1 Are we there yet?

"Are we there yet?" Evelyn complained as she stared out the window of their carriage.

"We still have about four hours to go," her father, Duke Henry Valentia dismissed her complaint.

"But I'm hungry," she whined.

"That is why I told you to eat breakfast before we left. You knew that the ride was going to take us quite a while and I have no plans of stopping unless this rain becomes a threat," he replied without looking up from the stack of papers he had brought with him.

"Who could even eat that early in the morning?! It's already past noon. Can't we at least stop and get some lunch?"

"Both father and I managed to eat before we left," her sister Peggy retorted.

Evelyn quietly sighed while she continued to stare out the window. They had left their Duchy early in the morning before the sun had even risen and it was true that their maid Charlotte had made sure that their breakfast was served bright and early while they finished getting their things sorted for their trip. But Evelyn had refused numerous times to get up in time and consequently only had enough time to quickly drink a cup of tea and take a few bites of her eggs and a biscuit.

She had spent the night out in the forest beyond their estate honing her magic. It was well known to her father, Peggy, and Charlotte that she routinely snuck out at night and last night was no exception. Fall had started to creep in, and it brought with it the rains that she had been looking forward to. It had been quite some time since their last rain and subsequently, she had not been able to fully practice her water magic. While the small river that ran through their forest allowed her to practice, it was nothing compared to the magic she was able to use when there was rain. She had spent many years practicing in secret, refusing to join her mother's former, and Peggy's current coven, and using water magic during the dry season was sure to draw attention. In the many years that she had spent cultivating her magic abilities, she had grown to be quite powerful, but she was still constantly improving her abilities.

Under the light rain last night, she focused her training on manipulating where the rain fell on the forest floor to form a barrier to keep certain areas dry. While this was not a new skill, this type of barrier was tricky to achieve and in the many years she had been practicing it, she had still not perfected it. The only people that were aware of her gifts included her father, her sister Peggy, her late mother's sister aunt Carol, her trusted maid Charlotte, and the handful of witches from the coven that had abused her early on when her powers had first awakened; none of them were privy to the full extent of her current powers.

Using her late mother's journals that she had found hidden in a trunk in her closet, she had come to learn about her mother's various powers and spells that she had been able to perform. Even without the coven's guidance, she had begun to be able to perform a wide range of magics. Manipulating the rain was one of the more difficult challenges she had encountered. It required a tremendous amount of concentration and power to use both wind and water magic at the same time and it had taken her many years to even begin to create a barrier from the rain wider than just her enough to shield her small frame. According to her mother's journals, at one point she had been able to create a barrier large enough to cover the entire area of their duchy and while she did not use it often, it had sheltered them on a handful of occasions from severe flooding. Last night she had finally been able to extend her barrier enough to cover the area around the carriage they would be using to travel to the Gauthier duchy today.

***

As they continued on their journey the rain had started to pick up and she had decided to try and create a light barrier to allow them to travel without the threat of heavy rains delaying them. Evelyn was growing tired, and her barrier was beginning to waver. She couldn't help but grin and decided to gradually disperse it for a while and the timing could not have been better after hearing her father's comment.

"Duke Valentia," their trusted knight Michael that was accompanying them called out from outside the carriage, "the rain is starting to come down heavier and I think it may be best to stop for a while to make sure that we don't encounter any areas that may be flooded."

Upon hearing Michael's suggestion, her father looked out the window and nodded his head and let out a sigh. "I understand. It is best to be cautious in that case."

"I will scout ahead and see if I can find a suitable place to rest," Michael declared before he sped up in front of their carriage.

Duke Henry raised an eyebrow as he spotted Evelyn's mischievous grin while he secured his documents in his leather bag. "It looks like we will stop for a moment until the rain begins to let up," he sighed.

Their carriage stopped outside of a small tavern where Michael and their small group of knights were waiting for them. Once they were under the small overhang Evelyn stopped them before their father opened the door.

"Wait," she smiled and scanned the area around them and before either of them could stop her, Evelyn surrounded them with a warm swirl of wind to dry them off.

"What did I say?" Her father lightly scolded her.

"What? No one saw me. Plus, I don't think any of us wanted to eat our lunch soaking wet," she shrugged.

"Why can't you just listen to me? What if someone came out while you were in the middle of doing that?"

"Besides the hostess, I did not sense anyone on the other side of the door."

Their father raised an eyebrow at her, "don't tell me that you can use sensory magic now?"

"What are you talking about?" Peggy questioned loudly.

"It's not a big deal," Evelyn brushed off their questions.

"Not a big deal? I am certain that you know that that is nothing to dismiss so quickly," her father sighed. "Never mind, let's just get a table and wait for the rain to let up."

Once they entered the tavern a smiley young girl led them to a table in the far corner next to the table where their knights were seated. Their dry attire did not go missed by her and Evelyn watched her stop at a table in the back before she made her way into the kitchen.

****

At the table in a dark corner of the tavern sat a small group of people that had just heard from one of their barmaids that the party she just sat at the far table was perfectly dry despite the heavy rains outside. Upon hearing her comment Clyde Dillington, a man with long black and white hair cast his copper and red eyes watched as the two girls and their father that were seated on the other end of the tavern.

