I very carefully did not look back until we had gone several dozen feet and put more than a few partygoers between us and the Rusts. Finally feeling safe, I let out a sigh as I turned to Damien.

“Quite the parents you’ve got there.”

He barked out a laugh, but it sounded slightly hysterical to me. I noticed he was shaking a little, so I brought him over to a table out of the way of the party and had him sit down.

He took a few deep breaths to try to calm down. I could relate. My heart had been racing during that encounter. Looking back on it I felt stupid for challenging his father like that. Artur Rust was a force to be reckoned with, one that could literally have me destroyed, in every way, by uttering a single sentence.

At the same time, the fact that I had stood up to someone like that made me feel a rush of power that left me giddy. It was almost as if I could imagine what it would be like to be a titan in my own right, to walk into this room and have the power to face down a man like that.

Of course, in reality I didn’t have that power, and the only reason I wasn’t facing imminent destruction was my relationship to their son. Based on what I’d just seen, I wasn’t feeling as confident in that shield as I used to.

I looked at Damien taking deep breaths and could see the tremors slowly stop.

“Better?”

He nodded. “Sorry about that. I thought I was ready to see them, but as soon as he grabbed me it was like I was twelve years old again, being forced into the dungeons to overcome my cowardice.”

I shook my head. “Don’t apologize. If I was in your shoes I’m not sure I’d do any better. Parents have a unique power over their children. When we see them, it’s like years of mental growth are reverted and we find ourselves feeling like kids waiting for a beating.”

He gave me a strange look.

“What?”

“Nothing. I mean, you’re right. I’m just a bit surprised that you, well, understand. Given…” He trailed off awkwardly.

I snorted. “Given that I’m an orphan? It’s okay, you can say it. It’s not a dirty word. My parents died when I was young. They were too kind for this world, at least the way it has become. But I still visit their graves, and when I do it’s like I can feel them judging me.”

I paused. “Well, judging may be the wrong word. It’s more like they’re lecturing me.”

I didn’t continue trying to explain the feeling, and he didn’t pursue it any further.

“In any case, thanks for your help back there. If you hadn’t stepped in he might really have dragged me back home. And that…” He shuddered briefly. “That would not have been good for me.”

I clapped a hand on his shoulder. “That’s what friends are for. Now, there’s still a lot of life left in this party or gala or whatever term you say I need to call it. Who should we talk to next?”

He rolled his eyes at my disregard for his earlier lesson on the proper term for the event, but seemed relieved to retreat into the normality of our banter and discussion of business. He began to lead me around the party, introducing me to some of the potential clients he’d been scoping out earlier with Jacques.

An hour later, I was schmoozed out. If I had to laugh at one more awful joke, or listen to one more CEO ask what the benefit of a sustainable dungeon was when they could just get a Dungeon Maker to renew the dungeon periodically, I would go crazy.

Noting my thinning patience, Damien politely excused us from our conversation with a large woman with her hair in golden ringlets who apparently headed a dairy business for exotic beast and monster milk.

“As boring as this may be, it could be worse. You could be the person who has to milk the beasts and monsters.” Damien quipped under his breath as we walked away.

I suppressed a shudder at the thought. I hadn’t realized how many monsters and beasts produced milk, and I would never get some of the mental pictures she had painted of the milking process out of my head.

“Thank Janus for small mercies.”

As we continued to walk a circuit around the party, I saw a familiar face out of the corner of my eye and turned to see Sera walking in my direction. I was surprised to see a huge smile break out on her face, and for a moment my heart skipped a beat out of nowhere. I instantly felt my palms grow sweaty and I suddenly became self conscious. She hurried toward me at a pace just short of a run, but to my surprise she went right past me and threw her arms around Damien.

“Ian!” She practically squealed.

“Easy Sera! You’re choking me!” Damien squeezed out as her arms wrapped around his neck.

She eased back. “Sorry! I’m just so glad to see you. It’s been so long! How are you? You look well, but how’s life outside of the family going? I did so want to see you earlier, but father forbade it, and you know how he gets.”

I looked back and forth between them in confusion. “You two...know each other?”

Sera looked in my direction and I saw recognition dawn. “You’re the one from earlier...wait are you the business partner mother told me about? The one working with Ian?”

Now it was Damien’s turn to look confused. “Wait, hold up. You two know each other?”

