***Tirnanog, Mount Aerie***

***Astra***

Thalia fidgeted as she led us towards the part of the hospital where Iv was normally providing her blood donations and daily examinations.

My friend tried to overtake my partner. “It's exaggerated to check on the girl like an over-protective hen. Why don't you wait in the lobby and I will get her once she is done. You really shouldn't stress your foot right after the operation! Oh my, when I took those samples I didn't expect you to run off right away.”

Magnus just kept hobbling forward.

“Magnus, if you could just sit down for a few minutes? I will go and get her. You are making me feel bad with your stubbornness.” Thalia placed a hand on Magnus's upper arm and looked deep into his eyes with a doe-like expression.

I knew what she was trying to do, but unfortunately, she had done a little too good of a job at training my partner's resistance against mental attacks.

“It's really fine, Thalia. It just feels like a bad cramp's all,” Magnus argued while he hobbled forwards, unerringly seeking out his sister. “And now I am more certain than ever that I have to find out what's going on.”

Thalia clicked her tongue and circled Magnus in her efforts to sway him, but he couldn't be deterred.

At least she had managed to make him use a crutch for the time being.

“Hold this.” Magnus threw me the data chip and I caught it before quickly storing it away inside a pocket which I formed with my filaments.

Magnus's Second Sight had likely picked up on the same thing I had. Thankfully, he hadn't yet recognized the second energy signature which was with his sister or he would have blown up like a volcano.

But I had. Though I couldn't fathom how such a thing was possible. I had my suspicions, though. Thalia had mentioned a new treatment for the Mora scion.

I followed the two without saying a word. Thalia had been my friend ever since I arrived in Tirnanog and she was exceptional with people, but she never managed to hide her feelings all that well. Magnus could sense her insecurity like a firehorn smelling blood and he was now determined to find out what his sister was doing when she disappeared into the hospital every evening.

My partner bashed open the door to the hospital room and gasped in horror when he saw his sister.

I managed to take a peek over Magnus's shoulder at Ivona and Hector lovingly hugging each other and kissing. She was attached to a blood bag which was hanging on an IV-stand, while he still had his arm in a sling.

“Ivona Elrod! Get away from that piece of trash!”

Magnus's outraged words struck as if they had belted the two lovers, causing both to jump in surprise.

His reaction surprised even me. I hadn't known that Magnus could get so emotional when he was angry. Even when he got emotional while within my presence, so far, he had always retained a certain level of reason.

His sisters were apparently a topic which could make him lose control.

“M- M- Magnus!” Ivona stepped in front of Hector. “It's not what it looks like!”

“What it looks like?” Magnus screamed. “You are seventeen and he is Astra's age!”

“Thirty-one,” I coughed – unhelpfully.

Personally, I didn't see the pairing as a problem age-wise.

But I understood where Magnus was coming from. Back on Earth, a partnership between a seventeen-year-old and a grown man of thirty-one would have raised eyebrows. A difference of fourteen years certainly made it sound like Hector was robbing the cradle.

And Magnus was pretty old-school on topics such as these. When I had taken him as a partner, the seven-year difference between the two of us had him concerned. Fourteen certainly blew the kettle for him.

“S- sister!?” Hector's head spun between his lover and Magnus. “S- seventeen? Didn't you say you are nineteen?”

That probably didn't make it much better.

I took a dainty step backwards, having no intention of getting caught in the crossfire.

“So you admit it then!” Magnus dropped his crutch and charged Hector while Thalia threw herself bodily at Magnus and hugged him around the waist.

The added weight of an entire human being, combined with Magnus's injury, and Ivona playing interference gave Hector just enough room to dodge my infuriated partner.

Though, it was a close call.

Had any of the three things hindering him not been there, Magnus would have caught his prey right then and there. But as it was, and thanks to Hector's feet being fine he managed to escape the initial onslaught.

Consequently, the room turned into a madhouse.

Hector ran from the livid man going after him. He even used the furniture to block Magnus while he was slowly driven into a corner.

Meanwhile, Thalia was hanging off Magnus's hips and calling for him to stop – lest he injured himself.

Iv was screaming hysterically while she tried to get in between her brother and lover.

I watched the unlikely scene in incredulity until I realized what I found so off-putting. Hector didn't seem to be mad or emotionally unhinged. No, instead he actively tried to avoid a second confrontation with Magnus.

This wasn't something the Hector I knew would do. I only ever knew him as an unhinged psycho who followed whichever direction his emotions swung at the moment.

Iv abandoned her attempts at getting between the two men and ran up to me. “You have to stop them! He is going to kill Hector!”

I looked down at my bloated belly before I gave Iv 'the look'. “What am I supposed to do? Throw myself between two fighting men in my state?”

My attention was drawn back to the room where a large cupboard had been thrown over and its contents spilled all over the floor. Magnus had caught Hector and was trying to choke the life out of him.

“Besides, he ain't gonna kill him,” I commented. “If he had tried to go for a quick kill he would have already thrown a few lightning bolts.”

