Edmund held Hector close and ran up the stairs to his own private quarters. He was given questioning looks, but Edmund didn't stop to talk or explain anything. The sooner he got Hector away from other people, the better off they would all be.

Edmund's gut was churning and he felt like he was going to be sick. His ears were ringing and he desperately wanted to hit something or someone. He pushed those instincts aside. He needed to focus on helping Hector right now. When the boy was safe, then Edmund could worry about the long-term..

There was a maid tidying up his room. It was probably a good thing, because there were a lot of things that Edmund needed to get done right now, and he was only one person. He needed help.

"Your highness," The maid bowed. She looked anxious.

"Please, just call me Edmund." He said. He had never been fond of the overly formal royal address, but he had never felt less like a prince. He remembered what he had seen, what he suspected, and what he allowed to happen. He was supposed to lead his people. How was he supposed to deserve their respect if he was oblivious to the abuse going on right under his nose?

The maid relaxed ever so slightly. She must have been working here for long enough to know that Edmund was a generally casual prince. "Edmund, then, your highness."

"What's your name?" Edmund asked. He had things that he needed to do, but that was no reason to not be at least a little polite.

"Annika." She said quietly.

"Annika, can you do something for me?" Edmund asked.

"But of course," She said with a small bow.

"I need you to fetch the royal doctor." Edmund said. The royal doctor had once been the castle doctor, but he was retired now. He only served the royal family directly now. Edmund trusted him with his life, and for something like this he wanted discretion. "I then need you to find my father and tell him that I must talk to him. It's of the utmost importance."

Edmund laid Hector on his bed. "After you talk to the doctor and my father I also need the captain and Sabine." Sabine was Quirin's mother, his father's closest advisor, and someone who worked closely with the Brotherhood. By every right, she needed to know about this situation.

"What should I tell them?" Annika asked.

"That it's an emergency and I need to see them." Edmund said. "Don't tell anybody else."

Annika looked a little nervous about Edmund's anxiety, but she nodded and did as she was told. Edmund was left alone with Hector. He turned his attention to the younger boy, and he really was just a boy, wasn't he? He was so young, and Edmund seethed at the thought of what he had been put through. Nobody deserved this, but especially not somebody who had already been through so much.

Hector seemed to be unconscious. Edmund wanted to let him sleep, but he needed to talk about what had happened. Edmund had a strong suspicion, but this was a serious accusation, and he knew that his father would expect more than just a guess. He needed to, at the very least, hear the account of what happened from Hector himself.

"Hector," Edmund touched his shoulder gently. The boy's eyes snapped open and he sat up with a gasp. Hector lunged forward to attack, but Edmund just put his hands on his shoulders and steadied him. "Hey, hey, calm down, it's just me. You're okay. You're safe here."

Hector took several deep breaths and looked around frantically before his eyes focused on Edmund. Hector didn't relax, but he no longer looked terrified.

"Eddie," Hector muttered. Edmund would forgive him for calling him by that nickname this time. "W-where…"

"We're in my room." Edmund said. "The doctor's on his way."

"I'm f-fine." Hector said, though he sounded far from it. Hector sat up and pulled his legs close to his chest. He pulled Edmund's cloak tighter around him. "Don't need a doctor. I've had worse."

Edmund grimaced. He may not know all of the details of what Hector had been through, but he had a hard time imagining something worse than this. "I just want to be sure that you're okay." Edmund hesitated for a moment. "I'll understand if you don't feel comfortable with it, but if you can I need you to tell me exactly what those boys did to you."

"Why?" Hector gave him a suspicious glare.

"I want to make sure they get punished appropriately," Hector said. "But to do that I need to know if they truly sexually assaulted you, and how far they went."

Hector blinked and uncurled slightly. "Sexua-huh?" He sounded painfully confused and Edmund realized with a jolt that Hector didn't know the extent of what had been done to him. He'd been raised by a neglectful and abusive father. That man wouldn't have bothered to explain such things to him.

Hector had been hurt, and he didn't even understand how.

Edmund sat at the foot of the bed and started to give a very quick and to the point version of 'the talk'. Hector was just confused by the whole thing.

"People do that…for fun?" Hector grimaced. "To show love?"

"That's how it should be." Edmund said. He felt like the scum of the earth for explaining something that should be wonderful when it had just been used to hurt Hector. "But what those boys, it was nothing but abusive, because you didn't want it. It's like…it's a little like sparring. If two people spar, it's a little like fighting, but they both want to do it, so it's not a bad thing."

