"Father," Erin said with disdain, the room temperature dropping as she approached them. "Mother." Her voice struck without affection or joy.

Both Suthertons took one glance at her, watching her as if she were an oncoming disease.

"You sought for me?" She sauntered close like a predator on a hungry prowl. Her hungry glare landed on one target; an aged man with deep indented deep lines and a stern demeanor, who reciprocated her gaze of dead endearment.

"What was the mess earlier I heard about Sir Reynolds?" Lord Sutherton scowled.

"What? About the fat man quitting?" She feigned innocence, picking at her nails.

"What did you do?" His glare was severe.

"Your wife can tell you, can't she?" She glanced at her frowning mother.

"Watch how you speak in my presence." He strictly scowled.

With a pursing of her lips, she folded her arms over her chest. "My apologies, Lord Sutherton. Was my speech so truly offensive? I was merely suggesting that Lady Sutherton was present, thus she might be able to provide more firsthand details."

Scowling, he continued speaking. "We were not expecting you back for another few months," he coldly said. "As you are aware, the Magnificent One's celebration will be held at the capital, and we will be away until such. Do you understand what that means?"

She sucked in her breath, keeping her gaze distant. "I do, Lord Sutherton."

"Then you would do well to be sensible. Do you understand that? There is only so much I will allow of your foolery."

"Of course." She swiped a glance at him. "Anything else you require of me?"

"I don't want to hear about any disarray when I am at the Tricitadel, and that's final. Clear?"

"Yes." She nodded. "Thank you for the warm welcome home, Lord Sutherton." She resisted a scoff. "Your kind words move me."

Her derision only allotted a deeper glare from her father.

"May I be dismissed, if that's all?" Her head hanged low.

"We are not finished."

"When are we ever, Lord Sutherton?" she sardonically replied.

"E-Erina." Mrs. Sutherton quickly interrupted their harsh glares. "Easy with your tone, please."

She cut her eyes towards her mother. "My apologies, Lady Sutherton. I forgot you were here."

Lady Sutherton cast her eyes aside, cleared her throat, and reached for her glass on her husband’s side.

"Well?" Erin narrowed her eyes. "Since we aren't done yet, and I'm already consuming so much of your precious time, I might as well continue to overindulge myself. Have you heard anything from Sabina?"

There was a prevailing intensity in the air at the mention of the name.

Lady Sutherton gulped, speaking cautiously. "Erina, dear, why are you to bring this up? We've talked about this already."

"What have we even talked about? Last, I recall, this was still an unspeakable matter. Every and any attempt led nowhere."

"What? Whatever do you mean?" Lady Sutherton said, shocked.

"Was I not shipped off to a detention center in the middle of nowhere because of it?"

"Detention Center?" She choked the second the words fell from Erin's lips. "Please don't make it a habit to go around calling Madame Marigold's Academy For---."

"---The troubled?"

"No, that's not correct, Erina." She swallowed. "If anyone asks you about it, the proper name is Marigold's Board and Academy for The Refined."

"Surely, mother."

"At least promise to make the effort to say it properly." Lady Sutherton took another gulp of her drink. "We don't need any more rumors circulating around you. It's not a good look."

"Right, I'm sorry. We don't need to lower my marriage value---any further than it already is."

"Erina!” Her eyes went wide. “Don't make light of that."

"I'm not, I'm being economical, mother. Anyway---." She shifted her eyes away from her mother's sour stare. "Has Sabina written to you? Or at least tell me you've seen her while I was away."

“Thing have been taken care, regarding Sabina,” Lord Sutherton said.

"Took care of things? How so?"

"It was taken care of and it's being taken care of, darling. There's nothing more to say about this except try to be understanding about this matter."

Her mother’s placating tone struck a chord of annoyance with Erin.

"Understanding? I have been very understanding about this, for almost a year now," she sharpened her eyes. "First you two said Sabina was at a private reserve, where she being tended for her health. Then you said she was recovering and was too ill to speak to me. Now, I'm hearing she's well, but she's been too busy in the capital. Do you see some trend here?"

"There is no trend at all,” Lord Sutherton spat. “You need to understand that this is a difficult matter, and it is not your place to get involved."

"Forgive me, but is seeing my aunt such an impossible idea?"

