Carlos walked Kate down a series of dark halls before he knocked lightly on a door left slightly ajar. "Come in" she heard her brother's voice call out and she felt genuine relief and her shoulders fell from their tense height. She took a steadying breath that she no longer technically needed and walked in to see Scott sitting on his bed cleaning a sword and it was her first genuine smile since being with Seth. It felt like an eternity since she had last seen her brother and she had so many regrets about their last interaction. Maybe some of them could be rectified now that she too was a culebra.

"Kate" he said bouncing off the bed with a bright smile "See we can be family again". As pleased as she was that he seemed eager to be a family again her smile faltered a little at his seeming naivety, but she made an effort to maintain her warm smile for Scott's sake, she knew was being sincere but she didn't feel any warmth, she felt anger and frustration, not with her little brother of course but with Carlos.

"Thanks man" he said turning back to Carlos and the idolization in his voice made bile rise up in her throat but she supposed that at least that must mean that Carlos had been good to her little brother during their time apart. That was something and she was genuinely happy to see her brother happy with his new life. Carlos nodded to him with an indulgent smile and left them alone although she wouldn't be surprised if he listened in on their conversation, she would have to be careful, her time with Seth had made her a more suspicious person. They sat down on his barren bed in his barren room and chatted for hours about everything from 'what would dad think of us now' to 'Mexican wrestling'. In someways it was exactly like old times between them, except if anything they got along better now, perhaps the last few months had put things in perspective for both of them. Scott walked her back to her room at the end of their chat, which was just as well as she had no idea how to get back on her own. She said her goodbyes and felt a small slip of paper slide into her hand. She met his eyes and nodded and closed the door behind her. She peeled open the note 'I'm not a moron, I know he has plans for you'. She smiled, her little brother was not as naive as he had been letting on, she walked over to the sink in her little washroom and rinsed the piece of paper and watched it disintegrate down the drain.

While Carlos happily called Kate his queen, he still expected her to work hard to earn the title as he saw it, so for the next couple of months her days were structured and rigourous. A hour after she woke she met Carlos in the training room and he taught her to fight for hours each day. She would have been left battered and bruised each time if she were human but her culebra healing served her well. Carlos preferred to teach her hand to hand and sword play but occasionally he enjoyed bringing her new weapons to play with. She was even beginning to beat him on occasion, so much so that she started holding back hoping to allow him a false sense of security. One day it might be useful to have the edge over him then again perhaps he was allowing her, her very own false sense of security. He was certainly clever enough for it, his impressive plots often spanning months, years and even centuries. Carlos was nothing if not patient and devious, in some ways it was hard not to respect perhaps if she hadn't already been a victim of plots she might actually have enjoyed his well thought out schemes. Aside from her physical training Carlos also devoted time to teaching her everything he could about the culebra world and it's elaborate history and political world. He occasionally even shared snippets of his plans for finding the elusive blood well and how he would use it to ensure her place as queen. A title she had never once desired but none the less he told her time and time again how he would guarantee her place on this metaphorical or perhaps literal throne, she was never quite sure.

Her time outside of her training was largely limited to their home? Lair? she was never sure what word was more apt. So she spent most of her spare time with Scott, when he wasn't working or chatting with some of the staff? minions? who knew? Carlos kept with him to do his bidding. Carlos occasionally took her out to eat in nice places or for walks along a lakeside or to swim in her beloved pools but she knew that despite the title, she was a prisoner, for the moment at least.