Judy scowled at the guards, who had reported that they still couldn't find her wayward youngest daughter. It had been three days since Charlie had taken Santana on what was supposed to be a simple tour of the capital, and a nice dinner by the docks. She had already heard that Kara had intervened, and she suddenly understood why Charlie complained about her ad nauseam. But they had disappeared soon after that and she was beginning to worry. Three days? "I don't quite understand how the city guard and the royal guards haven't found her yet. It's just two people! And Charlie didn't take that much money with her!"

Quinn liberally placed some jam on her crumpet as she looked over at the captain's of both the city and royal guard and frowns. Even her sparrows and dolls hadn't been able to find any sign of them, "Have you asked the street children?"

"The street children?" Brittany questions looking at Quinn raising a brow.

"You know the feral children who live on the street that Charlie seems to have taken a liking to," Quinn says with a wave of her knife.

"You mean the urchins?" Rachel corrects with a shake of her head.

"My point is, has anyone asked them?" Quinn questions.

"We have, they haven't seen her in three days either."

"Judy, it's her first time. Give her some breathing room," Russell speaks up as he eats his breakfast.

"What do you mean it's her first time?"

"I mean it's Charlie, should we really be surprised? I mean the first woman that shows even the slightest bit of interest and she's ready to give away half of the kingdom to her. Let's just hope she doesn't do anything stupid," Frannie muttered.

"It's Charlie, it's probably the entire kingdom," Quinn muttered under her breath.

"It's been three days, even if they were doing what you think they're doing. Charlie would still need food, and they would most certainly need water. You don't do that for three days without either one of those things."

"Has anyone checked the flagship?" Brittany asks flatly.

Quinn nearly dropped the crumpet, and looked at the city guards. Charlie sneaking back into the castle was bold even for her, but how had she managed to get past the guards? "Anyone?"

"We haven't, we've been going door to door in the capital, we didn't think she'd return to the flagship," the captain of the Royal guard says immediately.

"Find out who she paid to look the other way and have them thrown into the dungeon. If they can be bribed they have no business being a guard," Judy snaps at the captain of the royal guard. She looks at her husband who has begun to laugh at how ridiculous all this is. "It's been three days. How are you not worried?"

"Charlie goes to the badlands for fun, and she's been doing that for years. I'm far more concerned about her trips to the badlands than her bedding a beastkin and losing track of time, and her duties. I've been there. Remember when we first met?"

Judy rolled her eyes and immediately looked away. "No."

"I mean this must sting Quinn, Charlie managed to outsmart you and your sparrows," Brittany smirked at her younger sister.

"She didn't—"

The door to their private dining area opens and the family turns to see Charlie walking in a very loose shirt and leather pants, a large smile plastered on her face as she takes her usual seat and reaches for the crumpets she picks one up before placing it back down and simply taking the entire tray and dumping it onto her plate. "Good morning!" She greets her family cheerfully.

"See, she's fine," Russell snorted, going back to his meal. He wasn't going to pry, it would be better if they didn't pry.

Judy however was not going to simply let it go and pretend it hadn't happened like her husband. "Three days, do you have any idea how worried I was. Do you know how much time you wasted? The Royal Guards, and the city guards, have been searching for you!" Judy insists. "Not to mention did you ever think about what the Beastkin delegation would think?"

"She really did a number on your arms," Brittany comments, poking one of Charlie's newer scars as Charlie stuffed her mouth.

"Not to mention what your grandmother would think and the Holy Empire—"

"The wedding should be soon," Charlie said as she swallowed and drained her cup. "A month from now."

Frannie shoots her youngest sibling a look, "What exactly did you promise her and what are we getting in return?"

"That hardly matters. Quinn married Rachel who is a commoner. You married Joe, who is from the Holy Empire. Brittany married an elf, Mike is one of the better ones, I should be able to marry Santana without much fuss. Best to do it a soon as possible before I mess up and she changes her mind."

"I mean, Charlie isn't wrong, she's bound to do something that screws up this union, so it's best if we start planning it right away."

"A wedding can't be rushed—"

"What if she's pregnant?" Charlie interrupts. There had been a lot of sex, and she still wasn't quite sure how it all worked. Something about being in heat but she didn't quite understand what that meant but what she did know was that Santana didn't seem to be on any preventative herbs. "I'm going to have the cutest babies."

