…Didn’t she say all of her children were dead? Where’d this one pop out of? Does that mean her husband was the last Tavliel? Or the first one? …More likely the first one, that or she was a cradle-snatcher. Why did they need a titan’s heart? Why-

          “I told you, you don’t need to call me that anymore.” Oh, damn it, she was hurting again, her eyes always gave her away. He must be her eldest with his age, why didn’t I-

          “She made me promise when we got married, Mother. Even if I don’t call you that in public anymore.” His eyes, which where blue, not the iconic gold, seemed to be remembering something. “Even if I were to get remarried, she made me promise that I’d always consider you my mother-in-law.”

          Oh. That made a bit more sense. He didn’t look anything like her.

          “…Right.” Her smile was faltering, her voice was weak. “Well, We’ve still got a murderer to catch, so we’ll be off! We can bandage that while we move.” She picked up the heart out of my hand and basically shoved it down my throat.

          It was warm, but not searing like she was at times. Gently, it enveloped my body and the pain in my wrist eased significantly. She had her sleeves pulled over her hand as she pulled me along by my sleeve.

          …I killed two of her children, yet she seemed more perturbed talking to her daughter’s widower than me. What was different? My eyes narrowed as I thought back to what she said about the brainwashing.

          We left the kid behind without giving him a word in. I left a rat behind to properly explain so he wouldn’t get in the way. Dealing with her would be more complicated.

          Well, Plan A worked for a little while, might as well use it here as well. I wrapped my hand under a sideways glare. To be fair, I hadn’t looked at it either, so I didn’t know how bad it was. Still, it shows how mad she was at the time that she actually scorched my wrist to the point of turning it black.

          …children are off limits, apparently.

          The brats were already going at it, the plan was to start small, but either we missed it while chatting about a dead brat that I don’t know or they decided to have fun.

           If it were just my subordinates, it’d be the former, but since hers were in there, it was definitely the latter. They were making a mess, creating the chaos that hid the fact that they were avoiding that courtyard in the scenario I was planning on. So far it was working just as planned other than it was escalating faster.

          Aena seemed fine now that we had escaped, but it still bothered me. She was very open about what happened to three of her brats, but she never mentioned the other two. The eldest and the fourth I think…it might not have been relevant.

          “Does it hurt?” She lightly pointed at my wrist without touching it.

          “No, the heart eased it all.” I turned my gaze towards the battles, the mice didn’t report any problems, but we also didn’t have a certain fool taking the bait. It really had better not be that half-dead in-law of hers.

          “Really? Then, does this hurt?” I felt a warm, calloused hand pinch and pull on my cheek.

          “It’s warmer than when you were sick,” I chopped her wrist with my good hand without turning to look at her, “but not burning.”

          “Great!” I heard rustling and the signature sound of clothes hitting the ground. That made me turn my head quickly to look at her.

          Sure enough, the cooling overcoat that I worked so hard on was on the ground in a heap. I scowled at her as I threw it into one of my spaces. Boney leaned against me and this time I didn’t bother to move. She was a very clingy person.

          “Best part is, they won’t blame us for this! All the fun of watching buildings crumble with none of the responsibility! I wish dear Vel was here to watch, but I am sure he needs some rest. I wonder which side is winning the tournament? Steve should be starting his second fight around now, I hope he goes far…though the brats in these patrols are stronger than the children in the arena, who set up the brackets I wonder?” She was babbling again.

          “The score is even, and the brats in these patrols are the trump cards of each race. Bringing them out means a serious fight, which is not what they want. Plus, the less each side knows about the trump cards the better.”

          Around us the rooms were falling apart, exposing the contents. The humans were in for a surprise when they returned, I wondered if the brats had an agreement set up about damages when they borrowed the place or if the humans were just out of luck for the cost of repairs.

          “Are you sure you don’t want to try out a dress or two? I’m sure they aren’t that different from robes that were popular a thousand years ago…” She pointed to a fluffy, teal and white pile of cloth that looked nice and flammable.

          Normally I’d have a headache by now, maybe I was getting used to her…

          An explosion sounded, a familiar sound. Very familiar. It reminded me of a certain dark night hunting for merchants, and one other day when it was just a rumble on the horizon. 

          Ah, my headache. Old friend, what kept you?

          “Boney.”

          “…it was locked up I swear.”

          “I shudder to consider it, but have you tried to ask your old monster to exorcise it?”

          “…yes.”

          We looked at the humming, glowing heart plate that was embedded a hairs width away from both the top of her head and my arm.