Chapter 1

Rayne was riding her horse back to the guild after an extended visit with her family. It had already been over a season since the last visit.

Even though she was really jealous of her brothers, she always thought she hid it well. But her Dad told her this last visit that he could see that she was ready to settle down.

She had already lived more since she was fourteen than most people did in their entire life, and that was probably why she was ready. Maybe, well past ready.

But she really did enjoy the visit though. Her family time was important to her.

While Caelan and Darla still looked good together, it was their non-verbal communications that she was the most jealous of. It was eerie to watch them work at Darla's parent's tavern when Caelan had a day off and he wanted to be near his wife.

When Caelan was there, Darla would take the orders without a notepad, repeat it back to the customer quietly, and Caelan would have it ready by the time she got to the front and hand it too her. Only those in the family knew how they did it, but it always amazes more than one patron.

But any new sailors or travelers who come into the tavern and doesn't take no for an answer when they try to touch Darla, always seem to find themselves immediately suspended in the air as Caelan put them out.

Darla never has to say a word. She just ignores them and turns to the next customer.

Of course when Caelan isn't around, Darla has learned to either make herself extremely cold to the touch or run lighting through her skin to shock the offending toucher. And a few times she has even made her eyes glow blue if they persist. And that pretty much puts them completely off.

But Caelan never gets jealous of her, and she doesn't either of him. I guess it's hard to when you know your mates actual thoughts and you can't misunderstand their intentions.

Jaden and Gail are doing just as well also.

Gail is back to how she used to be everyone said and is just as outgoing and verbal as before. Rayne is glad she had that talk before their wedding. Gail needed another take on what happened. Rayne was glad she could help her through it.

And anyone can see that she still can't wait to touch Jaden in someway or form, and she takes every chance to touch his face or stare into his eyes even while they are in public.

Rayne even heard her once when she cornered Jaden in the pantry, when they didn't know she was there as she was walking past an open window.

From the sounds Rayne heard they were making out, and then Gail said something about lover and next time, or something like that. Jaden had a goofy grin Rayne thought all night until they left.

The only thing that seemed strange is now sometimes it's Jaden who smiles wickedly as he passes by Gail, who he now often pats lightly on her butt. And then it's she who now turns beet red as she looks at him sheepishly!

Jaden has made her stumble though more than one conversation by smiling and lightly patting her butt as he passed by. And Rayne is sure he only does as much as he can just so he can watch her blush as he gets he revenge for seasons of torments by her.

And neither Jaden nor Gail will tell anyone why she is now doing that.

After everyone learned of Gail's earlier secret, they are just dying to know what Jaden has on her. But neither Jaden nor Gail is talking. Gail just turns extremely red every time she's asked and changes the subject.

But while Rayne is happy for them all, she sometimes just wished she found that perfect guy that she was fated to be with.

As she saw the guild house appear off in the distance, she relived the first day that she came to live there. She remembers it like it was yesterday.

(Knocking)

"Uhhhmm, hi. I'm the new girl. My name is Rayne. I was told that this would be my room," said Rayne shyly as she looked around at the other girls there.

There were three other girls in the room. One was a petite blonde that seemed younger than she had to be. One was a brunette who had her hair tied back. And the third looked to be older than Rayne with short black hair, almost short enough to make her look like a boy. But she had it combed and styled oddly.

The blonde looked up, but looked away quickly. The brunette dismissed Rayne out of hand, but the girl with the short black hair got up and reached out to shake Rayne's hand.

While the other girls were slightly built, the black haired girl clearly had developed enough curves to look like a country road. She clearly rivaled Rayne's build.

"Welcome and ignore them. They don't have any manners. I'm Cassie. It's really Cassandra, but the only ones who get to call me that are usually the instructors or the Guild master when I have to go to her office. So don't. That's Belinda the blonde over there and Tina's the brown haired one," said Cassie nodding towards the other girls.

"So, what is your specialty? I figure you must have one and it's probably pretty powerful, because this is the elite dorms and you wouldn't be here if you weren't really good at something.

"But if I have to guess, I'm going to say its weapons, swords actually, based on your twin swords there. So on to the next question, who's your sponsor?" asked Cassie with a smile.

"Sponsor? What's that?" asked Rayne curiously.

"The guild doesn't just take anyone. First someone has to recommend you before they will even consider letting you take the entrance test. And even still, before you are allowed near a dorm, you have to demonstrate the ability to at least hold your own against a first level ranked member of the guild. So who did you test against and who was your sponsor" asked Cassie.

"Well I guess my sponsor was my mother, or the guild master since I was told I had to report here, and I tested again Anne-Marrie and two others at the same time today for my ranking," said Rayne quietly.

"ANNE-MARIE? Anne-Marie the swift? As in the swift blade? Ok kid, now you're just pulling our leg. No one test against any of the Blades, and certainly not against the best Anne-Marie. Not if they plan to get in the guild. Now really, who did you test against?" asked Cassie again with a lopsided smile at what she feels is a joke by the new girl.

"No really it was Anne-Marie. She first came too our house and tested me, then said that I had to report to the guild because I was already on the guild charter as a member and I was expected to report for ranking and further training, oh and squad tactics" added Rayne quickly

"Psssst, sure you did. Ok kid, who's your Mom then?" asked Cassie smiling widely.

"Brianna Griffith, but she was known as Brianna d'Angelo when she was here. "I'm her daughter Rayne d'Angelo Griffith," said Rayne smiling widely also.

All the girls looked at her in shock.

"You ... you ... you ... you are the daughter of Brianna the Scarlet blade?" asked Tina