Thia flashed him a sweet, adorable grin. “That’s what I have you for, punkin’. Didn’t you know?”

Hauk heard Fain’s insidious laughter as his brother vanished. “Just like his arrogant father… Not enough Tondarion Fire in existence to make me take that brat across the street, never mind do an Endurance with him. Good luck not choking the little bastard, Dancer.”

Hauk actually whimpered as he heard his brother’s mumbled words. Thanks a lot, Fain. If his brother really loved him, he’d do this for him.

“Are you listening to me, Dancer?” Darice tugged at Hauk’s sleeve. “Why is she going with us?”

He pulled his arm out of Darice’s grip. “Because she’s Andarion.”

Again with the eye rolling that, since puberty, had become Darice’s automatic response to most stimuli and any words uttered by an adult. But the eye rolling stopped as a group of men brought in a large covered crate and took it on board.

“What is that?” Darice gestured toward the men. “Her wardrobe?” He put his fists up to his temples and growled fiercely. “This is a disaster. I want to go home. Now, Dancer! I don’t want to be here. With her or with you!”

Hauk knew the feeling intimately. “Get on board, Darice.”

“But —”

“Now, boy!” It was his turn to fang his nephew.

Screwing his face up, Darice appeared to have the same degree of intestinal woe that currently plagued Hauk. “You’re not my father,” he mumbled between clenched teeth as he snatched his pack up from the ground. “You’ll never be my father.”

Thia moved to rub him gently on the back. “It’ll be all right, Uncle Hauk.”

No, it wouldn’t. His family, and in particular Darice and Dariana, would never forgive him for what had happened to Keris. But it wasn’t Thia’s fault they were assholes.

Smiling, he cupped Thia’s gentle face and started to thank her, but before he could say a word, two excited voices rang out.

“Thia! Thia! Thia! Thia! Thia!” The last one was punctuated with a screech so high, he was amazed his ears weren’t bleeding.

He barely had time to step away from her before Adron and Jayce all but tackled their older sister to the ground. To her credit, Thia stayed upright and hugged them against each side while laughing at their enthusiasm. At six and eight, the blond boys had blue eyes and were almost identical in looks. The only way to really tell them apart was the difference in height. Adron, being older, had a good three inches on his brother.

For now. Hauk remembered well when his older brothers and Nykyrian had towered over him, too, and that definitely wasn’t the case these days. He was a good three inches taller than Nyk, and had Keris lived, he’d have barely reached Hauk’s shoulders.

The boys were talking so fast and furiously that Hauk got a headache trying to figure out what they were saying. With the patience of a saint, Thia nodded and listened attentively.