While the other clans left, Ailbert and Ubel trailed behind with Aadya, me, and Nathaniel.

       "I will find a way to repay you for this," Ailbert told me, eyes softening as we officially met for the first time. He had been too afraid to accept me into his clan, worried that I would destroy the credibility of his name, but it seemed it was bound to happen either way. And now he was remorseful because we were both screwed; the Gladstone clan unknowingly playing a part in the setting of my trap.

       "There is no need to repay them," Ubel disapproved. "Every clan does their share, and this is the Burkhard's role."

      Why hadn't this miserable man left yet?

      "You're right." Ailbert corrected his posture as Ubel joined our circle. "But I am grateful nonetheless and will do everything I can to help from home. I can show you Savannah's room."

       Maybe there was hope that the war would bring Ubel's downfall. While he wouldn't show it, Ailbert was almost ready to defy him. Behind the guilt and fear painting his thoughts, was a spark of courage igniting.

       "That would be great," Aadya spoke before Ubel could. "We can meet at the Gladstone's home and send Nathaniel and Ava on their way as soon as possible."

       "If their journey is to start at the Gladstone's," Ubel started. "Your presence is no longer required. I will see to their departure once they finish investigating the home."

      "As you please," Aadya bit. "They will meet you there in twenty minutes." Without further ado, she took Nathaniel and I by one shoulder each and stirred us towards the truck.

      We were silent as we followed her, only speaking when Ailbert and Ubel got into their respective cars and left.

       "Don't waste time dropping me off," she told Nathaniel and handed him the keys to the truck. "I'll call Fera and ask that she come back."

     Nathaniel took the keys begrudgingly, lips pressed firmly together. Yikes. If I thought he looked angry in the meeting, it was nothing compared to the fury boiling from his pores now.

      "You want to let some of that anger out before you see Ubel, again?" Aadya suggested.

       Aadya wasn't afraid of ticking his fuse, but I took I step backwards.

       "They're going to find a way to frame her, and I'll be left alone!" Nathaniel growled.

      "She probably is being set up," Aadya admitted. "But there's not much we can do about it. We stay alert and try to beat them at their own game."

       "You could have prevented this," he accused. "You know this is how he works. He doesn't give people chances; he only pretends too. You knew something like this would happen and you still decided to put our clan at risk."

        "Be mad all you want, Nathaniel. We could have this discussion a hundred times over, but it's been done," Aadya sighed. "I cannot go back in time, and even if I could my decision would remain the same."

       She smiled softly at me then. I appreciated her so much for her choice, but I wish she hadn't involved me in their argument. I needn't another reason for Nathaniel to dislike me. I was finally getting on his good side.

      Nathaniel followed her attention my way and I expected to be met with narrowed eyes of fury, but instead his gaze softened.

      Aadya took advantage of his dissipating anger to mark her leave. She dropped a kiss on his forehead and stepped away from the truck.

     "Be safe," she told us. "I'll be doing everything on my end to get to the bottom of what's going on."

     I watched her in the car's side mirror, as we started driving. She pulled out her phone, to call Fera I assumed, and waved at us before we veered onto the street.

      "How long has it just been you and Aadya?" I asked. She wasn't just his aunt; she was a mother figure to Nathaniel, no matter their proximity in age. I didn't know what happened to his mother, but it was clear that Aadya had raised Nathaniel.

      "Pretty much my entire life," he said. "I was only a few weeks old when the war started, and she was eleven, just missing the 12-year-old mark. We were the only Burkhard's that couldn't fight in the war."

       "And they let an eleven-year-old take care of a newborn after the war?" I figured they would have deemed her incapable and happily demolish another clan, by assigning them to new clans.

       "Ubel tried to fight it," he said. "They had never had such a young clan leader and he tried to vouch that a child couldn't protect the Burkhard stone, but by the time the war ended, she had turned 12. They gave her the option to opt out, to have us both join another clan, but she refused. She legally had the right take become leader... I don't know how she did it – raising me while maintaining the Burkhard duties."

       I hadn't thought that I could respect Aadya anymore, but she continued to amaze me. "I really am sorry that she's risking her life for me," I said. After everything she had been through, she deserved a break.

       He shook his head. "It's not your fault... As much as I hate to admit it, I probably would have done the same thing in her shoes."

       "Aww." I cooed teasingly. "I'm growing on you."

      Nathaniel grunted but I knew there was no merit in it.