With the revelation that there were more traitors about that needed to be hunted down, Lewis and Simone got to work. Between their own resources and that of the organization they had recently joined, the information they gathered poured like blood from an open wound. While that that was going in the background, they had a solid lead:

The sixth man who had betrayed the Auclair family.

It was easy enough to arrange a meeting with King Llywellyn, but Lewis had learned quite a few things as of late about the way that the world worked. And that, unfortunately, meant that Simone and Lewis now had to step lightly around the king. At least, for the time being.

It was never simple. Auclair had fallen, and from its ashes a new Sulwal was born. Was that the whim of the Gods? Or perhaps it was the whim of the organization. Lewis would have dismissed it all, except that it was all too convenient.

Llywellyn had to overthrow the previous king in order to secure the throne. A simple coup wouldn’t have been able to rally an entire kingdom’s worth of people. It would have taken a lot of work. Perhaps there was propaganda spread about, an artful deception brought about by the organization….

Capelle might have been the leader, but he wasn’t the one in charge. And, from what Lewis could understand, there were many factions within the organization, and some were at odds with each other.

Lewis and Simone were already sitting down on the lavish couch, their tea already poured, when the King of Sulwal entered. Sure, he could have no knowledge of the unseen hands that guided the world, guided him to his place of power, but Lewis couldn’t be sure.

There was one thing that made it all the much worse…

Auclair’s file had papers that were missing and torn from the records.

“Llywellyn,” Lewis said, acknowledging the king as he entered. “I hope you have been well…”

Simone knew that Llywellyn wouldn’t have used the ashes of Auclair to benefit Sulwal but someone else would have. A king was just a figurehead at the end of the day to the shadows who actually led a country.

The files that Capelle had were missing things which means that it had been either incomplete when they were received or they had been torn apart after Capelle got them. Simone had no reason to believe Capelle would hold these answers back from her since he had been upfront with everything so far. She learned towards the first answer that it had been incomplete when he got it.

“What do I owe the pleasure, my friends?” The king seemed joyful to see them but noticing that the children weren’t with them he realized this might be more serious. “Please don’t tell me Llolan gave in to Alshaya.”

“No, thankfully Lewis has scared him that he’ll be castrated if anything does happen.”

“Please don’t castrate my son…” Llywellyn looked almost in tears. “But if you aren’t here because of that…”

“Send all of your people outside of this room. Lock it with magic and make sure no one can hear us.” Simone crossed her legs and was looking around. “I have some questions and only you can hear them.”

Llywellyn’s guards were about to complain but he held up his hand, “She put you into a chokehold and almost killed you. What the fuck are you going to do? Go outside.” The guard cringed and soon they were left alone and a silence rune was put up.

“Your father had an adviser. Who was he?” Simone got rid into business.

“Which one?”

“There were multiples?”

“Yes, one disappeared and another took over. It was a tragic accident.”

“What if it wasn’t an accident? Your mother died not long after didn’t she?”

The words Simone spoke stopped Llywellyn cold and he started to get mad, “Simone what the fuck is going on?”

Lewis held up his hand. It was unusual for everyone to be so heated right from the start, but there were a lot of sensitive subjects being tossed around, and that meant that tensions were already running high.

“Let’s take a step back, and start from the beginning.” He glanced over to Simone, trying to get her to calm down and back off a bit. Things were complicated, and delicate…which normally Simone could handle. Right now, though, she was angry. Lewis couldn't exactly blame her either.

“We came across some rather important information recently, and we believe that there were forces at work within Sulwal that aided in the betrayal of Auclair.” The way that Llywellyn was reacting was textbook. There was no way he knew what was going on. If he had any hand in this, it was as a pawn, not as a player in this game.

“There were six people in total who brought about the fall of Auclair. Simone’s family, and one other. That man, we believe, was an advisor to the late king. Your father.” Lewis produced some documents, and handed them over to Llywellyn. “Third paragraph down. There’s a name…likely a fake. Ivarain Elmys. One years and two months before Auclair was burned to the ground, he was appointed as the fifth advisor to the throne. Only…when we look at the official records, there were only ever four advisors and any given time. And that name never appears among them…likely that was when one of them had a ‘tragic’ accident.”

