“Your Excellency!” Fran cried out as she burst into Dominic’s study, and Dominic looked up from his letter from the Emperor’s right hand man, Baron Justitius.

“What?” he asked, annoyed, because she hadn’t even knocked, and Fran gasped for air as she placed her hands on her knees.

“I checked everywhere!” she cried, and Dominic’s brows furrowed. “I checked the training yards, the stable, the kitchens, everywhere!”

“Everywhere for what?” Dominic asked, and Fran’s eyes welled with tears.

“For the little lady!” she said, and Dominic went very, very still. Tinea…?

“Are you attempting to inform me that my daughter is missing?” he asked dangerously, and she nodded several times.

“She’s gone, Your Excellency!” she cried, and then she burst into tears. “I thought she was acting strangely last night, but I didn’t know she would run away!”

Dominic stood.

“Look through the forest, and call for Elric,” he said and swung his jacket on. “Where is Beau?”

“I’ll go get him up, Your Excellency,” Fran said and sped out of the room. Dominic strode towards the door and paused. She couldn’t have gotten far. She was probably in the forest somewhere, but dammit, this girl.

In the two years she had been here, she had never grown close to him or her brothers. She kept everyone at a careful arm’s length, and while she excelled in her classes, was never anything less than perfect, he knew she was hiding things. That had been fine, in his eyes. She was entitled to her secrets.

But, at the end of the day, she was all he had left of Malia. And he had wanted to keep her close for that, if nothing else. It was no matter. If no horses were missing from the stable, she wouldn’t get far on foot, anyway. There was no way she had made it to the border in this short amount of time. She was probably in town, and it wouldn’t take any time at all to find her.

He headed out, through the door of his study, and walked with purpose down the stairs.

“Prepare my horse, and Beau’s,” he snapped to the nearest footman, and he bowed and scuttled out. Tinea had run. Again. Honestly, how was she so miserable here? Her every need was tended to. She was cared for, loved, and yet, here she was, running again.

He could excuse the first instance. The first instance had made sense. Countess Amalia had been hitting her, and she didn’t know if he was going to abuse her or not. It had been the right choice to run, and she had been clever about it, taking advantage of the chaos of the house being turned upside down to seize her chance.

Stubborn, willful little girl, he thought sourly. She was just like her mother. It was no matter. They would find her quickly, and he would be punishing her this time. His boots clicked on the floor, and he headed down the stairs. The second step from the bottom creaked, and he looked down at it in annoyance. There should be no creaky floorboards in his damn house.

“My riding gloves,” he snapped to a maid, and she curtsied and rushed off. “SOMEONE SEND THE KNIGHTS TO SEARCH FOR MY DAUGHTER!”

“Yes, Your Excellency!” a man called, and there was controlled chaos now. It seemed the whole house had woken up to go look for Tinea, and Dominic bit back his frustration.

This girl was a nightmare. Her brothers had never acted like this. Not once had either of them tried to run away.

Beau rushed down the stairs, desperately trying to tuck his shirt into his pants, and Dominic’s eye twitched.

“What took you so long?” he snapped.

“Sorry, Father. Tinea is missing?”

“She couldn’t have gotten far,” Dominic said, and Beau turned to a servant.

“Where are our horses?”

“They’re being prepared now, young master,” the servant replied, and Beau pulled a face.

“Well, prepare them faster,” he bit out, and the servant nodded and scuttled off. “Why is she like this?”

“She takes after her mother.”

“Well, that’s no excuse,” Beau snapped, and Dominic crossed his arms.

“Your horses are ready,” a servant said, and Dominic strode out into the front of the estate, where two horses were waiting to be mounted. Dominic swung atop his, and Beau climbed onto his, and Dominic spurred the horse forward.

“Send half of the knights to search the town, and the other half to search the forest,” Dominic ordered, and the servant bowed.

“Understood, Your Excellency.”

This girl sure knew how to make a fuss. Dear gods. Dominic wanted to put his head through a wall.

….

Delfina finished writing the letter. She had managed to figure out where Tinea was, and where Tinea was was a big, big problem, because she was in the Demonic Empire. They needed to reclaim her quickly, and Delfina’s best bet for bringing Tinea back to the plot was Dominic Inistor.

“Isabella,” she called, and Isabella stepped into the room.

“Yes, Your Holiness,” she said, and Delfina pressed her stamp into the letter.

“Please send this as quickly as you can to Marquis Inistor,” she said, and Isabella paused.

“Your Holiness…?” she asked, looking greatly unnerved, because Marquis Inistor had a reputation.

“Tinea Inistor is a fourth ring mage and had an accident with a teleportation circle,” Delfina explained, because there was no real reason to lie. “She’s currently in the Demonic Empire, and we need to retrieve her before she causes a scene.”

