"Lord Tilvrade," the leader of the three boys spoke, looking down at me. He was twice my height and dressed in a black coat. An unusual colour among the gathered nobles here.

I looked at him warily, wondering what would happen now.

I flinched as he grabbed me by the shoulders. It was ridiculous how big he was compared to me. We were only maybe 6 or 7 years apart, if he was just a bit older than Pricel, but his hands seemed bigger than my arms as he leaned forward to whisper into my ear.

"Careful. You have little idea who you face."

Of course I didn't know who he was. I had never seen him before. Was he a royal to speak of himself like that?

He warned me to be careful, so the moment he removed his hands, I braced myself for his impending attack.

But the boy just stepped aside, clearing a way for me to escape.

It dawned on me that he didn't mean to be careful about himself. He was not talking about himself at all. He was warning me of someone else that I faced. The parent or faction behind Geran, then.

I didn't fail to note the faltering smiles on the faces of the boys behind him. They looked to Geran who was now watching this boy in black and me.

I was lucky there was a way out for me, as I had hoped, but not all was as it seemed.

I didn't have time to think further, as I took the grace he left me.

Just as I thought it was over, Geran's voice came from behind. "You might get away this time, but it won't be long before I see you again."

I walked past the noble woman who had flinched from my gaze earlier.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I hate you!" Delthimay shouted at me with her hand still against the carriage she was leaning on to catch her breath. "Didn't you see what he was doing to my brother?"

I still felt blood pounding through my head from the adrenaline. I had just abandoned Pricel to Geran and the other boys there.

"You just left him there." She cried out, "we just left him there..." she repeated a bit more weakly.

"Yes, we did."

They had really just let us leave, both the boys and the gathered nobles.

I felt like laughing. I felt like crying. Could I have maybe saved Pricel too?

In the heat of the moment, I remember being frustrated with him. I saw a reflection in him of a weaker self that I could have been.

But when I saw my own escape, I took it. And that was no better. I was just a coward.

It was so weird, how Clous was right there behind Pricel when he turned around. It was too coincidental how it had all happened right after I arrived. It was creepy how all the familiar faces had been absent from that side of the yard.

Someone had been sending me a message. No, not me, my parents. What 7 year old wouldn't go crying to their mother and father after they had been shown a cousin humiliated in front of them in the middle of a gathering that should be safe?

I don't think they would have expected me to flee.

I had simply walked over to the carriages in the courtyard, dragging Dilthimay behind me.

"Why did I follow you? What's going to happen to my brother?" Dilthimay wouldn't stop whining.

I looked up at the seat of the carriage we were hiding behind. An old servant was looking down at us curiously. We had probably interrupted his long wait for his lord and lady inside.

Judging by the crest on the carriage, his lord must be Viscount Kridley. Count Nile's man.

"They're not going to hurt him again, are they? Why wasn't anyone doing anything?"

"Shh, Dilthimay, listen to me. Everything's going to be alright. They can't hurt your brother right there. It would cause too much of a commotion."

They were trying to make a point, make me and my parents feel vulnerable.

I hadn't expected them to do it like that, or to me. But if they were just showing me they could hurt my relatives, then it meant they were still not confident enough to harm me directly, my father being who he was.

Of course, the whole reason for this charade was that they still thought my father posed a threat to them.

Pricel and his sister on the other hand...

Viscount Clous didn't have anything to fear from Phrans. The Phrans were out of favour with the duke and Clous probably thought any damage to my mother's family would only help my uncle's claim.

"We need to go back, we can't let them do anything to brother..."

"Even if we're enemies, we are still part of the same faction, at a gathering to celebrate the duke. They won't hurt Pricel. They can't." Seriously at any rate, I added mentally.

It felt awkward having to calm down a girl twice my height and 3 years my elder.

Who knows, maybe Pricel really would be fine. Instead of a beating, he might be let off easy once the nobles around them realise I left.

"Tell me though, Dilthimay, why were you there? Didn't you notice all your parents and relatives had left that area?"

This was what I needed to know. There must have been someone or something that brought them there, a clue about who was pulling the strings.

I already knew it was someone related to my uncle. Viscount Clous had become his supporter when he turned on father.

"What? We were just there because Sambron...." Dilthimay trailed off, looking up at me in surprise. "Where did Sambron go?"

"Sambron who?" I prodded gently. I did not know that name.

"Sambron Bairv, he's brother's friend. We had come in just behind his family's carriage earlier and then we saw the envoy together, and then he said we should talk in the corner of the field, and then you came."

