A Fortune I Seek

Chapter 8

The group walked ahead of where Bel and I lagged behind. They were joking and laughing and catching up on lost time, as though they had not just been together the week before. Taka had his arms around Lovelyn and Winifred, Perdita walked beside them with her arms around herself but just as invested in the conversation as her friends. They looked comfortable together, like the same feathers of a very unique ... and very bizarre ... bird.

Regardless of their oddities, Bel watched them happily from where he strolled leisurely beside me, "I so often forget what it is like, seeing them in this way. Our boarding school in Rome combines elementary students with university students, so we all have different classes and different schedules. Perdita is class president, Lovelyn is in three sports and is head of the debate team, Taka founded a home for underprivileged children who would otherwise be on the streets, and Winifred has spent the last five semesters volunteering in political offices across the city."

Wow, not to mention their fearless leader who is the heir to his father's priceless company and ultimately the primary inheritor of the Luxton family fortune.

Talk about overachievers.

"We get so caught up in our lives that we forget what we truly cherish." Bel sighed, partially in reverence of his friends and their accomplishments, but also in sorrow of what they have sacrificed in order to maintain their social standing and familial reputation.

Of all our differences, upholding a family name is one pressure we share equally. However, he must bear the eyes of society while I must bear the secrets. Separate entities but just as powerful, and potentially just as dangerous as the other.

"It seems like you cherish your hunts above most else." I said quietly, "If you don't mind me prying, what did Perdita mean when she insinuated that you were not present last time?"

Bel watched his shoes kick at rocks on the sidewalk, "We do not often hunt together, our mentors have different approaches that we each have adopted and because of that, it is too hard for us to collaborate together. That is why it was so shocking when Ms. Marlowe came to us for help." He still had not looked up, "But on the last hunt that we were all involved in, I became too ... invested."

"And that is bad?"

"People got hurt." He said shortly. He did not speak of it as though it were a memory. He lamented his past mistakes as if it were a tragedy of yesterday, "I should have known better. I took the hunt too far."

Perdita's warning became much more clear, "And your friends, the other students, they are afraid history will repeat itself?"

"More or less." He grumbled, "But this time will be different. I am present and I will remain present. This hunt is not for me or about me, it is for and about Mr. Sutcliffe. If I just remember that, all will be well."

He did not sound convincing.

"In terms of protection," I glanced at the group in front of us, "Am I expected to keep you all safe?"

He considered it, "Is that a possibility?"

"Maybe. I might need to bring in some more help for a group this big." I counted the total number of those who would need protection, "For the five of you, in addition to your family, that is a lot to ask of one person. Even if I am a Wolfe-"

"My family?" He was pleasantly surprised, "Who said anything about protecting my family? Certainly not I."

Well ... technically no one mentioned it but, "I assumed it was implied."

Gratitude swallowed whatever snarky reply he had intended to make about a Wolfe protecting the Luxtons, "As much as I appreciate the assumption, my family was never a factor in this contact."