When Angela came to she was in her bed and not alone in her room, Michael and Saulus were in the room. Cara took over and kept her eyes closed and breathing relaxed, Bartholomew stopped ticking his finger against the armrest of the chair he was sitting in, he had noticed her being awake.

“So Michael, what is your intention with my daughter?” He asked casually as Michael nearly stopped breathing.

“I... value her company a lot sir.” He stammered, Cara wondered what Bartholomew was planing on doing, if he pressured the boy too much he might lose interest altogether, something was not right.

“Good, good, I will ask your father to take in Angela until such a time the identity of the attacker has been discovered and no further danger for my daughter exists.”

“Of course, I will speak to him at once! You don’t have to fear or your daughter I would never let anything happen to her!” Michael answered as fast as humanly possible, her rose to his feet and left the room.

Bartholomew remained completely still until the footsteps outside fainted.

“I feel like this might be something good after all, my dear. Whoever followed you failed to report back to his people before he did so, his body is gone for now and will remain hidden until the spring… This will give you the opportunity to make friends in the High House.”

Cara sat up, so the attacker had failed in revealing them, or so they hoped.

“I am sorry, I don’t know how he could have seen me… I-” Bartholomew raised his hand.

“Don’t worry, there is no fault in your actions, the man was adept in the magic of shadow. One of the best Goldhill has to offer, I had feared he would find us sooner or later, of course I never expected for him to attack right away. He has been something of a wild card and I had hoped to turn him to our cause… Well dead is the next best thing i believe.

Good thinking with the night gown by the way, finding you in full gear would have been difficult to explain…” Footsteps sounded from the other side of the door again and Angela pulled the blanket higher, last thing she needed was for someone to see her in her night gown.

The door opened and Michael entered the room, stopping dead in his tracks when he saw that Angela was awake.

“Excuse me, I was just….” He stammered as Angela flared up in red, this was possibly the most embarrassing situation she had been in since… since the thing with Warren.

She blinked, something wasn’t right, she was wearing clothes under her night gown and the thing with Warren had ended… how exactly?

“Uhm, Sir can i talk to you outside for a moment?” Michael’s voice called her back into the now. Saulus got to his feet and followed the handsome young man outside, the door closed but Angela could still hear the two of them.

“My father agrees, the girl should live with us for a while, you are welcome to join us but we can’t accommodate your entire Workshop as of now… so you would have to leave your daugher with us… She will be well cared for and we can send more guards to your workshop as well-”

“I understand, please protect my daughter, I have the utmost faith in your ability to resolve this issue fast and reunite me with Angely once it is save again. I do have your word as a gentleman not to do anything to my little girl right?” Saulus had a serious voice a bit of sadness sounding through the harshness with every word.

“Of course! I would never do anything to her, she is the most wonderful person I know!” Michael responded quickly, Angela smiled, Michael like her!

And she would be living with him in the large mansion on top of the hill! The smile widened.

“Then I leave my daughter in your care. Please extend my deepest gratitude to your father, he has done so much for us already and keeps helping us in our hours of need.”

The next morning Angela and her maid Daphne were sent to the mansion of the ruling Family, Michael insisted on riding behind the carriage and keep an eye on things, he was wearing a bright blue uniform and his sword at the side, whenever possible Angela snuck a look at him through the back window. Daphne was sitting across from her smiling at the girl and reassuring her the dress she was wearing was gorgeous.

The room she was given was in the upper floor right next to Daphne’s four days away from Michael.

The welcoming was short, Torsten welcomed her to the family and excused himself for a meeting. Michael had to attend practice and asked if she would watch. After hours of watching the boy do all sorts of parries and attacks Angela was still entranced by the quick fluent movements.

She had to do something, something that would bind the two of them together more, a way to bridge the gap that seemed to exist between them, but what?

They had barely anything in common, she loved to read and dress up while Michael, well he trained.

Then it hit her, she would need to learn to fight, if she could join the training they would spend even more time together and maybe he would be astonished by how fast she could learn?

It seemed like the perfect plan even if she did not quite understood where it came from. Decided on what she had to do next Cara waited for the training to be finished before asking Michael.

“You want to do what?” He asked slightly amused by the idea of the frail girl fighting someone.

“I want to learn how to defend myself! Is it that weird for me to not want to rely on someone?” She made her lips tremble and had her eyes water, the effect was immediate, Michael’s eyes widened as he grasped her hands.

“Of course not! I will ask my father if we can have someone come train you…” But Angela had other plans, if there was someone that would be training her it was Michael and his dreamy eyes.

“I want you to train me! I have seen you beat every soldier on the court, there is no one better!” Angela could see that Michael was conflicted, he was indeed one of the finest swordsmen around but not the best, asking his father for another favour however was not something he enjoyed doing… Angela knew the relationship between father and son was not the best ever since he had failed the entrance exam to the university.

On the other hand the man had jumped on the opportunity to have Angela around, the girls of the high families were dangerous, one wrong move of Michael and they could use it as an excuse to start a feud with them.

Michael’s big brother Samuel already had a wife, the two of them spent their days at Arthemia from where they sent goods and had recruited the mercenaries. Michael however was still without a partner, therefore fair game for the other families to join the rulers of Goldhill in blood.

If however Michael would fall in love with a lowblood then nothing was really lost, the power of the house would remain with Samuel and the marriage of one of Torsten’s sons to a peasant would make the family seem more grounded.

Angela smiled, the whole thing made total sense in her imagination, having Michael train her would also give her a lot of time alone with the boy.

Training women in swordplay was not uncommon, especially nobles did it to secure their girls from any unwanted attention. Most were taking the training not very seriously but still, it seemed to be a sort of fashion.

“I will talk to my father about this… and ask yours as well…” Michael finally responded, his shoulders slumped a bit like he had been defeated.

Angela shrieked in joy and hugged him, then remembered her manners and let go of him quickly.

The boy was now completely done for, confused and half smiling he wobbled in the direction of his father’s room. Angela flattened her dress and walked back to her room, she would need to have Daphne search for clothes she could train in. Something simple and not restricting but still pretty to look at.