Basil craved solitude, but he was the heir to a principality; privacy was a luxury his station simply could not afford.Especially at wartime.
Instead, he settled for a ride across the open country, flanked by two of his father's sworn men.
He looked toward the east, where thick ribbons of black smoke coiled upward, clawing at the belly of the grey clouds. In the shifting wind, the sky looked like a great, dark beast with a thousand paws, reaching down to reclaim the earth as one with the sky.
Five days had passed since the Battle of the Ford. Five days in which Alpheo's soldiers had reveled in the grim, sweet harvest of looting all belongings from the dead.
But duty is a shadow that always follows pleasure.
