A Warrior's Rising Novella by Peppers Jacob

Author:Peppers, Jacob [Peppers, Jacob]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: sort4
Published: 2021-08-06T04:00:00+00:00

***

They spoke little on the walk back through the city, each nursing his own thoughts, his own troubles. The realm’s two princes, walking the streets unattended by guards, yet dressed as they were in their disguises, they remained unrecognized by those they passed. The truth was that Bernard hardly recognized himself.

His thoughts, despite his best efforts, kept drifting back to the dead man lying lifeless in the alleyway. And not just the man himself but of how it had felt when the blade went in. There had been surprise, yes, and some part of him had felt regret at a thing done never to be undone. Mostly, though, it was neither regret nor surprise he’d felt. Mostly, it was pleasure. And not just pleasure but power.

He thought there probably must be something very wrong with that, that rush of excitement he’d felt, that rush of strength and authority as he demonstrated onto the world, onto the dead man, that in that moment he’d had power over life and death. And as perverse as that pleasure was, as sick as the thought of it made him, he felt it still. Yes, there was something very wrong with that. Something wrong, too, with the fact that defeating the man, conquering the monster that had haunted him for so long, had done nothing to diminish his anger. If anything, he found that he was even angrier, angry and content all at once.

Angry at the mugger, angry at his brother, too, even though he had no right to be. Angry at his father, at the world and everyone in it, but mostly angry at himself, an anger that was made worse by the throbbing in his head where he’d been struck.

By the time they reached the castle, his mood had grown dark, as black as the night itself, and he walked past the guards without a word, wanting, right then, nothing more than to go into his rooms, to lock the door and forget about the world for a while. Hoping that, if he were lucky, it might forget about him, too.

As they reached their quarters, Feledias paused, glancing at him. “Bernard, I’m…I’m sorry.”

Part of Bernard knew that his brother had nothing to apologize for, that it was he who should be doing the apologizing, but he was still too angry, so he only turned, meeting his brother’s eyes. “Goodnight, Feledias.”

His brother winced, as if knowing some of his thoughts. “Goodnight, Bernard.”

Bernard watched him walk into his room, closing the door behind him, then turned to the door of his own. He stepped inside and started wearily to his bed, thinking it unlikely that he would be able to get any sleep but planning to give it a try anyway.

“Welcome back.”

He froze at the sound of the voice and turned to see a figure standing at the side of his room, gazing out a window which looked over the city of Daltenia. The figure’s back was to him, but he recognized it just the same, just as he recognized the voice, the last one he wanted to hear just then.

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