There was no furniture on the top floor.

  All the monster crystals that had been in Farsch Alard’s office, all the art, and every other decoration were gone. I could tell even though we hadn’t made it to the office yet, because the entire wall separating the office from the rest of the floor was gone.

  “Well…” I looked around, then over at our host. “This is different.”

  “You’ve been up here?” Yorn’s brow scrunched, then he snapped his fingers. “Oh, right! You were here with your dad when he offered to give Uncle Farsch flying lessons.”

  Ether wrapped her arm around mine and leaned in closer to me.

  Aelin chuckled as she danced around in a circle. “It serves him right!” She waved her arms at the empty floor. “Isn’t this supposed to be some kind of expensive chest beating?”

  “I had the trophies removed this morning.” Yorn shook his head. “Uncle Farsch tried to have someone claim them for him, but they belong to the Alard family now, not the Roots.” He shrugged. “They’ll help the farming teams by being used a lot more than they will gathering dust up here.”

  Gesai swallowed as she looked over at her father. “Dad…”

  “I know.” The older man held up his hands and grinned. “But let’s be honest, Uncle Farsch was in the fifties, so nothing up here would have been able to entice you anyway.”

  That didn’t seem to help to calm the silver woman’s nerves, but her shoulders relaxed a little.

  “You’re just itching to leave, aren’t you.” Fray huffed as she stomped away.

  “I’ve got her.” Justia touched Aelin’s hand and the two of them hurried after the angry woman.

  “Trouble?” Confusion covered Yorn’s face as he looked over at his daughter.

  “We’ve never really gotten along.” Gesai swallowed as she watched the three women walk away. “Most of the time we can be cordial, but we get on each other’s nerves so easy.”

  “That’s all?” He glanced at the rest of my team for a moment, then looked back at the three of us. “Sounds like something else happened to elicit that kind of reaction.”

  “Celia Taray offered me a job.” Gesai blurted. “Not that I’m going to take it, but I didn’t say no outright.”

  “Of course not.” Yorn chuckled. “The balls on that one though. She knows it’s what you’ve always wanted and that I offered you to come back, so she’s trying to snipe you away from me.”

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  “You know her?” I tried to gauge his age and how the two of them would have been in the same circle.

  “She was four years ahead of me at the Cathedral.” Yorn frowned as he recapped the memory for us. “But Uncle Farsch paid her to take me out on my first mission after I graduated to get me some levels. Most levelers will use you as a Porter, but not Celia. No. She wanted me to get actual fighting experience.” He threw up his arms. “I’m a Healer!”

  “Oh.” I suppressed the urge to laugh. Considering the age difference, it was safe to assume that Yorn hadn’t been in Trent’s class, which meant that he probably hadn’t been subjected to the survival training that we’d endured. I had a feeling that Celia had tried to incorporate that into her leveling of him.

  The elevator dinged, announcing that someone else was coming onto the floor.

  Out stepped a tall, green older woman with rounded ears and dark brown eyes. Her brown hair was cut short, just above her ears. She was wearing tan coveralls, which she wore well. I knew that she was someone who was used to working with her hands and judging by the CB on her wrist, she was a Mundane, not an Adventurer.

  “Yorn…” She hesitated when she saw us. “Why are there kids here?”

  “Ah, Terry!” Yorn held out his hand. “Come meet my daughter and her betrothed!” He extended his hand to the woman. “Terry Harror, this is my daughter, Gesai, her betrothed, Atlas Vowler, and his first wife, Ether Vowler.”

  We nodded politely, but there was something gentle about the way he took her hand that seemed more familiar than an employee. I could tell by the look in Gesai’s green eyes that she’d seen it too and didn’t like it.

  “We’re pleased to meet you.” Ether slipped out of my arm and stepped forward to shake the older woman’s hand.

  “It’s been a while, Gessy.” Terry’s voice struggled to stay pleasant as she looked over the silver woman. “The last time I saw you, you were barely up to my knee.”

  “What’s she doing here?” Gesai turned to her father. “Does Mom know?”

  “Your mother is well aware of the situation and agreed that it was time we did something about the injustice that was done to her.” Yorn cleared his throat. “So please be nice.”

  “What’s going on?” I looked between the father and daughter.

  “This woman used to be Dad’s girlfriend until he tried to make her his prime and Uncle Farsch ordered them to break up.” Gesai glared at the green woman.

  “Yes, but Uncle Farsch isn’t in charge anymore.” Yorn held up his hands as he stepped in between the two women. He looked at his daughter. “Terry is married now, so nothing is going to happen, but your mother agreed that bringing her in as my assistant would be a good way to compensate her and her daughter for what our family put them through.”

  “What we put her through?” Gesai jabbed her finger at the other woman. “She tried to tear our family apart!”

  “I was just trying to do right by her.” Yorn sighed. “I thought that if I brought green back into the family, then I might be able to get closer to being the heir, but that backfired spectacularly.” He hung his head. “And because of that, I wasn’t able to know my daughter for most of her life.”

  “Your daughter?” Gesai fumed. “What about the daughter who you let get sacrificed like a pawn just so Uncle Farsch could get his petty revenge against Aunt Suna?”

  “I—” Yorn clamped his mouth shut as the rest of my party walked back up.

  Fray’s eyes bulged as she looked at the older woman.

  “Mom? What are you doing here?”

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