"Erin, careful with your tone." Lady Sutherton shot a glance at Ezra. "We have a guest here."

"When was the last time you even spoken to Sabina?" Erin persisted, not as much as batting an eye at their guest.

"Anya." Lord Sutherton firmly said, giving his wife a hard stare. "Show her the letter."

"Letter?" Erin questioned, her scrunched nose folds meeting her narrowed eyes. "What letter?"

"Darling, while you were away, a letter came from Sabina." Lady Sutherton's frown carved deep into her face, as she hesitantly gestured for a maid to pass her a small letter satchel. With a sigh, she tugged out a folded letter from the satchel.

Erin took the letter, looking between both of her parents. "What is this?" She read with wavering eyes. "Is this penned by Prince Kaelixson-Nier?"

"Yes." Lady Sutherton sighed again. "We were hesitant to show you, but you must know, the prince had to inform us of her... breakdown."

"She was slipping again." Lord Sutherton unflinchingly added. "She was lost from her mind, sickend to her core. Kaelixson-Nier told us how she was saying strange things and having fits of mania. He had to have her set away to a private location for fear of her own safety."

"What?" Erin gripped her fists, her mouth going dry a tingle in the back of her eyes coming without warning. "Again?"

"It's gotten worse. Her illness," Lady Sutherton muttered.

"Why---." Erin choked on her words. "---Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"You were away, and we didn't want you to worry. Plus, when she only wrote your father and I, we figured she was embarrassed to tell you."

"Embarrassed?" The letter grew loose in her grip. "Embarrassed to tell me? Why would you think she's embarrassed to tell me?"

"Yes, well, you know how you two haven't exactly been on the best terms lately." Lady Sutherton fiddled with a loose hair.

"Well, that's because---." She stopped, unable to bring herself to even form the words. "How come...how come no one informed of something so important?" she mumbled, losing her words on a weary tongue.

"That's because the crown prince is taking care of it. She's his wife, after all," Lord Sutherton replied.

"Crown prince? Is that what we're calling him? Are we not including him and the other siblings and illegitimate waiting for their turn?" she barked, her nails digging into the letter.

"Erin!" Horror rammed hard into her mother's face. "You absolutely will not go around saying things like that!"

"I can't believe any of this." She quivered. "You know, if Sebastian were here, he would have the least bit of mind to have some scrutiny about this. Why didn't Sabina herself write to us herself? Isn't it suspicious that all you know is that he's 'taking care of this?'? What does that even mean? The 'grand' crown doesn't appreciate a single noble family alive, so why take their word against hers? I swear, it's like you've forgotten that Sabina is a part of our family. You speak of the Sutherton name and yet when it comes to our own, no one minds doing their worst—."

"---Enough!" Lord Sutherton cut into her words, not letting her dare get out one more syllable. "This matter has already been decided." He shot up his hand as a sign for her to cease, and almost immediately her lips bolted shut any resolve of hers fizzling out.

"Do you understand?" He stabbed her with a glare so deeply infused with disapproval, she could feel it even as she looked away.

Erin steadied herself and gripped the top of the nearest seat, trying to earn strength. Standing there across from them, her legs suddenly felt wobbly. She couldn't find the words as she glanced at them rooted in their seat, the table between them creating a natural barrier that felt like a mountain to climb.

In mechanic automatic motions, she weakly gripped the top of Ezra's chair that she stood next to.

"I...," she lowly said, a tingling feeling stinging her glaring eyes. "Fine. I understand, Lord Sutherton," she whispered, her words sinking into their reticence. With one glance at them, the sight of their ironclad grimaces and empty stares weakened her.

"I understand," she said again.

Worn out, she pressed her eyes together, pinched the core of her nose, and tried to pinch away the burning feeling in her glassy eyes. With an uneven inhale, she sucked the thick air and swiped another glance at the brick wall across from her. There was a heavy frown plastered on her face as her eyes traveled around despondently.

Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she became aware of an object in her foreground. A dark black blob of quiet, composed, and unfazed, and it was 'the creature' seated in the exact seat she was gripping the rim of. She furrowed her brows, as stared at the young man patiently sitting without a word in the seat that she had just decided she needed for her shaking legs.

So, her response that followed was only natural.

"Move." She didn't bat an eye at as she commanded Ezra to leave his seat. “I need to sit.”