Balios winced, his ears folding back. He had been expecting Corinth to be overjoyed at seeing him -- as he himself had been -- and this cold reception tore at him. Iosef wasn't helping matters any. This whole journey was turning into a fiasco, and now he didn't know what he was supposed to do.

He had always imagined the northern pack as a place of open travel and happy wolves. Iosef had been happy, after all, everyone else had to be as well. And Orithia came down and visited all the time. Why didn't it work the other way around? Was it really true that Balios couldn't just come down and visit his brothers any time he wanted? That couldn't possibly be right. Why would his brothers choose some strange pack over their own family?

Still, he didn't want to stay and cause any further trouble with Corinth. What if his brother got hurt due to something Balios had done wrong? If being here was really as dangerous as everyone kept saying, was he making things worse for his meek brother? "...I'm sorry," he muttered, drawing away from Corinth, the hurt evident in his eyes. "I didn't mean...I just thought..." He sighed, heavily, ears drooping. "Never mind. I'll just go home. You don't need to bother your queen."