“It is so good to see you again, sister.” Alastar spoke with a gentleness that Wulfram hadn’t expected in the large king. He seemed to sense that Dani was, to say the least, uncomfortable, and was doing his best to appear non-threatening.

  Wulfram looked at Dani, trying to judge whether it was working to soothe her fears. He would have been able to tell easily not even an hour ago, but without the bracelet, he would have to do things the hard way. She still looked tense, her brow furrowed, and she was biting her lower lip. Not overjoyed, but not surprised either.

  “So, I’m your sister.” She said blandly, twisting her fingers together. “What are you gonna do then? What do you want?”

  Still suspicious. Wulfram couldn’t blame her, it had taken years for anyone to come find her, and she hadn’t exactly lived an easy life in the meantime. “I’m curious myself, what do you plan to do now that you’ve found her?” He said, looking at Alastar.

  The big man stood up, putting his hands on his hips. “Well, ideally I’d take you home. But there are certain problems with that option.”

  “Like what?” Dani asked.

  “Years ago our mother and Queen Mirabel arranged a marriage between you and Prince Wulfram for one. The contract still stands, father never bothered nullifying it, and if that’s what you want, I won’t nullify it either. Also, you’re an adult, with a life here.” Alastar frowned in thought, stroking his chin. “Although from what little I have heard you have a tendency to attract trouble. And if word gets out that you are a Hesiodos princess, that will only draw more trouble to you. We still don’t know who attacked the caravan, or who attacked us on the way here. I am unwilling to leave you unprotected, or living in some slum.”

  “I’m not willing to leave you unprotected either.” Wulfram said. “The last time I did that you were attacked, and Alastar is right, it will only get worse once word gets out of who you really are.”

  Dani’s face grew cloudy, and she crossed her arms. “I got protection, I’ve got friends watching over me. Family even.” Her eyes darted to Alastar, and she blushed faintly. “Real family, not some guy that showed up years after I disappeared.”

  Alastar winced, and held out a hand to her. “Daniella... Dani, I’m sorry it took so long to come after you, but we are family. Real family, by blood. If you would permit it, I would like to meet your friends, and the ones you now call family. I would thank them, honor them for what they have done for you, for me, and for our kingdom.”

  “What did they do for you or your kingdom?” Dani’s frown grew deeper, and Wulfram squashed the urge to tell her what his mother always had told him when he was in a foul temper as a child. He doubted her face would freeze that way anyways, she didn’t scowl nearly enough.

  Alastar looked at her in surprise, his eyebrows raising. Then he smiled, his voice soft as he spoke. “They took care of you.”

  Dani’s frown disappeared, and she blushed, looking away from Alastar. “Oh. Well, I guess I can introduce you to some of them. They aren’t noble types though.”

  Wulfram raised a hand to hide a smile as he thought of Reshi, and little Azra. No, they weren’t your normal type of noble, but they had their own charms.

  “Maybe not yet.” Alastar grinned. “But they raised a princess, I would say that warrants a noble title.”

  “Oh gods.” Dani put a hand to her face, and Wulfram let out a laugh.

  “How about we have a small, intimate gathering tonight? Very informal, just our immediate families and close friends. You can tell Reshi that there will be whiskey if it will convince him.” Wulfram said, resting a hand lightly on Dani’s back. “And for tonight, we’ll leave the politics aside. No talk of marriage, I promise.”

  Dani gave him a suspicious look, eyes narrowing slightly. “Right.”

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  Alastar studied the pair of them, and Wulfram could practically see his mind working. But he only nodded. “No talk of marriage.” He agreed. “Not at the dinner, may I meet your family before that?”

  “We do have some time before the meeting about the Tangle, if you wanted to introduce them.” Wulfram was reluctant to leave her alone with Alastar, even though he didn’t believe he meant her harm. Even if he did, surely she was safe in the palace.

  “How many meetings do I have today that no one told me about?” Dani groaned, her shoulders slumping slightly. “You did talk about that one this morning, but you keep adding things!”

