Author's Note:

TRIGGER WARNING!

Another one :D They're all over this plotline. What else could one expect though? Details below.

Chapter XXVII – Breaking Your Chains

"So, once more, you heard him enter the room and kept trying to sleep?"

One of the guards in the room kept asking over and over, trying to poke holes into the story. Aeyrin wasn't sure why. What did he think happened? That she lured Duful to the room somehow?

The others, at least, were much more sympathetic.

It had been a strange development to the evening. Right after she and Bishop rallied from the shock, he ran down to get the owner of the inn and explained what happened. The man alerted the guards, of course, and now there were seven people in the room, along with Duful's disturbing corpse.

Aeyrin was sitting on the bed, very uncomfortable, still in Bishop's old ripped shirt and nothing else, trying to cover herself as best as she could with it, with deep bloody scratches on the backs of her exposed thighs and huge welts on her neck and face. She understood why she needed to stay like this, but she was still so uncomfortable. And the constant guilty looks for asking her to stay barely dressed that Bishop kept throwing at her weren't making it any easier. He himself was not in much of a better state anyway. He stayed in his armor, but his face was bruised, his nose was likely broken and there was blood under it. Not to mention the rips in his armor and an unhealed cut on his bicep.

Then there was the owner. He still looked in shock. He wasn't talking much, he only tried his best not to look at Duful's corpse on the floor. And he was probably trying not to think too much about the imminent cleaning.

There was the house guard too. He looked so guilty. He was trying to explain everything to everyone all the time, even jumping in to answer questions directed at someone else. Like he was trying to make up for his lapse. He kept looking over at Aeyrin in concern, as if he was blaming himself for the state she was currently in.

And lastly, there were the three actual city guards. Two of them were very understanding about the situation, but not this one. What was wrong with him?

"I thought it was Bishop!" Aeyrin huffed. She said it a hundred times before already.

"Right. Your husband," the mean guard nodded.

"Fiancé. Yes," she corrected him. "He had a key. I thought it was him."

"He had your key," the guard turned towards Bishop.

"Yes, already," Bishop rolled his eyes. "He must have stolen it in the afternoon. I didn't have it then either."

"Why didn't you report a stolen key then?" The guard growled.

"I thought I left it here. It happens," Bishop sighed. Haven't they been over this already?

"Can you stop? This was my fault. I let the man up here," the house guard interrupted the exchange. "I told you, this is all on me, he had a key and he said his brother gave it to him to get something from his room. He… kinda looked like him… I'm sorry," he looked at Bishop guiltily once more.

"Was he your brother?" One of the guards piped up. Throughout the whole process, they never really asked. Bishop considered that lucky. He didn't want them to look into things too much, but then again, he felt really shitty about the house guard blaming himself. Duful would have found another way to get there. That poor fuck had nothing to do with this. Not really.

"Half-brother," Bishop let out a resigned sigh. "Yeah."

"And you're not pissed about your 'half-brother' being killed?" The mean guard narrowed his eyes at Bishop.

"'Pissed'?!" He scoffed. "I would have fucking done much worse to him for trying to touch her."

The mean guard seemed even more riled by this, but the other two nodded in understanding.

"Look, he was a fucking asshole. He stole my key to get here and now he paid for it. I'm glad he's dead. He had it coming for a long time, but you have all the evidence of what happened already. She killed him in self-defense. That's it," Bishop tried to put an end to the questioning.

They had the house guard's report, witnesses down in the common room, confirming when they spotted Duful at the inn. He did kind of stand out. Then there were the reports of the screams from the patrons in the nearby rooms and Bishop's arrival. Everything added up according to all the evidence. They had nothing on them. And if it weren't for this pesky guard, the questioning would have been over with already.

"And you said your own injuries are from…" the guard continued to ask Bishop.

"A minotaur. Axe, axe, fist," Bishop pointed to the slash on his arm, broken leather on his chest and his face respectively. "I was hunting and I accidentally attracted its attention."

There was no reason to have the guards after Ost for being involved in this. As of now, they had no real idea about who Bishop was or about the clan. Getting anyone else involved would only make things worse. Or at least too unpredictable for Bishop's liking.

"Hunting at night?" The guard would not let up.

"Yeah. Hunting at night. Nocturnal animals are a thing too," Bishop sighed again. "And I'd rather go when she's asleep so that I don't waste time on it when we can be together." It wasn't exactly the reason now, but it was valid enough.

