Book One – Chapter 15

It had been a night of undignified misery. By the time morning crept in, Yu knew every warped floorboard between his room and the communal latrine by heart. Sleepless and sick, he had run back and forth over and over. Worse, he was certain every guard and guest in this forsaken guild now had a far more intimate impression of him than they ever should.

Eventually, exhaustion had won.

He had fallen asleep. On the fucking toilet.

A creak. A shift in the dim light. Yu woke with a violent jolt, body stiff, stomach a hollow pit of regret. A figure stood in the doorway, framed against the flickering lantern glow.

 “Good morning, ” the voice drawled, rich with amusement.

Yu squinted. Estingar — no, Deltington? Yu’s sleep-starved mind struggled. The blurred silhouette leaned against the doorframe in smug detachment, utterly unfazed by the stench of suffering. Then he turned his head and bellowed into the hallway: “Brother, come here! You gotta see this!”

Yu shot upright, or tried to. His body refused to move — legs weak, stomach still churned, balance wrecked, pants still down. “Oh, gods, get out!” he rasped, voice wrecked from dehydration.

The possible Estingar grinned, showing rows of unsettlingly sharp teeth. Needles in a smile: “So, you live here now? In the toilet?”

“Get out!”

“You might as well,” the intruder – whichever arsehole it was – continued, folding his arms. “After last night.”

“Fuck off! You’re the worst!” Yu’s breath hitched, sharp and shallow. Heart hammering, he janked his pants back into place, hurrying his arms through the braces. His limbs felt like waterlogged wood, slow and useless.

The guard barked a laugh. “Ha! You don’t even know which one I am, do you?”

“The one with no goddamn boundaries!” Yu got up and lurched forward to slam the door, but Estingar moved faster. A heavy paw met his chest, stopping him with an infuriating ease.

“Some of your feathers are silver too, you know?” the guard said, his voice tipping into something almost conversational. “You’ve got streaks around your face and chest. But you knew that, right?”

Yu froze.

Estingar gave him a grin that was all needles. And then the arsehole stepped back and left, still chuckling to himself as he disappeared down the hall. “Get ready,” he called as he sauntered off, voice echoing along the stone walls. “Bubs wants to see you.”