Iv turned around and saw what her short ceasing of rendering support had wrought. She ran back to the two squabblers and tried to pry Magnus's hands off Hector's throat.

No matter Hector's strange behaviour, I couldn't find it in me to care for the man. What had me worried though was that Iv seemed to genuinely like him. Just what had happened between the two of them?

“I am going to make this slow!” Magnus threatened as he lifted the other man a few centimetres off the ground while Hector tried to gain some breathing room with his remaining hand. “I will squeeze until either your eyes pop out or your neck gives!”

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All the while, Thalia and Iv were hanging off of Magnus's arms and screaming for him to stop.

Hector's face was already changing colours when he finally decided to do something about being choked to death. His hand turned suddenly pale and icy mist condensed atop his skin as he touched Magnus's hand.

A similar effect covered Hector's throat as a protective sheet of ice oozed from his pores.

“What the fuck!?” Magnus ripped his hands away. Some skin stayed behind where it had touched Hector’s ice and flash-frozen instantly. It was like someone had spilled liquid nitrogen.

“Stop!” Thalia screamed.

I sighed. “Maybe this is getting out of hand.”

There was no love lost between me and Hector, but I couldn't have the relationship between the Frosts and the Moras deteriorate even further. My parents would lose their marbles if we returned home just to lay the next incident at their feet.

Allowing my filaments to billow out and unfold, I almost instantly covered the entire room. They had no way to escape the silken entrapment as I wrapped up everyone indiscriminately.

Magnus and Hector took a few more filaments to hold them, but they quickly succumbed to the method of quantity over quality. Magnus tried to shock himself free, but I could absorb the electricity easily enough without transferring it to Thalia, Iv or Hector.

“Blessed silence,” I mumbled once the hysteria was over and I was left with nothing more than four muffled cocoons. I hadn't noticed it before, but their antics had caused me at the very least some raised blood pressure.

I slowly untangled Thalia first – only because I didn't expect her to get violent.

Instead of asking questions, I simply smiled at my friend. She knew exactly what I wanted to know.

“It wasn't my idea,” Thalia defended herself. “And I promise, I did absolutely nothing aside from facilitating the first meeting under controlled circumstances.”

Whose idea was it then?

“Teresa and Sienna came up with it once the properties of Iv's blood became known,” Thalia explained quickly. “You know probably best of all people how bad Hector was doing. If it hadn't been for his parents, the clan would have already put him down. And you have seen how well he was doing with Iv. Two days ago, the two of them went on a date in public with lots of people and there wasn't a single incident!”

I massaged my temple. No matter how hard I tried, the idea of a sociable Hector was just… alien.

My parents had tried to make me comfortable with my 'intended' partner since my fifteenth birthday. Which included regular dinners, family visits, and social events.

When the subtle pressuring culminated in several forced dates which ended with Hector and me coming to blows, I did the only sensible thing I could come up with.

Being unavailable.

I filed for a spot on the recruitment team and made myself scarce for most of the year. At first, I hadn't even actively tried to find a partner, but the older I got, the less acceptable it was to join a traditional event which was intended for young, unattached adults of wealthy families who had no other prospects.

My filaments righted a chair which had been thrown over and I sat down before I slowly let go of Iv.

She wriggled free as soon as possible, having had enough of my filaments.

“I honestly don't know what to think,” I admitted.

“Maybe it's not your place to think anything? You are not my mother,” Iv pointed out. “I like Hector. We are dating. And no, I won't partner up with him without careful consideration. I've already talked with Sienna about our compatibility.”

I raised an eyebrow. “I am your sister in law. The cocoon there on the ground is your brother. You are a Frost. If not by blood, then in name and that's everything our house cares about. Doesn't that entitle us to know when you are dating the scion of another powerful family?”

Iv fiddled with her fingers. “Teresa knows...”

I rolled my eyes. “Of course she does.”

She pointed. “Please, let go of Hector. He did nothing wrong.”

I started only with Hector's head. “Hello, Hector. How are you doing?”

He blinked at me. “Well enough, considering what just went down in here.”

I pursed my lips. “You are feeling fine? No sudden emotional breakdowns? No rich-kid entitlement?”

“If you want to hear an apology, then fine. I am sorry.” He huffed. “I am sorry for what I did to you and how I behaved while I wasn't in total control of my mental faculties. If I could have done anything differently from my current point of view, I would have. But as it is, I don't even want to pretend I could fix our relationship. I can only say that if it's up to me, the old Hector is dead.”

This wasn't the Hector I knew. The old Hector would have screamed for the guards while spitting curses at me and the indignity of being bound like a mere criminal. He would have demanded satisfaction for being attacked right before ordering any and all within the room to do whatever whim would please him.

I looked at Thalia. “That's really strong stuff you are giving him.”

“It's really just Iv's blood plasma with the therein contained relaxants. Nothing else,” Thalia pointed out. “Mom hopes that if the two of them pair up, Hector might be permanently healed. No, she is sure of it.”

“Hmm.” I hummed and let him go.

