Sienna gulped.

Elias narrowed his eyes. "You think they are after something and it could be related to Paris! Why?"

The old man slammed his cane down a few times. "You don’t send in your general to take out a small foot soldier. The king and queen came personally when we arrived. The queen planned the summit personally with Sienna. Where have you seen such a thing happening?"

Sienna looked at her husband, because she didn’t know much about the summits and their planning in other tribes. She had assumed the queen helped out all the Ladies of the different tribes when it was their turn.

"Never." Elias said coldly. "In fact, she just sits with the king or tours the city with the interim council of ladies of the host tribe usually." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "I assumed she was helping Sienna because she is human."

Grandpa Corven snorted. "Maybe, or maybe not. All I know is that instead of sitting with the king or touring the city, she followed Sienna around like a puppy and now, the eagle lord is about to be toast."

Sienna suddenly groaned.

"What?" Both mean asked.

Sienna sighed. "She is returning in two weeks for a sleep over."

The two men exchanged curious looks.

Sienna grimaced. "I know! I know! When has anyone ever had of a queen sleeping over at the house of another beast lord? They didn’t even do it during the summit so why return?"

Grandpa Coven clenched his fists. "They must be looking for something or testing the loyalty of your family. But everyone knows Elias is very loyal and you, Sienna and Soren grew up without a father so they were not involved with Paris. They must be here for us."

Elias suddenly rose. His eyes were wider than before. "No, they are here for Paris." He looked at Sienna. "Don’t you get it? Paris Rocland had no business being involved with a human woman. Look at your falcon relatives....they all married their kind.

If he loved your mother, he would have married her or stayed and tried to build a family. But he didn’t. He continued on with his recruitment duties and finally married a falcon beast woman that he built a family with. He hid the existence of your mother and you two siblings from everyone.

So, why get involved with her? She wasn’t rich, she was ordinary. Her parents are both deceased, her education is mediocre...."

Sienna huffed.

This made Elias roll his eyes. "Calm down, I am not insulting your mother. I am analyzing things. Your grandparents came here because they were worried about the possibility of your mother having been involved with the rebels. Paris could have recruited her."

She snorted. "Impossible. Have you see my mom?"

Elias raised his brows. "I have seen many spies and I know many on a personal level. Trust me, most are not what they appear."

"My mother is not a spy." She snapped. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"I didn’t she was." Elias replied strongly. "I am just saying that people are not always what they appear to be. The only way to find out of we are right or wrong is to ask the woman and see what she has to say for herself.

If Paris did not recruit her and he wasn’t looking for a long term relationship. It may be possible that she was a victim of his whims, or he targeted her because he wanted to hide something with her.

Maybe that is why he came back for round two which resulted in baby Soren. He wanted whatever he had stashed with her, or he hid something else with her again. Recruiters kept lists of all the children that were successfully turned to the rebel side.

They also kept evidence. This evidence was apparently meant to be used to pull their families into the rebellion. Maybe your father had something like that and the royals think he left it with your mother.

People that work as spies in shady organizations don’t just retire because they are tired of it. Now imagine walking away from a rebel organization. That is even more risky. He probably had some kind of leverage that he used. And then he got lucky when the rebellion leader died and everything fell apart."

Sienna’s jaw dropped. "I didn’t even think of that." Were those letters the leverage he kept?

Grandpa Corven cleared his throat. "This all depends on the royal family being aware of Paris’s involvement with the rebels. We could be blowing things out of proportion and building mountains out of tiny hills."

"Better safe that sorry." Elias said, raising his hand. "Whether they know or not, we should protect our family. Give me your connections in the falcon clan and do whatever you can to trace your son’s movements since he dropped out of the school old man."

Grandpa Corven nodded.

Sienna rose up, fists clenched and eyes fiery. "I will prepare bee venom to incapacitate Edris and start searching through my mother’s mementos after having a talk with her about the man who screwed her over in more ways than one." She was now a suspected rebel accomplice, all because she had fallen in love with the wrong man!

The three dispersed quickly, rushing as if they could fix the problem this very day itself. But they all knew it was not a one day fight. It would take months, maybe even years.

As soon as Sienna stepped out of the house, Mija slithered before her, half white snake below, half woman above. A white bra was all that was covering her milky breasts. Her tiny waist was twisting from side to side, as if she was dancing.

The fox guards were pretending not to notice.

"What do you want?" Sienna asked her.

Mija chuckled softly, "To talk silly. What else would I want?"

Sienna took a deep breath. "I have not had my breakfast just yet Mija. Unless you want me to roast you over the fire, I suggest you get out of my way."

The snake beast woman slithered to the side, allowing Sienna to bypass her. But she didn’t give up, she followed her, slithering by her side as if they were friends taking a simple walk.

"Mama," Ali screamed, running over to Sienna with a wide smile. As always, the little one threw herself into Sienna’s arms and clung to her. "Where did you go mama, I missed you? I didn’t cry when I didn’t see you, I swear on....chicken nuggets."

It was a lie. The little one had red eyes, which screamed the fact that she had cried. Someone had probably bribed her with a strawberry cake to make her pause the tears for a bit. The crumbs were still on her small mouth. Her breath smelled like strawberries and cream.

Her innocence tugged at the strings of Sienna’s heart. She hugged her daughter tighter. It made her resolve to deal with the impending threat even stronger.

She turned away from the table, putting off breakfast again. First, bee venom. First, incapacitate Edris. The falcon lord had to leave this city dead or unable to talk, walk and write.

"I love you mama." Ali whispered, as if she could sense the turbulent storm within her mother.

Sienna clenched her teeth, loosened them and whispered, "I love you too Ali boo and I won’t let anyone hurt you."