Twenty-two

Asariel, 9:38 Dragon

"May I have this dance?"

Valerie extended her hand and added in the slightest curtsy, while sticking her tongue out of the corner of her mouth to reinforce that her formality with him was only a formality.

Cassius had barely found a moment of rest tonight and had just managed to sneak away and collapse into a chair. He enjoyed about a solid fifteen seconds off his feet before being accosted by Magister Arrentius' oldest, now officially his older sister-in-law after exchanging his marital vows with her younger sister, Andria, just hours ago.

The wedding ceremony had been long and formal, with an extensive script of rituals to follow not just because it was conducted under the auspices of the Imperial Chantry but also because it was the marriage within an Altus house, so it carried additional weight of importance and tradition. First came the church's ceremony, then came the specific Arrentius procedurals. The full ceremony had lasted for nearly two hours.

The reception that followed had been a whirlwind since. Flavius had called in nearly every Arrentius he could find – and was still on speaking terms with – to attend, while Junia had many of her closest Altus relatives from the Venuleia line of the Herathinos family. The guest list was filled out with various other more minor retainers under Magister Arrentius' rule – spouses of distant relatives, wealthy Mercator, and family friends, political allies and old classmates from the Circle from both Flavius' and Junia's school days.

Cassius had felt awkward and out of place for most of the evening. He was, after all, just a Praeteri. The wedding, the reception, the status of the party's many Altus guests, they were all leaps above his humble lineage. He could feel the eyes of some of the family members who looked at him with disgust, that Flavius would marry his second daughter so low. No matter what her feelings were, Cassius couldn't shake the reality that he debased her simply by existing and by her being bound to him. There were whispers at the edges of the wedding that he couldn't hear but that he knew were there.

Cassius couldn't be sure how many people Flavius had managed to cram in wherever he could find space in the manor. It was easily over two hundred and, for all he knew, could have been as high as five hundred. Every few minutes he saw someone he hadn't seen before at the party, and was exchanging well wishes, handshakes or dances with many people who he had no idea who they were. He had lost track of his new wife as she had been peeled away from his side for something by someone… he didn't know and had been too busy to inquire further.

Kordelia, despite officially maintaining her obstinate scowl at having to wear her fanciest dress and have her hair meticulously combed and done up, had nevertheless been following her older sister around all night. While outwardly she would profess to be miserable, her actions betrayed that she was actually secretly giddy beyond anyone's wildest expectation to be a part of this grand wedding.

Servilia and Flavia were officially lost. They were somewhere in the throng of people, but the last Cassius had seen of them, the girls had disappeared with a group of children that had accreted into something like a roving gang as they sought their own entertainment away from the adults.

But, outside of the official ceremony during which Valerie had stood faithfully at her sister's side, this was the first he had seen of her since.

His wife had looked stunning, her pale skin blending against the pure white silk of her wedding dress, contrasted by the darkness of her hair under her laced veil. Her ice blue eyes sparkled all night, illuminated by the love she felt for her husband, shining out like illuminated crystal and apparent for everyone to behold. She was radiant at his side, glowing and sparkling in his presence as they joined their hands, exchanged their vows and became husband and wife. She felt like the sun, the warmth and intensity of her affection bringing light and life to both chantry and manor as they swore themselves to one another.

Valerie, as always, stood in contrast to her sister. All of Andria's sisters had donned dresses of deep, bold crimson, both in the spirit of the autumn backdrop during which the wedding was taking place, but also because it was the primary heraldry of House Arrentius. Valerie's darker complexion mixed well against the dress and matched the subtle wine-red in her hair that she had inherited from her father. Her shoulders were bare as the dress hugged her body closely, fitted around the bodice but flowing outward at the skirts. She wore long gloves that stretched up her arms and a multi-layered thick necklace of gold that curved across her collarbone and drew the eye dangerously away from her face and toward her chest.

It was Andria's wedding, true, but Cassius could not discount that the event presented a prime opportunity for Flavius and Junia to display their oldest daughter to the many guests and their eligible, noble sons, even those that might share some of the same blood with in smaller proportions.

"Can I refuse?" Cassius teased as he enjoyed the final few seconds he could steal slouched off his feet.

"No," Valerie confirmed, reaching down and grabbing his hand and yanking him back up. "It may be your wedding, but I can still order you around, if I have to."

