He was just a child back then, but also fearless. Or stupid. Definitely one or the other. In any case, when others were fleeing to save their own lives, young Ludo had run back toward the inferno that had once been his childhood home, a place filled with laughter and tears, joy and pain, spontaneous wrestling matches and hugs. He would’ve charged right through the haze of smoke and blazing door, too, except he never made it.

The explosion had been like the fist of a god punching him in the chest, lifting him off his feet and slamming him onto his back.

Thud! “Urrr,” he groaned, returning to reality the moment he was dumped unceremoniously onto the lumpy mattress.

“Was that necessary?” asked a sharp voice that sounded half-frustrated, half-exhausted.

“Yes,” came another voice. “And you’d better make good on your promise to pay for the damages caused by your husband.”

Ludo laughed but it turned into a cough that sent shards of pain through his abdomen.

“I will,” Bryony said. It sounded like her teeth were clenched. Tightly.

“Good. Now I’d best be off, I’ve wasted enough time on this nonsense already.”

“Guard Crandon?”

The second voice didn’t respond, simply waited for Bryony to continue.

“Is it true the Fire Eater escaped from Comman Dur?”

A pause. “That’s nothing to concern yourself with ma’am. I can assure you, you’re not in any danger. No one is.”

“But your daughter saw something in the woods, right? Except the forest is still miles from Kestrel. Does she often wander far afield?”

“Dammit Verny. My daughter is eight name days old. Her imagination gets the better of her sometimes. She’s never left Kestrel, and if I have anything to say about it, never will.”

“Of course. Thank you, Guard Crandon.”

Ludo heard the door open and then close, followed by a curtain of silence. Ludo’s head throbbed. He tried not to move. Or breathe. Because it would hurt.

“You find this situation amusing, do you?” Bryony asked.

He said nothing, pretending to be asleep.

“I know you’re awake.”

“There is humor in everything,” he said. Not everything, his mind responded.

“Well, I fail to see it here. Also, how are you not drunk off your rocker anymore?”

He shrugged, which turned out to be a mistake, forcing him to bite down hard to ward off the swell of pain. “Nothing like a good beating to sober a man up. You could’ve revealed my lie, but instead pretended to be my wife. Why?”

“Because you’re the godsdamn King’s Blade and you’re acting like a fool!”

“So?”

She growled, her frustration palpable in the sound. “Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why get drunk? Why fight?”

“Wasn’t much of a fight, was it?”

“Stop changing the subject. Why did you do it?”