"Bairv?" I asked incredulously.

I saw her puzzled face turn into shock as she realised my train of thought.

"No, Sambron isn't like that!" she protested to me.

I didn't even care what she said at this point.

They were set up by a Bairv? And she's still trying to defend him?

I hoped Geran gave Pricel what he deserved.

"Dilthimay, have you caught your breath now? You should find your mother and father. Maybe they can help Pricel," I suggested with a wide smile.

I didn't want to deal with her or think of Pricel anymore right now.

"Yes, father will help brother," she seemed to think that was more pressing than her protests and looked across the gathered groups of nobles.

"Just don't blame Sambron, okay?" She added as she scurried away. I wonder if she had fallen for this Sambron Bairv.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once Delthimay left, I walked back into the crowd. A few men or women would pause to greet me but didn't delay me too long as I moved towards the trees.

The whole group of guests seemed to have started moving in the same direction.

"Tilly?" I heard my mother's voice and turned towards her. "Lady vis Kridley told me you were over here. Is everything alright?" She asked in some concern.

The lady with her had a somewhat stern face. She must have been Lord Kridley's wife. I wonder if the coachman I had seen earlier had somehow sent her a message.

I opened my mouth to tell her about what happened but then I heard a whisper not to tell.

"... of course mother, I just went to greet Pricel. He seemed excited to see his friends."

Sam's voice wasn't new. I had first heard him back when Nayen and his father were under attack in the woods. He talked to me only in short phrases, at sporadic times. He would give a short word of advice for me to try to understand.

It did make some kind of sense to keep it a secret from my parents.

The Bairvs or uncle's men, whoever it was who was pulling the strings behind Geran wouldn't be interested in me. I had never met them and they wouldn't know anything about me other than my name.

That means it was my parents they wanted to taunt.

My father was as straight as his sword. He was not a man of shady dealings or subtle manipulations. If he knew that there were bullies after me, he would go confront them. If he knew that someone was targeting the Phranses, he would jump to their aid.

That was probably exactly what they wanted.

I needed to make my own way out of this. I didn't want father to be in a tough spot.

I saw Brendal peek out from behind mother's dress. 'Did you get in trouble?' he mouthed at me. I rolled my eyes at him in response.

Mother looked quizzically at Lady vis Kridley beside her who shrugged at her in response. Did I miss something they said between them?

"Everything is all right. Good." Mother said, almost to herself as much as me. "Your grandfather is about to speak. Come here with me."

Mother and Lady vis Kridley walked back through the now excited chatter of the gathering. It seemed everyone was going towards the palace, where grandfather was waiting in front of the railing of the dais atop the stairs. He had one hand in the air to command everyone's attention.

"Good evening counts and lord, friends and family." My grandfather said sonorously. He was a master of pomp and posing.

"Today, we all gather for the celebrations of my son-in-law's birthday." He reached his arm around the shoulders of the young man, Count Yse who was beside him. "Congratulations Verbon. This past year, I have seen much in you and your efforts in managing the County of Valeford. I am expecting much of you both as a count and a son."

"Duke, you do me a great honour." Count Yse said solemnly, Marian smiling proudly beside him.

I liked Aunt Marian and Uncle Yse. They were young, kind to me and my parents and as daughter of the duke's second wife, Marian was not interested in the succession like my other uncle.

I felt sick though as I saw Grandfather just using them to flaunt himself, celebrating himself through the Cond's birthday. Mother and father could hardly talk about anything else this past week.

"Thank you father," Lady Marian said, showing her deference and gratitude to the duke.

Her bright smile at the middle aged lady who had put a gloved hand on her shoulder didn't seem faked though. Did she not know that the duke was just taking advantage of her to show he was the real one in power here, presiding over all of us?

The woman behind her smiled back and exchanged a nod with the duke. She looked a lot like Marian. They could even be sisters, but I hadn't heard of father having any other siblings.

It was difficult thinking of them as family though. They all stood so far away, up on the dais over the evening gathering. They were dressed in silks and sparkling gems and lived in palaces like this one, casting shadows across the capital of Farand.

"Congratulations Lord Yse, Marian. But let us not forget that today-" another man on the dais stepped forward and puffed out his chest only to be interrupted by an older man.

"Brother," he said, addressing grandfather, "Before we move onto your own 50th year, let me present a gift to Count Yse."

I felt mother's hand on my head, absentmindedly smoothing out my hair. I looked up and saw her frowning as the man spoke.

"... present to you the mine of..."

