One destroyed dining room table and one hundred smashed chairs later, Lager is pacing up and down the length of the room at an incredible speed, extremely agitated and angry, which is not a good combination.

"So you're telling me," Lager finally stops, turning to face where we're all huddled, watching him like he might snap again at any second, "That the Kinling High Commander was here, along with his entire council, discussing an alliance with the Lightlings, and no one thought to inform me?"

I open my mouth, then think better of it and decide that maybe answering isn't the best option at the moment since we've already explained all that has happened so far. It would be best to let him just process this and cool off. Of course, Becky doesn't feel the same way.

"Well you are a heavy sleeper..." She trails off when Lager's golden eyes flash to her. Lager may be the only one on Dalton who Becky will ever back down from, and I'm not necessarily sure if that's a good thing or not.

"Did he see you?" Lager asks, turning to me, his agitation giving away slightly to concern.

"No," I say, but then the confrontation with Aella flashes before my eyes, "But he may know that I'm here by now. I may or may not have run into his fiance."

"That damned Lyncher has a fiance?" Lager hisses, catching my reaction when I first found out about that perfectly.

I only nod, before looking behind me for some help, any help. Surprisingly, it's Marquis Demonte who steps up to the rescue, turning to Malia who was still sitting in the only chair left in the Dining room.

"Well I guess I won the bet afterall. I'll expect payment by the end of the week, My Lady." The Marquis says to Malia with a flirtatious wink.

"I really wish I hadn't doubled or nothing." Malia groans with a small smile, gracefully standing up from her chair.

"Dad!" Max exclaims, a pure look of disgust on his face.

"Oh don't worry, Maximus. There's nothing going on between your father and I, he's just being his usual, flirty self." Malia reassures.

"What's this bet about?" Max speaks up, seeming as curious as me and everyone else.

"A situation similar to this happened about a few centuries ago, and Demonte and I decided to make a bet on whether it would happen again in the next decade or not."

A few centuries ago? I guess I shouldn't be that surprised, seeing as she's the Lightling High Commander and all, but it just makes me wonder how old she really is.

""A situation like...?" Iris trails off, asking on behalf of the rest of us, although I have a feeling all of us know.

"A situation similar to the Kinlings asking for aid, except at the time, the war was already taking place. Of course, back then, we, the Lightlings, decided to stay mostly neutral, although I will shamefully admit that your sweet-talker of a Darkling High Commander convinced me to lend him a few Lightling soldiers."

I look over at Lager who seems to have mostly calmed down enough to at least look a little sheepish when she says that, rubbing the back of his neck with a small apologizing smile.

"What about now? Will you side with them this time around?" Becky suddenly asks in a biting tone, and the entire room goes silent, even Lager going still as all eyes land on Malia.

"Ah-ha." I chuckle awkwardly, turning to give Becky a death glare. "Sorry on behalf of my friend. She means no disrespect."

"No, Ashley." Becky says, making me want to face-palm. "We need to know. If they choose to side with the Kinlings, there's no way we can stay here."

"Well I'm not letting my son leave when he just got back." Marquis Demonte says, placing a hand on Max's shoulder.

"Oh quit the act, Dad." Max groans, shrugging his hand off.

"What?" The Marquis pouts, seeming disappointed. "I thought I played the fatherly role really well that time."

"That's not the point here!" Becky exclaims, turning a bit flushed as she glares angrily at the father and son who are so much alike. "We need to know you're decision. So what's it going to be?" Becky asks, turning back to Malia.

I bite my lower lip, turning nervously to Malia and readying myself in case she gets mad and we need to make a run fro it.

But she surprises us all by chuckling.

"I didn't side with them centuries ago and you expect me to side with them now? You may not know this, being Darklings and a human, but we Lightlings are generally peaceful people unless provoked to a point."

Becky slowly nods, but she still has the look of suspicion in her eyes. It's clear that we won't be able to drop our guard around here anymore, even if Malia is one of the sweetest women I've ever met and I seriously doubt she'd go behind our backs.

"Now then, I think the evening meal has finished, so I'll retire to my room for a bit of rest." Malia says, and immediately two Lightling guards flank to her sides.

She starts to make her way to the doors behind us, but briefly pauses in front of Lager.

"I'll see you at the scheduled time tonight." Malia utters in a low tone, and only I, who's the closest to Lager, am the only one able to hear.

Say. What.

