Chapter 216: Grieving and Regaling

ETAN

The following day, dusty and ragged, they rode at a walk up the main road towards the gate of the Palace City.

Etan was still in shock, still struggling to wrap his mind around what was happening, what events he'd set into motion.

He kept looking at Ayleth to make sure she was still there at his side, and Borsche, to be certain that this wasn't just a terrible dream.

That final argument with his father, his mother's kind but concerned words, kept running through his head. And his single-minded purpose ever since.

He hadn't thought about them or what they might be facing. He'd been so fixated on getting Ayleth to safety, he'd ridden home, taken his wife, let his heart be light—he'd traveled safely and quickly and meanwhile his parents had been slaughtered.