It Will be You

Sebastian wondered briefly if Mardichi was steady enough on his feet to help him in, or if they’d both end up in a bruised heap. But a glance at the barbarian’s balanced stance assured him Mardichi was so accustomed to drink, that one meager cask was not enough to maintain his happy intoxication.

That settled, Bast felt his stomach drop at the prospect of entering the castle to find the valkyrie’s disappointment.

I can’t bear that crushed look of her.

I should’ve hid in an inn room rather than partaken.

“Oh.” Mardichi reared back as they pushed through the doors. “What ‘tis tha’ feeling?”

“Her emotion.”

“She has tha’?” Mardichi’s voice rose in surprise.

Bast swallowed. There was an eerie silence in the castle that told him she was already asleep. He caught the faint sound of a girl crying. And the growl of an enraged man’s shouting. Though the words were indiscernible. An intermingled muttering of sound.