupped her cheeks. She nuzzled into his hand and he could feel the gritty salt of tear tracks.

"You shouldn't be moving," she admonished as she opened her eyes.

"It was a bit touch and go there for a while."

"Don't scare me like that again."

"I can't promise that."

"You will because I'm gonna-"

He pressed his thumb to her lips. "Don't make a promise you can't fulfill."

"Who said anything about not fulfilling?" she asked darkly. "I don't think Gemini is willing to take Cristoff's form again so I think you're stuck in bed for another night. They were only able to heal a bit. I can see if Ceros has better luck though."

"No. I can feel that your magic is weaker than usual. Save your strength."

"You too. Sleep. I'll wake you when breakfast gets here."

She watched as he settled back to sleep. Once his breath evened out, she looked down at her arm and summoned her dragon back. Its head swiveled back and forth between look at her and looking at Kaleb.

"Yeah, I know," she murmured.

Vander was starting to stir when Lucy walked into the living room.

"You crashed on the couch?"

"I wanted to be close enough in case something happened. I don't have dragon hearing."

She nodded and pulled her comm out of her messenger bag. The first message she sent was to the kitchens requesting breakfast and the second was to Thane that Kaleb had woken up but not to let the kitchen staff deliver to the residence. The last thing anyone wanted was for rumors to spread within the guild.

"All right. Tell me everything. You knew what happened as soon as I called. You said you knew who did it."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm still trying to figure out a slow or quick death."

Vander chuckled darkly. "You and I both know that you don't have that in you."

Lucy walked and leaned over to look him in the eye. "I don't think either of us know what I'm capable of. We're about to find out."

"You can't go after her."

"And why not?"

"Because it's Kurino."

Lucy straightened and blinked owlishly at him. "Kurino? As Crowned Princess Kurino of Bosco?"

"Yes. She is obsessed with Farron and has been assaulting Kaleb and Cristoff for years hoping that they'll give in and tell Farron. Fare will marry her if it means protecting the family."

"Arman doesn't know either, does he?"

"No. Neither do either of my sisters."

Lucy settled into a chair. It didn't surprise her that the sisters didn't know. They'd want to protect Xally. Especially with her still finishing up her internship at the hospital. And Emzadi would probably do exactly what Lucy wanted to do: raze the castle to the ground.

Vander let Lucy sit with her eyes closed as she reigned in her anger. When Thane came up with the food, she helped him empty the cart while he poked his head into Kaleb's room.

"Is there anything else?"

"Every book on Boscan law that Kaleb has."

"You're going to fight her?" Thane asked.

"Van seems to be under the impression that I can't just burn the castle to the ground so yeah."

"If you want to do that, I have no problem supporting it, but that doesn't stop you from becoming public enemy one."

"Hmph."

Thane gave her a thin-lipped smile. "I'll get the books."

"Thank you," she said with a large smile. "Go wake your brother up. I need to call Bix and Erik." She called Bickslow, knowing that he was usually easier to wake. "Hey. I need you at the guildmaster suite."

"Why?" he asked groggily.

"Kurino." Lucy swore she could hear the gears shifting as Bickslow understood the situation.

"I'll be there soon."

"Bring Erik."

"Okay." She disconnected the line as she heard her friend waking his mate.

Vander was supporting Kaleb to the table. She stood away from him and the temptation. Sleeping next to him had her heart aching and an irate dragon that was glaring up at her from her arm. Part of what took so long seemed to have been Vander helping him pull a pair of pajama pants on.

"Who all knows?" Kaleb asked.

"Thane, myself, Van, Bix, and Erik. My spirits Gemini and Ceros helped heal you."

"I didn't want you to see me like this."

"Yes, and when you're all healed up I'm gonna-" She stopped, unable to finish that sentiment.

Don't change now. I like your temper.

You almost died. You could have if Thane hadn't let me up here, you asinine, self-righteous, arrogant, pigheaded, bullheaded-

You ran out, didn't you?

She glared at him from across the table. Especially at how amused he looked.

"You two all right?" Vander asked, already guessing that Lucy was mentally yelling at his older brother. It was probably only his injuries that was stopping her from throwing something at him.