Llywellyn made a face and looked at Simone and then looked at Lewis, “Who told you this?”

“I tortured Felix for three days and his story was the same. He wasn’t lying. He was an elvish adviser and what information we did find led us to the same conclusion.”

Llywellyn and Simone both seemed to have calmed down enough to talk about it. “Where is Felix now?”

“Dead, we made sure that we sealed him on the island. At least his body. Angela said it would be harder to bring him back again if we buried his body where we can watch it. Well… We turned him to ash, put him in a pot, and buried him in the courtyard… More like. We didn’t want his body stinking up the garden.” She waved her hand.

“I see… Well… I think I know the adviser you're looking for. He didn’t last long and he suffered greatly after my mother died. I think that might be the man you are looking for.” Llywellyn stood up.

“Wait… He’s still here?”

“You’ll see when you see him,” Llywellyn beckoned them to follow and Simone looked at Lewis before following the king. This was making her nervous. More so than it should have.

What she felt though wasn’t necessarily evil as they approached a small mansion on the east side of Sulwal. “He retired a long time ago. My father let him go immediately because he couldn’t stop hyperventilating at Mother’s tomb.”

“So, your mother was more or less… What… A consequence?”

“Probably wasn’t something he expected,” Llywellyn was angry but also he wanted more answers. This would hopefully give them.

He knocked on the door and a maid opened it, “King Llywellyn what do we owe the pleasure?”

“I need to see Lord Gildor. Please, it’s an emergency.” They were led into a sitting room and soon an older elf came in. The man froze when he saw Simone. “So you do know Simone.”

“…” The man came over and sat down. “I have nothing to say.”

“I could torture it out of him,” Simone spoke as she crossed her arms and glared at the man. “Cut his arms and his legs of–”

“You were never like this before,” the elvish man was coming to terms it looked like.

“Some people aren’t born monsters,” Simone answered. “You helped make me one.”

LLewis sat down across from the retired elf. Simone chose to keep standing, unable to let her guard down. Lewis couldn’t really blame her for that. Instead, Lewis focused on what he could do for the time being. Simone was obviously emotional over the whole ordeal, and the normally easygoing Llywellyn was equally as emotional.

“Start talking, then,” Lewis said as he gave the elf a look. “It seems like you’re haunted by it all. I bet it would do you well to get it all out.”

The elder elf looked at Lewis, and then to the angry Simone, and finally to his king. He let out a long, tired sigh. It was obvious that his age was catching up with him. Torture would not suit him at all. He would rather die with dignity.

“We all saw it…the way that the young lord looked at Princess Simone. Even if she were to marry another, we thought that Llywellyn would eventually warm her heart and her bed. We were scarred of the idea…a filthy half breed that could claim the throne. So…we acted. There was a group that approached us…told us that there was away into the King’s court. So…we took it. I… took it. The others were all talk…”

Lewis watched as the elf stared off into the distance, reliving his memories. “The man we met…he never gave us his name, nor who he worked with. It was supposed to be a simple payoff…a quick bag of silver for a job well done…but the Queen, she walked in on the meeting. Before I could say anything, she was immediately silenced…”

Lord Gildor noticed Llywellyn again, and looked him in the eyes. “I was furious. The Queen was not to be harmed. None of them were. I would have died for her…just as I would have died for your father. In the end, though…even he perished. What a fool you’ve been, Lord Llywellyn…”

“In the end, you were just a tool…” Lewis sighed. “Not much else to go on here…”

Simone crossed her arms and tilted her head, “You are a fucking idiot you know that?”

The older elf looked stunned at her.

“I can’t fucking stand Llywellyn like that…” Simone looked bored for a moment and shook her head. “And besides Llywellyn already tried to sleep with me. I kicked his ass out of bed. His bare ass. Str–”

Llywellyn cupped her mouth, “Simone! What if someone is listening?!”

