Elric sat behind a massive desk of blackened oak at the study in his Aldenar Capital manor. Opposite him stood Mina.
The girl looked significantly different than she had when Verona first pulled her from the slums. She was clean, her hair pulled back into a tight, functional braid that emphasized the sharp, wary angles of her face. She wore a dark, charcoal-grey tunic, but her eyes remained the same. They were constantly scanning the corners of the room or gauging the distance to the door.
"Do you know why I've called you here, Mina?" Elric's voice was a low rumble, devoid of the warmth he reserved for his fiancée.
Mina shifted her weight, her fingers instinctively twitching toward the hem of her tunic, where a knife might once have been hidden. "To tell me I'm not allowed to kick the Golden Knight's shins anymore? Or maybe to remind me how much the children's orphanage costs?"
