Monika looked at the young Ulrich through eyes still wet with tears. For a moment, even her crying seemed to stop as she took in the boy standing in the corridor.
He was unlike the other boys she had known.
His dark crimson hair and eyes would have made him noticeable anywhere, but it was more than his appearance. He looked at Aronn and his friends as though he expected an explanation and had already decided none would satisfy him.
Monika had heard of the Rubenharts all her life. Seeing one of them so close was different.
Their House was among the founding Houses of Skargardia, with roots reaching back a thousand years. Her father had held land beneath the Count's authority, and now her uncle was preparing to do the same. To Monika, Rubenhart had always meant the power above her family, the name mentioned whenever her father discussed obligations he could not neglect.
Ulrich was heir to all of it.