“Whoops there’s a scandal,” Simone said after biting his hand. “Your prince was a whore. He warmed SO many beds. Who knows how many half-breeds he had in Auclair.” Once more Llywellyn tried to cup her mouth. He was panicking.

Simone was yelling through his hand and it sounded like mumbled garbage. Finally, Simone kicked Llywellyn right in the balls and watched him slump. She crossed her arms. “You don’t need them anymore you have plenty of sons.”

“You… are literally a fucking monster,” Llywellyn squeaked up at her.

“What?” The elf looked at her almost in a daze.

“Llywellyn and I would never be lovers. I can’t see him like that now and I couldn’t then. It doesn’t matter if we were close. Do you know how many times he tried to get up my skirt and failed? He’s stupid as shit and not my type. Actually, this one is my type,” she pointed at Lewis. “Which explains why I wasn’t really attracted to anyone around me.” She came to the slight realization even if she hadn’t become a monster… Lewis still loved the way the younger her was.

“…You were a tool. The queen’s death was used to bring Llywellyn home because Llywellyn was the only one who could have protected me,” Simone finally sat down next to Lewis. “It was more than likely that you were thrown onto the list to pit me against Llywellyn should the need arise.” She leaned back. “The plan was to kill her all along they just needed an excuse.”

“So does that mean Alvaro was the one who put the thought in his head?” Llywellyn finally sat up and regained what little dignity he felt like he had.

“More than likely. It could have been fey power of suggestion. They probably didn’t expect the queen’s death to have that kind of effect on him. Nor did they expect you to overthrow your father. It explains why I have moved around so much the first seven years.”

“They were supposed to kill you.”

“The plan was never to kill me,” Simone answered the elf. “You sold me as a sex object and breeding tool.” The elf sat back and just stared at the woman. “I wish it had just killed me.”

“Don’t say that Mone,” Llywellyn looked up. “Though I understand why you would say that.”

There was a sigh from her and shook her head, “I know that I shouldn’t say those things. I’ve survived too much to just wish I had given up. However, there are now people who are after me and my children. It could be the group that Alvaro started to stage all of this. But if you don’t know anything about them… Lewis is right this is pretty much a dead end.”

“The children?” Llywellyn looked at her.

Simone nodded, “Lila and Janus. For whatever reason, they are fixated on those two being impure but that doesn’t make any sense. Though they also think I’m impure.”

“…You’re no longer human but your new body has never been human. I’m not understanding unless…”

“Unless Alvaro is back and trying to take Lila,” Simone realized what she said as it left her lips. She looked more shocked than anything.

Lewis thought for a moment, and sighed. “That would be far too convenient. Alvaro was a tool himself, remember?” His entire scheme circled around the fact that his wife had scorned and cursed him. Sure, it was due to his own selfishness, but Simone was merely a means to an end for him to get back into the graces of the Fae Queen.

“There was something else about all of this that didn’t make sense, though…but now that we know the history of Auclair’s magic…” He closed his eyes. This level of thinking was usually far beyond him, but things seemed to be clicking together in his mind. Auclair’s powerful magic…the bloodline of Mirror Magic. The orchestrated fall of Auclair. Why was Simone of all people chosen by the Fae Queen?

All of the answers seemed to lead Lewis back to the same conclusion. Someone in this organization had been pulling the strings. Was it a whim of fate that had them join at this time? Or was this another scheme being orchestrated behind the scenes. Capelle seemed trustworthy enough, but was he under some sort of influence?

And at the center of it all were the twins. Lila and Janus. Two children born of pure magic. The pureists wanted them dead, but what if that was only a ruse? Their power, despite being ‘impure’, was raw mirror magic.

“We’re close to an answer of why, but still not who,” Lewis stated. All of this crossed over to Simone, and he gave her a look. Their timing of joining the organization was now suspicious.

