of purple feathers, turquoise beak, and yellow eyes. She only missed because Greg lifted her and turned her away right on time, so the bread was hurled neatly in front of the

ead was gone, some of which injured two ducklings and most of which scattered around the flock, Enora pulled out a

gonfly disappeared into a gray frog’s mouth. Enora flung the leaf in her hand at the frog who ate her newfound li

ed on the crown of her head. “Hey,

m-

… hate I

s for a second befor

brother an

ay

r to face him. “You know w

swung sid

me the truth no matter what. Th

erted his gaze, murmuring,

s are always cold. Her smwile is like those bad guys on tv. Weida says her laugh is skeawy. Ken says Aunty Iza makes him

a lot of information. “Wer

“I’m skeawd when my

scared, too. “Thank you, swe

m skeawd that… if I don’t like Aunty Iza, I don’t get to feed duckies with you anymore. And I don’t get my special

enduring a sharp twist from Enora’s words. “Sweetheart, that would never happen. Why would you think that? Did Mommy or Daddy tell you tha

she said, “Mommy and Daddy say

” Oh, so it was

nd Daddy said you had work. But you never work for two weeks, Uncle Gweg.” Technically, he worked everyday, but he refrained from cor

im. This was

rking. I was helping your Aunt Pelly set up a security system in her empire. But you’re right. I should hav

ing eyes cleared as s

our aunt. She’s never going to be your aunt, alright? She’s gone.” He kept hi

nodded like it wasn’t news. “Mommy said she left to pay for something. Weida a

ay for something - her sins, her betrayal, for breaking his trust and hi

d. “And let’s not say Izabella’

nfusion. “You mean… give he

secret code. One that onl

brows creased as she pondered hard. Her fingers on the grass

rted and a toothy grin lit up her f

he media described her as a rare beauty with an enviable body and a charismatic smile, which G

ched his niece’s smi

ay

#

nd grass showed that she had fun. But when her mother questioned whether she hurt any ducks with askance, Enora pressed her lips tight and shook her head, refusing to l

ttered, “Getting into trouble seems to be good prac

didn’t want to ask. “How man

ke it wasn’t a big d

knitted brows, glancing in the dir

in the pond so the majority was safe. Just as we can’t realistically be expected to protect e

ing to contain his amusement. Unbeknownst to him, his simple gesture set a heaviness in Greg’s heart, reminding the duke of how close he was to having what they had - a rel

ty, asked, “How long have you bot

lance flickered between them before Lucy said, “Since th

ether. “And no one ever me

wer. “The pups weren’t even subtle. Reida and Ken tried to be but E

” Greg replied numbly with as m

nted to tell you, how do you expect us to do it? Just

rstand that… in a family… there will be creatures that we clique with and also creatures that we don’t and perhaps never will get along with. But that doesn’t mean the latter can’t be p

umph over their s

It never did,” s

they knew Izabella was in town. They made a point to ask whether the detector ever detected anything: it didn’t. And w

d a threat to their pups. He thought they were particularly concerned about the newer recruits. Onl

be left with anyone but him, not even with his mate, meaning if Enora needed a potty break, Greg was to accompany her,

s off,” Greg murmured, lookin

ith her. But something about her felt amiss. I didn’t say anything because I didn’t have hard proof. I didn’t even have a proper reason, to be honest. She was… tr

have been a good enough reason to distrust, my

hould have said something, no matter how baseless it was. At least i

illating under the last light of day, forming little stars that danced with the endless ripples. “Just so we’re clea

, driving home and running through a few messages from his follow

st one in the best store, but Hailey called dibs on it in the maverick’s group link, so Greg had to find something else. For Ken, he’d be getting a boring 500-piece p

d animation and exhilarating sound effects. When the duke deduced that the prince probably got the boring gene from the king, who got