Elena's birthday was half forgotten and without a cake, but the girl was still mostly optimistic and determined to make the most of her life. Maybe she would even become a knight like Tristan had always wanted. Maybe then he would stop abusing her.
Damien supported his daughter in this new ambition of hers, while Tristan just couldn't believe she was serious. She was a girl and she may have been everyone's golden-haired princess, but that didn't make her a knight.

She didn't let herself be discouraged, though. If anything, her brother's lack of faith made her even more determined to prove him wrong, for everything he had put her through.
And even if she didn't become a knight at the end, the stronger and the better fighter she became, the less able Tristan would be to bully her. That was something in itself.

But there were also times when whacking her brother's stupid training dummy with a wooden sword was just to keep her busy and help her clear her mind. She was still grieving for her mother and the fact that she felt like the only one was only making it worse. She felt lonely and didn't really know how to approach her own family.

She wanted love, but had no idea where to find it. She grew up surrounded by parties and easy affection, but without her father's or brother's confidence and charm, she had always felt on the edge of all his father's gatherings. She had watched Adrian and Delia fall in love, but didn't really understand how exactly it happened.
As weeks passed, she grew so desperate, she was willing to turn to magic to get it.

She had often walked past the gypsy's stall with its promises of granted wishes and true love, often interested and tempted, but only now she dared to really approach the mysterious-looking gypsy. She was obviously old, but her face was unlined and her eyes seemed to look directly into the soul.
"I need..." Elena started nervously, handing her all the money she had managed to save up or take from home, but the gypsy stopped her before she could really finish her sentence.
"I know what you want." She said. "Someone to spend time with, someone who would understand you. Look deep into my crystal ball and I will show you one such person."
Elena looked and the crystal ball started to glow, first just a little and then brighter and brighter. She thought she glimpsed a figure behind the glow, but it might have been just her eyes.

And then the crystal ball stopped glowing and the smiling gypsy motioned behind her. And there stood a boy with red hair and a lovely smile.
Elena just stared at him, but luckily the boy reacted faster than she did. "So, you're my one true love?" He asked, his eyes sparkling.
"I... don't know. Maybe? The gypsy says so?" But it just took one more look into the boy's eyes and Elena was already giggling. They spent the whole day in the marketplace, talking about everything they could think of, and laughing a lot.

Hours flew by faster than Elena ever remembered and than it was evening and she would have to go home. She almost didn't want to leave him, afraid that the magic would only last that one day.
But if it was just for a day, she wanted to remember that day for a long time. She wanted to kiss Orin goodbye like she had watched countless times at home, be it her parents, her brother or Adrian and Delia, but in the end her nervousness returned and she just touched his lips quickly. It still felt good, though, and it still was a memory to hold on to, together with Orin's warm smile as she turned to run home.

Tristan never used to care about lord Adrian's romances any more than he cared about his lawful wife. They were not part of his life and that made them unimportant, at least when he was still the most important person in Adrian's life. Tristan never cared when Adrian and Delia found each other, maybe even encouraged them to have fun, but he had never expected Delia to threaten his own position.
But now the two had actually married, Delia was carrying herself like it made her nobility and Adrian seemed only more taken with her, completely ignoring him. It was driving him mad. And what was worse, the two never seemed to realise this and continued flaunting their affection right before him.

One day he was too sick of it to watch silently any more and finally confronted Delia.
"So, you think you're better than me now?" He snapped at her.
She flinched, looking confused, but Tristan was sure there was guilt behind it too. As there should be.
"You with your pretty dress and big house, pretending when you're better than me when you're not." Tristan continued, watching the hurt build up in her face.
"But... I'm not... I don't think... What did I do?"
He wanted to scream at her that she stole his father from him, but even in his anger and desire to hurt he could see how stupid it sounded. He just hated feeling less important than her.
"You're disgusting." He said in the end and turned his back on her.

Delia didn't understand what she had done to insult her cousin, but she did her best to put it out of her mind. Tristan made it clear he wouldn't accept any apologies and, hurt as she was, Delia hoped he would get over his strange animosity in time.
Everything else seemed just perfect, though. Alysanne seemed happier than Delia had ever seen her, finally proud of her daughter, and it seemed all the past troubles were finally forgotten. Delia had almost given up on making her mother happy and she couldn't get enough of her approval.

And Adrian was overjoyed with his sons' achievements. Lucien had learned to walk and Edric was growing tall like his father and bringing only praise from school. Adrian had great expectations of both of them and was already making plans for their future lives.
Delia thought she couldn't possibly be happier.