Janus and Lila had to be the targets.

Simone looked nervous and she frowned greatly. “I can’t take another group coming after our family Lewis. Last time was almost the end for us.”

“It was the end for you,” Llywellyn corrected. “If the magic hadn’t activated at the right now you both would have been dead.”

The elf king was right and she crossed her arms. “If it isn’t Alvaro…” She leaned back and closed her eyes. “What if…” She looked at Lewis. “What if my womb getting taken and all my descendants killed… What if that wasn’t a part of the plan?”

“Simone might be onto something… She wouldn’t have trusted Alvaro but she would have trusted someone who wasn’t a part of it. A lover. Someone who was taking care of her because Alvaro had gone too far. What if they had wanted Simone out of Auclair because otherwise they wouldn’t have had access to her?”

It was hurting Simone's head as she closed her eyes, “And then I killed all the fey and I got punished for it.”

“You said that Emil Somerset’s house help fished you out of the lake… Could that have been a part of all of this? Why the hell was someone looking for you at the bottom. I know that lake… Even in the summer, you can’t see the bottom of it.”

“Someone knew I was there,” Simone answered it easily. “I just fuck up everyone’s plans of using my womb don’t I?”

“I don’t know… You let Lewis use it,” Llywellyn cracked a joke and Simone smirked.

“Touche. Still… There’s no one left of Somerset’s estate I don’t think… The people I helped run are probably in hiding now.”

“A little rumor here, a slip of the tongue there. Emil was a coward, he would have never made a deal openly. It was more than likely he was pushed in her direction by way of suggestion.” Lewis sighed. Things were slowly clicking into place, but it was taking quite the bit of work.

“Of course, Emil put in a kill order for Simone. He couldn’t handle her…but whoever knew this knew that she couldn’t die.” It was that bastard, Jasper, who had recommended the job to him. Said it should be an easy one and done. “As much as I’d like to think that the power of destiny or whatever bullshit was responsible for us meeting…” He paused. “I was working under Raith…”

A god.

A woman who couldn’t die, whose womb was missing. Raith might not have been the right god for it, but he was someone who had power. Power that could have possibly helped fix Simone. If not him, then a certain Goddess of-

“Looks like we’re paying a visit to our old contact,” Lewis said with a grim expression. “I hope he keeps records…”

Simone sighed a bit and groaned, “I fucking hate Jasper.”

–

At this rate, the two Terrowins popped into Elysia to explain everything to Xeik. Xeik was more than willing to ‘all hands on deck’ watch the twins. The twins were explained to that they were most likely in danger. While most wouldn’t explain this to their young children… The Terrowin couple felt like they had to so that the twins would behave. Lila wasn’t scared in the least, instead, she clung to her uncle Xeik and nodded.

They had faith in their parents. “We’ll be in contact.” They were dressed for a job and that was something that got everyone’s attention as they walked into Lewis’s old haunting ground.

“What the hell are you doi–” Simone kicked the bigger man into a wall and looked at him. “Shut the fuck up before I skin alive. I don’t have the patience to actually make myself seem timid today.” The last time they had come it was about information. The same was true here but this time around they knew that they weren’t on a particular time limit. No, more than likely anything planned for their twins would happen when they matured more.

“If you’re going to–”

“Shut up…” Simone gave a deadpan look. “What was it? Cup of Midnight? Look I don’t give a damn. Go get me Jasper before I yell for him.”

“I don’t know who you–”

“I’m Simone Dusk and I’ll fucking sew your mouth shut unless you get me what I want,” Simone was being testy. These were her babies that were in trouble. She plopped down in a seat next to Lewis and Jasper looked around the corner at them.

“We can see you… We’re not blind. Get over here.” She kicked the chair out. “Better not talk in that stupid accent either.”

“Your wife seems to be in a bad mood Lewis my boy…” Jasper was weary of Simone. Immediately Simone crossed her arms and looked away. “Could be bad for business.”

“Ugh…” Simone wasn’t known to be a very patient woman.