Isabella’s face paled, because that was a recipe for absolute disaster, and Delfina stood and handed her the letter.

“I will do my best to keep her alive, but she doesn’t seem to trust my butterflies,” Delfina said, and Isabella took the letter.

“I will send our fastest rider,” she promised, and Delfina nodded.

“Please do so,” she said. “Their winter estate isn’t far from here, so I expect an answer within three days.”

“Yes, Your Holiness,” Isabella said and dropped into a curtsy before she stole out the door. Delfina collapsed on her bed and threw her arm over her eyes as soon as the door shut. This was frustrating. Why was Tinea like this?

She focused, rolling her eyes back in her head, and there was Tinea, forcing her way through the piled up snow and shivering, her cloak wrapped around her tightly as her breath frosted in the air. She was shivering from the cold, and her lips were blue. If only she had returned to the damn cabin. There was even firewood stocked up, and Delfina felt frustration mount. She swept forward, looking over the expanse of the mountain, and there was a massive bear in the way.

Oh. Fantastic. Tinea was headed straight for it, and Delfina sent her butterflies after her, spiraling around her and trying to lead her to a safer path, but Tinea ignored them as she continued on doggedly, her breath frosting in the air. It would be ten minutes before she met it, and it was chewing on a deer’s body. It would definitely attack her. She would not be able to get around it.

Stubborn. Stubborn and not trustful, Delfina thought in annoyance as the butterflies continued to try to lead her away. Tinea continued to ignore them, because of course she wouldn’t trust them, and Delfina inhaled slowly. Demonic creatures were magic resistant. You needed a weapon to kill them. The most Tinea could do was trap them and try to get away, and she didn’t have any food. She had nothing, no provisions, no means of keeping herself alive.

Stubborn, stubborn girl. Why did she send herself to the Demonic Empire? It had to be an accident, or she would have a sword with her. Was this all one big mistake? Of course nothing could ever be easy.

Frustration bubbled up as Tinea froze at the sight of the bear, and it snuffled, coming to its feet. With a roar, it started to charge her, and she reached forward and threw up a wall of ice. Its big paw slashed at it, embedding its claws in the ice, and sticking there, and Tinea pressed her palm to the ice and let off a blast of magic. A spike of ice burst from the wall and skewered the bear through the heart, and Delfina blinked.

Oh. That was one way to deal with the problem, she supposed. She hadn’t anticipated on Tinea being so smart, but who was she kidding? Tinea had always been smart. It was one of her more endearing qualities. If she had decided to face Delfina head on, Delfina would have had to rely almost completely on her Oracle powers to defeat her. But, Delfina had never really seen her go to war.

Tinea stared down at the dead bear before she drew a knife from her boot and went on one knee to cut it open. Wait, did she have that knife this whole time? She could have killed that wolf instead of run from it. What the hell? Did she have no sense? She needed to eat.

Tinea started to butcher the bear, and Delfina stopped watching. Her eyes rolled back in her head, and she sat up and stared blankly at the wall.

This was literally the worst case scenario. This was the absolute worst case scenario, and she was so annoyed with the entire situation. Why did Tinea have to be so willful? She was…

She was fed up with her, she realized. After five lifetimes of being trapped in Tinea’s orbit, she was fed up with her. She was so sick of this song and dance, and she almost wanted to give up on going back home entirely, because this was getting old.

She wanted to go home, though. She did, in fact, want to go home. She didn’t have a choice in not going home, and she was willing to do whatever she needed to do to get there.

Tinea could keep throwing wrenches in her plans, but she would come out on top. After all, Tinea wasn’t an Oracle. There was only so much she could do to stop the plot from happening, and sure, this time, she had gone to some extreme lengths, but Delfina would get her back. Hopefully before she died, but if she died, all of this would reset, anyway.

Maybe Tinea would learn her lesson this time.

Delfina stood and walked to her desk, slumping down in the chair and staring out the window.

She needed to deal with this situation.

Gods, Tinea was fucking annoying.

A sour frown touched her lips. She would just have to babysit her until she got home. And then probably continue to babysit her so she didn’t run off again.

At least she was clever, and a fourth ring. She could survive a lot. It would be difficult to kill her, and once she hit fifth ring, she would be virtually unstoppable.

Ah.

Delfina needed to start preparing for her return. And Adrius. Again. She didn’t want to make Adrius fall in love with her again. She was already sick of him, and it was… Well. It was fine. This was going to be the last run of this. Fifth time’s the charm and all of that. Tinea could throw the plot to the wind all she wanted, but Delfina would be able to control the situation. She just needed to get Tinea home.