Chapter 5Julos could not take his eyes from the severed heads. Nisos and Euryalos. They had been his comrades, his protectors. More than that, his friends. His only friends, if he was honest.
‘It’s my fault,’ he whispered. The cold sickness lurked in his gut. His first act as ruler had been to order their execution.
His knees buckled beneath him, bitterness forcing its way up through his gullet. A terrible weight fell upon him like soil over bones.
All around him, the sounds of lamentation rose. Trojan spirits were breaking, weeping filling every heart. The plague of despair spread from man to man. They were right to weep. Nisos and Euryalos had been the youngest of the Trojan force, little more than cadets, loved by all. And he’d failed them. He hadn’t even started as king and he’d fai