Tristan, meanwhile, was searching for something to make him feel better. He mostly wanted a way to get Adrian's attention again and prove his own worth to everyone, but even a distraction would do, as long as it was something to do.
He was fascinated by Finn from the moment he met him. Finn was basically an outcast, hardly even went to the stupid school, and didn't seem to care about what people thought about him. It was almost like he was proud of his reputation and everything the society saw as failures.
Tristan listened when his new friend told him about Delia and her hypocrisy and about ways how to feel like a king of the night and get back at everyone who may have wronged him.

The only disappointment was when Tristan asked his new friend to really teach him and Finn refused, saying real crime was not for rebellious children. He even suggested he wasn't any different from Delia all those years ago, which was just unfair. Tristan had almost knight training, he would never be caught like an idiot child.
But when he was considering other possible partners in crime, Tristan noticed there was something different about Devin. His normally dull and boring cousin now seemed dark and mysterious, with an almost threatening aura around him. He was also pale and seemed lost in thought, but what was important, he finally seemed interesting and maybe even capable.
When Tristan suggested robbing the village wine seller, Devin hesitated, but in some ways at least he was still the old pushover and it didn't take much to make him go along with the plan.

Tristan didn't really know what exactly he wanted to achieve, except getting drunk. He probably just wanted to feel in control of his own life. One thing he definitely did not want or expect was to be caught by the angry merchant and threatened with various punishments, from spanking to the stocks. Devin somehow managed to disappear, almost as if he blended into shadows or flew away and Tristan realised he was completely alone.
At first he laughed at all the threats, convinced that being a noble's son made him untouchable. He even dared the merchant to call a guard if he wanted to, that most of them were friends of lord Adrian's anyway. But then the guard actually came and took the side of the merchant.
Tristan just didn't understand it. He knew Arthur, had often seen him drink with Adrian at hunting parties or even at home, but now it was as if it didn't matter at all. He tried to explain he wasn't stealing, not really, and didn't manage to take anything, anyway, but Arthur wouldn't hear any of it. Tristan couldn't even recognise the normally friendly and easygoing man in the strict guard that stood before him.
As a last defence he stuck to just hiding behind lord Adrian's name. He claimed Adrian would not be happy if his son, oldest living one in fact, was arrested or humiliated with such conviction he finally made Arthur slow down in his talk of punishment.
"I'll talk with him, then." He finally said, his voice still cold and unfriendly. "But he will not be happy to hear his son is a common thief, either."
Tristan wanted to wave this aside and say he knew his own father well enough to not be afraid, but Artur continued:
"And there is no way a common thief who is not even brave enough to accept his fault and punishment will become a knight, no matter who his father is. I will make sure of that."
And that was the end of all discussion. Tristan tried to protest, but it was like Arthur had made a decision and wasn't even listening to him any more. As he was led back home, his shock was slowly replaced with fear that was hard to completely shake off.

Damien lectured him about stealing and even threatened to take off his belt, but Tristan knew him too well to be worried by this show of strictness. He told himself he was safe, but Arthur's words were still at the back of his mind and as time passed they were getting harder and harder to ignore.
Tristan expected lord Adrian to come to his defense, to put the stupid merchant back in his place or at least come and assure him the knight training would still be open to him. But days turned into weeks and then months, both the wine merchant and the guard continued to frown at Tristan and there was no help from Adrian at all.
Slowly it dawned on him that maybe Arthur had meant what he had said and the road to becoming a knight might actually be closed and that thought immediately made him wish he had taken the spanking instead, or any other punishment. At least that humiliation would be less public.
And what would he do if his whole life and future was really ruined?

And then he saw Edric again and everything clicked into place. His father had a new family now, new sons who thought they were better than him. Tere was no doubt it was they who had poisoned Adrian's mind and turned him against Tristan. It all made so much sense it was a relief.
He watched Edric become increasingly hostile every time they saw each other and understood perfectly what it meant. The more success he had in stealing his father from him, the less he had to pretend.

He watched the boy walk through the village as if he owned everything until one day he couldn't take it any more. He didn't even know what exactly it was that made him snap, just that suddenly he was walking up to Edric and slapping him hard across the face.

Edric stared for a moment, touching his burning cheek in complete disbelief. But then his face grew hard and his hands clenched into fists.
"How dare you? You insult me, insult my mother... how dare you?" He growled, almost shaking with anger. Tristan drew back in surprise and then Edric slapped him back. "This is too much. I'll ask father to deal with you." He finished.
Tristan wanted to snap back at him, but he found himself unable to speak. As much as he wanted to believe the boy was stupid, worthless and jealous, just the thought of Adrian rejecting him was too much to bear, even if there wasn't Arthur's threat still lurking at the back of his mind.
He just knew he needed to somehow get back at Edric.