Malia continues past him, as if the moment never happened, and as she glides past she gives me a warm smile of goodbye for the moment. it's only then that this close up I notice that there's bags under her eyes, and her skin which had seemed healthy and glowing before was actually pale and dull, covered by a shining layer of makeup.

I turn around as she walks by, watching her leave the room, my confusion over what she said to Lager giving away with worry for her.

I had been so caught up in the business with the Kinlings I had completely forgotten the real reason I was here. The longer I take in trying to figure out who Malia's traitor is, the longer Malia suffers.

But even as I say this, her words to Lager echo in my head.

Tonight? They scheduled another meeting for later on tonight? Does Malia realize how misleading that sounds? But then again she most likely didn't think anyone had overheard......which is even worse! What business does Malia have with Lager tonight and why is it a secret?

"-ley.......ASHLEY!" Someone suddenly yells, making me jump and turn to see Becky impatiently waiting there, tapping her foot.

"Sorry. What's up?" I ask, deciding to put the issue aside for now.

"The problem," Becky empathizes in an irritated tone, "Is we haven't eaten all day, and these three animals ruined the food and the table!" She sends a scathing glare to Max, the Marquis, and Lager, who all give a dumbfounded innocent look.

Just then my stomach gives a loud gurgle, and I quickly cross my arms over it in embarrassment, sheepishly smiling.

Lager's eyes widen, a frown forming on his face. "You didn't eat today?"

I shrug awkwardly. "A lot happened." And that's saying the least.

Lager whirls around to face the table, his cloak flying and nearly whacking me in the face. I take a step back, watching his lift his hands. The broken table and splintered chairs melt into shadow, along with the splattered food, until the room is completely empty, but also clean.

Then he turns his splayed hands over, before curling them into fists, and a huge shadow appears, morphing into the shape of a table, with chairs. he uncurls his fists and the table materializes, the shadow falling away to reveal a completely new table, similar to the one before, except way more modern and made out of glass.

My excited smile turns into a flat stare as I turn to Lager with a raised eyebrow. "Seriously?"

"What?" He asks with his usual mischievous grin. "Glass tables are in here on Dalton."

"You mean on Highclere." Becky says, even a tiny smile forming on her lips.

"This won't do." The Marquis says, walking forward and observing the new table. "We need to baby proof it."

"For who?" I ask, since I haven't seen any children so far in the Villa.

"This little runt of course." Marquis Demonte says, ruffling Max's curls.

"Says the kettle calling the pot black! Or was it the pot calling the kettle black?" Max says, making the comeback lame with his confusion.

"What a disappointment of a son." the Marquis mutters.

"What did you say?" Max exclaims, getting ready to tackle his Father who lets out a very out of place "Eek!" sound.

Max lunges, but Becky's instantly there, grabbing the back of his shirt like the back of a puppies scruff. Too bad she isn't tall enough to lift him off his feet.

"No more fighting in my presence or you're both getting a boot in the face." Becky threatens, and they both salute at the same time.

Becky releases him, and with that out of the way, I turn back to Lager, who's seeming to ponder an idea. His brow is very low, he runs his hand through his hair, seeming stressed.

"What's wrong?" I ask, taking a few steps until I'm next to him.

He looks at me, pauses, then sighs, sitting on a chair that poofs from shadows into existence beneath him.

Finally, he looks up at me again, his golden eyes very serious and focused.

"What do you like to eat?"

I blink.

"Excuse me?" I ask, wondering if I heard right.

"See I knew it was silly." he mutters under his breath, resting his chin on his fist. "What do you like to eat? It's bothering me that I've known you for some time now and I still have no clue as to your food preferences."

I decide to ignore the slightly stalkerish meaning behind that and instead take it as sweet.

"I'm not that picky." I shrug. "Whatever the others like is fine with me."

What I said was meant to appease Lager, but it looked like he was only more agitated. Finally, he sighs, snapping his fingers and making food appear on the table.

It looks like enough to feed an army, every different dish and meal laid out to see.

Becky and Max instantly rush the table, Iris following slightly more gracefully, and they dig in like starving wolves, which is exactly what i want to be doing.

"Here you are." The Marquis says, suddenly appearing beside me and holding out an empty plate.

I smile in gratefulness, taking the plate and moving eagerly to the table.

I sit down in a chair, but pause, turning to look at Lager. "Is this food safe to eat? I mean it was an illusion until just a minute ago."

"It's completely safe." Lager says, disappearing and reappearing in the chair across from me. He pops a grape into his mouth as if to prove a point. "And tasty too."

