Ferros watched his brother and Akira from the shadows fuming. They both had been helping her with her endevor over the past year and yet it was Ehren who got all the credit. Typical. He stalked toward them, remembering why he’d gone to find them in the first place. When he interrupted them, neither had the decency to look abashed or ashamed. This only made him angrier. He stormed away from them, not bothering to see if Ehren would follow. On his way to where their father waited, he ran into Wulfric Aeldermann.

“Prince Ferros, what has got you barrelling through the crowd like a bull in a china shop?” he asked.

Ferros made no reply as he attempted to compose himself.

“Ah, it’s the girl,” he answered himself.

“Of course it’s the girl!” Ferros exclaimed.

“It’s always the girl,” Wulfric answered.

“She’s so different, smart as a whip, and beautiful.”

“They’re all beautiful in their own way.”

“God, I can’t stop staring at her sometimes.”

“Man, you’ve got it bad.”

Ferros looked at him in surprise.

“Is it that obvious?” he asked.

Wulfric laughed, “How long have you known her?”

“Since we were kids. Why?”

“You were probably crushing on her back then.”

“Her mother sent her away when we were 4. I didn’t see her again until the night our father sent us to Greenland.”

“You never went to see her after she was sent away?”

Ferros shook his head.

“Ehren did though.”

“What happened?”

“I don’t know. I just know that he ended up in the hospital and didn’t remember a thing about the event that put him there. But I remember seeing lash marks like he’d been whipped but they weren’t bad enough to require stitches.”

Wulfric looked thoughtful.

“Why did you not go and see her with him?”

“At the time, I was still grieving my sister’s loss. Ehren needed the escape or he’d have continued to drown himself in alcohol. We were sixteen.”

Wulfric sighed, “Niki was only what seven, eight?”

“No one calls her that but you for good reason,” Ferros told him. “But yes she was seven, almost eight. We thought she was dead until she showed up at the Eames’ house a year ago.”

“Perhaps you should stop acting like an ass whenever your brother is around,” Wulfric suggested.

Ferros rolled his eyes and made his way to where his father was waiting.

“I’ll stop acting like an ass when he stops acting so possessive of her,” he called over his shoulder.