elise brushed off her dress. "be that as it may, i never did anything to scorn you or to make you scorn me, did i?"

gerhart was mute.

"i thought as much. good evening, hart," elise said, turning to go back to the campfire.

"i was scared," he blurted out. "yes, i was jealous, but i was cowardly and weak-willed."

elise paused. "in what way were you cowardly?"

"i should have told them to bugger off. i should have been stronger. we could have stayed the idyllic brother and sister, but i was too weak. i'm sorry."

"them?" elise asked.

gerhart looked off to the side, avoiding elise's gaze.

"hart."

"rune and falk," he finally said, shrinking under elise's looming shadow.

"what did they do?" elise asked, her voice scratchy as she turned her head at an almost unnatural angle to look at her two supposed suitors.

"when you turned fifteen, rune took me to this cave i had been begging to explore with him for months."

"i remember."

"while we were there, we had a talk," gerhart said, shifting uneasily.

the words were pulled unwillingly from him, but whenever he glanced at elise he seemed to realize she posed a greater threat than his older brothers.

"rune said i was growing up, and i needed to man up and end my childish friendship with you. i said i didn't want to... he convinced me otherwise."

"and falk?"

"when i got back, falk took me to a silo used for grain storage and locked me inside. he said if i didn't stop clinging to you, he would leave me there."

elise was silent, but her building fury was obvious based on the twitch of her eyebrows.

"even though they did that, it was my choice to break off our friendship. i was angry and humiliated, and i felt like i didn't have the strength to go against them. it was because of my weakness that i treated you abominably. i hated that i couldn't oppose them," gerhart said.

"hart, you were thirteen!"

"that shouldn't matter."

elise threw her hands in the air. "come with me," she said, grabbing gerhart's wrist and pulling him back to the campfire. "rune, falk," she snarled. "you two intimidated hart when he was thirteen, telling him to stay away from me?"

rune rolled his eyes. "i should have known he would eventually squeal," he muttered.

"i counted on it," falk said, grinding up herbs on the top of a flat rock with the bone handle of a knife.

"how can you two say that? furthermore, how could you do something so cruel to your little brother?" elise said.

"if we hadn't, it would have been impossible to pry you from him," falk said.

rune shot him a look before he tried soothing elise. "elise, you're taking this too seriously. we're men. if we have a problem, we punch one another. it's just how we handle things."

"that doesn't make it right," elise said.

"but it's true," nick said, fingering his broken nose.

elise reached out and grabbed rune-who was closest-by the collar of his shirt. "you don't get it. hart was angelic before he scorned me. he was so cute and adorable. i will never get those years back," she said before pushing rune away and ringing her arms around hart's shoulders.

"now he's a big teenager. i missed three years of my only little sibling's life because of you," she snarled.

gerhart was pink-cheeked and wouldn't look his brothers in the eye.

"well. that plan backfired on you," erick observed.

"you two are worse than i thought," elise said.

rune sighed and sat down next to falk. "we should have gone another route-found him a girl to obsess over maybe."

falk continued to grind his herbs. "we won't make the same mistake a second time."

"you think i've scolded you so now the matter is over?" elise asked, planting her hands on her hips.

"hardly. you will very likely rail at us for the rest of our days, but it doesn't matter," falk said.

"what do you mean?"

"it took gerhart out of the running for your affections, didn't it? our dear little brother apparently has a thing for onella, one of my pretty subordinates. he is besotted with her. considering his admiration, i am surprised he had the courage to tell you of our childhood games."

"games?"

"especially as onella happens to be one of my personal assistants who is extremely loyal to me," falk continued.

"falk," gerhart complained. "i am not smitten with onella."

"you are. mikk's sneaks told him so," falk said.

"miiikkk!" gerhart complained.

mikk shrugged.

elise sighed deeply before she stomped over to brida in hopes of being fed. the captain had found wild asparagus and was heating it over the fire.

"i hate men," elise said after sitting next to the captain.

elise didn't expect a response, so she was shocked when brida said, "i'm yet again increasingly glad i am an only child."

elise looked to the stone-faced captain, but she was just as solemn as ever as she tended to the asparagus.