"Aaawawah," I was startled by the sudden loud yawn of Brendal beside me.

Fortunately, he wasn't loud enough to disrupt too much of the gathering, but I completely lost track of what the stern, salt and pepper haired man was saying.

"Don't make too much noise, it's embarrassing," I poked him in the side.

"Ow. Don't poke me. Can't help yaw...."

An eruption of clapping fortunately drowned out Brendal's further whining.

"As my uncle Dastan said," the man who was interrupted said as soon as the applause died down. "you are now 50 years the duke." He was talking not to the crowd like the others, but to grandfather. He seemed almost pandering as he made a bow.

Then he waved over a nearby footman who was holding a tray of glasses. "Here, a toast! To Duke Feles!"

I looked back at my brother who looked about to yawn again.

"Just be quiet a bit longer, then I'll tell mother we want to go home and sleep. I'm don't want to be here either."

"What? Nooo! I'm staying, you can go home!" He shouted at me and mother turned around to shush the both of us.

"What are you two doing? Can't you see your uncle Stegan is speaking?"

Oh, so that sycophant who was trying to make a big deal of his congratulations for grandfather was father's younger brother. It was this man and the woman beside him who had been behind all the problems, kidnapping and assassination attempts on me.

Even though I had heard of their names many times before when my parents thought I wasn't listening, this was the first time I actually saw them.

I didn't hear the rest of mother's scolding as I burned their faces into my mind.

"To my father, Duke Feles, my sister and her husband, Count Yse, and the prosperity of the Efeles duchy!" The man raised a glass of bubbling wine into the air.

Father didn't talk much of his childhood but I couldn't understand why grandfather still had his second son marry the sister of the woman who cursed mother.

The rift between my parents and the rest of my family was only bridged when I was born. Bridged by the need to protect me from them as father relied on grandfather's mercy to hold the rest of these vultures at bay.

If that was Stegan though, then the stern man who had interrupted him before must be Viscount Dastan Feles got Soubourg, grandfather's younger brother and the other contender for inheriting the duchy.

He looked more like father than grandfather did, a handsome and diligent version of grandfather.

"Tilvrade? Are you listening?" Mother whispered at me.

It seems mother's admonition had the desired effect on Brendal, as he was just now quiet and sullen, on the other side of her dress.

"Quickly, pass around the drinks, don't keep our family and guests waiting." Stegan was telling the footmen who were still waiting around respectfully. He seemed clumsy, but perhaps that was because he tried to come across as harmless and charming instead of the ruthless conspirator he was.

Mother continued, "don't make so much noise like that again when others are speaking."

So unfair.

It was Brendal who was making noise, not me. I had just told him to shut up so why did mother scold me?

"Sorry..." I mumbled.

"Don't apologise if you don't mean it." Mother continued. Wasn't she talking over Stegan herself? How was what I did any different?

"But it was Brendal who-"

"Tilvrade..." Mother just cut me off. Why did I even try...

"I won't do it again, mother."

She turned back to look at the speakers.

I looked around for father, I thought maybe he would say a word at least for his sister and the duke, but he was standing at the bottom of the stairs staring into his glass of wine.

"Stegan, Dastan," grandfather said. "Thank you for your words and well wishes and also let us all thank our host tonight." He paused and then turned to a middle aged man I did not recognise. "Prince Grairin, the Elafoz and Duke of Ginishilla. You have been like a brother to me, providing your palace and grounds and hospitality."

"Hahaha, I need another glass, and my brother does too," The Elafoz laughed in reply. Unlike the others, he didn't seem interested in posing and speeching. "To the duke's 50th year!"

Far from displeased, grandfather seemed to relish the prince's rough words and love of alcohol.

The two old men hugged most disgustingly as my attention was distracted by a flute of wine held in front of me.

"Young master," the waiter said submissively. There was something strange about his posture and downcast eyes, but my eyes were locked on the wine.

"Ah, yes, thank you." I took the stem glass in hand. Then, as he moved on in his round, I stared at the icon painted on his cheek so intently that I didn't notice mother's hand until the wine had been plucked out of my hand.

"I think not. When you are older Tilvrade. At least he didn't give one to your brother."

Aww, that sucks. I was excited to drink alcohol, it was popular in Lucia as well, though prohibited until the age to be drafted.

Then mother gave the glass to one of the servers who drank a sip from it and handed it back to her.

"Come Tilly," mother motioned me to her side with the hand that wasn't holding the glass, "even if you don't have a glass, you should join me and Lady Kridley in a toast to your uncle Yse and aunt Marian."