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Of course I happened to fall into Liorah. It seemed the forces of the universe wanted to have a good old laugh. Insulted, she also decided the best course of action was to aim a kick at me. That very move sent my blood boiling, but I just stared at het coldly and said, “Gosh aren’t you very mature now?”

She just glared at me and tossed her head. What was it with women and their hair tossing? Did they believe it made them more attractive?

Her friend Ferran shot me a look that seemed to be on the sympathetic side. It seemed he was frustrated by this human girl’s constant tantrum.

After having another shouting spree with the castle, she turned back towards me. “Did you have to ram into me? Could you just watch where you were falling?”

This – girl! The audacity-

“Liorah, stop it, you’re being unreasonable.” Ferran looked annoyed. To his credit, he didn’t back down when Liorah shot him a glare.

I folded my arms calmly. “Oh sure. Why didn’t I think of that before? Let me put on my special see-in-the-dark glasses. Oh wait. I don’t have any.”

She just scoffed at me.

I sighed. “There is no need to constantly vilify me. It’s not like I am out to thwart your attempts to escape. Of course, if I was the tortoise, you would have smothered him with hugs and promises to buy him sweeties. Or am I wrong?“

She made a huffing sound but didn’t answer.

I made a mental note to never get married. No way was I going to spend the rest of my life with a woman who would turn out to be insufferable like this one.

I turned to Ferran and moved towards him. “I may not be human like you boy. But I know what its like to live on the outside. To be treated like a lower class citizen. My biological family only acknowledge me because I trained and fought my way to become a great warrior for my people.”

I pulled my sleeve up on my left arm, watching Ferran’s expression. “You see the tattoo? It’s the mark of an illegitimate child. My people brand us newborns according to our worth. So no matter how much power and respect I possess, this tattoo will always be a reminder of why I will never truly be accepted.”

The boy stared at the small twirling twisted Celtic design encircling my wrist.

I wasn’t looking to make a friend or to pour my heart out to anyone. But I knew that if I wanted to make allies, Ferran was probably my best bet.