"Yes," Lucy said, ignoring both men in favor of her food.

Thane returned with Kaleb's tablet as well as the books Lucy requested just before Bickslow and Erik arrived.

"What do you think you'll find that we haven't?" Kaleb asked.

"I think differently. Also, I was raised around bureaucracy and there might be something that I'll see that you missed. Since neither Arman or Farron know anything, you need me."

She grabbed the first book, slipped on her wind-reader glasses, and ignored the two men as she multitasked between reading and eating. That was the sight that Bickslow and Erik walked into. Kaleb was working on his tablet, Lucy reading, and Vander seemed amused by both of them.

It had taken Bickslow a while to learn to see the dragon in her soul. It was generally a dark blue in the gold of her aura. Currently, he could see her concern as well as her annoyance. The dragon seemed to reach out towards Kaleb, but the gold seemed to shield it.

"Erik, hey," Lucy greeted.

"Hello to you too," Bickslow said, helping himself to some bacon. "Are you okay?"

"I'll live. Cris should be back tomorrow and can heal the rest of me," Kaleb said, cringing as he moved with his less dominant left hand.

Lucy opened Monoceros's gate. She reappeared with one of the bandages in a petri dish. "I've been doing some experiments of my own. I would like to see if my findings are congruent with yours."

"Erik, can you tell what poison is in this?"

"You kept my bandages?"

"It seemed like a better idea than getting some needles from Ophiuchus."

"I smell something with sharp, almost metallic tang. I'm not sure what that is. Overpowering everything else is Succubus Venom." Erik turned to Bickslow. "We should get some. In the right dosages, we could be going all night."

"It's illegal here as a rape drug," Vander said. "I mean, if you got some for yourselves, given your magic, I doubt anyone would bat an eye."

"But it's a crime for Kurino to use it on Kaleb. Also, isn't rape punishable by death in Bosco."

"Yes, but she's the princess. Heir to the throne," Kaleb said.

"She's supposed to set an example for her people. Not break one of the fundamental laws of your society."

"And you should know better than any of us that the gentry are held to different standards."

"That's not-"

"Do actually have a plan or are you-" Erik interjected then stopped when he heard the half-dozen barely plotted ideas in Lucy's head. "I personally like the star blast one myself."

"Me too. They don't approve."

"That would be classified as assassination," Kaleb said.

"Tomato, to-mah-to."

The two went silent and Erik started laughing. Bickslow quickly realized that their arguing had gone telepathic. The three men stepped outside while Kaleb and Lucy returned to what they were doing and pretending they weren't arguing on the merits of blowing the princess up.

"You know, I like them together," Vander said. "I've never seen anyone put him in his place like she does."

"I know, right? I haven't seen anyone do that since we were kids," Bickslow said laughing. "You staying?"

"Yeah. She'll need help getting him around. Besides, they're the best entertainment I'm going to get."

.~*~.

Vander found himself nearly disappointed when he opened the door for Cristoff the following evening. Watching his brother and Lucy argue was the most entertaining thing he'd seen with clothes on.

"Where's your mate?" Vander asked.

Cristoff was relaxed in a way that Vander had never seen him. "Pelerno. Resting. I told her that this wasn't my secret to tell."

He walked into his brother's room and stopped at the strange sight. Kaleb was wearing sleep pants and working on his tablet. His expression was entirely disgruntled. Standing next to him was a large minotaur that Cristoff guessed was one of Lucy's spirits. Lucy was sitting on the far side of the bed with a pile of books and notes, her wind-reader glasses perched on the tip of her nose.

"Cris!" Lucy said, carefully getting out of the bed so as not to jostle Kaleb and running to hug him. "Where's Meredy?"

"She stayed in Pelerno. I wasn't sure she was ready to deal with all of this yet. Besides, it should be Kaleb's decision if she knows."

I didn't want Lucy to know. You see how well that turned out, Kaleb told Cristoff.

Knowing that he was talking about her, she kicked the mattress hard enough to make him flinch.

"It's a stupid idea not to tell me. Almost as stupid as trying to exercise with around six fractured bones."

