Syrin walked out of the war room hours later with a slight smile stretching her lips. Booth Monica and Regan were patiently waiting on the other side of the door with blushes clearly visible on their supple cheeks. The corner of Lady Wrath's lips twitched as the two innocent souls avoided eye contact with their Lady, she could just imagine their little faces as they heard what was going on inside of that room.

Regan cleared her throat in embarrassment before gathering the courage to speak. “My lady there is a woman in the gardens requesting an attendance with you at this time.”

“Who is it?” She asked, continually impressed by how confident the rabbit girl was when speaking to her. “Tell them I am busy at the moment.”

“It is y-y-your mother, my Lady.” The blond girl spoke up, making Syrins blood run cold before the girl even uttered her name. “Anika”

Lady Wrath turned on her heels and walked towards the gardens with a purpose but walked slowly enough, so they did not lose sight of their mistress. Within a few minutes, Syrin made it to the clearing of the garden to come face to face with the second biggest reason for her recurring nightmares.

“Syrin, my child,” Her adoptive mother exclaimed with a smile but even a fool could see it did not quite reach her eyes. “What took you so long?”

“I had something rather…. urgent to attend to.” Syrin spoke, voice lacking the emotion of a loving child. She could feel the mark on her arm, beginning to burn at her thoughts, for a far different reason than before. The sould bound links on her arm sensed her distress and alerted her husband, which caused her to panic even more. Syrin cursed silently and tried to think of the quickest way to end this meeting before her Lord Husband came through like a hurricane. “What is it that I could help you with, mother?”

She bit out the word almost as if it had nearly harmed her to say it.

“Do I need a reason to visit my dear daughter whom I love?” Anika asked with narrowed eyes, Syrin resisted the urge to snort, she had never bothered with her before. “You have always been near and dear to my heart, from the moment I laid eyes on you.”

“Why are you here, mother?” She asked again her voice hardening as she felt Wraths worry begin to bleed through the bond.

“I came to introduce myself to the newest member of our family.” She announced with a too sweet smile. “Think of my surprise when I learned that my eldest married the Lord of Wrath and did not bother to invite me to the wedding.”

“I sent you an invitation, did you not receive it?” She asked, already knowing the answer.

Syrin had purposely requested her father not to tell Lady Envy the news so she could relay it to Anika herself. The wedding invitation conveniently did not have mention of who exactly she was to marry. The new Lady of Wrath knew that Lady Envy would not have bothered showing up if she thought Syrin was marrying anything less than a lord. This thought was soon proven correct when she sent back word of her being unable to attend. With the excuse that Melody, her abyss-spawn of a daughter, had fallen ill. A truly serious case, after all, only a disease of magical origin could affect one of the Blessed and even then one of great power. She even went as far as to try to get Lord Envy to miss out on it and race home, but instead, he had sent Tristan. Her former mentor and his trusty second in command to watch over her.

Tristan told her later that she did not seem the slightest bit ill when he arrived, no matter how hard she tried to put up a ruse. He wanted to tell Lord Envy what happened, but as with every time before, Syrin made him promise to keep it quiet. For she did not want to make the life of the man that defended hers harder through her actions.

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“Are you accusing me of lying?” She raised an eyebrow, daring the younger girl to speak against her.

“No, no, of course not.” Syrin lied through her clenched teeth, “I know you are incapable of such a thing, It must have gotten misplaced.”

There was a shift in the air, the energy within the garden becoming heavy with magic as Lord Wrath teleported behind her. She could feel his body heat as he stepped behind her to stroke her arm reassuringly. To most others, it would seem like the newlyweds could not get enough of each other, like he was touching her out of affection. She, however, could feel his emotions through their bond and knew better than any of what he was thinking.

Wrath took a moment to soothe his wife’s worries through their connection; nodding as he felt her coiled muscles relaxing. A sigh, a real one this time, left her as she allowed herself to unwind from her alert stance. He could feel her emotional state almost as clearly as his own, he would not have bothered to come had it been anyone else. However, seeing as she had stared down his sister, The Princess of Embers, without even a hint of fear he had to come and see what had her agitated in such a way.

The woman standing before them beamed up at him, a sweet smile that hid her intentions. Instantly recognising her as Lady Envy, Wrath's eyes narrowed behind his mask, but he kept a calm demeanour. The young lord could have sensed the hostility between the two even without the brand on his arm and came forward as he felt his wife ready to snap. It was like a choking miasma, thick in the air, enough to suffocate you from the foulness of it.

“Lady Envy, to what do I owe the pleasure?” He asked in a smooth tone sensing that his wife did not want to offend her, at least not openly, he decided to play nice for now.

“Ah Lord Wrath.” Lady Envy curtsied to the high lord respectfully, “I just wanted to come and formally introduce myself as your new mother.”

“If you have come to say hello as my inlaw...” He paused for a second after emphasising the word before continuing with a tilt of his head. “Then why was it my wife that you had summoned and not myself, after all, you are the Lady of Envy and you certainly could have received an audience.”

“Well my Lord you are just so busy I was not sure if I was disturbing and was sure my daughter would know.” She responded quickly, lying as easily as she breathed. “It has been so long since I have seen her since she thinks visiting me is not worth her time, I wanted to take a moment to catch up.”

Hot white furry flashed through their bond, vanishing almost as quickly as it appeared. Wrath stopped stroking his wife's arm to give it a gentle squeeze, trying to let her know that she was safe with him. He let go and turned fully to the older Blessed, looking down on the woman due to her height.

“As a matter of fact, we are both extremely busy and will be for quite some time.” He spoke firmly to leave no doubts as to his intentions. “I suggest coming back another day once things have quieted down, there is a war to prepare for, and I’m sure you have much to do yourself.”

“I was..” She began, but he cut her off with a sharp wave of his hand.

“Blond one, escort Lady Envy to the gates.” He spoke to Monica without turning around to look at her, she moved with a slight hop of fright, not expecting the frightening man to address her directly.

The little rabbit girl walked up to the dumbfounded Lady of Envy and gestured towards the direction they must walk in. The woman stared at the young high lord, her lips twisting into a frown of annoyance.

“Until we meet again.” Wrath nodded to her respectfully as the woman stood there inwardly enraged, but she turned and followed the girl out without another word.

The uneasiness in Syrin’s soul dissipated as the woman got further away. She let out a breath, unaware that she had been holding one. Ashamed that she had let herself be seen so vulnerable by Wrath, reprimanding herself for it. A single hand reaching up to tuck a strand of snow-white hair behind her ear, a tell she had never been able to get rid of.

“I am tired, I will go on ahead and get some rest.” Lady Wrath announced to her husband, not wanting to discuss what had just transpired. She was never one to want to talk about her emotions, a habit that most in the Thousand Masks share. Being seen as weak was taboo to most clans, something that she had seen in full force in the case of her new younger brother. Leaving him behind she began walking back to where was going before being disturbed. She paused before rounding the corner, swallowing her pride. She spoke her next words softly, failing to hide the cold rage within them.“Thank you.”

Syrin disappeared around the corner after saying those words, not even bothering to wait around for his reply.

“Servant, yes you.” Wrath called out to Regan who was following after her Mistress, having never bothered to remember her name. “Come here for a moment.”

She walked over to him and stopped in front of Wrath, looking up at the man. “Yes, my Lord?”

Wrath stayed silent for a moment wondering why he cared enough to ask what he was about to ask. Yet he did so with little hesitation on his part.

“Tell me everything that happened.”