Hidden knowledge

"Are you really considering this Eric? She's my daughter, mine!"

Mother's voice echoed from the other room, their tense conversation filling our ears from where we sat. The instructor pretended not to hear a word, but Belle exchanged worried glanced with me before returning to her reading.

"Victoria calm down, I'm merely informing you of what might be, " Our father says calmly. He sighs heavily. "They haven't said anything to me about it. But we might as well be prepared. "

"She's mine, " Mother repeats more adamantly. "I'm not giving them our daughter Eric! I don't care who they are or how powerful. They can't just take her! "

Mother sobbs heavily and curious me abandons my studies, staring into the hall that leads from the door to the study which we now occupy. I've never heard mother raise her voice. She's always calm yet strict, sometimes I hide myself in the garden just to avoid her scolding. Belle gets away scotch free. These days however she barely casts me a second glance.