No matter how much neither of them wanted to let go of each other, eventually they did, if only because Lucas was absolutely dead on his feet. Together, they went inside where Lucas was given porridge and tea. That's when he broke the news to Danaria, Kar'gandin, and every servant that happened to be nearby: The Dragon that had burned down Parin Manor was slain.

The reactions were mixed, to say the least. Kar'gandin erupted in a cheer, even if he had some harsh words for Lucas afterward about how foolhardy and stupid it was. The servants and guards were, by contrast, in shock, which only grew as Lucas gave them the quick version, telling them about the metal horse and the poison lance almost in passing.

Danaria's reaction, though, was closer to outrage. For a little while, she looked like she was going to deck him. "How could you risk your life like that!" she cried out at one point.

Still, Lucas countered just as quickly, "As long as she was out there, it was her or you, and I made my choice. Better my death than yours."

While she wasn't happy with that answer, she didn't storm out of the room or slug him. Instead, she settled for sitting right next to him and clinging to his arm, since it would have been improper to embrace him in such a public way.

Lucas was bombarded with questions when he was done with his story, but he ignored most of them, vowing to give everyone the blow-by-blow version later. That was as much because he had no wish to tell that story in front of Danaria as because he needed to crash. For now, he just said what he needed to say, which was pretty succinct.

"The dragon isn't important. She's dead," he told them, "What matters now is the Prince, and he's going to be pissed with he finds out what I've done, so we've got to be ready to move. Like, today."

"But Lucas, this is our home," Danaira insisted. "Our house is still being—"

"I know, and it looks lovely," Lucas agreed, brushing her off, "And I hope someday we can come back to it, but for now, we need to be anywhere but here."

While his appearance and initial news sent a wave of excitement through everyone, his second declaration sent an even larger wave of panic. Still, he couldn't be around to babysit them after that. He needed sleep. So, he ordered them to start packing the essentials and wake him in three hours, then he promptly went to a bedroom and passed out.

Lucas slept like the dead, and when he woke, he was surprised that only a couple of hours of sleep had done him so much good. He was even more surprised, though, when he found out he hadn't just slept a couple of hours. He'd slept the whole day away.

"I told you to wake me up after three hours!" Lucas said as he devoured a very late lunch of sliced meat and fresh bread. "Don't you understand how serious this is? There would be troops on their way here right now, like right fucking now!"

"In the time it's taken you to fall asleep and wake up again, one piece of critical news has reached the community," Kar'gandin said somewhat somberly. Lucas registered the strange emotion, even if he didn't understand it; everyone should be celebrating.

"Yeah, I know, I'm the one who let the cat out of the bag, remember?" Lucas sighed. "The dragon is—"

"Not the dragon," Hura'gh interjected. Lucas gave him a questioning look, and regretted it. The half-orc had never been pretty, but the burns he'd survived had turned him into a monstrosity. "The Prince died last night. Messengers delivered the news to every village and crossroads, shouting it. If you'd been awake, you would have heard it."

"He's what? Dead? He can't be. I'm not that lucky," Lucas answered, grappling with the news.

"Please tell me you didn't have anything to do with that," Danaria said. "Please tell me that isn't why you wanted to flee the city."

Lucas shook his head. He really wasn't sure what to say to that. While he had no idea how the Prince of the city had died, or why he'd died now of all times, he was sure there had to be a connection.

"The only things I've killed this year were a troll and a dragon," Lucas mumbled distractedly. "No people, and certainly not royalty."

Danaria did a double-take when he mentioned the troll, and he cursed silently as he realized he'd let that detail slip, but for now, he ignored it. That was a later problem; the Prince's death complicated things significantly, and he no longer had any idea what their next move should be.

Did Heisenburgle send an assassin instead of a messenger? He asked himself. That was the only thing that made sense.

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Lucas wasn't sure how that changed things, though. The King, decrepit as he was, should still be alive, and if not him, the man was old enough to have sons, legitimate or otherwise. One of the dukes would step in as regent.

"I think we need to go over our customer list," Lucas said to Kar'gandin finally after he spent a few seconds parsing all of those thoughts. "If we aren't running, then it's time to start picking sides and counting allies."

"Aye," the dwarf agreed. "Just let me get my ledgers and we'll see what things look like."