  “Just that last one, and the dinner. But dinner is less a meeting and more of a casual gathering.” Wulfram kissed the top of Dani’s head, earning a startled look. He suppressed a smirk, looking away. Well, she didn’t hit him, that was an improvement. But he couldn’t quite tell how she felt about it either. “I’ll show you and Alastar back to your rooms, and come back to take you to the meeting this afternoon.”

  Dani stared at him, her eyes narrowing once again. Suspicious then, well he couldn’t blame her. It had to look bad, acting like that towards her after being gone so long, and finding out for certain that she was the lost princess.

  Was his judgement still compromised? Perhaps some time away from her, without the influence of the bracelet, would do him good. He had his own duties to attend to anyways.

  “Alright.” Dani said. “Although I reckon I could find my own way back.”

  “Of course you could.” Wulfram said patiently, smiling as he started back down the open air corridor. “But this time you don’t have to. You should ask someone to give you a tour of the palace and it’s grounds at some point. There are other gardens, training yards, a library, all sorts of things of interest. I imagine your friend Therija would enjoy seeing the kitchens.” Not that he actually knew where those were, but he would find out. It couldn’t be that hard.

  Dani and Alastar fell into step behind him, Alastar waving off his people. “I will be fine, we’re among friends.”

  Wulfram glanced back, not missing the doubt on a couple of Alastar’s peoples faces. He couldn’t blame them, Hesiodos and Cresenvasht hadn’t been on good terms for some time. But it was a good sign that Alastar felt comfortable walking without his guard in their palace. Wulfram wasn’t sure that he would have the same faith if their rolls were reversed.

  The trio walked in silence for a time, Wulfram doing his best to ignore the awkwardness behind him. Even without the bracelet he could feel it, making his stomach squirm with discomfort. He could only imagine how Dani and Alastar must feel, reunited after so long. Did Dani even remember Alastar?

  “So... you’re the king, I guess that means your father- our uhm, birth father, is dead?” Dani was the first to break the silence, her voice holding an undercurrent of uncertainty, even though she was trying to sound like she didn’t care.

  “He is.” Alastar said solemnly. “Just last season.”

  “Oh.” Dani said softly.

  The silence stretched on again, and Wulfram had to fight the urge to look over his shoulder at the pair. This was something they would have to work through themselves, his interference would only make it harder on them both.

  “Why didn’t he look for me?” Dani’s voice was still soft, and Wulfram could tell she was trying to sound casual, but she couldn’t hide the hint of sadness in her tone.

  “He believed you dead. They all did.” Alastar said.

  “But not you?”

  “No, not me. I always believed you were out there, somewhere.” Alastar chuckled, the sound almost a growl. “It took a great deal of work to convince anyone to help me find you though. Even if you were to go back to Hesiodos, there are those that may see you as more of Cresenvasht than Hesiodos.”

  Wulfram paused outside Dani’s door, bowing slightly to the pair of them. He had been eavesdropping for too long, the siblings deserved some privacy. At least as much as any noble had privacy. He caught a glimpse of one of Alastar’s people around the corner, strolling casually by. The corner of his mouth twitched upwards slightly as he straightened. “I’ll have some food and wine sent along for you shortly.”

  “Thanks.” Dani said, watching him warily for a moment, before heading into the room past him. “See you in a bit I guess.”

  Alastar smiled, looking at Wulfram with a raised eyebrow. But Wulfram just shrugged. Things were bound to be awkward for a little while, but they would settle down, and then they could talk about more pleasant things. Maybe he could actually get to know her a little bit better.

  With that thought on his mind, Wulfram’s feet carried him past his room, towards the practice yards. His head was clear for the first time in weeks, the influence of the bracelet removed. But he still wanted to be near her, why? Logically, he barely knew her. But there was that fiery spirit of hers, brave and, to be fair, troublesome.

  That was a good word for her, trouble.

  Wulfram stepped out into the fresh air of the practice yards, scanning over the men and boys gathered in the plain dirt yard. There were three practice rings for sparring, but when those filled, the younger boys would often stage mock battles in the larger yard. It was always amusing to see who would play dead the most convincingly, or who put on the best show for a fake death. Wulfram smiled, skirting along the side of the practice yard, unbuttoning his vest as he went. He needed a good fight to further clear his head, and get his mind off a certain troublesome thief.