Sera explained how we had met earlier, while I still tried to adapt to the idea that the young woman in front of me was a Rust. I tried to compare her to my mental image of Artur and DIana, and even Damien, but she seemed so different. I mean, I could see how they had similar physical traits, but her personality was just so...down to earth. Even the first time I met Damien, once he’d removed his cloak anyway, he’d seemed elite. While Sera definitely possessed class, she didn’t give off an aura of superiority in the interactions I’d had with her.

“Allow me to make the formal introductions. This is my sister, Seraphina Rust. She’s currently the Director of Public Relations for Rust Corporation in Asance. She’s also the only part of my childhood I look back upon with any fondness." He gestured towards me. "This is my business partner Basil Thorn.”

Sera eyed me with a mischievous smile on her face. “So you do have a last name after all.”

I shook my head. “I fear my last name pales in comparison to yours.”

“I’m not so fearsome as that, am I?” She joked before her expression sobered as she looked to Damien.

“Do father and mother know you’re here?”

“We just had a rather unfortunate encounter with them. I fear you’ll have some tabloid headlines to squash after the party.”

She gave him a worried look, but he shook his head holding out his hand. “None of that. Everything worked out fine. Father was anxious to bring me home, but Basil interfered and mother talked him down.”

The worry lines on her face smoothed, as she eyed me curiously. “He did, did he?”

I shrugged, trying to play it cool, though I felt transparent in front of her. “We merely spoke.”

Her gaze seemed to weigh me even as her head tilted as she weighed my words. “It must have been quite a conversation to stop father from getting what he wants. I can count on one hand the number of people I’ve seen do that.”

I shifted slightly before stopping myself, trying not to let my insecurity at being examined so closely by this woman in front of me show. She had a strange effect of putting me off balance and I couldn’t decide if it was awful or wonderful.

Damien was looking between us, suspicion clearly written on his face.

“I’m fine Sera." Damien interjected into the awkward silence. "Thanks for asking. I do want to catch up with you, but now’s not a great time as we had just finished up at the party and were preparing to leave.”

Sera raised an eyebrow at him, but he raised his chin stubbornly. She let out a small sigh. “Very well, I won’t keep you then. But you must give me your contact information. Mother and father know about you now, so you can’t use the excuse that you’re hiding from them.”

He shook his head exasperatedly. “Alright, alright.” He fiddled with his holophone before holding it up. “See? I called you. Now you have my new number. We can arrange to catch up another time.”

She hugged him again before turning to me and extending her hand in a hand shake. “It was nice to meet you Basil Thorn. Now that you’re in Ian’s life, I’m sure we’ll meet again. I look forward to getting to know you better.”

I shook her hand, wondering if my palms were as sweaty as they felt. What was wrong with me?

“And I you,” I managed. I was just relieved I had managed a coherent statement. For some reason I felt much more off balance than I had earlier.

Frowning, Damien put his arm around me and dragged me away, waving to Sera as he did. As we walked away, he glared at me. “Don’t even think about it. Sera is off limits.”

“What? Afraid I'll drag her down?” I tried to joke about it, but I was slightly stung by his reaction.

He must have seen the hurt on my face, and shook his head. “Look, it’s not...I don’t care about the fact that you're poor. It’s just that Sera is important to me. She was the only one who showed me an ounce of kindness, true, unconditional kindness, when I was younger. Without her I never would have escaped from that house. I'm a bit protective of her, okay?”

I shrugged, not fully convinced. Still, I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and accept that it wasn’t about me. He was just an overprotective little brother. “I get it. We’re good.”

He looked at me doubtfully, confused by my sudden acceptance and suspicious of my sincerity. For some reason the expression on his face called forth an image in my mind of a young Damien glaring at an older boy who had come to visit his sister, and I nearly burst out into laughter.

Still, the thought continued to bring a smile to my face unbidden, and I left the party feeling good. I had, despite myself, networked successfully, stood up to Damien’s father, and in my own utterly inept way flirted with the most beautiful woman I’d ever met. All in all, I decided to label the night a success. Damien called our driver who quickly appeared, and we left the gala.

As our hovercar pulled away, putting distance between us and the venue, I felt myself sobering up as if some glamor was being lifted from me. For all that the gala had been a pleasant distraction, I knew that tomorrow would be a return to the real world. We still had money to earn, a business to develop, power to gain, and all of it starting with a dungeon we still had to make. It was the key. I felt a thrum of tension building in me. I couldn't afford to screw it up.