"Can you stop? Everyone told you everything," the house guard scowled. "If you should be questioning anyone more, it's me. I was the one that failed."

"Ain't that the fucking truth," the nasty guard scoffed. "First that rich fop's missing coat and now this. What the fuck do you pay him for?" He looked at the dazed owner. "I recommend a change in security."

"N-noted," the owner only nodded absentmindedly.

"No! It wasn't his fault. Anyone would have let him upstairs," Aeyrin finally piped up again. Poor house guard. He was taking all of this on himself. She was sure that he was only Duful's first plan of action. There were likely other alternatives.

"Are we done? What else could you possibly need?" Bishop growled. "We need to see to our wounds and shit."

"Let's just go. We have the reports and we'll need to keep this room barred for now anyway, so nobody will do shit to the body," one of the nicer guards nodded at the mean one. "It's four in the morning, let them get some sleep after this shit," he gave Aeyrin another sympathetic smile.

"Fine. But they need to leave the room. And we'll get someone stationed here for now," the pestering guard grumbled. "Got it?" He addressed the owner, again tearing him from his daze.

"Y-yes. New room… got it. And… stationed guard… that's for the best."

"I'll take them to one of the free rooms," the house guard quickly volunteered. He was being all too nice about all this. Hopefully he wouldn't lose his job here. It was unfortunate that Bishop and Aeyrin actually caused both his 'lapses'.

The two of them gathered all the stuff in their room eagerly and they followed the house guard to a new one. He took them to another floor altogether, as if he wanted to get them as far away from the scene of their perceived trauma as possible. At least the halls were empty as they traversed. Aeyrin was still only in the ripped shirt.

Once they were inside their new room, the house guard wavered in the door, still looking at them guiltily.

"Can I… pay for healing for you? I can go get a priest and…" he stammered a bit before Aeyrin interrupted him.

"It's alright. I'm a healer. I can fix our wounds. I just… didn't want to heal the evidence…" she gave him a wry smile.

"Maybe I can get you some meal or another bottle of wine or something…" he continued as he looked at the bottle already in Aeyrin's hand. She wasn't gonna leave it. It would surely take the stress off. "Or… I don't know, whatever you need. I just… if you haven't fought him off…"

"She did though," Bishop interrupted him this time. "We're good. Just… don't worry about it. My brother was intent on doing something with or without your compliance. So… thanks for not being an asshole with the guards. Last thing we would need is to be arrested for this shit."

"Oh, of course!" The man nodded quickly.

"You just worry about your job. I hope they don't fire you," Aeyrin gave him a concerned look.

"I'll be fine," the man gave her a wry smile in turn. "And… I promise, I will never let anyone else come to your room unless they're with either of you."

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea," Bishop smirked. Ost was sure to be thinking of retaliation right about now. He couldn't help but wonder how long it would take for him to find out about Duful's death.

One thing was for certain. He had to do something about Ost. That asshole needed to be dealt with very soon. For the sake of the two of them, the siblings who were now in a lot of potential danger from him, and… also for the sake of Bishop's hunting knife.

That asshole took it! Bishop almost felt naked without it anywhere on him. He'd had that thing forever. He remembered getting it like it was yesterday. He was teaching Jules how to steal properly and they worked together to take this knife from some hunter in the woods. Easy target. Jules was the distraction while Bishop stole this thing. It was old and weathered, the wood didn't have any pretty carvings on it and the blade was mere steel – nothing fancy. But it was his. And it was important to him.

He would get it back.

And he would deal with Ost, just like Aeyrin had dealt with Duful.

Soon, they would both be gone from their lives and the siblings would be safe too.

They deserved some peace from these monsters.

…

Bishop and Aeyrin didn't have the energy to do anything else that night but get quickly healed, wash off the blood, and sleep. It had been a trying night.

And while Bishop couldn't help but worry a little about his siblings, he was even more worried about leaving Aeyrin. She may have fared well against Duful, even caught off-guard, but that didn't guarantee the same success if Ost decided to pay her a visit too.

Then again, the security at the inn was now on alert. There would be an actual city guard there, along with the house guard who would surely not let anyone upstairs under any circumstances. It was a little safer than before – and nobody could have stolen any keys now.

