As Diana was finishing up getting ready Mahaado decided to ask.

"Diana, did you ever send anyone to get your father's Millennium key and your mother's tiara?"

"What? Oh right I forgot to tell you Jasmine already gave her the heirloom tiara. As for the Millennium key, no. I hadn't planned on giving it to her. Which is why I didn't bring it."

Mahaado frowned, "Did she try it on?"

"No, why? Jasmine took it back for safe keeping."

"We need the Millennium key. My man can be there and back in like 10 minutes. He just needs you to tell him where." Due to the power of the Millennium key and that only people of Diana's father's bloodline can touch it he couldn't just summon it. The same was true for the tiara but it had to be the mother's bloodline.

"You haven't answered my question. Why is this so important?" Diana asked. He never got this worked up or cared this much before. She couldn't understand why he now cared so much.

"You have to trust me. I have my reasons." Seeing as she didn't and wasn't going to budge he sighed. He was going to have to come up with an excuse. If he told her she'd call him a liar and never allow his experiment, "Your step-mother who is already ruling until Maura comes of age, she could and possibly has already started poisoning the minds of the locals against her. She will point out that you asked for her to ship Maura here. But then you never accepted her being here. That it was a conspiracy. You are planning to make Maura queen at 12. Despite your agreement not to have her marry Mako you were planning to go back on your word and forcing her to do so anyway. Although Hera appears smart enough to stay away I know I saw representatives from the Sky kingdom here. When they report back that she was announced as having been adopted here but despite that neither of her sisters said a word."

"So?"

"So, the representatives go and tell her this. Then when she turns 12 and doesn't marry Mako or anyone and remains here they will wonder why. They might start thinking this kingdom didn't really adopt her but kidnapped her.'

"That's ridiculous."

"Is it?"

"Yes, why would they think she was kidnapped and Hera has done nothing to get her back?"

"You're holding her grandchild over her head. She can't see David if she tries to take Maura."

"Hera isn't his grandmother."

"The public doesn't know that you don't view her as such. Hera is your step-mother so to them she technically is. You have taken David and announced it to the kingdom and allowed Hera to show him off haven't you?" Mahaado looked at her when she didn't answer. "Diana, are you trying to cause trouble? When you went to see about Maura going missing didn't Hera see David then?"

"No, I left him at home with his nanny, Nozomi. I haven't announced his birth to the Sky kingdom yet. I have no idea if Hera even knows I had a child."

"You want to make sure Maura never gets the throne because your father didn't think about what he was doing when he allowed Hera to force you to marry me."

"What are you talking about?"

"Hera was hoping to have her own child and have it be a boy. Then he'd be king. Too bad for her she couldn't conceive. Obviously even her magic handler couldn't help her there."

"How do you know this? What magic handler?"

"What, you thought my spying was a recent thing? And she can't do magic but I sense a lot of magic being used. So she must have someone helping her. But she must be very powerful as I could never locate her."

"Even if she had a son, I was next in line."

"Don't be so naive, Diana. Everyone knows that the first born male gets the throne. But she knew that there was the chance that your father might override it even if she had succeeded in having a child. So to prevent this she had to get rid of the current heir first, you. She did so by convincing your father to marry you off. My grandfather was thrilled with the alliance of our kingdoms. He wasn't happy at having a 12 year old being thrust at me to be my bride. If anything he should have done what King Kaiba is doing with Maura. Then consider you could have been preparing to take the throne now and I'd have been married to another."

"You'd rather I'd been raised as a sister to you?"

Mahaado snarled, "I was 20! You would never have been my sister. But I do have a distant cousin third in line for the throne from the kingdom of Sushiria. He would have been perfect for you; he's only 3 years older than you. Together you would have been preparing to rule your father's kingdom now. If my grandfather had had the same courage as this king and whisked you away you would be preparing to be crowned queen of the Sky kingdom."

"You hate me, then? Then why did you get me pregnant?"

Mahaado rolled his eyes, "I don't hate you. But whether I like it or not you are my Queen. As for why, did I get you pregnant, I must have a legal heir."

"Legal? You mean that you have other children?"

"Diana, I have been having sex since I was 14. I've done other women and other princesses. Do I know if any of them have had children by me? No. I wasn't always careful. That's what Hiroto was for."

"You've never mentioned him before. Who is he?"

"I didn't? Oh, he was my father's longtime assistant. He actually scouted and found Dylan for me before retiring. Hiroto always had trouble keeping me down. He was like Dylan. He cleans up my messes. Except for princesses I always cast a spell that changes my appearance so no one would ever recognize me. Then I take a special potion that is supposed to temporarily render me infertile."

"How many women have you done this to? How many of them could have ended up pregnant and not knowing the name of the father?"

Mahaado shrugged, "Don't know. I am very cautious with my potion. I was scolded severely for potentially knocking up a maid. But she had been with other men so if she was pregnant it might not have been mine. Still she was given money and she was taken by portal to a far off kingdom and her memory wiped. Money and a paper with her name was all she had."

"You're a monster. You have a potential child out there that could be biologically yours. I can't do this." As she headed for the door he put up a barrier to stop her.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going find out if you really have any other kids. They deserve the right to know."

