hand and clasped his forearm, all showing deference to him, clearly all pleased to have him as their Captain.
“A battle won by mere witchery and tricks,” came a dark voice.
Thor turned to see standing behind him his three real brothers, Drake, Dross and Durs. His heart skipped a beat as he saw them, standing just a few feet away, looking down at him coldly, unsmiling. He hadn’t seen them in ages, and had nearly forgotten about them. He could see in their eyes that they still held hatred for him, and it brought back fresh memories of his childhood, of his feeling unworthy, feeling small next to them.
“You did not fight like a warrior,” said Drake, the eldest. “You did not fight like one of us. If you did, you never would have won.”
“You are not deserving of the honors they heap on you,” added Dross.
“Despite what these men think, we know the truth about you. You are still just our younger brother,” said Durs. “Still just a poor sheepherder. The smallest and least deserving of all of us. You cheated your way into the Legion, and you cheated your way into the honors you won today.”
“And what do you all know of cheating?” O’Connor said back, stepping up and defending Thor.
“And what makes you all so superior?” Elden added, at his side. “Just because you are older?”
“That’s right,” Drake said. “We are older. And bigger. And stronger. We could beat you all to a pulp one-on-one, any day.”
“So why don’t you?” Reece countered. “Let us arrange a one-on-one combat, and see who wins.”
Dross laughed derisively.
“I don’t need to listen to you,” he said. “You are too young and ignorant to even talk to me. I’m a far greater warrior than you will ever be.”
“Oh no, but you do need to listen to Thor,” Reece countered. “He’s your Captain now. Did you not hear Kolk? You’ll have to listen to Thor’s every word from now. How does that make you feel?” Reece smiled.
The three brothers scowled down.
“We will never listen to you,” Drake spat to Thor. “We will never take an order from you. Ever. As long as we live.”
Thor was taken aback by their anger towards him.
“Why do you hate me?” Thor asked. “You always have, ever since I could remember.”
“Because you’re not worth anything,” Durs sneered.
With that, the three of them turned and walked off into the crowd, disappearing. Thor felt his heart pounding, felt a pit in his stomach.
Reece reached up and laid a hand on his shoulder.
“Don’t worry about it. They’re not worth the ground you walk on.”
O’Connor turned to him.
“Some people hate for no reason,” he added. “That’s just who they are.”
“Others are just filled with envy, for everyone and everything,” Elden added. “They need someone or something to blame, so they decide that you are the reason they don’t have what they want in life, and they hate you for their own failed lives. It is the easy way out for them—to blame you instead of being truthful and blaming themselves. It is just bullying—in another form.”
Thor understood. But it still stung him to the core. He did not know what he had done to deserve such animosity from his own family. Not just now, but his entire life. Why had he had to be born into this family? Why had they had to be there, always, at every turn, to ruin things for him at his happiest moments?
“My friend,” Reece said.
Thor looked up.
“There is something across the room that might cheer you up,” he laid a hand on Thor’s shoulder and turned him in the direction of the opposite side of the chamber.
There, standing in the doorway, smiling across the room at him, was Gwendolyn. Thor’s heart leapt.
“It seems she waits for you,” Reece said, smiling.
Thor had completely forgotten. With all the excitement, he had forgotten to meet her at the back door.
Thor hurried across the hall, whistling for Krohn, who raced to catch up. He saw Gwen smile wide, then duck out the back door, and Thor’s heart raced as he realized that finally, after everything, they could have time to be together.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Thor held Gwen’s hand with anticipation, as she led him through the moonlit night, down winding paths that turned through the gently rolling hills outside of King’s Court. Krohn walked at their side, and as they nearly crested a hilltop, Gwen came around behind Thor and smiling, placed her hands over his eyes and made him stop.