Bishop had been thinking about that. It must have happened in the afternoon at the tavern. He kept imagining this plan from Ost's side. What was all that? His best guess was that Ost and Duful found out the truth about Bishop's presumed 'wealth' and his 'noble whore' somehow in the morning or the day before – they likely filled in the gaps themselves. And so, they concocted a plan to take everything away from Bishop. Ost may have wanted to take his shit, his fancy equipment and weapons, while Duful was supposed to handle the rest. But, the afternoon hunt had to be some sort of reconnaissance. They did nothing to either him or Aeyrin. Maybe it was what Ost actually said. Maybe he wanted to see Bishop in action. It made sense. They had no idea who they were really dealing with. Ost was probably curious about how wary he should be of Bishop. That's why he left the minotaur battle mostly to him. And then, when he knew, he figured that his best bet would be to incapacitate Bishop right away with that horn. He just didn't count on the plate in his armor. And Duful didn't count on Aeyrin being able to defend herself.

All in all, this shitstorm could have turned out much worse than it did. But it was far from over.

And Bishop was still conflicted about what to do next when the late morning rays of sun woke him up.

Aeyrin stirred beside him the second he moved. She didn't sleep well all night – he noticed. She kept tossing and turning and rousing a bit every now and then. He felt shitty for that. This shit was still all on him. And they haven't even talked properly about anything that happened. They needed to call the house guard right away so that it wouldn't all get more suspicious, and then they were both just too exhausted. It's been a weird night and it still all felt kind of up in the air.

"Morning, princess," he murmured groggily when he noticed her eyes flutter open too.

"Morning," she answered with a similarly hoarse voice. Usually they would laze about in bed for a while yet, if not doing something even more energetic, but this time, Aeyrin sat up on the bed right away, apparently ready to get up.

"Hey," as much as he didn't feel like it, he sat up too and pulled her back into his chest momentarily. "You feeling alright?"

"Yeah, just… still tired. I didn't sleep too well," she let out an exhausted sigh. "I kept hearing someone walk around in the halls."

"Hmm… yeah, it's fucking shitty that Ost is still out there," Bishop grumbled. There was this looming, pissed off, threat over them. All the time. "I just… aside from the bad sleep…"

"I'm alright, Bish," she gave him a reassuring peck on his cheek. "I promise, just a little… paranoid, I guess. But I promise, I'm fine, I'll be fine when we're done with this."

"Good," he smiled. "You know… I didn't get a chance to say this, but… that was really fucking impressive. No Shouts, no werewolf, no equipment and you handled an asshole twice your size and strength."

Aeyrin did smile a bit too at that, before her face twisted into a cringe. "Gods, he was strong."

"Yeah, both of them are fucking freaks of nature," Bishop scoffed. They were almost as big as Farkas and Vilkas and that was saying something. That's why it was so important to fight smart. And Aeyrin did that better than anyone. Impaling someone on a door handle was probably the definition of 'thinking on one's feet'.

"Maybe we should get our gear and go find Ost together," Aeyrin finally tried to broach the subject. What point was there in hiding her away now? Ost knew about her. They were in advantage together.

She moved away from Bishop's embrace, readjusting the ripped shirt she was still wearing, as she shuffled towards the nightstand. There was that bottle of wine there, half-drunk. Even though she had just woken up, she kind of felt like having some wine. She was still on edge and so tired and this would hopefully help with both. A few sips would be the right wake up for her.

And she was already bracing herself for Bishop trying to keep her away from this somehow.

"You know what? Yeah."

Surprisingly enough, those were his next words. Aeyrin almost choked on the deep swig she had just taken.

Really?

"Why not? He'll be fucking useless against the two of us. We just gotta get him somewhere outside the city, maybe in the family's cave. But… yeah," Bishop nodded eagerly. That was for the best. That was the safest option. Neither of them would have to worry about one another and they were always best as a team anyway.

Aeyrin nodded with eagerness. Thank the Gods he agreed to it. And so easily too.

"Alright. Let's get some food and head out. Get rid of this bastard for good," she said determinedly. It was about time. She couldn't wait until they could just come back here and relax, fix up their torn clothes and armor and enjoy a peaceful evening without any worries for a change.

She took another deep swig of the wine, a little bit to support her determination, and she hopped off the bed. Not only was she happy to be included and to be able to watch Bishop's back, she was also kind of looking forward to getting her armor on and getting into an actual fight. Not a brawl. She wasn't much of a brawler. Last night was so lucky.

She walked over to the dresser where she had stashed their packs several hours ago and she started to take them out. Bishop was still in bed, but she felt surprisingly energetic now, despite the bad sleep. Though her head was spinning a little, but that wasn't a big deal. Maybe a bit more wine would help with that. It really woke her up.