Hector's eyes seemed to light up with understanding. "But if someone doesn't want to spar, but they get forced to, then it's not a spar but a fight." Hector's eyes dimmed again as realization came to him. "So even if it didn't hurt that much, they were still fighting me?"

"In a way." Edmund said. He felt like he was messing this up.

"But what about when I started fighting them back?" Hector asked. "I hurt them worse than they hurt me."

"No, you didn't." Edmund said sternly. "You were just defending yourself. Here, people are shown leniency if they hurt someone in self-defense."

Hector hunched his shoulders. He seemed to be trying to make himself smaller, and he was already so small. "But Quirin's mom told me that I need to learn how to protect myself without fighting." Hector sniffled and buried his face in his legs. "I-I knew I shouldn't fight. I knew I might get in trouble for it, and I might get kicked out, but I hurt them anyway."

"Nobody's kicking you out." Edmund said. "Not if I have anything to do about it." Hector didn't look comforted. Edmund sighed. "Look, even if it wasn't wise to fight back, which I still argue it was, sometimes it's okay to bite back at people who hurt you first."

Hector frowned. "But animals bite. Not humans."

"I know plenty of people who bite." Edmund said. "Maybe not literally, but they can. In fact, if I were in your position I would like to think that I would bite back."

Hector unfolded slightly. "Really?"

"Really." Edmund said. Please, can you tell me what those boys did to you?"

Hector nodded and started explaining things very blatantly. He didn't beat around the bush at all. Hector still didn't seem to understand what was so bad about this. That was fine. Edmund was furious enough for the both of them. It was only a minute or two before Hector was done, just in time too, because there was a knock on the door soon after.

Hector jumped and stared at the door with wide, panicked eyes.

"Relax, it's probably just the doctor." Edmund said.

"But I'm fine." Hector said, though his voice crack gave him away.

"It's just in case." Edmund said. "I didn't know how bad it would be, and I didn't want to take any chances." Hector still didn't look certain. Edmund gave him a soft look. "What's wrong?

"I don't want people to know." Hector muttered. "So many people already know I'm just a pet. Now they'll know I'm a tool."

"You are nothing of the sort." Edmund snapped, startling Hector. The prince took a deep breath. He needed to remain calm for Hector's sake. "I understand. There are a few people that need to know for us to make sure that the ones who hurt you pay for it, but if you don't want anybody else to know, then they don't have to."

Hector looked hopeful. "You won't tell Quirin?"

Edmund felt a little conflicted. Quirin was his best friend, and he cared about Hector more than anybody else. Edmund felt that Quirin should know what Hector had been through, but he couldn't defy the boy's wishes. Hector had his freedom and choice taken from him enough as it was. Edmund didn't want to contribute to that. If Hector didn't want Quirin to know, then Quirin wouldn't know.

"I won't tell him." Edmund said. "Can I let the doctor in? And will you cooperate and answer all his questions?"

"Okay." Hector said. "I'll try." That was good enough for Edmund.

"I'll be back soon." Edmund said. "I just have some things to take care of." He stood up and made his way to the door. Hector reached out and grabbed his arm. Edmund stopped and looked at the boy over his shoulder.

"Can I have my animal friends?" Hector asked. He sounded so young and vulnerable. Edmund couldn't deny him.

"I'll send one of the servants for them." Edmund promised. Hector let him go and he went to the door. The royal doctor was waiting outside, just as Edmund had suspected. The prince leaned close to him.

"My young friend has been assaulted in a sexual manner." Edmund said quietly. "Be gentle, and be patient. Hector still doesn't understand the nature of what happened. And I shouldn't have to say it, but word of what happened doesn't leave this room."

"Of course, your highness." The doctor said with a nod. Edmund let him go. The doctor would take care of Hector from here. Meanwhile, Edmund would be true to his word and take care of the ones responsible for this deplorable behavior. He would find his father, the captain, and Sabine, and then he would make those boys regret ever laying a hand on Hector.


Quirin sighed and stretched out his sore muscles. He was tired and ready for the day to be over, but they still had afternoon Brotherhood training. Quirin just hoped that it didn't last too long. He needed some sleep. Maybe he'd talk to Edmund and ask if he could train with Adira tomorrow instead so that Quirin could have the chance to sleep in a bit.

Quirin had only intended to rest his eyes for a few short minutes after helping Edmund study, but he had accidentally fallen asleep. His nap hadn't lasted very long, but when Quirin woke up he was already late for training. It was only a few minutes, and Quirin knew that the captain would wave it off, but he didn't like to run late at all. He didn't quite run, but he went straight to the training rooms.