"Then I suppose I accept," Cassius said with a slight, courteous bow that made Valerie roll her eyes.

"Come on!" she said, pulling him away from the sweet, small respite of his chair out to where other couples were dancing. The musicians were playing slow, soulful notes on their stringed instruments, filling the hall with warm, comfortable, romantic songs that oozed through the air like a sultry west wind.

Valerie wasted no time as they found an empty spot in the floor, tugging Cassius forward until his body bumped against hers as she tossed his arm around her body to the small of her back. Her arm curled around his shoulder as she grabbed his other hand with her other hand, threading her fingers in between his. He wouldn't have been surprised if she began to lead him around the floor, but once they were situated, she only smiled and awaited his first step as she was trained to do as a lady of a noble Tevinter house. Cassius moved them slowly forward, falling into rhythm with the soulful strings.

"So, Caz, how does it feel?" Valerie asked as they slowly stepped and turned along the dance floor, minding the other couples spinning around them.

"I suppose it hasn't really set in yet," Cassius admitted. He had little part in all the preparation leading up to today and then the ceremony and everything had been such a whirlwind he hardly had time to think. He had been betrothed to Andria for a little over a year, but he had spent most of that last year serving Magister Arrentius same as he did when he was just a Praeteri retainer and not a son-in-law-to-be.

"Maybe it will hit you when you wake up in bed with my sister tomorrow morning," Valerie teased, smirking widely as soon as the suggestion made Cassius shift uncomfortably. It was his duty to consummate the marriage, he knew, but he had never done such a thing and he had certainly never thought of Andria in such a way before. She was five years his junior and although he had integrated well into the Arrentius family, he had rarely spent much time with her alone in his years of service to the house. None of that time he had spent dwelling on her as a romantic partner.

His relationship with Andria wasn't like the one he had with Valerie. She was quieter and proper and did what people would probably describe as "ladylike," while Valerie was much more a close confidant and friend, who was always seeking out his company for whatever activity she was up to next. While Valerie could put on her fancy clothes and speak politely and properly when the situation called for it, on the average day she was much more likely to be found out and about around the manor and making her business his business.

Cassius wondered how much of that was simply age – he and Valerie were less than a year apart – and how much more of it was their personalities and the deep friendship it has spawned.

"And here I didn't take you to be so squeamish," Valerie finally said after a short moment as he tried to think of a response that would be appropriate, but failed to come up with one.

"It's not that," Cassius said, although he hadn't spent much time considering that aspect of his marriage until she had so unexpectedly tossed it in his face. "It's just… not polite conversation."

Valerie rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue and made a quiet gagging sound, then laughed. Cassius strategically spun her away so her back was facing an older couple that was watching them and who raised eyebrows when Flavius' first daughter started faux gagging in the middle of a dance floor. She continued to chuckle to herself, turning her head slightly and smirking as she noticed that others had taken notice.

They danced quietly together, Cassius leading and Valerie following. A minute passed, and then perhaps two as they spun, Valerie showing no sign of wanting to quit. Her body edged a little closer and then a little closer until the gap between them had been almost completely erased and she was nearly resting her body against his. Her head craned up slightly as they grew closer together, bent back slightly before her nose bumped his chin.

"Do you remember when you first came here? We were out in the garden, under the pear tree, and I ordered you to kiss me?" Valerie asked.

It was a memory he hadn't thought about in some years. He had been at the Arrentius manor less than a month and, at that time, Valerie treated him more like a servant than a peer. She would drag him around the house, forcing him to do this or that. When he tried to make an excuse that he had matters to attend to elsewhere, she used to command him to stay, using a stern voice to bind him to her will by the power of her Altus blood. They were both barely teens at the time, her just turned past thirteen and him nearly fourteen.

She had folded her hands behind her back, stomped her foot and then ordered him to kiss her. She craned her head slightly, pursed her lips and closed her eyes, preparing for her command to be fulfilled.

Cassius smiled at the memory. "I still can't figure out why you were trying to get your father to kill me."

"He never would have found out," Valerie said.

"But if he did, I would have been on the first boat back to Carastes at best, or an Imperial prison, at worst," Cassius said.

"Oh don't be ridiculous, Caz," Valerie said with a dismissive snort.

"Praeteri like me can disappear for far less serious crimes," he said.

Valerie sighed, smiling again. "You never did do it, no matter how much I ordered. Not even when I threatened that if you didn't do I would tell my father you did anyway."

