5
It took Thomas a fair while to fall asleep, even after the hot bath and a glass of mulled wine. He drank it while staring at the fire and brooding about Eileen. If only the girl would see reason, everything would be much easier. Of course, if she would see reason, she wouldn’t be Eileen.
When sleep finally came, Thomas found himself standing on a frozen hill looking down on the corpses of all those he’d ever cared for, listening to far off drumming that metamorphosed itself into the sound of loud knocking on his door. Thomas woke up and blinked at the sunlight streaming in through the window. The knocking continued—quiet, polite, and insistent. Thomas forced himself out of bed, wrapped a blanket around his body, and stumbled to the door. When he opened it, the servant on the other side
