16
Azrikam dreaded the meeting. Of all the people he dealt with, all the bosses of the Magical Council, the criminals, the ruthless cops, the man he was meeting was, by far, the scariest.
His father.
Ektolaf retired from his job at the Magical Council and wasn't working anymore, but he had lost none of his smarts, or his incisiveness.
He'd loosened the reins of the family management, letting Azrikam make most decisions. But when it came to the most important decisions, he was still in charge. He just delegated most day-to-day management to Azrikam.
But when Azrikam refused to accept his niece, his brother's daughter, into his family, Ektolaf overrode him.
"There are only two adult Morads," he told his son. "And I'm old. We can't leave the future of our family on the kids. They're too
