This time, Sienna remained behind the gates, peeking at Elder Edris through the bars. "What do you want now?" He had come alone. That was suspicious in itself.

The falcon lord scoffed. "I won’t comment on your rudeness. I just forgot a few things that I should have mentioned. Consider them opportunities. For your family." He unfurled a piece of paper. "I want exclusive trading rights for all your honey. You sell online, I sell offline. Naturally, you give me the honey at half the market price of what you sell to outsiders." He grinned. "We are all family after all."

Sienna clenched her fists.

Lord Edris continued. "A portion of your land here should be leased to my family for free. For joint ventures."

She scoffed. It seemed like all claws had come out now.

"I want a marriage between Miss Cyra and my son Devlin. It will cement ties permanently. Like I said, we are all family here." Lord Edris finished, wrapping up the piece of paper. "Talk to your husband. I am sure he will see eye to eye with me. I will return when I think of more things I need." With the same arrogance, he spread his wings and flew away.

Sienna laughed softly, anger passing through her in waves. She patted the jars of venom. It wasn’t that she was heartless, it was just that some people did not know when to stop pushing her buttons.

By the time she dragged herself to the courtyard for breakfast, it was already afternoon. Morning tea was now afternoon tea, a thing that Ali was loving very much. The little girl was ravenous, as if she worked harder than Honey Thunder during the ride on the back of the bee.

She focused on the steaming stack of pancakes her brother had set before her, watching her mother unload the first samples of the pans from "Si cooks." This was the name of her kitchen ware brand.

Servants carried more crates into the courtyard, and Soren scanned the boxes.

"Sister, when you said you were planning to sell pans I thought you would do so in a shop. Not from home."

Sienna looked at her brother, twisting her lips. "What is so good about owning a shop? Working from home is the best. Besides, I am just starting out. It is better to spread my brand first and then get a physical location when demand grows."

Soren nodded.

"This is what happens when you study economics at school." Mrs. Miller commented, eyes flicking to her son. "Do you understand Soren?"

The boy rolled his eyes. Since morning, everything was like a teachable moment to his mother. Every leaf was a lecture on nature, as was every particle of soil. Every morsel of food was a lecture on nutrition! His mother was truly exaggerating.

"Sis, how do you plan to sell these pans?" He asked. "As the lady of the fox tribe, you can’t be dancing and selling merchandise on the BeastNet like an ordinary person. Your workouts are one thing and this is another."

Suddenly Mija slithered closer to Sienna, smiling in a friendly manner. It made Sienna sigh. The white snake beast woman was really relentless. "Our business with your tribe has long been settled. Isn’t it time for you to leave, Mija? Isn’t it better to leave peacefully than wait until I have to throw you out in disgrace?"

Mija giggled, pulling out her phone from the handbag she had thrown on the table carelessly. "Sienna, you won’t believe what I saw on BeastNet today!"

Sienna didn’t look up. She stuffed a pancake into her mouth, chewing with exaggerated slowness. "If its more gossip about me, I’ll pass."

Mija leaned towards Sienna. "No, no! Look, after you recorded a short video of your kitchen, showing off all the changes Geo had made, other BeastNet influencers copied you. Every influencer with a little money is showing off their kitchens. Naturally, pans are one of the cookware items being waved around. Your influence in the field of the kitchen has truly grown."

Sienna froze mid-bite. She had been busy with the summit that she had not made time to scroll through the BeastNet lately.

Mija scrolled through images. "They are all promoting different kinds of pans. Competition is going to be stiff for you. Look at this rabbit influencer Eva, she is pretending to cook steak in a pan. Rabbits don’t even eat meat! She can’t taste it but she is is saying she can tell that it will be amazing."

She chuckled alone.

Sienna took another bite of her pancakes.

"And this one," Mija continued, "Oh, she is hilarious. She is the tiger influencer Ronah. She stages a nightly duel with her husband everyday and her weapon is a pan."

Soren snorted from the crates. "Looks like your pan fights are finally paying off."

Sienna stabbed another pancake, muttering, "As long as all credit goes to me, then I am happy to lead the way for all pan warriors."

Mrs. Miller, examining the finger like grip handle of one pan, added dryly, "You do know that your reputation is considered ridiculous because of those pan fights, right? I hope you sell enough of these ones to pay for all these shipments. Otherwise, we will be eating dried vegetables for the rest of our lives. And given Ali’s appetite, we can’t afford to be poor."

Ali raised her head. Her mouth was covered in pancake syrup. "Papa is rich."

Sienna chuckled.

Mija tugged on Sienna’s hand, showing Sienna endless images of influencers, celebrities and the latest BeastNet gossip. "Look at this one," she said, with sparkling eyes. "She is a rare red and white fox. Victoria Lewis, your husband’s cousin that he is rumored to favor."

Sienna almost choked on her coffee.

Knowing too well what she had implied, Mija chuckled. "She is practically fox royalty because of her rare color and beauty. When she dances, the heavens sigh. She posted a video of herself flipping pancakes. The comments are divided. Some say she is copying you and others are saying she is better than you."

Sienna snorted. "Of course she is copying me."

The snake woman leaned closer, conspiratorial. "Exactly. That’s why you are winning battle of the pans in my opinion. You won Elias and you are going to win the pan competition. You are authentic. You cook with pans, fight with them, stuff them in your clothes. These influencers are just pretending."

Sienna’s lips twitched. She hated to admit it, but Mija was right. For once.

The courtyard filled with more pans, more samples than Sienna had requested for. Ali finished her afternoon tea and ran off to fly a kite with Eli. Soren dropped a crate of pans. Amid the chaos, Sienna ate her breakfast, listening to Mija’s nonstop chatter.

Her thoughts were not on what was going on around her. They were on Elias. Surely, he had already heard about the marriage alliance Edris wanted. How was he reacting to it?