Adrian was slowly starting to feel at home with Delia and his children, without even knowing what caused this change or even what exactly the change was about.
He loved the girl and wanted to support and protect her, but he had known that for a long time. He had a second son now, but why would that be any different than the first?

He supposed it could be something about the house itself, how it always smelled of flowers and felt full of love. Delia clearly adored her children and was happy to have them, no matter anything else, and her parents might have made mistakes in their lives, but they were not afraid to show their love for their family and for each other.
It might have been much smaller and poorer than the mansion, but to Adrian Delia's house felt warm and bright, full of life and joy.

He even felt more welcome there. At the mansion Lady Leandra was still grieving, wrapped up in her sorrow so tight she almost didn't need black gowns. She never made two steps without her daughter, but it was as if everyone else was a ghost or less than a ghost to Leandra.
When Edric showed off his school results, Adrian felt more relevant and wanted than he had in a long time. He felt like a father and the feeling was somehow stronger with Edric and Lucien than it had ever been with Desmond. Or even Tristan, if Anna's boy was really his rather than Damien's.

Or maybe the real reason was simply age.
Adrian would never admit to feeling old, despite his now grey hair, but it was getting harder and harder to ignore the fact that he wouldn't live forever. Anna had been so full of life and joy and if she could die so suddenly... and she did have a family of her own. What exactly did Adrian have, what legacy would he leave if not his two sons? It was this thought that was bothering him the most.
And it was this thought, the need to have something and someone warm every day for the rest of his life, the desire to have a legacy, that made him propose to Delia.

The girl reached for the ring slowly, almost as if she were afraid it would be snatched out of her reach again.
"Are you... are you sure?" She asked, her voice choked with emotion. Adrian's couldn't really tell which one.
"Yes." He said firmly. "I love you, remember? I promised to take care of you and the boys and I want to do it properly."
She hesitated for another moment, her eyes darting between him and the ring. And then her face brightened with pure as she finally allowed herself to believe it was really happening. She threw herself around his neck, too happy to even speak.

The following days and weeks were even happier that those before. A new home for their family was being built, Delia was still beside herself with joy and even Alysanne seemed more open to Adrian than ever before. She smiled when he played with little Lucien and it was as if she was finally accepting him fully.

But as the days passed, Adrian became more and more reluctant to do anything that would change this life, this happiness and warmth. Yes, he wanted to marry Delia and claim his sons, but... as the new mansion was nearing its completion Adrian was growing worried what life there would really be like. Delia and especially Edric was looking forward to their new lives as nobility, but Adrian didn't want to bring them to another cold house and watch them wither like Leandra and all the Lorimers he had known.
He just didn't want to risk their happiness, but by his inaction he broke something anyway.
Lucien was growing fast, but soon Adrian couldn't even enjoy the progress his baby son was making without noticing Alysanne's disapproving looks. She never came out and said anything and Delia probably never noticed, but once he had known something else, her distance was all too clear to Adrian. By the time Lucien's birthday came along, she was glaring at him from across the room and Adrian was unable to meet her gaze.

Adrian finally had put his feelings of uncertainty away, telling himself there was no way the new house would become the new Lorimer manor. And when he was standing in the church with Delia and looking into her face, all shining with pure joy, he felt almost sure.
Not everyone was as happy, though. Tristan would laugh out loud if he wasn't so disgusted with the whole thing. Here he was, being pushed aside for some other children, as if they were any more important. It was just so unfair. He was Adrian's oldest surviving son, if anyone should be moving into a whole new mansion, it should be him.
"This is such a joke." He murmured to his foster father. He wanted to continue and say there was nothing better about Delia than about his own family and she had no right to become a lady when he himself wasn't seen as nobility, but them he caught a glimpse of Alysanne glaring at him. He scowled at her right back, but stayed quiet, determined to give them all a piece of his mind later.

Tristan didn't even know Delia was to become not only a lady of a beautiful new manor, but in part of the whole valley as well. The land had theoretically belonged to the Lorimers, but was too untamed and too close to the border to be worth their efforts to cultivate it. Until now, when it was given to Adrian to keep for them, half as a wedding gift and half as a means to keep him and his children away and help ensure Nadine would be safe in her own inheritance.
Immediately after the wedding Adrian moved Delia and the boys to the new manor and started setting up his new family and life in there. The sun was shining and their future looked as bright as it possibly could.

