“What can I say? I’m just that charming,” Aldric added. It annoyed him when everyone seemed to ignore him.

There was sudden knock at the door, and everyone went immediately silent. Kedrin angrily got to his feet, no doubt about to tell off whoever had just interrupted them against his explicit instructions. When he opened the door, Aldric could see his secretary, Brianna, standing on the other side with a note in her hand, looking regretful but also flustered. She and Kedrin exchanged heated whispers before Brianna handed Kedrin the note, insisting he read it. When Kedrin did, he went deathly quiet for a long time.

“Thank you, Brianna,” he eventually said, closing the door without waiting for her answer. When he turned back to them, Kedrin’s face looked ashen.

“The guard caravan we sent to the capital has been attacked,” he said hollowly. “The assumption is a bandit attack. Everyone on the guard detail is dead, but Rainer’s corpse is missing.”

~~~

ALDRIC SIGHED AS HE collapsed into the chair in his office. With the holiday in effect, he didn’t have to worry about his students pestering him. That was good. He wasn’t in the best of moods right now.

No one had really known how to take the news of Rainer’s sudden disappearance. “Bandits” was a very convenient and coincidental excuse for the incident. Now that Aldric thought about it, that “bandit” attack on the empress almost seemed too well timed with both the attack on the academy and this latest development. Aldric couldn’t figure out who could be behind all of it, but some deeper part of him was convinced there was far more to this than they’d feared.

He knew he could be paranoid, but it didn’t count as paranoia if everyone really was out to get you. Aldric had kept his head stuck up his own ass for a decade, and only after he finally found a place for himself were his ghosts catching up with him. Typical.  Still, this attack on home bothered Aldric deeply.

Aldric caught himself mid thought. When did this place start being “home”? Hell, when was the last time he even had one of those? Zasia’s home had been exactly that: Zasia’s. He’d just been squatting there like a parasite. The last home Aldric could think of having would be his guild. It was also the last time he had family around. Well, proper family. Most of them were with him here now, even if Balrus was only here temporarily.