Damn those brothers! Damn them!

Stoffel stormed down the halls of Blood Pledge Castle after being ejected from yet another formal meeting between his majesty and members of the court. It wasn't fair!

They were always undercutting him, making sure he was forever unable to get close to the king. Ensuring that he held no power and no voice at all when it came to matters of state. Celi wasn't even doing anything about her unruly brood, she was off ignoring him completely, allowing them to run rampant and hardly ever responding to his letters of distress.

The last letter he had sent his sister had been a three-page rant that a very hearty pigeon had to deliver, entirely about her middle child. Her response?

She sent him the torn corner of a page bearing a lipstick mark, that read: 'Mind your wrinkles, dear brother.'

Her sons were a menace and she was telling him to mind his wrinkles? To calm down? It was infuriating!

Once he was alone in a long hall in the West Wing of the palace, Stoffel's steps slowed until he was all but shuffling past its ordinate windows and grand tapestries. Outside, beyond the glass, he had a clear view of the courtyard where the meeting he had just been ejected from was filtering outside into their expecting carriages.

On the marble steps were three familiar figures, his nephews were all standing beside his majesty, smiling and talking like nothing at all was wrong with the world- like they hadn't just kicked their poor uncle out on his arse. Stoffel approached the glass to peer down at his nephews. Several moments passed by until Gwendal and Wolfram turned to head back inside, following his highness.

Conrart lagged behind, turning instead to head down the steps and into the open yard below.

Conrart Weller.

Of his three nephews, he couldn't stand Conrart the most. How has such a calm tempered child become such a mess? Things hadn't always been this way- Conrart hadn't always been a menace to his uncle.

Stoffel sighed as he thought back, remembering a different time, a time where his nephews had held no power over him other than that of their adorable smiles.


This story will have 4 parts, a chapter per nephew and an ending scene that takes place in the present time. :)