Chapter 21. A Drunken King Rouault Now that Queen Nox had left the late lunch, bordering on dinner, social event to return to her work, as the sole ruler of her Kingdom. As well as Seraphina – the dazzling delight of the evening had taken her to leave – having left, one by one all of the remaining guests left the dining room in their respective groupings. The first pair, chaperone and young eligible bachelor, to leave had been King Rouault and Prince Kavan. The former, staggered and wabbled in his pace. His young Prince supported his weight from his shoulder, hugging his side with one arm. Despite this, the King seemed to pay his son no mind. “Honestly,” The young owlet chastised, “You may have overdone it with the blood wine.” The older Tawny owl spluttered and slurred. Being drunk elongated his hooting accent to a comical degree, “Yooou knooow…” he began, “It shooould be me whooo tells yooo ooooff, yoooungster.” The younger peacock prince, Prince Caruso and Queen

Chapter 23. Awaiting Opportunity       Lady Cassandra and young Master Caruso, those from the Peacock Harpy’s Royaly, had been the next pair out of the dining room, once the drunken Lord Fielder had left, – being supported by the young tawny he was supposed to be chaperoning.    Now and again, small bubbles of giggles and chuckles would surface, from their lungs to their lips.    Usually, Master Caruso did not get on well with his mother. Especially surrounding the topic of wanting a mate who was not a peacock. He thought beige was boring and refused to marry a woman who… was just plainly and blatantly boring.    Initially, Lady Cassandra had taken no issue with this. It was well known, and widely accepted among all of the harpy Clan’s, that peacock males had a vanity like no other. Requiring absolute beauty within their mates.     It was because of precisely this, that the P

Chapter 25. A Shifter's Mark   The Raven Kingdom was not one that was known for its warmth, or its sun for that matter. Situated in a more northern part of the continent the blistering winds of the three mountains had a bite to it. The sky while lit with clouds earlier, was now beginning to dull – more than its usual level of dullness anyway.   This was how, most, of the Royal guest from the other Clan’s perceived it anyway. They all felt it was still quite early. Too early for the light to already be fading from the sky, and fading so fast too.     While the various guests had left the late lunches by now: Some now asleep, passed out or garnering beauty sleep. Others exploring the castle or, such as Lord Easton – drafting letters to his mate. The Eurasian Queen.   Sephora remained, still, in the Noble District.    Having now, s

Chapter 27. Lurking Lust   Caruso had ensured that his exit from the room was quiet and soft enough so as not to disrupt his mother, Lady Cassandra the Peacock Queen's, beauty sleep – just as she had begun to drift off.      As it was supposed to be, a late breakfast was delayed to a late lunch. All due to Princess Sephora, who had never bothered to even show up in the end. This was a sentiment mutually shared by all those who had arrived.    Already the younger princess had earned a flakey reputation, but it wasn't unfixable at this point. As it was pushed back to a late lunch, it had disgruntled Lady Cassandra, in the being so close to her evening beauty rest.    No matter the reason

Chapter 29. Stealthy As A Ghost   Elsewhere in the castle Lord Easton was restlessly waiting for his fresh towels to shower up and freshen up prior to his meeting later on with the Raven Queen. Where he would formally pitch the benefit of a union between one, if not both, of her daughter’s and his son’s.    Loris and Lucas had used their supply up and taken them to the Royal baths where they had decided to have an enjoyable and leisurely soak. Where they were reviewing their thoughts on Seraphina as a potential mate and the Raven kingdom as a whole; how the lunch introductions had went?    The Eurasian King had waited patiently for his towels for a while now, but the light of day was all but gone from the grey skie – now as dark as it would get. The lantern’s in his room had flickered on with a strange dark coloured flame, a magic that the Raven’s used to lig