She left the packs on the floor and readied herself to take a few more steps back towards the nightstand, but as she straightened up, the spinning got worse. She wasn't sure why. Maybe she straightened up too fast. But as she took the first step, her leg felt… weak. Very weak. Suddenly she felt like she couldn't stand on it any longer. And there was a strange taste in her mouth.

She didn't even notice she fell down.

She only noticed Bishop by her side after a while, watching her with concern and trying to collect her from the floor.

"What's wrong? Fuck, you don't look good," his brows creased deeply. She looked pale, despite her tanned olive skin.

"I… I don't know…" Aeyrin mumbled. She felt like her words were oddly slurred. What was happening? "I feel… I feel weird."

It was nothing she had felt before. Things were getting blurry. Bishop was talking, but she couldn't hear him anymore.

She couldn't see anything soon enough either.

…

Soft chanting echoed in her ears pleasantly.

It was the first thing she noticed.

She was on a familiar surface. She recognized it instantly. She had spent ages cleaning these things – an infirmary cot. Now the chanting made sense. She could hear some familiar prayers to Zenithar, but it was all muffled behind thick walls. There must have been a mass going on right now.

She was in a chapel. What happened? She just remembered stumbling and feeling really dizzy. Why did that happen to her?

Nobody seemed to be taking care of her right now. And she didn't feel so strange anymore. Just really tired. She could tell that she was dressed in her usual clothes. Maybe Bishop did that, thank the Gods. She really didn't want to promenade herself around anymore in her torn sleeping shirt.

Then she felt a hand squeeze hers at last. She could recognize Bishop's touch anywhere. That's how she recognized that Duful wasn't him.

"Bish… what… happened?" She mumbled. She wasn't sure if he could hear her with how quiet her voice was, but he did answer her soon.

"Poison," he sighed. "Fuck, I should have known. I'm sorry, I don't know why I didn't think of that. After all that shit with Gandrehel…"

Gandrehel? Duful poisoned her? But…

Oh Gods, the wine. That stupid wine she just didn't want to leave behind. Ugh. Why did she drink that? Stupid. So stupid.

"They found out pretty soon," Bishop continued to explain as she finally managed to open her eyes and look at him. "They knew you were poisoned, but not if it was lethal or how to cure it. But they said if I found out what poison that is, it would be easier. I just… brought them the rest of the wine. I figured that was it. You said Duful was walking around the room last night, he must have done that then. And the priest managed to get the antidote for you from that."

Good. That was good. Antidote. She would be fine.

"How long?" She asked groggily.

"Only a few hours. You'll be fine," Bishop moved his hand to slowly stroke over her cheek. "I still don't know what the poison was supposed to do, but… it doesn't matter. I just hope that fucking asshole didn't do any more damage than that."

Wasn't that the truth? Duful was more cunning than she actually expected him to be. She had to wonder if his intention actually was to get in that bed with her in the first place, or if he did that only after she spoke and 'invited him'.

"Hmm… good. I'm… I'm good. We can just… go to the caves in a little while," Aeyrin nodded. She would definitely feel even better after a spell.

"No. None of that. You need to recover. They said it would take time. Apparently that shit was really fast-acting. No caves today. And… I probably should stay here with you. Even though those assholes are giving me the evil eye," he looked back at one of the priests scurrying around the room. Apparently visitors weren't supposed to stay there for hours. Apparently they got 'in the way'.

Aeyrin felt conflicted about what he just said. And she could hear it in his voice – he was conflicted too.

She knew that the clan might have been in danger right now. She knew that Ost needed to be dealt with as soon as possible, for everyone's peace of mind. She didn't want Bishop to go do this alone. She didn't want him to risk himself against Ost again, but she also knew that he wanted to go. He was just keeping himself here for her sake. Because he wanted to protect her more than he wanted to protect any of his siblings.

"Bish… you don't have to stay here with me," she tried to reach out for his hand in turn, but her own arms still felt a bit weak.

"What? You can barely move. And what if this was part of the plan?" Bishop scowled. "What if he wants to get to you here?"

"And do what?" She let out a weak chuckle. This was a public place. There were priests everywhere. And they surely had at least the amount of combat training she had in the temple. She was safe here. "People will be here to watch over me, Bish. I know you want to go."

Bishop only let out a sigh. He didn't. He wanted to stay with her, or he wanted her for backup. But… that was not an option now.

Fuck. Stupid fucking Duful. This all went wrong.

But… this was eating him up a bit. He should go check on those idiot siblings of his.