Hector tentatively got to his feet.

“And even if not,” Iv spoke up while she linked arms with Hector. “It's not like donating some blood once a day hurts me. It wouldn't even be as much as I am currently giving. Most of it is used up for Thalia's and Sienna's research.”

My eyes fell on Hector's and Iv's linked arms. “You know who Hector is? How he is… was?”

“No, I don't,” Iv retorted. “I don’t care how he was without me. All that matters is how he is with me. I've only ever met him since he was hospitalized and so far he has been nothing but a real gentleman.”

“You know-” Hector raised a finger while pointedly not looking at Iv. “Could we go back to where you told me you were nineteen, and now it turns out you are seventeen? And I didn't know ‘he’ is your brother!” Hector pointed an accusing finger at the Magnus-cocoon.

Iv tsked. “I made myself a little older. So what? We are both essentially immortal. Yes, right now some prudes might frown at the age difference. But, tell me, who will care in twenty or forty years? Is it still a problem when I am fifty-seven and you seventy-one?”

“The point is that he cares.” Hector pointed again. “And I like my arms bending in the right direction!” He coughed and tried to scratch at his neck before he realized he couldn't.

Then he peeled away the thick layer of ice like a toby frill. “It would have been appropriate for me to ask your parents to court you. At the very least.”

The Mora were famous for hunting icewyrms, creatures with a fundamentally different physique based on liquid nitrogen. Any liquids in their bodies could turn to ice almost at will which was a powerful defensive ability. Its offensive capabilities also couldn't be scoffed at, assuming an enemy was forced to stay close enough to suffer severe frostburn.

Magnus started wriggling somewhat fiercely and I decided to free his head.

“I forbid it! You are not going to take away my little sister right after I got her back!” he fumed. “You are too old for her!”

“On that one, we agree.”

Hector's reply stopped Magnus in his tracks. “What?”

“Hector!” Iv exclaimed.

Hector took Iv's hand in his. “I love you and that won't change, Iv. You are my best chance at a normal life. But that also means our relationship has to be done right. I've lived my entire life as a social pariah and I won't replace one reason for isolation with another.”

He looked at me. “Could you please untie your partner so we can speak properly?”

Well, it was his funeral. Magnus wouldn't fall for the ice-trick twice. I undid my partner's restraints and he quickly got up.

“Magnus,” Hector began. “I have no ill intentions towards your sister – or you. I understand your feelings on the matter and I won't touch Ivona without her permission or yours.”

“Hector!” Now Iv was upset. “It's not up to my brother to decide this!”

Hector didn't even look to the side. “As long as he feels responsible for you, it is.”

Magnus looked like he was conflicted on whether he should punch the man or hug him and call him brother.

Hector offered Magnus a hand. “Can we try this again? Ivona told me about your missing youngest. Once my parents are no longer concerned about my well-being I might be able to sway their opinion in your favour. I heard you need the clan's help to get her back.”

Actually, I hadn't thought about that in the heat of the moment! Was this my mother’s plan all along?

'Do it,' I voiced at Magnus.

Magnus looked like he had bitten into something sour, but rationality won out and he took Hector's hand. “If you touch her before she's eighteen, or hurt her, I will punch you for real. And there will be no coming back from that.”

“I am eighteen!” Iv insisted.

“No, you are not!” Magnus raised a finger.

I stood up and quickly stepped in by pushing down my partner's finger before things could devolve into incessant screaming again. “Why don't we try talking to each other?”

I looked pointedly around the thoroughly destroyed room. “I am sure everyone can agree that things got a little out of control in the heat of the moment. Let’s write it off as a misunderstanding. Magnus, why don't you extend some trust towards Iv? She managed to get by so far on her own. All while thinking for herself. I am sure she isn't someone who would partner up with someone because of hormones and get her life ruined.”

I turned and glared at the young woman on Hector's arm, hoping she wouldn’t disappoint me. “Iv, why don't you apologize to your brother?”

“Why-”

“Because!” I interrupted firmly. “All this mess wouldn't have happened if we had known that Hector and you had supervision from Teresa and Sienna! Tempers would have likely flared high, but we wouldn't have squabbled like little children!”

Thalia looked at the floor and Iv mimicked her by fixating on a convenient wall.

“I am sorry.”

I smiled and interlaced my fingers with Magnus's before I decided to give him secret counselling, 'Tell her that you are sorry.'

'What? Why?' he somehow managed to sound indignant.

'To acknowledge that she is her own person and to show that you trust her,' I said. 'Quick now!'

Magnus huffed. “I am also sorry, Iv. In hindsight, I might have overreacted slightly, but I thought the worst when I saw you – and him. With... this world not having any take-backs... and such... I was afraid I had failed to protect you... again.”

Iv's stony mien softened. “Thanks for worrying about me. You are still the same oaf I knew from Earth, but you are my oaf.” She extricated herself from Hector and stepped in to hug her brother.

“Okay,” I turned them towards the door. “Why don't we all go home now? I am getting hungry again.”