"I've never once criticized your inability to be faithful to your chosen wife," Russell began, refusing to turn and look at his daughter. "But I must ask what is the point of the sparrows and your little dolls, if they were unaware of an attack on our capital? In the eyes of the international community this attack makes us look weak. The heir to the throne was kidnapped and she hasn't been found. Her wife disappears, along with her drake and Kara. The fact that you were unaware that it was happening shows me that perhaps I have been far too lax with you."

Quinn bit her lip hard, in this moment, her father wasn't her father he was her king, and his words carried the weight of the kingdom. "Information from other countries has always been hard to come by—"

"And yet they were aware of our movements, they knew how to get in, where to place this bomb. They knew when to set it off. They knew to hide the scent, and they had people who managed to smuggle out your twin in seconds. This was a well oiled plan that came to fruition. Which begs the question: what were your dolls doing? What were your sparrows doing? Are they spies or are they your personal whores that you pay with the royal budget."

"They are spies, but—"

"Then treat them like spies. From now on, I am banning you from sleeping with any of them. Perhaps being with them has clouded your judgment, perhaps they've even betrayed you and you are unaware, but it stops now."

"I can—" Quinn begins attempting to defend herself. But one look was all it took to silence her and she looked at the ground.

"Clearly you can't. Someone has been leaking state secrets, and you have yet to find them. Things have gone on and you've just been reacting, which isn't good enough. The fact that Kara might rescue Charlie is already giving me palpitations. Owing the dwarves is going to be a nightmare; they're going to be smug for centuries. It's been weeks, Quinn, the chances of us finding her alive are going down, and your mother is distraught."

"I find the source of the leak, and once we have that information we can finally go after our enemies," Quinn promised.

Russell hums in response before nodding at her, "Very well, you have until the end of the week. Then your mother will get involved, and I can't imagine that will go well for any of your sparrows or dolls Quinn, I doubt many will be left standing by the end of it."

Quinn swallowed, feeling a heavy lump in her throat. She nods once more as her father dismisses her with a wave of his hand. She quickly pulls herself out of there and hurries out of the room, taking a breath as she closes her eyes and tries to think.

"Judging from the expression on your face, I'm going to take a guess and say that it didn't go well?"

Opening her eyes, she sees Nyssa looking at her with an unreadable expression on her face. "Your father is still loyal?"

"He is a trusted advisor to your father, who allows him to run his experiments and gives him relative autonomy and resources when required. My father has no reason to betray the Agron kingdom." Nyssa points out watching Quinn carefully.

"Well someone is leaking secrets? Have the leads panned out?"

"Yes, but not in the way you would hope. She is not in the Holy Kingdom, we know the dwarves do not have her either. The Beastkin have zero reason to take her."

Quinn tilts her head and gets up, Nyssa had just given her an idea, and she makes a quick beeline towards where the beastkin diplomats were staying. She lacked Prime Beastkin spies, and using the beastkin in this way might unlock a new clue. There were stakes for them, Santana was meant to become Charlie's queen, finding Charlie alive was imperative for the Beastkin as much as it was for them to find Charlie and Santana who she suspected was with Kara and Hiccup on some silly quest.

~ O ~

"I'm certain that we're lost."

Kara groaned, she really should have stolen an airship. She would have been done in a few hours, and if she had stolen one of the bigger airships, she could have stowed Hiccup in one and they would have been back by now. She had no idea why she had wanted to take the scenic route. "Of course we are. We probably headed north to try and avoid the monsters that have broken free. We really should warn the kingdom about this, so the next town or village we find we're going to need to send word."

Santana nodded as she curled up on Hiccup's back, he was going at a nice steady pace which allowed her to lounge a bit, they had slowed down considerably, and now they were lost deep in the woods. She had no idea why she had even trusted Kara to be the leader. She clearly had no idea how directions worked, and she was certain that they had gone further north then was intended. "There are other beastkin around, we could send word through them, and get actual directions from someone who knows where they're going. Maybe I should be in charge."

"Why?"

"Because you live in a cave?"

Kara scowled, "I'm not a troll! Notice how I'm not asking if beastkin fuck animals, because it's offensive. I don't know why you think Charlie is a good partner, she is incredibly offensive."

"She's my mate, she's strong and pretty and she's really attentive to my needs—" Santana smirked. "Sexually."

Kara made a retching sound, "You know she was a virgin."

Santana blinked, she really didn't understand why that was an insult, "She is no longer one, and she is a quick study and easily trained. She doesn't have to unlearn bad behavior that she learned from other lovers."

"She truly lucked out with you, who knew beastkins could be so possessive."

"Everyone did, we mate for life. Our mates are an extension of ourselves," Santana replied as if Kara was an idiot, which she suspected to be true. "Besides you're a dwarf."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You're just as greedy as dragons. I thought everyone knew that. You're nowhere as possessive as dragons, you steal from a dragon and they will burn down your village and everything you hold dear. But enough bitching, we need to get back on track. I'm sure we don't have that much time left."

Kara scowled, Charlie had clearly married the perfect person for her. She should have brought Lena. Lena would have said something intelligent.