The Lycan King’s Broken Mate
In the stones, the pale glow of runes attempts what it always does at such times: the semblance of order, if not its wholeness.
Cassian stands at the base of one pillar, his left arm in a sling tied around his neck like an improvised scarf, but the finger of his free hand trembles at his side, betraying how the pain has grown larger than discipline can bear; soot and blood on his face, that strange glassy light in his eyes that moves in the gaze of those who have counted too many numbers today: the fallen, the surviving, the spent arrows, the exhausted brews. When he sees me he nods, and in the nod he breaks off what had just been trembling in his hand.