For years after that, Aldric treated me well.
The Ferro bloodline breeds cold. He was the one who taught me how to cry and how to laugh.
Under his guidance, I slowly learned to live in the world beyond the Old Country.
So when he told me he wanted to take me to the Commission's stronghold, that he would look after me for the rest of my life, I agreed without a second thought.
Years as husband and wife. Every one of them devoted. Every one of them tender.
Until Aldric met a civilian woman, and everything veered off course.
That woman was Elara, the one he now called his wife.
Elara was flesh and bone, a nobody from outside the families. She could not set foot in the Commission's inner world. The only way was to replace the nothing inside her with real power, with the leverage and legacy of a true dynasty.
Aldric searched every corner of the organization and found no justification to take what he needed from anyone else.
So he turned his attention to me.