Lucas planned to spend the rest of the afternoon and evening making plans and sending a few of their own messenger boys into the city to make contact with the Knights of Brass and set up a meet, but that's not the way that things worked out.

Instead, only an hour into their discussion, before they'd even gotten all the way through the list, a rider appeared, asking for him by name. Lucas' men knew well enough to tell the gray-cloaked man that he wasn't there, but he insisted that Lucas was, and eventually produced a talisman that pointed right at him from where he sat on his horse near the road.

That was enough to make Lucas emerge from the farmhouse. Not only would anything less than that would be cowardly, but if this was a mage he might well have blown up the whole house to make his point, and any time spent talking would be time where he wasn't pulling out a wand to nuke some shit.

Just thinking about that made him mourn Arissa a little. She'd almost taken his head clean off with her wand, and when the owlbear had made the damn thing explode… Well, it didn't bear thinking about, and he pushed it from his mind as he approached the mystery rider.

Who's looking for me? he asked himself as he approached the man. If he's a mage, that means what? The guild? The palace? No, those were both valid options, but if the Mages' Guild had cause to seek him out, he'd probably already be a smoking crater. Restraint meant something more subtle, which probably meant the Whisper's.

That instinct proved prescient when the messenger said, "Lord Torvin sends his regards and has instructed me to escort you to dinner at his manor this evening after you've changed into something appropriate," as he handed Lucas a letter.

"Well, you can let him know that's very thoughtful, but I have to go back to Blackgate after I finish visiting with my associates," Lucas lied, curious about what kind of pushback he would get.

"I think you'll find if you read my master's letter, it's not a request," the messenger said, "Though he would of course allow you a few minutes to get changed into something more appropriate."

Lucas bristled at the idea that this asshole thought he could tell him what to do, but said nothing, and instead, opened up the letter, and read it silently. It was about what he expected and layered together threats that were both said and unsaid.

'My dear Mister Blue, though I do not know if this letter will find you with that gnome or in some other rat hole, by now you should have already heard that your prime benefactor is no more, and a great many things are afoot. I require your immediate presence to discuss these matters further. Should you decline, it will mean open warfare for obvious reasons, and while your fiancée might be as dead as my daughter, there are still a great many ways to force your compliance, if necessary. Thank you, Duke Torvin.'

Lucas fumed silently at the man's threats; it was especially pointless considering he held the man's leash with Blue. For a moment, Lucas was tempted to twist that knife and see what happened, but instead, he kept his cool.

He took a deep breath and said, "Alright, I need a minute, though. It was a rough night."

The messenger didn't answer. He just dismounted and watered his horse while Lucas went back inside to explain things to everyone else.

"The bleedin' Whisperers?" Kar'gandin cursed. "After all this time? Why? Why now?"

"Because it was Prince Raston who was holding him back this whole time," Lucas sighed. "I'm surprised the asshole didn't try something when his daughter died."

"That wasn't ye'r fault," the dwarf said, but Lucas just shook his head.

"It doesn't matter whos fault it is," Lucas sighed, "not with shit like this. All that matters is finding someone to blame." Those words unsettled him, but only because he felt like he was talking to himself by the end.

Lucas promised Danaria that he would return by morning, just before they set out. He even took a quiet moment to kiss her again, but truthfully, he wasn't sure he could keep that promise. Killing the dragoness was supposed to solve his problems, and theoretically, the death of the Prince should have been good for him, but things were starting to spin out of control, and during the ride into the city, Lucas considered the fact that running probably wasn't a very good solution.

If the Whisperers can track me to a place I've never been before, they can track me to another city or another land, he thought with a quiet sigh. That means the Prince could have done the same thing.

He hadn't thought about that before, but he should have. He beat himself up over that belated revelation the whole way to the dinner party he was being forced to attend.

I should be planning a wedding, not getting tangled up in even more shit that's not my fault, he complained mentally as they arrived at their Garden Distract destination where he was quickly escorted inside.

While the invitation might have been threatening, the servants were unflinchingly cordial, and they escorted him politely and efficiently to the dining room, where the man of the house and several other guests waited. No one seemed surprised by his arrival.

"Welcome to my home," the Duke said, standing and offering Lucas his hand to shake. "Before we get started, please know that it is my earnest wish that we are able to come to an arrangement and you'll still be breathing when you leave in the morning."

Lucas swallowed hard, trying not to look unnerved. He did not like the sound of that one bit.

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