"It wouldn't have been proper," Cassius said to dismiss the notion.

Valerie's smile faded just a bit, the corners of her mouth drooping a little and her eyes falling so that they went from looking amused to registering as slightly more doleful. She tried to force the edges back up, but her heart wasn't in it to make the smile stick.

"You've always been that good, haven't you, Caz?" she asked. "You always manage to do the right thing."

He had never really thought about that either, but as she raised the point now, that notion seemed less complex to dissect than the other. He was Praeteri. Magister Arrentius was his patron. It really was as simple as that.

"I am sworn to your father," Cassius said. "Doing what is 'right' is as simple as whatever serves him mostly loyally and faithfully."

"But what about you, Caz?" she said. "What about what you want.?"

"I want to serve your father well. To serve his family well. To make him proud," Cassius said without hesitation.

Maybe once, when he was young in the Circle and had no future ahead of him, he might have answered differently. But then he had become a page under Magister Arrentius. He had found worth and purpose. In those formative years, and with the full encouragement and support of his lord, he had redefined his life by those parameters. He lived to serve and in service, he had found satisfaction and contentment.

"Is marrying my sister what you want or is it your duty?" Valerie asked him, the question coming sharp off her tongue.

As Cassius' eyes met hers, she looked regretful, having presented the question like the thrust of a knife, meant to wound. He wondered, suddenly, how long that question had been on her mind. Perhaps it had been as long as every day since his betrothal was announced, when she had fled to her room after offering her curt congratulations.

It was a foolish question, though. He was already completely unworthy of the privilege of being wed to the second daughter of an Altus magister, much less his first daughter and heir. Marriage was a political mechanism, and Magister Arrentius already slighted himself by making such a pairing for his Andria, to fulfill the desire of her heart instead of his house's best interest. Cassius couldn't have rejected it, even if he had wanted to. It was an incredible honor for someone of his station to have such a gift bestowed upon him.

Valerie might as well have asked him why the Archon didn't choose to marry a slave.

He pondered the question as quickly as he could as he continued to slowly twirl around the floor, seeking the right answer, all the while knowing that there was no answer that he could give that would satisfy her query. Whatever words he chose would be woefully insufficient.

"Can't it be both?"


Minrathous, 9:42 Dragon

The air in the dining room was heavy, weighed down by the impending announcement that anyone with any amount of intuition and half a brain could see and feel coming.

The square table was almost too small for the meal at hand, dishes nearly touching one another and chairs pulled in close to one another as their group of eight crowded together. Flavius and Junia sat together on one side, with Magister Vespasian and his wife sitting opposite them. Cassius and Andria occupied the third side, with a small bassinet off to his wife's side for Anna, who was dozing quietly cuddled in a thick nest of blankets.

And, across from them on the fourth side of the table, Valerie and Lysdander sat beside one another.

The meal had been good – a thin but flavorful soup; a fresh salad; good cheese and fresh bread and rich butter; a roasted, crispy breast of fowl and flavorful summer vegetables that were out of season; and a light, airy cake with mixed berries and a sugary syrup – and the conversation stayed light and meandering, idle prattle to fill the space and disguise the fact that dinner was merely a formality ahead of business.

Flavius's previously foul mood had been erased, with help from several glasses of wine until his cheeks began to flush red and he smiled widely and laughed loudly. Magister Vespasian had gleefully helped eliminate the bottle of deep red wine and a second of the same type. Lysander's eyes moved from side to side, tracking both Flavius and his father as they spoke, taking breaks to spare a quiet word for Valerie in between.

Cassius couldn't help but notice that she had eaten less than half of her food and idly pushed bites around as she spent more time looking at her plate than her fellow diners. The glass of wine they had poured for her was sitting untouched toward the center of the table.

Along his side of the table, neither he nor Andria injected themself into the conversation, letting the two magisters banter back and forth. Instead, they simply enjoyed a bit of good food and the peaceful respite granted by a sleeping child. Cassius had forcefully pushed thoughts of Fiora out of his head as not to ruin his expected presence at the table as House Arrentius and House Vespasian broke bread together. He and his wife had sat on the floor against the door of their inn room for nearly the entire hour prior to coming down for the dinner.