Clyde's body froze where it was at. He was greeted with powerful smell of minty fig but there was something about it that he just could not figure out. It was an earthy smell that he could tell did not belong there. He cast his eyes upon the grinning green-eyed girl that laughed softly as her father and her sister made their way to a group of tables that was connected or next to a group of knights that I'd already started eating. He watched as the small waitress approach their table, but he stopped her before she passed his.

"I need you to look into what's going on at that table for me. Please let me know whatever you can find." Clyde could not take his eyes off of the black-haired girl but for some reason he just could not understand why he was feeling the way he was. The scent alone was bothering him. It just didn't fit her. He couldn't understand but she smells like a supernatural being, so it was confusing because usually humans don't carry that sort of minty smell. It just didn't happen, but it was overpowering the sweet smell of fig that had that robust earthiness still connected to it that drew him in and made him wonder just what was going on beneath the surface of her beautiful white porcelain skin.

Clyde brushed off the way his body was reacting. He was feeling drawn to her, but he knew it was too early to act and he need to be careful to figure out exactly what was going on. In all of his 300 years of living, he had never felt this way once, but he had heard many times about the experience of the mate pool. But after 300 years one just stops believing that it could happen to them. He truly believed that the mistakes of his past would keep him away from finding his one true mate. He believed that his very soul was damned. So how was there a way that the moon goddess could possibly bestow upon him a mate as beautiful, and alluring has the one sitting in front of him. He knew it was impossible, but yet something told him that he needed to get closer to her. He needed to find out the truth about her.

The red-haired man seated at the table followed his line of sight, "Clyde, isn't that Duke Henry Valentia?" George Carlton asked as he adjusted his round glasses.

"Mm, is that so?" Clyde hummed. "George, what do you know about them?" he asked as he continued to observe the small group.

"Not much, they have mostly kept to themselves for the last several years."

Clyde turned his attention back to George, "and before that?"

"Well," he thought for a moment. "If I'm not mistaken, their mother was Lauren Valentia, formerly from the Malemize family, which has been widely known for their powerful magic abilities."

"Now that you mention it," the beautiful woman, Maxine Smith, who was also seated at the table spoke. "The Malemize family also had another daughter, now the widow Carol Barton, who was involved in the matter a while back with the dark witches. If I am not mistaken, Lauren was the one that was responsible for mobilizing the force that handled eradicating them."

"Maxine is right," George agreed with her. "She was also the one that created the pacts between the werewolves and witches across Martia."

"Interesting," Clyde's eyes sparkled with curiosity as he stole another glance at their table as he was not able to detect any supernatural presence from the group and they all smelled exactly like humans. "I wonder which one it was," he thought aloud.

"I am not sure, there hasn't been much talk about the girls in recent years. I'd have to do some digging to find out," George replied.

"If neither George nor I have heard anything about them, they are either keeping a tight lid on things or they are not anywhere near as powerful as their mother or aunt."

Clyde swirled the dark red liquid in his glass and took a sip, "interesting." He licked his reddened lips, "it would seem that we aren't the only ones curious about them."

Both George and Maxine glanced in the direction where the crown prince of Barton, Martin Langley, was seated. Forty years ago, Clyde had sired both Maxin and George and there wasn't much that went unknown to their group. As such, all three were well aware that like Clyde, Prince Martin was also a pureblood Vampire. It was also not a secret to them that three years ago he had sired his bride, Princess Marigold of Martia when they returned to Barton.

After passing a small coin to the waiter, he pondered about what she had just told him he knew that one of them was a witch but using his heightened hearings on he could hear her antics and understood that she was far from being human but the way she smelled it just kept bothering him and made him doubt what he was seeing and hearing and what others were observing as well. George cast him a sideways glance wondering exactly what was going on with their usually stoic and cold boss Clyde.

"Is there something you need to talk to us about?" George asked nervously. He had known that his boss was on edge since that young since that family had made their way inside of the end but he could not understand why he usually did not bother himself with humans had been together for over 150 years now and never once had he interfere with a human or showed any interest in their kind. So, this behavior was absolutely unnerving.

Maxine also glanced over and shrugged her shoulders at him indicating that she was also curious but had absolutely no idea was going on.

Clyde clicked his tongue and tapped his fingers on the table as he moved his eyes from the fair-skinned girl back to his companions and his eyes narrowed at George before he asked him to investigate what was going on with that family. He had heard them say that that was Duke Henry Valentina, but he could not remember for the life of him why that would be important. He knew that the nobles in this country were not to be trifled with and carried far more power than those of his home country, but that did not mean that it would involve him or his kind. But seeing the way that the crown prince was eyeing them as well made him feel unnerved. He never did like the crown, and he's been rebelling against them for over 300 years now since the current king took over after murdering previous king who was his uncle and unnerved him. There were only about 50 pureblood families left who had all pledged their loyalty to the crown for fear of their retaliation. But Clyde was different. He had his sired children. He had his sired children to look after and other obligations in order to keep their kinds safe and to ensure that dark magic did not come back to plague them. He had played a huge part in eradicating the dark magic secretly some years ago and now that he thought about it, it seemed even more coincidental that this girl was affecting him the way that she was.

"It can't be a coincidence that they are also here. George, see what you can find out," Clyde instructed him. George got up from his seat and fixed his hat slowly to conceal his eyes under its shadow before he exited the tavern.