https://i.imgur.com/tlnMeyl.png Hakon was disused to being up second, but traveling with Ajax was surprisingly tiring. Or at least, that's what he told himself as to the reason why he was waking up later. He was staying up longer but sleeping no later than he would if he were by himself. Even so, h...

https://i.imgur.com/tlnMeyl.png Hakon colored as he recalled his attempt at using Anton to seduce Ajax when he had been so inebriated he could hardly stand. He'd had the vague notion that Ajax might prefer someone fancier, so he thought Anton might have a better chance. Anton, though, did not like ...

https://i.imgur.com/vVQhabq.png Albedo listened to Horik. Did he think Horik was on the level? He did. He wanted the payout, and Horik looked expensive enough to provide it. He was annoyed by how overbearing Horik was, but that just showed he was a control freak. Many of his clients were meddlesome...

https://i.imgur.com/vVQhabq.png The ride for Iberique should have been agonizing. Hakon had agreed to betray an oath he'd sworn when he was a child, freshly inducted into the Guild. He was betraying everyone in the Tower, all of the four kingdoms of Radenor, all for the sake of the man who rode bes...

https://i.imgur.com/9Cep2na.png Swearing to the Gods was easy enough. He had already given his personal oath, so Hakon did not need to think about following it up with an oath to the Path he followed. "I so swear on the Living Gods and those who have fallen," Hakon said, looking Ajax in the eye. "H...

https://i.imgur.com/9Cep2na.png Hakon watched Ajax lose his composure with his usual stoicism. It wasn't the first time someone had asked him if he was crazy. It would not be the last. People called him all sorts of things: crazy, cruel, mean, stupid, and ugly, or variants of those, were the top fi...

https://i.imgur.com/tlnMeyl.png Hakon received the clothes soberly. He had been wondering, part of him, if this joyful news would translate into a particular kind of celebration. It was one of Ajax's favorite activities, after all, and he was happy, or had been. Now his mood seemed to be a bit more...

https://i.imgur.com/9Cep2na.png "Wouldn't you be happy if your father were alive?" Hakon sat with that question while Ajax continued talking. It was fairly lucky that he was given to silence and that Ajax was given to chatter. It meant that his companion could talk about a half dozen topics while H...

https://i.imgur.com/vVQhabq.png A few things clicked into place for Hakon while he was comforting Ajax and then reciting the contents of the letter to him. The first was that it felt fantastic to hold Ajax and to comfort him. Hakon had not expected that. His general feeling when someone was emotion...

https://i.imgur.com/9Cep2na.png Slowly, realization dawned on Hakon that he wasn't just relaying the contents of just some letter. Most letters, even ones written in code, were rather boring. They were done this way as much to occupy the time of the writer and the reader as they were for any sembla...