He tried to empty his mind as best he could, to put aside his grief and to see his duty out. When he had found his mind drifting as he worked his fork and knife across his plate, he stopped and placed his hand on his wife's leg underneath the table until he felt her palm rest atop his to reinforce his will. She did so silently, without it being noticeable, except for the small smile that crossed her lips as she turned her head slightly toward him, radiating her love to fill the empty spaces created by his soul bleeding out of him.

As the serving slaves cleared away the last of the plates and the silverware, Flavius had finally placed his fist to his mouth, cleared his throat and extended a hand to call for quiet over the table.

"Thank you all, for joining us tonight," Flavius said. "We gather our two families, Arrentius and Vespasian together, not just in friendship, but to look forward to a bright and prosperous future together. Today, I received an offer of betrothal from our good Magister Vespasian. It is not a request I took lightly, and one that I have mulled and prayed upon for many weeks now, expecting its arrival. And as I considered it, I know in my heart that the timing is right.

"I have come to know young Lysander over these past many weeks," Flavius said, with an approving nod toward the magister's son. "He is a good man, and I believe that he will make an excellent match for my daughter, who I have treasured since the moment she first entered my arms as a babe many years ago."

Flavius paused, closed his lips, a slight quaver in his throat as he collected himself, moved by emotion and memory and fatherly love for his oldest. "It was no easy task to decide to let her go, but I know in my heart that this is a good match, one that will bring many years of joy and bounty to my dearest Valerie."

"I thank you, my friend," Magister Vespasian said, nodding his approval with great appreciation. "I look forward to our houses joining in this holy bond, that our children create a beautiful future together."

Valerie smiled and bowed her head respectfully to Magister Vespasian and his wife. Before she could find the chance to speak, Lysander had already plucked her hand into his own as he lifted her fingers to his lips and placed a chaste kiss upon them.

"Valerie," Lysander said as he turned in his seat. "I pledge, from this day forth, to love and cherish you, to support you, and care for you, for all our days ahead, and forever after as we are called to the eternity of the Maker. I am yours, now and forever."

Lysander produced a small box from within his jacket, opening it to reveal a jeweled ring wrought in gold. He placed the golden band to her finger and slipped it down, past her knuckle, until it sat at the base of her fingers. Valerie blinked once, taking in the sight of gold and jewels upon her hand. As Lysander let her now-adorned hand go, Valerie folded her fingers in and brought them to her heart.

"Lysander," she said. "My father would not pledge me to any less than the best man, this I know deep in my heart. I am honored to be chosen as your future wife, that I may support and serve you, for all our days ahead."

Valerie spoke with warmth and grace, no doubt another speech that she had practiced over and over to herself like those she delivered upon the floor of the Magisterium. Her smile looked genuine and Magister Vespasian and his wife looked pleased. Lysander was beaming as he moved his chair closer, to sit close beside his newly betrothed, placing his arm around her back as he corralled her close. Junia beamed and wrapped her hands around her husband's arm, drawing him close as they shared the moment they set their oldest upon her future. Andria silently clapped her hands together, folding her hands over her heart as she celebrated her sister's brand-new engagement.

As Valerie caught his eye, Cassius dipped his eyes respectfully in congratulations.

"A toast then," Flavius said, scooping up his glass of wine and raising it above the table. "To Lysander and Valerie, may their union bless both our houses and be filled with nothing but happiness and good fortune."

Cassius raised his glass high and then brought it to his lips, drinking deeply of his wine. As the taste of bitter fruit crossed his tongue, he felt a sudden wave of exhaustion. Between the session in the Magisterium, Magister Porenni's condemnation, the slave market and now this, his last day in Minrathous had been an eventful one. Maybe he was tired, maybe he was emotionally drained, maybe he was a little drunk, too, but as he placed his cup back on the table and as Lysander began saying something flattering to Flavius, his conscious mind retreated from the table.

He should have felt joy for Valerie, for the long wait and the line of failed suitors over the years finally coming to an end. She would hit her twenty-fourth year this summer – not old by any means but older than most noble daughters were by the time their fathers matched them and sent them forth from their homes. Her lineage would boost House Vespasian and the marriage would create a strong alliance between their families. That would give Flavius more sway with the lords of Minrathous and give House Vespasian more of a backing to press against the major blood of House Ceratori from which it had branched in recent generations.