When Quirin got to the room he was confused to find that he wasn't the last one there. A number of boys were missing, including Hector. As though that wasn't odd enough, the captain wasn't there either. Training should have started already, but everybody was just lingering around or doing basic stretches as they looked at each other in confusion and uncertainty. Quirin walked up to Adira.

"What's going on? Quirin asked. "Where's the captain?"

"Nobody knows." Adira said. She gave Quirin a concerned look. "Have you seen Hector?"

"He's probably in the stables and lost track of time." Quirin said. He wasn't really concerned about that. Hector wouldn't run away again, and Quirin didn't think that anybody here would hurt him. There was no reason why Hector shouldn't be fine.

Some of the boys were in the corner of the room, whispering frantically to each other. They looked concerned and kept on glancing over at Quirin. Eventually one of them stepped away from the others and came up to Quirin.

"What's going on out there?" The boy asked. Quirin gave him an odd look.

"What are you talking about?"

"I heard that the prince is going on a total rampage." The boy said quietly.

"That doesn't sound like Edmund at all." Quirin said.

"I thought so too, but the knights are talking." The boy said. "Apparently one of the maids came to fetch the captain in the middle of their practice. He brushed her off and sent her on her way. He thought that whatever the prince needed could wait until practice was over. About ten minutes later the prince and the king came to talk to the captain. Nobody knows what they said, but the captain canceled training and left with them."

Quirin and Adira exchanged concerned glances. Normally they wouldn't listen to random rumors, but while this particular boy liked to gossip, most of what he had to say about the knights and Brotherhood was true. He frequently spoke with the knights. He knew what he was talking about.

Quirin's first thought was that this was a matter of security, but then why wouldn't the Brotherhood know what was going on?

"I heard that the royal doctor was summoned to the prince's room." Another boy came to join them. "But the prince himself isn't sick or hurt." Quirin should hope not. It hadn't been too long since he had seen Edmund. He couldn't have gotten too hurt in such a short period of time.

"I heard that he was interrogating the captain and your mom." Another boy said.

"Actually, I heard that too." Adira said. "I don't think Edmund's happy with the testing process for the trainees."

"None of us like it." Quirin said. They all believed that the trials were too personal. It forced people to not only recognize their faults, but push past them.

"Yeah, none of us think they're any fun." The second boy said. "But I heard from one of the servants that the prince was yelling at your mom that the trials are too easy, and too many bad eggs have slipped through the cracks."

"Bad eggs?" Quirin looked around, really taking note of who wasn't there. Hector, but also Mikhail and three others. Quirin didn't know those other boys well, but they were stubborn, competitive, and dreamed of being in the Brotherhood. Quirin had thought it odd that they were absent, but now he was wondering if there was a reason beyond just that they lost track of time and didn' feel like coming to training.

The other boys theorized about what was going on, but all of them were too afraid of getting on the prince's bad side to leave the room to investigate for themselves. Apparently there were rumors that Edmund had already had a few people sent to the dungeon, and nobody knew who they were or why they had been arrested in the first place.

Quirin didn't usually like to listen to rumors, but he couldn't stop paying attention. He had no idea what was going on, and these rumors were the closest he got to getting good information. Quirin wanted to go out and get answers himself, but he didn't want to leave this room, just for Hector's sake.

Maybe Hector was in trouble, but Quirin just hoped that he was running late and would come through those doors any minute now. If Quirin left, then if Hector came to this room then he might be confused and lost if Quirin wasn't there waiting for him.

He didn't want to wait for very long, and he wasn't the only one. All of the trainees agreed that they would wait for another ten minutes for the captain or word about what was going on, and then they would go to their rooms.

They were still in training. Their job was to do what they were told and be where they were supposed to be, when they were supposed to be there. Unless they were told that training was canceled for today, and why, they would assume that they had training.

They all talked anxiously for a long while before the door opened. They all turned and were surprised to see Quirin's mom and the king there. They looked solemn and serious. Though they all had questions on their minds, most of them wouldn't question their king. Quirin had no such qualms.

"Mom, what is going on?" Quirin asked. "There are some weird rumors going around, and-"

"I had expected better of you, Quirin." His mom said. She sounded genuinely disappointed, and Quirin shrank back slightly. "I know this afternoon has been a little strange and abnormal, but that is no reason to gossip and spread rumors."

"We're here to put such rumors to rest." The king said. "My son has discovered that some of your fellow initiates have hurt someone in unspeakable and unforgivable ways. Those initiates will be dealt with accordingly, and we will be changing the way that things are done in the Brotherhood to make sure that nothing like this ever happens again.

