Silvertip Mountain Severed souls

FitzDutiful didn’t sound at all impressed by his son’s attempts at settling this matter. Mason was feeling more and more like an outcast. He had been bludgeoned and now he was in for another beating. 

His body convulsed involuntarily at the thought of hating Zaria. He could never, he didn’t think, no matter what she ever did. “I don’t hate Zari…” He breathed miserably. And, since his father had not accepted his contact, Mason took a step backwards. Away from the kind and doting father he had always previously known. “I like her.” Succinct, truthful, but from the edge to his tone it was clear he didn’t just mean ‘like’.