5
The baron leaned back and clasped his hands together in his lap as he studied Caius. His horrible humor sank away as a smile replaced it. “I see. So you are the fabled brother of which the lad speaks, the one called Caius Ornello.”
Caius stretched to his full height. “I am, now where is he?”
The baron stroked his chin as he studied him. “From the stories your brother says of you I thought you would be twice as tall and broad.” He shook himself and chuckled. “Where are what little manners I put upon myself?” the baron mused as he gestured down at his lower half. “Though you must excuse me for not rising to greet you. My legs were not as they once were.” I glanced over my shoulder at the portrait that hung above the hearth. The baron frowned. “That is a relic of a bygone man
