This time, they were accompanied by Sophie, just as they had planned, and arrived at the Celestite estate in the late morning. Maximizing the group's political power, the two women were chosen to lead the negotiations, which led to Sophie knocking at the gate.

"Yes? Who is there?" A haughty voice came from the other side.

"This is Lady Saphine accompanied by friends and the Ice empress. I would like to have a meeting with the Lord and Lady of the house." Saphine shouted back, and again, a gate opened before her.

The head of a disheveled-looking woman appeared, and she looked the party over with distrust.

"Lady Saphine, it is? From what family are you? I need to know to inform the Lord properly," she asked.

"I'm the first daughter of the Sapphire family, and in my company is the third son of the Obsidian family," Saphine answered.

"Then please excuse the inconvenience, but I need you to wait here. I will promptly inform the Lord that you wish for a meeting." the woman said, bowing, and the gate closed again.

"At least this one has manners," Saphine said as they waited, and they didn't have to wait long.

The gate was opened again, and the woman from before bowed.

"The Lord has agreed to meet you." She stated, much to everyones delight.

The group was led to the mansion proper, and Mor had to marvel at its size, but his enthralling would only last until the doors were opened. As the light of the outside hit the marbled floor and expensive carpets, his and everyone else's gaze fell upon their ultimate objective, Clare.

°Mother fucker!° The human growled.

"Clare!" Orth shouted, but it seemed like she wasn't hearing them.

Saphine made a few steps toward her friend but was stopped by the second figure.

"Who might you be?" The boy asked.

"What did you do to her?!" Saphine raged, and the boy made a disgruntled face.

"Rude. You could at least offer your name before shouting at me like that." He said.

"I'll kill him," Orth promised, and even Sophie seemed appalled at the view before her.

"Answer me." The boy demanded.

"It's fine, son. They are guests." A new voice chimed in and Lord Celarn Celestine, accompanied by his wife Cicilia came down a stairwell.

"I'm very pleased to meet you, Lady Saphine, Lord Orth, and, of course, the Ice empress. I heard about many of your deeds before you chose commonality over nobility." He said with a smile.

Orth got ready to charge and kill that smug bastard of a noble son, but Mor reacted fast enough and held him back, shaking his head.

"Don't. Let mother and Saphine handle it." He whispered.

"I'm honored to make your acquaintance," Sophie said with a slight bow.

"Explain that!" Saphine shouted, pointing over to the still-unresponsive Clare.

"What is there to explain? This is our beloved son's future bride, but she is a bit headstrong and needs some corrections." Cicilia said, smiling.

°Are you fucking shitting me?! Come on, please, just one punch. I only want one go.° The human growled, but Mor did his best to keep his composure.

"Corrections?!" Saphine shouted, outraged.

"Lady, please temper your voice. You are guests, so be civil. I understand this isn't a pleasant look, and you shouldn't have seen it. It's a chance encounter." Celarn said and waved his boy away.

The boy gave the group a cordial nod and walked off, followed by Clare. The fury in Orth's eyes seemingly did not bother him at all. As Clare walked after the boy, Mor saw the whole scope of what they had done to her.

Clare looked like she had been beaten, starved, and put under some kind of illusion, and he could see a strange marking on her forehead.

"Mother," Mor whispered, not wanting to use telepathy in case it could be detected. "What's the mark on Clare's head?"

Sophie took a quick look and sharply pulled in air.

"That's a magic seal and a forbidden one at that. It completely suppresses your ability to use magic." She whispered back, horrified.

"I demand you let her go!" Saphine raged.

"Listen, girl, you are here because I allow it. If you come to my home and instead of being a good guest, you continuously aggrieve us, I demand you leave this instant." Celarn said, pointing at the door.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

°Oh, no, buddy, that won't fly.° The human growled, and Mor got an idea.

"I won't leave!" Saphine shouted as Orth clenched his fists.

"We're leaving!" Mor suddenly said, shocking Saphine and Orth.

"Are you serious?!" Orth shouted while Celarn smiled triumphantly.

"Yes, it seems we have to be clear about some things. If you would excuse us, Lord Celestite." Mor continued on and dragged the angry boy with him.