Needing no other confirmation, i survey the food, wondering what I should try first. Right when I decide to just grab the first thing I see, I look down and notice that my plate, which had been a completely clean slate just a second ago, was now full of food, different dishes covering every inch of it.

I look up at Lager, who only waves his hand urging me to continue.

Sighing, I start to eat, my stomach not allowing me to delay any longer. The whole time I feel Lager's solid gaze on me, studying every food I eat and probably trying to figure out my preferences.

I'm tempted to just eat everything on the plate to make him more irritated, but it's at that moment my fork stabs a slice of tomato. I instantly make a disgusted face before I can stop myself, and put the slice of tomato on a napkin off the the side.

Freezing, I slow look up to see Lager with an amused light in his golden eyes, and I huff, scooping another bite of food and eating.

"Are you just going to stare the whole time?" I say after chewing and swallowing.

"Well I did already eat." He says lightly, and I just sigh through my nose, digging into the food and deciding to just block out his intense gaze.

"Ughhhhh I'm so full." Max moans, patting his bloated stomach a few minutes later.

Everyone groans in agreement.

"Well would you look at the time, it's already sun down." Iris says, looking out a window on the other side of the room. She stands, setting her napkin down on the table. "I'll be heading to bed now, it's been quite a day. Goodnight everyone."

She starts to walk towards the doors, but pauses briefly in front of me.

"Oh yes, guards should now be stationed in the guest wing, and your room is as good as new, so no reason to be scared tonight." Iris says lowly to me, before continuing her exit.

"Why are there now guards?" Lager questions, watching her leave with a cautious glance.

"Extra security measure." I say with a shrug, choosing to say the least right now. Lager already has the stress of Zero appearing, I doubt he wants to know about his loyal subject End going haywire.

I can see Lager doesn't believe me, but thankfully Becky and Max draw his attention as they stand up, Becky stretching and seeming content with all the food.

"I'm gonna hit the sack. It's way past my scheduled time for beauty sleep." She yawns at the end, and with a last wave, heads out the door, Max following and back to his normal puppy-dog self.

The doors shut behind them, until its only Lager and I.

"Shall we?" Lager asks, suddenly appearing beside me in a whirl of shadow, his hand outstretched and golden eyes smiling.

I give a tiny smile back and take his hand, letting his escort me to the doors, which he opens while still holding my hand, following close behind me as it shuts behind me.

Suddenly Lager huffs, and I look up at him questioningly.

"I have to go this way." He says apologetically, jabbing his thumb over his shoulder towards the hallway leading the opposite way of the guest wing. "There's business I have to attend to tonight."

"Oh." I say, trying to ignore the pang of disappointment I feel.

"Yeah," he sighs wistfully, before his hands slowly and reluctantly starts to slide out of mine, his fingers straying for a second and dancing on my fingertips before he finally pulls his hand away.

"I'll see you tomorrow morning." He says, and I only nod.

He pauses, opens his mouth like he's about to say something, then turns his back to leave.

It only takes a second, but before I know what's happening he's whirling around and taking a step towards me, grabbing my head gently, but firmly in-between his large hands and leaning down, his lips brushing the top of my hair.

Then he's gone, striding down the length of the hallway and disappearing around the corner as I stand and gape like an idiot.

What just happened?

I could swear I feel warmth spreading from the top of my head and my hand throughout my body, a really nice, cozy feeling filling me up.

I start to walk forward, almost in a daze, but then with purpose.

I'm not heading towards the guest wing though, I'm following Lager. Maybe he thought he could distract me with a cute and cliche kiss like that, but I won't be fooled.

I doubt that was his real intention, A tiny Ashley voice called Common Sense whispers inside my head, but I shove it away like always.

Mission Spy on Lager and see what he's up to with Malia is officially a go.



Dear readers, so this update is a day late. Don't worry, I'm not going into hibernation like the past few months. So as always, what did you think about the chapter? it was another kind of fill in the blanks chapter, but also had some fan service, I try to never forget about my readers wants, although i don't make decisions on what happens in the book solely on what you want, I'm sorry. It's just the writing process I guess. Anyway, what are some theories about what business Lager has with Malia, and is what Ashley about to witness something she's going to regret seeing? Find out next chapter! As always, vote, comment, and educate yourself on memes (Cause I honestly am a sheltered person who lives under a rock and didn't even know the raid area 51 meme existed or was a thing until the day of the supposed raid). Lots of loveeeeeeee,

Dangeroustoken