Mahaado walked over and placed a hand to her head. He didn't like doing this himself but Dylan would only yell at him if he asked him to do it. He erased their entire conversation. The last thing he wanted was her remembering and finding the maid. He didn't want a kid Maura's age running around and being set up to be king or queen if it was his. He searched her memories while he was at it but she was not letting him in. He released the barrier and then released her.

Diana shook her head, "What, what were we talking about?"

"I told you I needed the Millennium key. I want us to loan it to Maura for a celebration of her new life here. You were going to give it to her, while Jasmine placed the crown on her. Doing it now will prove to her you accept her choice to live here. You have already told her she should return once. You went against me and told her to return because of your stepmother's threats. When I simply laughed in your face about the threat."

"Prince Mako's kingdom…"

"Is a joke. I could have if I wanted to, wipe out his little kingdom with a snap of my fingers. I even know someone to put on the throne in his place. He keeps pestering to get Maura back and not let it go. I'll take him out myself and let someone else rule the kingdom."

"You wouldn't!"

"His kingdom was once very powerful and well respected. Not so much anymore. Ever since his grandfather and now his father, the kingdom is more of a joke. Mako's great grandfather even in his later years could have after an intense battle taken me out. My father praised him. But all that was gone when his useless son took over. No one to this day knows if he was powerless or useless. His son, the current king is known to show off but that's all he does. Mako is the same. All bark and no bite. As for the trade route. Sure he can cut off our suppliers. But they need our supplies more than we need theirs. They for whatever reason can't grow hay. Perhaps it's because they are water users and their country gets lots of rain. We have an overabundance of the stuff, so we ship a lot to them. They will come crawling back. We get seafood from them. But we can open a portal and trade with a different kingdom. We're off topic. Why are you so against giving Maura your parents' things? Is she perhaps right?"

Diana was surprised. He didn't normally care about stuff like that. "What do you think she's right about? Why do you care so much all of a sudden?" She glared at him, "Have you been spying again?"

"My spell caster Tiyou was finally able to break your spell."

'We'll see about that. The ring may be gone but I was told the ring will have molded an impression and even with it physically gone. I can still activate it and it will take longer to break the spell each time.'

"Yes, I was spying on Maura and Jasmine. Where she too was going to force Maura to live with her."

"Her country…"

"Prince Nitesh might appear to be a wimp being that they are a flower based magic kingdom. They do strive for peace when possible. But don't underestimate their power. Especially against Mako's current band of untrained and undisciplined soldiers. I'd be worried if they had discipline or training. But seeing as they have neither I'd love to be there as Mako gets thrashed. But instead I'm here."

"What, you're not going to spy on them?"

"It's not the same as watching from a distance. My weakest man could take on the entire army with one arm tied behind his back. I sent more than one to make this a training mission. But Maura informed me of something I never knew."

"Which is?"

"That you both stood by each other. You both begged your father to not be married."

"Something wrong with not wanting to be married so young?"

Mahaado smiled, "No, but I find it interesting that when Maura called you both ignored her as if she was just a stranger's kid. I wouldn't have allowed Mako to beat her up. I admit I myself slapped her. But an occasional slap to keep her in line vs constantly beating her is where I draw the line. I certainly don't approve of passing her around as if she was a doll for his friends to play with."

"What? She never told me that last part."

Mahaado shrugged, "Maybe she did and you didn't want to hear it. She indicated to Jasmine that she at least told her and she didn't care."

"Why didn't Jasmine say anything? I wouldn't have agreed to her marriage if I had known that."

"So you think beatings are okay then? You think I should be slapping you around?"

Diana blinked in surprise, "What? No, of course not. Why would you think I approve of that?"

"You really do hate Maura that much then. I never knew."

"I don't hate her. Why do you keep implying that I do?"

"You only got mad when I said she'd be passed around to be used. But was indifferent to her being constantly and consistently beaten. Like your step-mother did. But it was okay when she did it and starved Maura as well right. She killed your mother."

"Where did you get that from? Maura was 4 when mother died."

"I know the story. There was a fire that destroyed a doll and she died not long after."

"It was my mother's prized doll. We were told never to touch it. Maura not only touched it but burned a hole in the dress. We don't really know what happened to our mother."

"The same doll Jasmine gave King Kaiba?"

"You know about that?" Diana asked. When Mahaado nodded she said, "I didn't but Jasmine insisted. I felt like it should go to the first girl either of us had. But she really wanted to give it to Maura. I think she felt guilty for not doing more to help get her away from our stepmother."

"Do you?"

"No, I only wish we could have learned what was wrong with our father. Was our stepmother to blame or was it something else? Maura was given food, clothes and shelter. Stepmother may have been harsh but not horrible from what the staff have told me."

"Tell me the location of the Millennium key. Trust me, it's important. You will understand soon enough. I'll have your lady in waiting Astarte go back with Dylan to get it."

"Seeing as you're so insistent, fine. I'll have one of the maids watch David."

"What about Nozomi? We don't pay her enough to be his nanny on road trips anymore?"

"If you had paid attention you would have heard that she's not feeling well. So I told her to stay home and rest. I figured between me, the assigned maids, me, Jasmine and Astarte we could manage."

Mahaado hadn't been paying enough attention to remember hearing that. Diana sighed and told him where and how to get the Millennium key. "I'll grab Astarte and send her and Dylan to get it."