Judy's eyes widen and she brings her thumb to her lips and bites down hard on it. Charlie disappearing for three days suddenly made sense, especially if Santana had gone into heat. "She's pregnant."

"I'm pretty sure," Charlie said proudly. There had been a lot of sex, and she was sure she had filled her mate with babies. That's what happened if you weren't preventive herbs and had sex.

Russell grinned, "We're going to be grandparents." Which meant that he only had a year or two left before he could finally give Charlie the throne and retire to be with his wife for the rest of his life. "This is joyous news! And a wedding is necessary."

Quinn studied her twin for a moment, "And you're sure she's pregnant?"

"Of course Quinn, I know how babies are made," Charlie snaps at her twin. "We should talk to grandma and see if there are any drake eggs in hatching season."

"Do you know how babies are made?" Brittany questions, glaring at Quinn who had kicked her under the table.

"Do you want the details of what we did? Because—"

"No," Frannie interrupts. "We're eating and it's far from polite conversation."

~ O ~

Santana's tail swished in the air, as she went to retrieve her things from her room. She planned to be fully moved into Charlie's quarters by nightfall so that they could continue what they had started on the ship. She had a massive grin on her face as she opened the door and spotted the rest of the beastkin eating breakfast. "Call off the other primes Sansa, as you can tell, newly mated."

"You smell like a dragon," Drogo said, wrinkling his nose in disgust.

"Damn right I do," Santana said, smelling herself, she still smelt like her mate. Considering that they had been tangled together for three days, that was to be expected but she liked her mate's scent. "But if you want to spar with her, she practices every morning on the training grounds. I'll inform her of your wish. I'll be moving my things into her room today."

"That's all very well and good," Sansa stated completely indifferent to Santana's return, the moment that it had been announced that the two of them had disappeared, she had figured that it had already happened. "But we are here for a purpose, and while you sitting on the throne at some point will be good for our kind, we still haven't found the information we came looking for."

"Charlie thinks it was the elves."

"The elves are our allies, does she have any proof?" Sansa asks.

Santana shrugged her shoulders, "I'm not certain. But did you know that the King and Queen are twins? Such relations generally lead to insanity and I've heard mention of magic being corrupted, perhaps the two are linked somehow. But I do know that my mate had nothing to do with it, and we must call for a beastkin shaman."

"A shaman. Shaman's don't leave our lands, they are our connection to our past—"

"She has not merged with her dragon, they are two separate entities. There were a few times over the past three days when I was with her dragon and not her. I'm not sure if it's a problem but we should make certain that she doesn't go insane."

"Given that a prime beastkin was found in the possession of one of the members of this kingdom desecrated, there is no way that the elders would agree to allow one of the shamans to leave the sacred lands. I doubt they'll even let her into the sacred lands, but we can ask. But that's neither here or there. The elves have banned entrance into their territories for ages now, so unless you have proof that they're behind it then we must proceed as planned."

Santana shrugged her shoulders, "The problem is solved, I'll sit on the throne beside my mate—"

"Have you given any thought about the responsibility that you ignored, you are to be queen. You can't spend the rest of your life lounging about. You will have responsibilities, to our people, to her people. To your mate—and the nobles, are you certain that they would respect you?"

Santana scowled, "You think that I haven't thought of that? Or do you think that I plan to spend the rest of my days lazing around and having sex with my mate. I'm a prime, and I've had lessons on managing territory before. The people of this kingdom adore her, the nobles fear them, what is important to me is that my mate isn't alone."

"Well the cats—"

Before Sansa could finish her sentence and start a fight with Santana there's a firm knock on the door, and a maid steps forward. "The Queen has requested your presence in her garden this afternoon."

"Well I was planning—"

"She'll be there. You have just mated into the family you must show her the proper respects, she is your mate's mother and by all accounts they are close. Not to mention that your mate is her youngest child, she is probably not thrilled with you mating with her without her permission," Matt intervenes.

Santana scowled, she had planned to spend the rest of her day in bed with her mate, but Matt was right. "Very well, I will join her majesty for tea."