†Noca's POV†
I sat restlessly on the chair, flickering my eyes around the place. My fingers fidgeted against the armrest, unable to stay still. Thor had mindlinked me to return and I did, though my mind was far from calm when he did. I couldn't risk him trying to find me. I couldn't risk him realizing that I was suspecting him… suspecting my own court… or that I was digging into the Curse of the North, the one only spoken about in whispers.
Then someone came into view and the crowd erupted into wild cheers.
She had red hair.
Lumiere of House Velric.
She held a flag. I needed no one to tell me why she returned so soon. That flag was one of those hidden away from the beast. The beast my father once kept. The same beast that had plagued his land, haunted his nights and consumed him with the ghosts and memories of Eryndor until he became something else entirely, something less than the man he once was.
"She has a flag! House Velric!"
