Daphne looked as though she had swelled in size as her wolf seemed to take over, and her eyes locked on Meryn. Growling, she stalked in their direction. In seconds, Adelaide and Ryuu were standing in front of them to head off Daphne's advance.

"Get out of my way! I know that little bitch is behind this!" Daphne hissed.

Meryn blinked, an innocent look on her face. "I have no idea what you're talking about. But since you're getting so upset, are you confirming you're 'DB'?" she asked innocently.

Daphne shrieked her rage and launched herself toward Meryn. Adelaide raised her hand and simply pushed her back with a shove to the chest. "Stay away from my daughter," she warned with a low growl.

Daphne sneered. "What are you going to do? You can't lay a finger on me or you risk your mate's Elder seat. The degenerate next to you posing as a squire can't touch me or risk being deported from Lycaonia." When she smiled, she revealed a set of fully extended canines.

Amelia felt the room begin to close in. The roaring that she'd heard during breakfast returned. Ice began to form around her heart and started to spread through her body. She stood as a rage so cold it burned expanded across her soul. She shouldered her way between Adelaide and Ryuu. When she smiled at Daphne, she was pleased when the older woman flinched.

Daphne made the mistake of looking in Meryn's direction. That was all it took to trigger Amelia's fury. Moving faster than she ever had in her life, her arm shot out and she gripped Daphne around the throat. Pulling strength from the earth, she easily lifted the woman off the ground keeping her at arm's length.

In the recesses of her mind, she heard Beth usher the other women out of the room. She didn't care who was there. All she wanted to do was destroy the woman in front of her. How dare she threaten her family! The darkness around her heart whispered to her, telling her that if she didn't kill Daphne, the woman would hurt her baby sister-cousin.

"Let me go!" Daphne gasped.

"Why should I? You're going to hurt my family," Amelia said in a monotone voice.

"What family? I don't even know you!" Daphne's lips had started to turn blue.

Amelia smiled. She thought that the color looked pretty.

A warm hand on her arm broke her train of thought. She turned her head slowly to look at Ryuu.

"Itoko-sama, think of how sad Meryn would be if you were exiled from Lycaonia." His voice was calm and even.

"She wants to hurt her," Amelia protested.

Ryuu shook his head. "I would never allow that to happen. You can let go." He squeezed his hand, and warmth ran from her wrist to her shoulder. She turned back to face Daphne.

"Gods! Her eyes are black! Help! Someone help me! She's feral!" Daphne babbled.

Slowly, Amelia lowered Daphne to the ground and released her. Daphne fell backward sobbing and clutching at her throat. "The council will hear of this!" she croaked and ran from the room.

Amelia collapsed back into her seat, appalled at what she had almost done. Ryuu's warmth began to slowly thaw the cold parts of her soul. Reality was catching up to her. She had nearly killed someone. She covered her face with both hands, unable to look at anyone.

"That kicked ass on every single level!" Meryn said excitedly.

"Meryn! Can't you see Amelia is upset?" Beth chastised.

Amelia looked out from behind her hands to see Meryn's confused expression. "Why is she upset?"

"Why?" Amelia's voice cracked. "I was going to kill her, really kill her," she whispered. The truth was almost too much to bear.

"Too bad you didn't. That bitch is going to stir up trouble later; I just know it. Better to kill her now," Meryn said as she rummaged through the cookie basket.

"Normally, I don't condone violence, but in this instance, my quirky daughter is right. That woman is better off dead," Adelaide looked weary.

Marius appeared at the door, his mouth twitching. "All the ladies have left. I think you will find it interesting that most of them offered to stand with Amelia if this goes to the Tribunal. They all confided in me that Daphne was out of line threatening a pregnant human who was in no way responsible for what was printed in The Observer."

Adelaide sat down abruptly on a sofa. "Thank the Gods for that."

Amelia scooted closer to Meryn and rested her head on her shoulder. Without looking, Meryn reached up and patted her on the head, her focus still on the cookie basket. Maybe what she did wasn't crazy after all. No one seemed particularly upset that she had almost killed someone.

Beth stood in front of Meryn, her arms crossed over her chest. "You little demon! How did you get that article in The Observer!?" Beth exclaimed before bursting out into laughter.

Meryn chuckled. "What do you mean?"

"Now Beth, you know there's no way that she could..." Adelaide stopped mid-sentence. She gasped and covered her mouth with both hands. "You wanted to attend the sewing circle this week."

Amelia yawned, emotionally spent. "And you kept checking your phone. I thought you were checking for text messages, but you were checking the time. You knew the paper would be delivered this afternoon."

Ryuu and Marius stared. Ryuu, in an uncharacteristic show of emotion, broke down laughing. He leaned against Marius whose grey mustache was twitching as he tried to hide his smile.

"Out with it, Menace!" Beth took the cookie basket from Meryn who glared up at her.