The Reaper, as all his men liked to call him, was a man who didn’t like to be surprised. He always prepared for every possibility, readied for every outcome. And the outcome which he prepared for in his encounter with the Commander Regent of Everon was that he would hand over Kyra and Lucian to him; and Saffron even confirmed that he would.
But the commander had gone completely off expectation and offered battle instead of the duo. He had stared the Reaper down and told him no, which in itself was quite a surprise because no one who ever did that to the mercenary leader had lived to tell the tale.
But contrary to expectation, the Reaper’s surprise didn’t give rise to anger like it should. In fact, it seemed to make actually like and respect the commander even more. His refusal to give to
