Chương 58: Chapter Fifty Four: Home Bittersweet Home

"Nolan? Lucian? What are you doing? And why do you have the kids?!" They all scrambled over to me and I almost laughed at how pitiful they looked. Oh dear. The old man screeched at me clearly at his wits end.

"This is all your fault. I told you to get rid of those damn birds!" He pointed at me and stomped on a rampage.

"By the way, have you seen your pup? She seemed upset when she left and we've been trying to find her."

"You met her?" Upset? Why would this concern you? Nolan chuckled and made an odd comment.

"Oh, he met her alright. Nia. Just remember to remain calm." I'll dissect that later runt.

"I see you're in a good mood. Why are you here?" His eyebrows raised and he raised his voice.

"You lied to me! She never asked about me at all, did she?" He shook the bracelet on his wrist and I laughed to myself. So gullible. If we're being completely honest she did ask. Once. I shut her down and she never mentioned you since. I suppose you aren't interesting enough. I averted my eyes and decided to focus on the retainer.

"Logan?" Maybe. Maybe not. Still made you come. Looks like you are good for something and now that you're here…Who says you can leave? Can't believe it worked that well. Brainless and Brawn. All in one place. I am surely blessed. Flustered snapping served to draw my attention.

"It's Lowell. Not Logan. Not Louis. Not Loaf. Lowell! Your Highness." He finished with a small insincere bow. Pity. I may have gotten his name wrong a few times.

"Why are you here? Why are the kids here and Ria's with the others." Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed their stance. The triplets leaned against a tree exhaustedly and I raised an eyebrow. Even they're tired? They must have gone through it last night. Lin's going to be pissed. Maybe she'll save all of her ire for the kids. That just leaves her on the missing list. The new recruits are going to have a ball looking for her. Lowell probed, "What about Eric and Kissae? Have you seen them?"

I sneered already feeling a raging fire burn in the hollows of my chest, "Erichean has my daughter and Kissae is… tied up." I say that last part quietly. Not my choice.

"..."

"What?" His tiny ears flatten against his head.

"One of the elders thinks she's a spy or something from the High Court." I waved it off.

"I'll fix it when we get back. Lucian?" Pleading with him through eye contact alone to take them the rest of the way. They're gonna have to camp out in the forest tonight. The barrier only opens twice a day, and by now Efret is waiting for me at the entrance. We can't wait too long either. Miseria needs treatment now. Once he grasped the nature of my unspoken request he roared, "No! You need to take at least one of them. I'm not dragging all of them any further!" He ran a shaking hand through his hair.

I have never seen him lose his composure like this. Bravo. The triplets jumped up and down.

"Pick us."

"Pick me!"

"Pick me!" This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. I looked between all the options and settled on them. The rest are adults, they can handle it. It's just grassland and sparse trees, a little further. All the wildlife are herded to the back this time of year.

"Sorry Lucian. I'll make it up to you." Nolan tittered and I gave him a weird look. Did the forest finally drive him completely crazy? It's only been a few days. Now that he's here it'll be much easier to keep him here. No more coddling or hunger strikes. Once he's inside the barrier. He's mine. That's one less thing to worry about. Positivity. Manifesting peace and happiness. It'll all work out in the end as Hadrian says. Managing a slight smile to myself I plucked the climbing helion's from the branches.

All three hung on to my blouse and seemed startled.

"She's right. You do look creepy when you smile." My smile drops and I fly upwards. That little brat. I break the treeline and soar over the top. Small treehouses become l noticeable as we get closer. Clothes hang on the clothing lines shift and sway as I pass over them. Moonlight dyed the trees in its celestial glow and small lamps lit throughout the night cast a warm glow on the wood. Pretty. I'll show it to her when she's better. My little brat. She's going to bleed me dry for this, I just know it. Demands.

Moral kidnapping as she calls it My eyes glaze over with warmth and I can't help but feel a little anticipation. I wonder what she'll ask for this time. Maybe she'll come up with one of her great ideas again as a bribe. Well... Mother's ideas. But she's the one who shares them. That's what counts. She made luxury paper just for me.

"Wait! What about the birds?" I stopped reveling in the clouds of dust belonging to the next day to look down at the terrible three. I can't believe they were let loose in my forest. Where are their guards?

"Yeah, let's sell 'em!" One of them cheered and hid his cold hands in my sides. I winced but tried not to fling him away. A small crack lined my face, "You hunted in my forest? You have to pay a fine for that." Eh, I'll probably wave it on account of Lin. She's had to deal with enough. Yucheng shakes his head no.

"Not us. Ria. She like looked at them and they went crr …And then they died!" He threw his hands in the air, "There's a whole bunch of them and if we hurry we can sell them in the market!" The market? When did they go to the night market? Nevermind.

"Explain." Wind gathered behind my feathers and propelled us toward as they chatter about the excitement of the previous night.

"She cried after. I guess she felt bad for them but they were trying to eat us! So we were all trying to tell her not to feel bad…." Yucheng continued his brother's sentence and used his hands to demonstrate the calming breaths Lowell asked her to take, "When all of a sudden she like stopped breathing and Lowell had to like do his voice thing to make her calm down." Yuchen played with his rodent and inquired casuall,."Then she ran away from us and the forest changed. Why does it do that?"

"Defensive purposes. Tell me the rest." An identical copy shrugged, "That's it. After that, we all looked for her and then Nolan saw you flying and was like, hey." He mockingly pointed at the sky, "That looks like my sister!" Rolling my eyes, you don't say. She killed that many creatures? That's out of character for her. She's so squeamish just drinking blood that we've had to hide it from her, even though she craves it. I would never have thought she could be capable of it.

The gift must be affecting her more than I thought. No matter. We'll fix her down at Hawthorne. She just needs some fine tuning. Maybe I can drag this out for a little longer. Per the law I have to remain at her side until she's ready. Which could take years if I slow her training down just right. Then I'd have time to survey the territory and the islands. This is making out to be a fine extended break from our current schedule. I'd be a fool not to take advantage.

All my plans are wasted before her Those lying bed witches all said she wouldn't remember the first four years of her life and I should start bonding with her when she's older. There's always training. I could teach her how to shoot properly. We can find some common ground. One of the nightmares yawned and curled deeper into my arm nuzzling their cold wet nose into the flesh. Then it caught on like a common cold and all three were yawning in tandem.

"Sleep you rascals." They giggled and closed their eyes obediently. Dangling from one of the triplet's hands is a trinket. I readjusted them and caught it before it dropped. My smile became a frown when I gave it a closer look. Damn it. I crushed the stone in its center and pocketed the necklace. They're getting closer to places they should keep their noses out of. Fine. I'll be here for a while anyway. I'll spare some time to go hunting. Meanwhile.

"So can we take a break now?" Lowell asked hopefully.

"A break?" Lucian bared all of his teeth and laughed loudly at the top of his lungs.

"Yeah, it's time to right?"

"Oh, it's time alright." Lucian cracked his neck and started to shift into his wolf. Fur sprouted from his skin and bones realigned. Lowell and Nolan grimaced at the same time. Lucian's paw stomped the ground. Jutting his nose forward and the both of them groaned in disbelief. He snapped his teeth at them and they jumped on the spot.

"I'm quitting!" Lowell took off in the direction Lucian was pointing in. Nolan clicked his tongue and picked up his feet. Within moments he overtook the boy and left afterimages in his wake. Lucian howled appreciatively and continued herding them in the direction of the barrier. The only place in the Sunless Forest unaffected by the defensive magic cast over it.