Quirin felt his chest tighten. "Where's Hector?" His mom didn't answer right away, but the king's scowl deepened and the stern look in his mom's eyes softened slightly to a look of pity. "Mom, where is he?" Quirin didn't know what he would do if Hector had lashed out and had been arrested because of it.

"He's with Edmund." Quirin's mom said gently.

"Is he in trouble?" Adira asked quietly.

"No." The king said. "Despite what you may hear, Hector is not in trouble because he did nothing wrong."

"Despite what we may here?" Quirin was not feeling any better. "What happened? What kinds of things might we hear?"

"As you said, you've already heard a number of things." Quirin's mom said, even though none of the rumors had been specific at all. "I'm afraid we can't tell you more, because we've agreed that it's on a need to know basis, and our prince feels that those who need to know the situation are already aware of it. Just know that if we will be keeping a close eye out for a repeat situation, and if we so much as suspect that something's going on we'll act without hesitation."

"How are we supposed to avoid doing whatever we're not supposed to do when you won't even tell us what happened?" One of the boys asked.

"I had hoped that I wouldn't have had to spell out that hurting people in any way was not acceptable." The king said coldly. The trainees all fidgeted uncomfortably. They hadn't done anything, but they all felt like they were in trouble anyway.

Quirin's mom gave him a gentle look. "Hector's in Edmund's room. I don't want you to ask either of them for more details. If they want to tell you, they will, but don't push them."

Quirin was terrified now. He'd been assured that Hector wasn't in trouble, but his friend seemed to know the details about what happened. Had Hector been the one who had gotten hurt?

"Is Hector okay?" Quirin asked. His mom hesitated for a long moment, which didn't calm his fears. "Mom?"

"It will take some time, and he'll need a lot of help, but Hector's strong. I think he's going to be okay." Quirin's mom said quietly, though she didn't sound certain. "I'm sure that Hector would appreciate seeing you, but be patient with him."

"I always am." Quirin said. He looked at Adira, though he didn't have to say anything to her. She grabbed his hand and started to lead him out of the room and up the stairs, towards Edmund's room. They passed several servants and knights, and everybody looked as uneasy and confused as the Brotherhood initiates were. Quirin's mind was spinning as he tried to think of what could have possibly happened to make everybody so nervous.

Edmund rarely locked his door, but when Quirin tried to let himself in he found that the door was blocked. He knocked.

"Who's there?" Edmund's voice said from inside. He sounded tense and almost accusatory, like he was looking for a reason for a fight.

"It's just me and Adira." Quirin said. "Is everything okay?" Things were quiet for a long moment before Quirin heard some muttering from inside. He could hear Edmund and Hector's voices, but he couldn't quite make out what they were saying. Finally he heard the sound of the door unlocking. Edmund opened the door, though he didn't immediately step aside to let them in.

"Hector doesn't want to talk about it." Edmund said sternly. "I expect both of you to respect those wishes for as long as he has them." Quirin and Adira both nodded. Edmund stepped aside. Quirin was finally able to see Hector. His friend was curled up on Edmund's bed, lazily petting the bearcats that were nuzzled against him. Standing at the food of the bed, on guard, was the rhino. Quirin briefly wondered how the rhino had come up here, but he was far more worried about why they were here in the first place.

"Hey, Hector." Quirin said gently. The boy didn't say anything. He just curled up tighter. "Are you okay?"

Hector was quiet for a long moment before he sighed. "I don't know." He was still for a moment before he rolled over to look at Quirin. He didn't look obviously hurt, but the dazed look in his eyes made it clear that he was not okay at all. "Can we cuddle?"

Edmund grimaced. "Are you sure?"

Hector wrapped Edmund's cloak tighter around him. "I like the weight, but no touch." So he wanted pressure. Quirin could supply that.

"I can do that." Quirin said. He got onto the bed and waited for Hector to slide closer. "But don't be afraid to say something if you want me to stop."

Hector snorted, which turned to a chuckle. Quirin usually loved the sound of Hector laughing, but this time it made him feel uneasy. Something was wrong. Soon Hector's laughter turned into a heartbroken sob. Soon Hector was crying, curled tightly against Quirin, who could do nothing but put his arm around Hector, being careful to keep the contact on the cloak.

Quirin felt completely useless, and it hurt. This was far from the first time that he felt like he should be able to do more for Hector, but it was more clear to him now than ever. Quirin could do everything he could think of to help Hector, and it wouldn't' be enough. Quirin wouldn't ever be good enough for him.