Delia was ecstatic, not only from having a proper family and a beautiful home, but also from her new position. Nobody could dare insult her or her sons now and after all the years of listening to her mother's worries and lectures, the sense of freedom was overwhelming. Even just going to the marketplace in her pretty new dress was a great feeling.
Until one day she saw Marcus and everything she had thought she had forgotten came rushing back. All her anger, the humiliation of being forced to beg him, of even considering marrying him. Especially as she saw him watching another girl with the same expression he used to have when he watched her back then.

Delia raised her head high and strolled to the market stall near Marcus, waiting for him to notice her and her new dress and status. She didn't really know what reaction she wanted, but she wanted him to react somehow.
"That's not fine enough. Do you have any better fabric? Anything more expensive?" She asked the stall keeper, her voice higher and more shrill than usual, her eyes fixed on Marcus.
The young woman replied something, but Delia didn't even hear what. She watched as Marcus turned and his face hardened in obvious disdain. She took a step towards him, raising her chin even higher and meeting his scorn with her own.

Marcus didn't even flinch from her stare. There was no shock, no regret, no hint of apology. Delia could already feel her fists clenching when Marcus returned her hard glare and when he turned away from her and walked away something snapped in her. She would not be ignored in this way, not any more, never again.
"What are you looking at? Is there something you want to tell me? Are you ready to greet me politely as a lady, or do you still want to insult my reputation?" She snapped at him.
Marcus turned with a startled expression on his face and Delia smirked. She had marched up to him while his back was turned, but was there also just a slightest hint of fear of her new social standing?

"Well? Are you going to say anything?" She didn't even realise she was channelling the few times she had seen lady Ellara speak with anyone beneath her.
Marcus just stared at her in shock. For a while he looked like he was going to snap something back at her and part of Delia wanted him to. Just let him dig himself deeper and then reap the consequences.
"You think you are a lady, but..." Marcus started to say, his voice less sure than he would like it to be.
Delia no longer wanted to hear what he had to say. There was no point in it... and her new confidence was too fragile yet. She raised her hand and slapped Marcus across the face to shut him up, and then again just for the satisfaction it gave her.

"You... can't..." Marcus stammered, eyes wide in disbelief. "I'll..."
"You'll do what? Complain to Lord Adrian? Or Lady Leandra, do you really think she would care about you?" She asked viciously. Only after the words were out of her mouth did she realise what she was saying and what it could mean for her if she were wrong. She hid her sudden fear with a frown.
Whatever her own feelings were, Marcus believed her, at least at that moment. He looked like he wanted to cry and just watching his face gave Delia great satisfaction.

With his sister safely married, Devin felt he could finally stop worrying about her and live his own life.
The more time he spent with Katharyn the more he thought he understood Delia on some level. He felt he had met his kindred soul and every time they were together life was brighter and much easier. And what made him even happier was that Katharyn shared his feelings. She had a huge and loving heart and she may have been shy at the beginning, but once reassured, she showed her devotion with surprising enthusiasm.

At nights, Devin spent more and more time studying the stars. His life felt full of light and beautiful just like the night sky and it was when watching the stars that Devin could the best imagine all his dreams as well as things he would normally not dare even dream of. At those moments, he could believe his life to be wide, almost limitless, rather than constrained by his place in society and the expectations on him.

He was dreaming of wide horizons and unexpected opportunities and something unexpected was indeed to happen to him.
At first it seemed like an especially bright star, one Devin had never seen before, and so beautiful it was almost mesmerising. He stared at it in awe and didn't even notice it was growing larger and much brighter, until it was almost blinding.
It was beautiful and all Devin wanted to do was look at it. It was drawing him in...
And then everything went black.

He woke up on the ground, with a splitting headache and only faint recollections of what had happened. He touched his head carefully, but before he could try make some sense of everything, a voice broke the silence.
"Devin! Thank the Watcher you're all right! Are you all right? Where have you been, what happened to you?" Alysanne's voice was shrill fear.

Devin started to get up, looking around him. He could remember the light, trying to find what star it was, but he was far from his star-chart...
"Devin?" His mother was kneeling by him now and feeling his hands. Only now he realised how cold he felt. "You're like ice. What happened to you? I have never seen such fog before, is it..."
"I'm fine." Devin said, maybe harsher than he wanted to. He needed time to piece it all together and he couldn't do that with his mother demanding explanations. "I... think I just fell asleep. I'm fine."
Alysanne didn't look convinced, but she finally agreed to go back inside, to cook him something warm to eat. Devin stayed for a while, looking around the strange blue fog, a faint echo of laughing voices ringing in his ears. A memory, maybe? All he knew was, that something was... maybe not exactly wrong, but certainly different about him.