Dante bobbed his head slightly in embarrassment as Aria referred to him so formally as ‘sir’. He didn’t like titles or arrogant proclamations, hence why he had never understood his father’s quest for glory and desire to rule the world. No, he was much happier to blend into the crowd, to be equal to everyone else.

“Please,” he began quickly, as soon as the mare had finished speaking. “There’s no need to call me sir, Dante will do just fine.”

He offered her a small, warm smile to explain that he meant no offense by the correction before continuing his answer to her question. Dante wasn’t to know that Aria had travelled off the Lost Islands with her father, or how much she knew about him, if anything, therefore he would start from the beginning of what he knew—which wasn’t much, sadly.

“Not really, I’m afraid,” he replied apologetically. “He forfeited the Paradise to me when I challenged him for it months ago. I housed a couple members of his herd for a while, a mare of his and her two sons, but she never told me much about him before she left, except that she did not know the reason for his departure.”

Dante paused then, watching Aria for a moment before letting his gaze flicker over to Rhaella for a moment. She hadn’t said anything, which he assumed meant she didn’t know anything about Hollowpoint, which in turn increased his suspicions that she was a newcomer to the Islands as a whole. However, he did not like to leave her on the edges of the conversation, ignored—especially when she was such an intriguing character.

“I’m sorry I can’t be of more help,” he continued then, turning his attention back to Aria. “Are you looking for him or something?” He paused, then—whether she wanted him to or not—dragged Rhaella back into the conversation to share the limelight with him. “I assume you’re not a long lost friend of Hollowpoint’s, are you Rhaella?”

DANTE
a man possessed of some radical notions