One
She knew how to act broken. It was the first thing that she learnt, back in the red, red room. They wanted her body, they didn't want her mind, and so they tried to break her. She tried to fight, but she just wasn't quite good enough to stop them physically. They tried to break her, tried to make her less than she was, but they just couldn't do it. Her RED strength was still intact.
Oh, they thought that they did break her, her Craft, woven on the edges of the Twisted Kingdom, saw to that. Born of desperation, born of need, she wove the tangled web that she needed to conceal.
A broken Queen is no threat to anyone, and so she slid under their eyes. There were no other sisters of the Hourglass to tell anyone different, and she took care to hide that affiliation. Apparently broken, she was not of interest any more, and only remained to hide her away from the world. Some still used her, abused her, but mostly she was left alone.
Challiot was not a safe place, anymore, if it had ever been. But there were rumours of another place slowly seeping through the grapevine. Kaeleer. A word that was filled with hope, and perhaps a promise.
Natasha knew better than to believe in hope, but she still found herself passing through the Gate in search of something.
The service fair was much what she expected. A broken witch was of little interest to anyone legitimate, and she didn't have to coin to thrust herself to centre stage. The only contract that she was offered was for a Red Moon house.
Until, on the third day, he came.