"I thought it would loosen me up."

"You have three fucked up joints."

Cristoff leaned over to Vander. "How long have they been like this?"

"Two days," Vander said chuckling. "He tried to do his morning stretches only to nearly rebreak his femur. The fall made mess up his hip and elbow."

"Do you two realize that you bicker like an old married couple?" Cristoff asked.

As Kaleb shifted to give Cristoff space, he heard the joints moving badly in their sockets and Kaleb's labored breathing that he was trying to keep from Lucy. Back near her, he could feel her concern. It was so palpable that he'd felt it as soon as Meredy and he teleported to his suite in Pelerno.

"You can go, Taurus. Thank you."

"Yes, Miss Luuuuucy."

If you're trying not to worry her, you're doing a piss poor job of it.

I know. The arguing grounds her though.

It's also a turn on for you, isn't it?

A little bit.

"So, what's this about a rumor that Kurino has been trafficking in illegal substances like Succubus Venom? Dad asked me about it." A by-product of Cristoff's healing was a soothing mist that filled the room. Vander and Lucy both took deep breaths of the cool mint.

Lucy settled back in her spot with the books and gave the men a wicked little smile. "I'm impressed it got so far already."

"I'm still not a fan."

"Yes, I'm aware," she said with a roll of her eyes before turning to Cristoff. "Did you know that Bosco has very interesting libel laws?"

"Can't say that I've had a reason to know that."

"Well, you do. Courtesy of the presence of the Immaculate Light- which makes it damned near impossible for a knight to lie- and the Acadame Celestine- which trains celestial wizards who are bound by their promises, Bosco put in place libel laws that allow for the defendant to request trial by combat. If the libel is that, their magic will fail them proving their falsehood."

"So you started a rumor that you knew was true but would force her to respond so that you could initiate a trial by combat?"

"Yes. Then, once I force her to yield, I can force her to tell the truth about…everything. That she abused the law that allowed her to request pleasure from any unattached person. That she threatened to claim an unwilling consort."

"She can do that within the law though," Vander said, now listening.

"Yes and no. She can compel any single person to share pleasure, but that was only intended to be once. Only someone of high-ranking and whose offspring would be beneficial to the royal family tree can be compelled to be a consort. She should never have touched Cris since he can't give her children. That's only Kaleb and Farron. The law was designed to ensure that the family tree had lots of branches and to protect the king and queen's rights to consorts. But here's the best bit." She found where she'd written the quote. "'As the duties of the royal family are always to put the people first, those whose -I'm probably going to butcher this- extraction from their roles would be detrimental to the country are immune to the proclivities of the royal family.' Article three, section eight."

"I always took that to mean that the king couldn't remove me as guildmaster if I didn't do something that he wanted me to do because I thought it was a bad idea."

"It means that too. As far as the trial by combat, it had to be me. As princess, she could refuse trial by combat which she'd undoubtedly do if it was either of you. But she'll never see me coming."

"Five years and she figures this out in two days," Cristoff said, staring at her in awe.

"One, told you I think differently. And two, ninety percent of business is learning to figure out what loopholes I can exploit. I've been figuring out shit like this half my life."

"Starfire, if you ever decide to take over the world-"

"Yeah. I know." She stretched her arms over her head. With her eyes closed, she missed Kaleb's heated stare as he watched. "The part that sucks now is waiting. I made it pretty obvious that it came from me."

"I doubt you'll have to wait long. I think Dad was trying to prove that it couldn't be from you." Cristoff's mist dissipated. Before his brother could reach for the blonde, Cristoff shook his head. He could still feel her emotions all over the place and knew she wouldn't accept the gesture just yet.

I like this plan better, Kaleb told her.

She opened her eyes and met his gaze. She's still going to bleed.

Since most of you have guessed this: Yes, Lucy knows Kaleb's her mate. She's known since he tried to investigate the storefront that represented her slayer magic in her mind palace.

This is a preferential writer thing of mine: I like poignant, transitional moments. Like the letter representing her goodbye from Fairy Tail and accepting the future in White Sea and claiming her mate. However, I'm also an asshole. Let that be a warning.