House Vespasian was Laetan, but if Valerie bore them children with the gift, it could eventually allow for their house to establish itself as Altus. By tracing the lineages of the old Certaori line from Lysander's family and Valerie's Arrentius blood, they could one day meet the pedigree necessary to reclaim a space among the highest social strata. Cassius couldn't cite the specifics of how many ancestors or what percentage of a person's parentage had to be from what caste to cross the line, only that he knew that it could happen. Sometimes the difference between Altus and Laetan were a few poorly matched marriages that diluted the blood and cast a house down in the eyes of its betters.

House Arrentius enjoyed the benefit of being mostly pure over its long history, with little intermixing with lower classes. This generation – Valerie to a Laetan and Andria to a Praeteri – would weaken its standing, but Flavius had three more daughters and, if the Venatori were to succeed and his house rise high on its achievement, Kordelia, Servilia and Flavia all might one day be paired to men of quality stock.

Lysander had served alongside him and Magister Arrentius faithfully these past few months, and, as far as Cassius could tell, he always doted on and treated Valerie well. Granted, Cassius was bothered by the notion that her suitor often laid on his praise and flattery too thickly, but he was dancing the dance of courting and it required overt showmanship to make an impression. It was a dance Cassius hadn't had to make – his betrothal was a gift to him, one that he had never expected and that he had to do no work for. He wondered, if Magister Arrentius hadn't pledged his daughter to him, would he have eventually sought a match suited to his low blood or would he simply have never aspired to wed, instead living a solitary life in service to his lord with no thought of wife or children?

The question was moot. He had been given those things and he now had a wife who loved and supported him and a daughter who would one day grow to make them proud, regardless of whether she carried the gift of magic. For all he knew, Anna might not be his only, and that she might some day have some or many siblings. He and Andria had about twenty years ahead of them during which they could grow their family.

Cassius could not dare to guess what the future might hold, for him, or for Valerie. And, maybe, the absence of joy that he felt he should experience was not because he was unhappy for her or the possibilities that awaited her, but only because he recognized that today now marked the coming fork that would lead to their inevitable separation.

Once wed, Valerie would leave for her husband's home of Minrathous, while he would remain in Asariel with his wife, his daughter and his lord. She would begin her own life, away and apart from her family and from him. The days of shared meals, riding horses, walking along the beach or sitting in the manor's garden, those would soon be relegated to memory and whatever brief visits she might make home.

Granted, Asariel and Minrathous were not an immense distance from one another – much closer than any other major city to the capital – and Cassius anticipated he would still be spending many months per year assisting his lord as he served his terms in the Magisterium. But even then, the dynamic would be changed by distance and time. In their future, it would never be then like it was now.

"Cassius?" His wife's gentle voice snapped him out of his ruminations, along with the light touch of her fingers against his arm. "Are you feeling well? You seem distant."

As she said it, he realized he had been staring blankly at the table as his mind wandered. As he tuned back into the table, he dropped back into a conversation that was being held that he had missed and couldn't say exactly what it was about. Flavius, Magister Vespasian and Lysander were enjoying themselves, going back and forth about whatever it was they were talking about, while Cassius was quietly on the outside.

He also realized that his wine glass was now empty, although he didn't remember drinking the rest of it. His eyes felt heavy, his head felt heavy, his arms and legs felt heavy.

"No," he said. "I'm not well."

"Then let us excuse ourselves. You should rest," Andria offered.

"Yes…" Cassius said, unwrapping his fingers from the stem of the wine cup. "That's for the best."

Andria turned and retrieved their daughter from the bassinet, the child stirring and murmuring as its mother lifted her from her slumber, and uttered a half yawn, half cry as his wife held the babe against her chest and stood. Cassius pushed his chair back from the table, the motion catching the eye of his dinner mates.

"Going so soon?" Flavius asked, motioning to another bottle of wine that had appeared on the table. "Stay, drink with us. Celebrate."

"My deepest apologies, my lord," Cassius said, bowing his head. "But the day's labors have taken their toll. I fear I wouldn't be much in the way of good company, were I to stay."

"Let the boy be, Flavius," Magister Vespasian chimed in, waving his compatriot off. "Let him have some time alone with his pretty wife and their child."

Cassius didn't exactly care for the way the words "pretty wife" slipped from Magister Vespasian's wine-slickened lips and whatever he might be suggesting by it, but in the interest of civility he let the comment pass and bowed his head respectfully in appreciation to the magister, too.

