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Christopher rolled his eyes as Felicity bullied Amber to sit down.

He couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief as Amber relaxed the longer she sat with them.

Felicity’s chattering was sure to help get her mind off of whatever happened.

“I told Christopher you have been helping me work on my embroidery,” she said.

Amber shook her head. “I haven’t done much. You have said yourself that you didn’t notice any improvement.”

Christopher laughed. “I’m sure that has nothing to do with your teaching skills and everything to do with her not paying attention or following directions.”

“I pay attention plenty,” Felicity pouted.

Amber smiled like she was biting back a laugh. “I’m sure she’s doing her best.”

He rolled his eyes. “Why do I somehow doubt that?”

Felicity argued, “I am! It isn’t my fault embroidery is so tedious.”

“It can be, especially when you’re first starting out. You just need to learn a bit of patience.”

“You might as well get out while you’re ahead,” Christopher said.

Then, out of now where, Amber suddenly stiffened beside them.

His eyes darted to follow hers. It wasn’t hard to see what made her react. Thomas and Simon were coming straight towards them.

“There you are, my dear,” Thomas cooed, pushing his way in to sit beside her. “I was wondering where you ran off to.”

“I haven’t gone anywhere,” she said, eyes locked on the ground.

“Is that right?” Simon sighed. “Then there must be far more guests here than we were expecting, given how easily you seem to disappear into the crowd.

Christopher watched her shut down the more they spoke. If anything, they seemed worse now than they were when he last saw her with them.

He couldn’t help but wonder if it was because of him.

He met her eyes from across the group, and she motioned for them to go.

Looks like they were making it worse. With a sigh, he got to his feet. “Felicity, can you come with me for a moment.”

“Go?” she balked. “Now?”

“Yes, now; now, come on.”

Then he got to his feet and started to walk without waiting to make sure she was following.

“Hey!” Felicity chased after him. “What was that about? Why did you abandon Amber like that?”

He shook his head. “You don’t understand. I didn’t abandon her. She wanted us to go.”Needed us to go.“We were making them worse for her.”

“But why?” Felicity shook her head, eyes wide.

“Because we were getting in the way of their goal.”

She sighed, shaking her head. “Poor Amber.”

“She’s a strong girl. She’s going to get through it just fine. She’s going to need us when she’s done.”