He thought this was funny?! Brenna wanted to smack Zavist for laughing at her, if only with his eyes. She would probably think this was funny tomorrow, but at the moment it was anything but funny to her.
But he had a point. Gracie did see him as a safety blanket. She would likely go to sleep faster if he was in the room.

"I would like to speak to you on the morrow my lord," she replied to King Wrath. "But I will say this before I go: I do not wish for money. I have been providing for my daughter just fine. All I ask for is protection. Lesser attacks are becoming more frequent. I want my child protected."

Gracie had been looking at the King but her eyes wandered to the scarred man. He looked mean and scary, but his eyes were really pretty. They looked like gold. Gracie found herself wanting to get closer and see the color better. She started to walk towards him, but she stumbled on the bottom of the long shirt and would have fallen if her Mommy hadn't grabbed her. Gracie continued to stare at the scarred man as her Mommy kept talking. She wasn't signing anymore so Gracie didn't know what was going on and hence lost interest in the conversation. She was thinking back to her Daddy and everything she had learned about him tonight. Had he been mean? Had he been bad? Was Gracie bad now too? Was she the reason her Mommy cried sometimes when she thought Gracie wasn't watching?
Her large eyes bored into the scarred man as if his golden eyes held the answers. He looked scary, but there was something else in his eyes too.
Anger.
But a kind of Sad Anger. It made her curious. She had never seen two such different emotions together before.


~~ 

Later on, after they were back in the room, Brenna gave a playful glare at Zavist. "Not. One. Word." Brenna said, her chheks still blushing cherry red. 
Gracie went to Zavist, tugging on his hand to pull him down to her level. She started signing, which Brenna translated. "You protect us, right? Mommy and me safe, right? Mommy not cry anymore, right? You promise Mommy no more cry."

"Gracie," Brenna spoke and signed. "That's not fair to Zavist to-"
Gracie waved her hand to interrupt, making the sign for Z in front of her nose, the same place the sign for wolf was made. Brenna's eyes widened. "Really? You sure baby?"
Gracie nodded firmly. Brenna looked at Zavist. "Gracie has given you a sign name. In the deaf world a name sign is given to mean a specific person instead of spelling their name all the time. It is the sign for you and you alone. It can only be given by a deaf person. Mine is -" she showed him the sign for B and touched it to her chin "- because my name starts with a B and the chin is where the sign for Mother is made. Gracie's is -" Brenna made the sign for G and moved it across her palm in a scribbling motion "- G for Gracie along with the sign for draw. A person's sign name is connected to something about them that makes them unique. Gracie has made your sign name a Z... and the sign for wolf," Brenna bit her lip for a second before adding. "I hope you aren't offended. She means it in a good way. It means you are important to her. She hasn't even given Dr. Havers a sign name and she's known him since she was born."

She really hoped Zavist would not be angry. The thought pained her for some reason. It had to be because he had saved them.
It had to be.