"We played a lot of chess," Guinevere answered and Emberlee laughed, whether it was a euphemism or not, her Father seemed well paired with his new wife. 
"Uncle Albert and Aunt Igraine are already here, but she's not as mobile currently so I expect they'll come visit later," Emberlee had no clue what to say to a Stepmother who didn't hate her or want to kill her. 
"It'll be good to catch up with them," Guinevere had grown up close enough to the Capital to have moved in the same social circles as Igraine had. 
Her Father came back over and hugged her tightly again, "You looked so much like your Mother the last time I saw you, but now you look wholly like yourself." 
"I have taken a measure of myself Father, and although I will always require growth I have found who am I in the face of adversity." Mother had taught her politics, and Father had taught her survival, but Emberlee had turned those lessons into reality. 
"One day I would appreciate hearing the stories of what you've encountered," Like Uncle Albert her Father seemed to understand that it wouldn't be a joyful late. 
"One day I'll be able to tell you," she promised, wondering if it was the truth. 
She had killed someone, murdered someone, was actively drugging the Empress, and was going to sacrifice the Knight loyal to her to see her plan completed. Although it was all done for the greater good Emberlee also accepted that didn't wash the blood off her hands. Her Father was a General, had conquered two Nations, and survived countless battles so it wasn't that he wouldn't understand. But like letting her Father believe she was marrying Damien for love, Emberlee didn't want to disillusion him about her innocence. Better to let him remember the little girl who'd trained at his side than face the truth that she'd become the danger in the dark. 
Moral and emotional quandary aside, Emberlee was facing difficulties anointing the Mirrors she'd received from the Emperor. She'd tried blood; hers, Ludwig's, even a splash from a dead assassin, but nothing worked. Whatever power she'd burned to get them back to Xutia via Mirror had still failed to recover even over a month later. Her Blessing still worked, the undying orchids a silent testament to that, but she needed Fairy Magic and not a Xutian Blessing at this time. 
"It's slower to recover here in Xutia, but it will," Aerig comforted, the ore in Ababa that amplified Fairy Magic utterly absent north of their Nation. 
"The wedding date is in eleven days, everyone I care about is in the Capital, and if I don't act now I'm simply giving Clara the time she needs to attack first. It may not be me she goes after," Emberlee had forgotten to pace her wine out, anger and alcohol spilling out of her usual discipline. 
"For now your Hound keeps her too busy, and then too tired to take action. Even if you can't slip her into a Mirror, you can still fall back on exposing the affair," he tried to help settle her agitation. 
"It's not enough," like taking the Fairy out in Adaba, she had to be brutal to protect her loved ones. "If I don't end this Clara will find a way to come after me. She will not abide a world where I live and she's failed, so there will always be the risk if she's left alive." 
"You said the first time you used a Mirror to summon a Fairy, it was the full moon," Prince Damien theorized, having heard her experience during their travels together, "Maybe it has to be the same now?" 
"That's a very Adaban way of looking at it," Aerig complimented, "It seems I've been rubbing off on you." His drunkenness made it difficult to determine if that was an innuendo or not. 
"You wish," Prince Damien teased Aerig back, as used to his flirtations as Emberlee, "but rule one strictly forbids it so keep holding your breath."
"Too bad it's the new moon, we don't have time to wait until the full," there wouldn't be a full moon between now and her wedding and Emberlee knew it, she'd already considered that variable.