Jaenelle woke with a grunt. Her head swam more that it had the first time she tried to drink with the Twilight's dawn. The smell of blood had her opening her eyes primed for a fight.

Blood still seeped from a wound on her wrist. A gentle probe told her that it had been deep and had been improperly sealed. Hence the still seeping blood. Her hand felt around her neck, after seeing little beads scattered around her. She hissed at that. It was such a miner thing right now but it had been a gift. Lifting her head she looked around the room. Everyone was showing signs of waking. Spots of blood lay near all of them. Her eyes searched the room everyone was… no not everyone Daemon was gone as was the baby… that wasn't what held her attention … the sun light streaming in through the window did.

_
Lucivar made a sound close to a groan. It was expected after sleeping on a cold hard floor. Why was he sleeping on a cold hard floor? He thought it as he got to his feet. He swayed a bit once on his feet. Dizzy didn't quite describe the way he felt it was more like stuffy cobwebby… that thought had him stopping and searching. Hell he was related to enough of them to know what that feeling meant, and none of it good. As he scanned the room without moving his eyes locked with deep sapphire eyes. Witch's eyes and the chasms that he could see from across the room told that that the lady was well beyond pissed. It took only a few breaths to find out why.

The party had started just before evening meal and it was well past noon now. Noon and the High Lord… still in that room and just waking. Cassidy and her first circle were still there all just getting to their feet. Sabrina… Aaron… he had been to parties like this only he had walked away from them where as few others did. That was a long time ago.

A scream brought him out of his thoughts and comparing the past.

"Lia!"

Lucivar could feel the male temper rising in the room. He could see the cold fury burning in Witch's eyes. He could feel… his hand was wet and sticky. His eyes coated with a red haze and he could barely see as to why his hand was wet. It took him longer than it should have to realize that he was bleeding. Not enough to be fatal but bleeding just the same.

With the red haze covering his eyes time marched to the beat of the war drum. Both Jaenelle and Sabrina had moved over to comfort Cassidy. Gray was caught between his need as a warlord prince to protect his queen and finding where his daughter was. All the while bleeding from a heart wound.

By now The High Lord had come to his senses. He had enough time to assess the situation. 15 Males standing on the killing edge plus himself. One hysterical Queen. One bewildered yet riled up Queen and one …. May the Darkness help him… One furious Witch. Add to that the six women who had come with their lovers last night and had thought they were safe… now frightened and trapped in a large room with a whole lot of pissed of males. Each deadly in their own right, more so now.

They were in the Keep. It should have been safe. The thought turned over in his head.

The Keep had its own defenses. No harm could come to those in side… yet… no harm had come to anyone. The wounds that they hall had looked almost ceremonial. Looked to uniform. They had been quickly healed- not fully but had been sealed with basic healing craft…

…Why?

Sometime while the High Lord was thinking Witch had approached Lucivar. She looked like Jaenelle yet with each careful step she took the sounds of hooves clicking on the stone floor echoed throughout the room. Unsure if he was about to speak to his sister or his Queen or worse even … an extremely feral Witch … Lucivar said the only thing that would be acceptable by any of the latter, "Lady?"

"Get everyone settled out of this room Prince." Witch paused trying to leash a bit of her growing temper and unease. Finally after a long moment she continued, "Then find Prince Sadi." Finding Lia was just as important but she assumed the baby would be with Daemon. Hell right now she was praying to the darkness that she was right.

Prince Yaslana nodded in agreement. Never taking his eyes off his queen he found a spear thread and reached out to the High Lord. Calmly he asked for something he wasn't at all sure was possible but still needed to be asked. *Can you wrap those who are not first or second circle in a sleep web?*

The High Lord locked eyes with the First Escort form across the room. He didn't dare respond. His son wouldn't have asked if it wasn't important. Hell he wouldn't have asked unless Witch was becoming unstable… even then? Two long breaths later and one dark ripple of power flooding the room and only Ranon and Gray were left standing form Cassidy's court.

Giving his son the coldest stare that he could without directing his temper at the only other dark jeweled Warlord Prince that happen to be in the room, The High Lord spoke with icy clarity, " I'll find them rooms." And find out from Draca what the hell happen last night. Then he glided out of the room… the sleeping guest disappearing as he did.

Lucivar had the strange retaliation that he just witnesses how demons woke up in Hell when their lives ended in the living realms. It was something he didn't want to confirm … not for several more centuries and not under this circumstances. Either way it sent a shiver through him. "Gray stay with Cassidy. It will do her better to have her husband by her side rather than another snarling Warlord Prince." He tried to sound reassuring and not snarly. He was surprised that there wasn't any snarl in his voice or how calm he sounded.

Nothing more was said till Gray was out of the room then Lucivar continued in a more formal tone. Or a tone closer to what Andover would have used if giving an order. "Prince Ranon go back to Shalador Nehele and notify the Scelties about what has happen. Make sure the borders are secure and nothing enters the territory unless it is invited."

Ranon locked eye with Lucivar for a long moment. He wasn't refusing but e was puzzling over the order. And he knew it was an order that he best listen to because of the tone of the man's voice. Respectfully he started to ask, "What about…"

In a low growl and running out of patents Lucivar snapped, "Move your ass Prince."

That left only Aaron and Sabrina in the room other than Witch and himself. Sure that his queen wished to speak to him alone he continued to give orders. Or highly recommended suggestions since the fact that Lia was Aarons cousin and she was missing wasn't setting too well with the Prince. "Aaron, You and Sabrina begin to look the Keep over and call the coven. We need to know if this was an isolated incident for something else." Meaning if only one bitch was going to paying a visit to the High Lord or a Whole realm. Either way someone was going to wind up dead. That He knew for certain.

With the room cleared Lucivar asked his Queen the only thing that he could think of, "Is there anything I need to know?" Is there anything I'm missing?

Her deep sapphire eyes pinned him. Witch responded in the deepest of her midnight voice, "He's not here. He should be…" She stopped as light streamed through the window. As it hit something on the floor. Something glittering and sparkling under the light. Slowly she approached the object.

The room exploded with her fury. The stone walls that had been so carefully painted or covered with integrate designs were now scorched with ugly black streaks from the lightning. The windows burst into all directions sending glass to the furthest corners and out over the mountain. The cloth covering the furniture and the window treatments burned with savageness. The wooden furniture itself… less than dust remained. The Only reason Lucivar had survived is he had felt her fury rising and had used the shield that was contained in his ring of honor. He breathed out in relief when he realized that he was still standing and whole.

After giving her a long moment of silence He very carefully asked, "What is it Lady?"

Witch turned to him. Icy fire barely contained in her eyes. Deceitfully calm she answered, "Prince Sadi's Jewelry." Not his wedding band but his Black Jewels. The jewels that he had been wearing last night because he had been insistent that he wear. Here and not where he could call them in. Not something that would be laid carelessly about. And nothing that would be removed willingly.

"We'll find him and Lia." He had to work to keep the growl out of his voice and sound reassuring. He was surprised at how calm he sounded. Damn Daemon. He had better be hurt or have a damn good reason for not having his jewels. He had better.