'She deployed a gravitational anomaly from miles away. The sleep-draught wore off early. Or her core metabolized it. She knows I left her. She knows I lied.'
As the imposing, towering black walls of the Obsidian Gate finally loomed into view, Kaelus felt a cold sweat break out across his pale brow.
He was the Reaper.
He had stared down archdemons.
He had walked through emerald infernos and glacial abysses without blinking.
But as he urged his horse through the courtyard gates, tossing the reins to a terrified stable boy without slowing his stride, Kaelus felt genuine nausea twisting in his gut.
'What will she do?' Kaelus practically sprinted up the grand staircases of the fortress, his heavy boots echoing like cannon fire. 'She will scream. She will cry. She will demand to know why I abandoned her. She will accuse me of breaking the blood oath. She will tell me I am a liar.'
