Chapter 15
After the Battle
Ruarnon: Tarlah City
In Tarlah Castle, Ruarnon lay on their back in bed. Moonlight from their balcony shone on frescoes of their ancestors around the walls. It was late. They should be sleeping. But every time they closed their eyes, they saw figures falling off horses. Cut down by swords. Shot with arrows and exposed by retreat. The dead. Hundreds of them. Ruarnon’s uncle was one of many who had gone to war and wouldn’t be returning.
Ruarnon sat on the edge of their bed, rubbing weary eyes and failing to shut down their overworked mind. They rose, pacing past their double bed and ivory inlaid writing desk. The Zaldeaan Realm had built an empire on the corpses of its enemies. They must have drunk rivers of blood, and still they thirsted for more. Ruarnon’s h
