LOREN
The tears fell, and Loren shook his head. ”No. No I-I didn’t. I was trying…” Honestly, he couldn’t say what he was trying to do. Protect Ronin, protect himself, it all seemed so silly now. ”I...I just assumed he would never forgive me, never want to forgive me, and...I just wanted him to find out I was back from me. I wanted to make it easy for him. I didn’t…d-didn’t expect him to…” The sentences and thoughts were mostly incomplete, punctuated by nearly silent sobs. He flinched when the alchemist said the summoner’s return had been cold and brought up how inappropriately he’d responded to the king’s recounting of the previous year. ”He told me...everything. The explosion, the coming back to life, everything, and, and it was so much...I got hysterical. I didn’t mean to laugh, and I felt awful, after, and I apologized immediately, but obviously it was too late.” As always, Loren’s timing was awful.Slumping against the counter that he’d been leaning against, needing the extra support, he closed his eyes. ”I really fucked this up, didn’t I?”
A beggar's book
outworths
a noble's blood