"I'll… I'll just check the caves and I'll be back, alright?" He continued to stroke her cheek reassuringly. He just wanted to see if someone didn't get killed over this shit. He wasn't sure why Ost would blame the siblings, but he knew how Torban used to do shit. When Torban had someone escape him, or Gods forbid actually beat him in a fight, he would always take it out on his kids. He probably needed someone weak he knew he could take to make himself feel better.

"Go. I'll be fine," Aeyrin nodded tiredly. "Just be careful, please."

He would be, though he was hoping it wouldn't be necessary.

He would just check.

…

Strange sounds alerted Bishop as he walked through the cave, bouncing off the walls.

It wasn't hard to identify as he continued. He had heard this before. Soft resigned whimpers, muffled thumping sounds and the voice. Ost was here. There was no mistaking it. Bishop couldn't hear exactly what he was saying, it was distorted by his angry growls.

He was here. Good. It wasn't good that he was clearly tormenting one of the siblings, but this was a perfect chance.

He would die. For everything he had been doing to them, but most of all for his plans on what to do to Bishop and Aeyrin.

Bishop didn't hesitate to unsheathe his sword already. This was going to be quick. Hopefully.

He continued with determination. He was… actually excited, despite any trepidations. This was the chance to end it all at last. After Ost was dead, this was done. He could leave the clan with a clear conscience and finally get some closure on this whole mess.

When he reached the large chamber, he noted the number of people in. Everyone was there. Rina was sitting by one of the walls, drawing her weird runes in the dirt and muttering some fucked up prayers. Liesl and Galric were crouched together at the other side of the chamber watching the main attraction in fear. Much like the children. They were all huddled in another clump elsewhere, with Dylia trying her best to calm down Ressel and keep him from crying. All the while Kari lay on the ground, whimpering helplessly as Ost continued to deliver violent kicks to her stomach.

Bishop could just walk over there silently and stab him. Right then and there.

But unfortunately, he was in the line of sight of the children. And little Chomp didn't manage to keep herself composed. Her loud shocked gasp at the sight of Bishop with his sword ready to strike rang through the cave, getting Ost's attention.

He looked at the young half-Orc first, then he promptly turned around to see the source of the commotion.

There were no words. Ost only gave Bishop a vicious sneer and he promptly brandished his scimitar.

Fine. Duel it is then. Bishop knew that Ost was likely very good with that thing. He had been good even when he was fifteen. But that didn't matter. Bishop had defeated worse. He defeated Thorn, he fought so many fucking dragons. And just yesterday he killed a minotaur, though granted, not with his sword.

He could do this.

Everything fell silent in the chamber. Even Ressel's cries. And they all stared with terrified anticipation at what was inevitably going to happen.

Bishop didn't hesitate any longer. He charged at Ost, ready to end him right away. After all, he still had the advantage. Ost still didn't know about his enchanted weapon at least. It was just too bad that the cave was too small for him to use the bow. That bastard would have been dead already if it weren't.

Ost seemed ready. He parried Bishop's attack easily. Not only that, his momentum actually managed to make Bishop stagger back a bit and he slashed against his torso right away. He was quick. But the sword only grazed the hidden plate, fortunately.

Bishop slashed at Ost again, but he parried once more, locking swords with him. Bishop tried to overpower him in the lock, but it didn't matter that his weapon was made of sturdier metal or whatever fancy shit he could afford. Ost was so fucking strong, Bishop's hand began to shake soon.

He couldn't hold out. His sword was brought down by Ost's scimitar, and Ost managed to land in a cut. A deep gash actually, on Bishop's sword-wielding arm.

Bishop let out a pained grunt. Holding his weapon just became fucking painful, but he couldn't let go. He couldn't let it end like this.

Ost's speed in melee was staggering. He heaved again to deliver another vicious slash at Bishop, but then, suddenly, Ost stumbled on spot.

It took a second for Bishop to notice what happened. Kari, with her face bruised and blood trickling from her nose, was still there curled on the ground. But now she was holding firmly onto Ost's ankle.

She actually did something! She actually fought back. What the fuck?

And her action did not go unnoticed.

As Ost violently shook her off, there was already another problem he had to deal with. Talos charged at him fearlessly, jumping onto his back and trying to hold on to his neck. And in a matter of a few seconds, Liesl was clinging to his arm, trying to yank it as much as she could so that he wouldn't be able to attack.

"You little shits! You have no fucking idea how much you're gonna pay for this!" Ost yelled as he tried to shake off all three of them at the same time. He would have been successful for certain, had he the time.