"Thank you, both, for your invitation tonight, and your hospitality, as always," Cassius continued. "And Valerie, Lysander, again, my most heartfelt congratulations to you two."

"I look forward to being able to call you brother," Lysander declared, placing his fist across his heart in an informal salute. "Be well, Cassius. And Andria, a pleasure, as always."

"Yes, it was wonderful," Andria said politely, bending a little at the knees in a hands-free curtsy as she juggled their daughter and her blankets. "Magister Vespasian, Lady Vespasian, a pleasure meeting you both."

Cassius busied himself collecting the bassinet for travel back to their room as Andria and the others continued to exchange their polite and pleasant goodbyes, until it was finally done and she took his arm to be led back to their inn.


Cassius startled awake, his body jumping and tangled in the covers.

He gasped, snapping upright as his eyes quickly darted around the dark bedroom, but finding nothing there. He swept the room again with his eyes, barely able to see anything by the dim light seeping through the closed curtains, while he also reached out with his sixth sense, feeling for any anomaly at, across or behind the Veil. He saw and felt nothing, and only then exhaled deeply in relief.

He could feel the sweat on his forehead and across his body. His nightshirt was damp and his legs wet against the sheets. He untangled himself from the blanket and gently placed it aside.

Despite his rather violent awakening, Andria was still soundly asleep on the bed next to him, no doubt a sign of the exhaustion that she battled as caretaker for their child as well as the stress of being away from home in the capital. He turned, pulling his legs over the side of the bed until his bare feet touched the cool wooden floor. He leaned forward slightly, rubbing his hands across his face and back through his sweat-dewed hair.

How long had it been since he had last dreamed of his Harrowing?

Months, at least. Maybe even a year or two. He couldn't rightly remember, as time bled faster and faster. It had been a long while, however. Perhaps it had been foolish for him to think he had finally escaped it.

Tonight, as always, the memory of what he had faced in the Fade and what he had to overcome there still struck terror in him every time he had to confront it once again. Even as a memory, the experience disturbed him, pierced him to his core, and left him afflicted. He wondered if he would ever one day forget it, if it would ever be truly gone and erased from his mind. He doubted it. Once burned into his mind, it could not be unburned.

The darkness in the room suggested it was still the middle of the night. It would be hours yet before the sun came up, but he knew that he would find no more rest tonight. He didn't dare try to shut his eyes after dreaming of his Harrowing, for fear that he might fall right back into it. No, he would force himself to stay awake, even if he had to face the coming day half-alive in order to do so.

The silence of the room was broken by a gentle knock, knock, knock.

Cassius looked toward the door to the hall of the inn, noticing the vague color of light that seemed to permeate through the wood and the feeling of magic on the other side of it, small and mundane, but there nonetheless. He wondered, for a second, if he had woken himself, or if the sound of rapping on his door outside of his unconscious mind had vaulted him back to the physical world.

Cassius glanced over his shoulder at Andria still asleep on the bed and carefully lifted himself from the mattress, grabbing his staff from where it rested against the wall next to the bed. His feet stuck against the floor with every step as the humid sweat peeled against the wood until he was at the door, undid the lock and cracked it open, peeking out into the hall.

"Sorry to wake you." Plinius stood on the other side, cloaked black and making him nearly invisible in the midnight dark if not for the small ball of magelight he held in his upturned palm.

"It's tonight," he said. "Our traitor is making his move. If you want to stop him, now is the time."

Plinius' voice was quiet and grim, indicating that he was going, whether or not Cassius came with him. If they wanted to clear their names and uncover the truth behind who had betrayed the Venatori to their enemies, this was their best, if not only, opportunity.

Cassius nodded.

"Let me dress and wake my wife to let her know," he said. "And I will come."

"Be quick," Plinius said as he rolled his fingers over in his palm, squeezing his tiny ball of light out of existence, leaving the hall and the room once again completely dark. He nearly vanished into the darkness as the light faded. "I'll be down on the street."

Plinius turned and sped off, his feet barely making a sound on the floorboards in the hall as he disappeared like a shade. Cassius shut the door and closed his eyes, shoving down the fatigue that weighed him down and the dread of the nightmare he had awoken from. He shoved them out of his mind, preparing himself for the confrontation to come.

Tomorrow, he would be leaving Minrathous.

He wouldn't leave without first restoring his honor.