ARES:She really could put em back-this one. Not alcohol. Food.I sat there amazed at how much this relatively small young woman could scarf down a meal. It wasn’t just her ‘sweet treats’ that she loved so much. She seemed to be a connoisseur of food in general. Vale was a voluptuous woman-more than most inhumans I’d ever known, but she was still fit.I continued to watch in amusement as she finished off a large bowl of baked spaghetti with meat sauce and meatballs. This was the sixth in a seven-course meal that she ordered. Her dessert was next.She slurped up the last spaghetti noodle as she finally met my mirthful gaze. “Not what you had in mind, I take it," she remarked. I was assuming, she was speaking in terms of her...less than lady-like way of eating.I could do little more than chuckle at her remark. “To be honest, I am not sure what I should have expected.” She smirked and then pushed away her meal before pulling this large chocolate, domed cake toward her. Something call

Vale:It didn’t take long for us to get to the packhouse. That was when my father decided to hold the meeting as opposed to the family home. Understandably so. I was still in a volatile mood when we walked through the door. There was no particular reason why. There was never a particular reason why I was in a mood. Every little thing seemed to excite me or set me off since I transitioned into this…version of myself. Ares Barbosa’s presence only seemed to agitate what little resolve I thought I had. I had turned in to someone or…some thing that I could no longer recognize. The more time that I spent with Ares, the easier it was to see. I would not admit this aloud. At least not in front of him, but…I didn’t really like this version of myself. In fact, it…in a sense, made me feel insecure about myself.I missed being the human vassal who was silently confident and undoubtedly compassionate and kind. As we approached the packhouse, I found that my eyes had been consistently on Ares’s

Vale: I knew it wouldn’t take long to find my mother, so I didn’t go straight to her. I thought about veering off the beaten path and finding something to get into for a little while, but I thought better of it. There were strange things happening in Shadow Veil and the sooner we found out the root of the problem, the better off we’d all be. And maybe I'd finally be able to leave this place behind once and for all. Maybe. Even if I had no clue where Mum's secluded little hiding spot was located, I'd easily find her. Mum's power always gave her away. There was something almost electrifying about her power. Everywhere she went, whenever she was in a mood, the breeze would pick up, forcing the trees to sway against the night air. What would most always give her away, however, was the mist that would arise from the ground nearby. I stood outside of the log cabin, the little abode that she lived in whilst watching over me my whole entire life, and watched as her unspoken anxiety a

Vale:She was concerned, and she had every right to be. Tobias was different; he wasn’t the same one I knew before. Not completely, at least. He watched my mother closely the entire time that she was there, and when she left, he watched her depart. His eyes lingered on the spot long after she had gone. It was sort of unsettling. I thought to break the silence, but I didn’t because I wanted Tobias to do it. I wanted to know what was on his mind. It was clear that this was not the same Tobias that I knew over two years ago and half of my life before that. Still, I wanted to know that there was some part of him remaining behind, whatever this darkness was that had clouded over him.“You know, she’s right,” he finally said to me, his back still facing me as he broke the lull in the conversation.When I didn’t respond, he turned around and finally faced me with that trademark, charming smile on his face. I still didn’t respond to him because I wasn’t ready to. Not just yet.“Your mother,

Alastair: “She wanted to talk with him alone, Alastair,” said Merari as she answered my question about leaving our daughter alone with an undead Tobias. “She wanted me to warn you as well. She’d get two birds with one stone, I guess.” If anyone could handle themselves, Valene could. I had no doubts about that, but the father in me couldn’t help but be worried for her safety. Especially when considering the fact that I had just gotten her back. That was all besides the point that, yet again, I got the feeling that Merari was hiding something from me. Some pivotal information that could potentially help out the situation that Shadow Veil was steadily sinking into. “We will discuss what else you’re hiding from us later,” I said. I wasn’t in the mood to spare Merari her privacy at this point. The whole of my city was in danger, and she was keeping something from me that could potentially turn the bad luck that we were having around. Now was not the time to be blinded by my adoratio