But he was out of time.

For good.

Dylia and Galric were already charging to help too, but it was no longer necessary. Bishop couldn't stab Ost, not with Talos on his back – he might have stabbed both of them. But fortunately, Talos was the first one to get shook off, falling onto the ground. The second he did, Bishop plunged his sword into Ost's chest, penetrating his leather armor and sending jolts of lightning through his entire body.

Kari and Liesl both shrieked and they let go of Ost promptly. Fuck, the lightning must have gotten them a bit too. Bishop didn't think of that. But they let go so quickly, it probably wasn't that bad.

The important thing was that Ost was done for. For good measure, Bishop slashed his sword against his throat.

Ost's blood sprayed over him and he fell back onto the ground in an instant. Limp. Well… not on the ground. On Kari. Fuck, she had it rough today. As everyone still stared in shock, Bishop promptly rolled Ost away from the hurt and groaning Kari, freeing her from the hulk's weight. In the process, he noticed a familiar worn hilt sheathed in a small pouch on his belt. The hunting knife.

Bishop didn't hesitate to take it back. It was probably even more of a satisfying gesture than the killing blow.

"He's dead," Galric interrupted the silence with a gasp. "He's… he's really dead."

"Ingrate, fucking shit up again," Rina growled from her corner, still drawing runes furiously. "You've doomed everyone."

"What?!" Bishop scoffed at her. He did not expect any gratitude from her, but how the fuck did he 'doom' anyone?

"He's gonna kill us," Dylia whimpered. She had been quite ready to charge Ost, but now she looked so scared. Everyone looked so scared. What the fuck?

"Kill you? He's dead!" Bishop's eyes widened at them. What did they think would happen? He would kill them from Aetherius?

"Duful, you idiot!" Galric hissed.

Oh. They didn't know.

"Duful's dead," Bishop announced. "He attacked Aeyrin last night and she killed him."

"Really?" Liesl gaped at him in disbelief. He wasn't sure if she was shocked about Aeyrin, or anyone, managing to kill Duful, or if she was just incredulous about the fact that both their tormentors were dead.

"Really," Bishop gave her a small smile. "You… actually fought," he smirked. That was something he did not expect to happen. The memories of his duel with Torban still felt fresh. Everyone just stared, so sure Bishop would lose, so sure they were all doomed to suffer their captivity forever. But not this time. They tried to break their own chains at last.

"We fought," Dylia looked at Talos in astonishment. "We can fight. Anyone."

"Don't get too cocky," Bishop's smirk instantly turned into a concerned scowl. That was definitely not the philosophy they should be adopting.

"Right! Fight smart. You taught us," Dylia beamed at him.

Well… alright, hopefully they actually understood what it meant.

"So… they're really both dead," Galric shook his head incredulously. "We did it! Now just to…"

"Now just to enjoy our freedom," Liesl clapped her hands in excitement. "We're really free."

"For now," Rina mumbled under her breath, but nobody seemed to care about her bullshit anymore.

"Right. Some of his friends around here may be looking for him," Bishop nodded. "Might be a good idea to leave again. Soon."

"But we have no money," Liesl scowled. They likely had no idea where Ost and Duful would be hiding the money they were using.

"It's fine," Kari promptly interjected as she sat up on the ground and wiped some of the blood from her face. All she managed was to spread it around more. "We'll figure it out. Right now, we just… take a breath."

"And celebrate!" Liesl beamed. "We gotta steal some booze!"

"Yes. Arkay's will was done," Kari let out a wistful sigh, then she gave a meaningful nod to Liesl. "It's time to move on."

"Yeah," Liesl gave her a determined nod back. "Let's get this fucking asshole out of our sight. We'll get some drinks then. Are you gonna come see us in the evening, Bishop? Celebrate the victory?" She turned to him with excitement.

Well.. that actually sounded nice. As much as his family tended to piss him off, this was actually a tempting offer for some reason. It would be a nice closure. And he could make sure that they wouldn't do anything stupid next. It might really be best for them to mostly go their separate ways. If they could.

He needed to go check on Aeyrin now though. And he needed to let it all sink in fully.

It was still a little hard to believe. What he was here to do was done. He would soon be free from his family for good. And he didn't have to have that stupid guilty feeling anymore, that he was leaving them to some dire fate partially of his making.

It was a victory he couldn't wait to enjoy.

* Trigger warning: familial abuse and violence, children being involved in an armed fight