The Red Queen | Lucien Castle & Tristan de Martel

Chapter 22

Davina was nowhere to be found.

Naturally, this placed her as the prime suspect for the robbery of the white oak stake.

"This is your fault," muttered Klaus distastefully, following his sister around as she cleaned one of the rooms for the Strix witch she was expecting. "If you hadn't antagonized her—"

"If you follow that train of thought," said Vivalda, tossing a pillow at him, "then you acknowledge that those sirelings of yours in Mystic Falls were antagonized by you therefore it is your fault they killed our brothers with that white oak."

He rolled his eyes. "Where are we on finding it?"

"Madison is being driven here by a chauffeur I sired yesterday. She will help us. Ariane already got Hayley and Rebekah settled in a safe house with a pretty powerful Cloaking Spell. Once Madison gives me the doses of wolf venom cures and gets to work on making the moonlight rings—"

"Finding that stake should be our priority!"

"Ease up. It is. But we need allies to find it the fastest. Madison will likely first need to break a Cloaking Spell over it. If I give Marcel what he wants, he can find Davina for us and question her; it isn't necessarily good for him if she has it and wants to kill us. We give the wolves moonlight rings and they will help us, too, and will be indebted so no one gets any creative ideas about killing us. Everything will get done, I swear it."

He didn't believe her.

Klaus watched the Strix witch like a hawk when she arrived. Madison had brought black kyanite stones from The Strix's supply, making their mission a whole lot easier. Vivalda made her deliveries as soon as she could, letting Madison start on a Locator Spell.

"It's cloaked with some very powerful magic," said Madison, frustrated. "It's more than I expected from a Harvest Girl. I should be able to break it but I can't, not yet."

"It's okay," said Vivalda, trying to be gentle. "Take your time." She pulled Klaus aside. "Time to consider the possibility our mother took that stake."

"But I was with her. Davina was the only one unaccounted for when Elijah sought her out."

"How would Davina manage such a strong Cloaking Spell? I highly doubt the Ancestors are helping her, it's not like she cares to do what they want."

"Excuse me." Elijah appeared behind them. "You need to see something I just found in the courtyard."

They were astonished to see a table set nicely with a tablecloth and filled with an array of fruit beside breakfast pastries. There was a shiny platter with a lid on it near the end, but Vivalda couldn't smell food coming from it.

"So nobody knows why this is here?" asked Vivalda.

"It's certainly a card I've placed in the past, but I had no hand in this," said Klaus. "You don't deserve a reward."

Vivalda made a face as Elijah shook his head, "I also didn't do this. Though that does make me believe we are overdue for a proper sibling breakfast."

The lid on the platter rattled, startling them. Vivalda pushed her brothers back, reaching Flame toward the platter and swiping the lid clean off.

Left behind were two starlings and a small piece of paper. They flew over their heads, unharmed, which meant to Vivalda that they couldn't have possibly been in the platter until after the lid was removed. Otherwise her move would've dropped those birds right to the floor.

She snatched up the piece of paper, reading aloud, "'Dinner, Your Home, 8PM.'" She let out a sneer. "Is that from our mother?"

"Of course," said Klaus angrily.