In The Name Of Love

Chapter 4

We pulled into the station and for a wonder it was more or less empty. I'd never been to London before, but my housemate Frankie told me over and over again the wonders her home city offered. The thing I took most note of was how busy she made it sound. She said there were always people around no matter what time it was. Half five in the morning seemed to defy that because apart from us and the people on the rest of the train, there was no one about. Apparently the train had been put on especially, to make the journey more financially worth while to the rail company than just taking a royal party.

I stepped out to the huge space that greeted us. Everything was white and until you hit the red brick building which made up most of the station. A few members of staff, the ones who had come with us, made sure the other passengers didn't get too close or jostle us. We got a few looks from tired passengers. But then one hurried passed knocking Dorina over. She fell with a cry and Mircea was instantly by her side.

Now, I might have been pretty quiet as a rule, but ignorance seriously rubbed me up the wrong way. It probably had something to do with people constantly saying Roy should learn to integrate himself properly and them telling me that my brother was a weirdo. But even if it wasn't him people were being ignorant about and towards ignorance still riled me up faster than anything else.

I took a couple of steps towards the guy who'd knocked Dorina over and grabbed his expensively clad arm.

"You gonna apologise?" I demanded.

The man looked down at me with stony grey eyes and with about as much emotion. "For what?"

"For what?" I asked incredulously. "You knocked her right over and just walked off," I said and pointed to Dorina. "Oh and look, she'd bleeding!"

There was a cut on her cheek from the rough surface of the floor and her hands and knees were a mess too.

"Ain't my problem, love," he said, shrugged my hand off and walked way.

I tried to take a step after him, but Mircea's hand on my arm made me stop even though he didn't pull me back.

"Some people are just ignorant," he said.

"Ignorant?" I asked incredulously and turned to face him. "That's not just plain ignore –"

"We have bigger problems to worry about, Wyn," he said. "Somehow the press found out."

"What?" I squeaked.

"They're not here yet. We should hurry."

"What about Dorina?" I asked. I didn't wait for his reply but walked over to her and took her bloodied hands in mine. I spoke to her in German. "I'm sorry that happened to you."

"It's not your fault, Ma'am," she said.

"Anwyn," I said firmly and looked her hands over. Mum was a vet and had taught me bits and pieces about wounds and how to treat them, the superficial ones anyway. "You'll be fine. Once the stinging has settled down it'll be more annoying than anything else."

"Thank you."

"Wyn, we need to go," Mircea said.

I nodded and let him lead me away.

The platform was empty now. We hurried down it and someone gave me a ticket. It was one of the Romanian staff who'd come up with us.

"What the hell do I need this for?" I whispered to Mircea.

He looked down at me. "I thought you said you've been on trains before."

"Well, yeah of course I have. But I normally throw the ticket away as soon as the conductor's seen it! Why could I possibly need it now?"