Lucianne, Xandar and Christian skipped lunch in the dining hall for lunch at Christian’s home. Annie had wanted to meet Lucianne ever since Xandar first told Christian about finding his mate at the annual meet-and-greet.

The cousins and Lucianne herself really wanted to start digging into the audits, the real ones, so it sounded like lunch at the residence of the Duke and Duchess was the perfect plan. Lucianne was also concerned with how Ellia, Ben and the other two families were holding up, so when Xandar asked if she wanted to go, she didn’t hesitate to say yes.

Christian’s villa was about the same size as Xandar’s but the...