“Did she now?” He replied through gritted teeth. Dante still looked nervous, but did smile at the implication of a sibling rivalry.

“I assumed she saw something in Flora’s past, or maybe yours.” Dante wiggled his eyebrows at Erick and Erick simply rolled his eyes in return. He knew that part of Esther’s winter magic let her see into the past of others, but did not appreciate it when she looked into his own past. Some things were done privately for a reason.

Erick paused as the two reached the double doors to his room. He turned to Dante, giving him a hard look. “Whatever those girls are planning, I do not want to find out that you’re in on it. Understand?” Dante feigned shock and hurt as he responded to Erick.

“What! Me? I would never!” Dante shook his head vigorously as if it would shake away and doubt that Erick had in him. Erick rolled his eyes so hard he thought his head would roll with them.

“Just, don’t make it worse.” Erick opened the door to his room, resignation already settling over his heart.

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep ‘em in line.” Dante mocked a solute towards a very grumpy looking King Erick before turning to leave.

Making his way to the washroom, Erick found himself exhausted but unable to calm his racing mind. Even after dipping into a tub of warm water, he couldn’t stop thinking. He found that his thoughts kept circling back to his Beast Master. He couldn’t stop thinking about Flora Acker.