"Mother, Saphine, I would like to talk with you. Outside." Mor demanded, and his tone didn't allow any objections.

"Come back when your tempers have cooled, and you want to have a civil discussion. At least that little boy knows his place," Cicilia said haughtily.

The group was led outside by the same old woman who had let them in before, and the doors were slammed shut.

"What's wrong with you?" Orth demanded to know.

"Yes, you can't leave Clare!" Saphine added.

"What do you have in mind?" Sophie asked.

"We need to leave the estate. I don't know what "protections" they have put in place, but I'm not leaving Clare just like that." Mor answered sternly.

°Plan C?° The human asked excitedly.

°No. Plan D.° Mor answered.

°Plan D? Did we have a plan D?° The human questioned further.

°We do now, and the letter is fitting. I'm going to rat them out to Uncle Dino,° Mor explained.

°Betting on the nuclear option. Very good.° The human said with an evil chuckle.

°I don't know what "nuclear" means, but if it includes tearing that whole family down, then yes.° Mor said coldly.

After they left the estate and the gate closed behind them, Orth rounded on Mor again.

"Don't tell me you want to go with your stupid plan C?" He shouted.

"Calm down. You thought it might work earlier, but no. I'm going with plan D." Mor explained again.

"Plan D?" Saphine asked, and Sophie looked confused.

"Yes, I'm going to talk to the prince. This might cost me a lot of energy, and I won't be able to help out much after that, but if Mother and you two can get the go-ahead, then we're good." Mor explained.

And this put an evil smile on everyone's faces.

"Uncle Dino." Mor tried.

"Oi prince boy, get on the phone!" The human added, and Mor shook his head at the strange words.

"Mor? Is that you? Where are you? I can't see you. Also, how did you sneak into the palace?" Dino's reply came back.

"I'm not in the palace. I´m on Celestite isle. And I need your help." Mor continued.

"Wait, wait, wait. How are you talking to me?" Dino asked.

"It's not important right now. I will explain later. Could you tell me something, if there's a noble who's using forbidden techniques to, let's say, torture a close friend of mine?" Mor began.

"I don't like where this is going." The prince interrupted.

"Nothing happened. Yet." The human said.

"Yes, but mother, Saphine, and Orth are very pissed. Just like me." Mor said calmly.

"Explain what Sophie is so enraged about," Dino demanded.

"I contacted Clare, my friend from school, the same way I'm talking to you right now. She then pleaded for my help, so I gathered up Saphine, Orth, and my mother, and we rushed to her side. But once we got to her house, we were basically told to go away," Mor explained.

"It was a very polite "fuck off"." The human added.

"Anyway, with some trickery, we discovered that Clare was here at the Celestite estate and engaged to their second son. Let's say we were very unhappy with how she looked after we finally saw her. Mother even recognized some kind of seal that completely removes the ability to use magic." Mor went on.

"Wait, repeat that!" Dino interjected.

"Sophie said that there's a fucking anti-magic curse on Clare!" The human growled.

"Is she sure? That is a severe crime." Dino wanted a last confirmation.

"Mother, the prince wants to know if you're sure that the seal is a forbidden one," Mor told his mother.

"It is, and if he doubts my judgment, I will freeze him," Sophie said.

"She is sure," Mor told the prince.

"Can you keep everyone from doing something stupid? I'm on my way!" Dino said.

"I think you might take too long. I can't even contain my own rage for long and weeks? Impossible." Mor said.

"I'm there in an hour, and I'm bringing Moro. You uncovered something vile." The answer came back, and suddenly, the connection was interrupted.

"Can we wreck this place now?" Orth asked.

"No... The prince said we should wait for him. He will be here in an hour," Mor said unbelievingly.

"An hour?" Saphine asked. "How?"

Only Sophie was not surprised. The royal family had hidden teleport spots all over the place for security reasons, of course, and if Dinothom used one of those, he would be here fast.

"So, guess we wait." Mor sighed.

°How´s the energy?° The human asked.

°Enough to at least get a few good punches in.° Mor answered.