Guess I’ll have to make this bottle last until I’ve got money again.

After arriving at the cottage, Gideon took a seat at the table and poured himself a shot from the whiskey Julian had donated to him. He’d been unable to come to a decision about what to do in the time it took for him to make it back. He took tiny sips from the same shot for a long while, lost in thought as he watched the sun set behind the building tops, and was startled when a quiet knock sounded at the front door.

Oh fuck, is that the landlady? It’s been…four weeks? Shit.

An anxious frown crossed his face as he stood up and walked over to the door. He opened it just a crack to see who it was, and was greeted with a truly shocking sight.

Surelin and Kara stood at his front door, both wearing gray hooded cloaks over thick wool sweaters, their swords sheathed and hanging from their belts. Surelin’s face was covered by a mask which concealed everything except for her eyes. Gideon instantly recognized her despite it.

Her voice was muffled by the mask.

“Good evening. May I come in?”

“Uh...?” Gideon replied, dumbstruck.

“Wake up, you dawdling oaf,” Kara snapped. “She’s taking a risk by coming here, so hurry it up!”

At that, he stepped backward with the door, and Surelin quickly walked inside past him.

“Thank you, Kara,” she said after turning around.

“Don’t mention it. So how long does it usually take? Five, ten minutes?”

An incredulous scoff left Gideon, and he turned to stare at Surelin.

She didn’t seem to understand what Kara was implying. “Thirty minutes should be enough. I don’t think we were followed, but it wouldn’t be wise to linger here any longer than that.”

Kara smirked. “Thirty? Now that’s impressive. See you then!”

She turned to leave, waving back at them over her shoulder as she walked off.

Gideon firmly shut the door.

Surelin pulled her mask and hood down. “What did she mean, impressive?”

He blinked. Definitely not the right time to explain that.

“Not sure,” he said carefully. “How’d you even know where I am?”

“Grandmother has eyes everywhere,” she said, scanning the room curiously. “Finding you was trivial.”

“Oh, uh…”

She turned to him, her eyebrow raised. “It’s a bit bare, isn’t it?”

“I’ve only been here for a few weeks,” he said, sounding much more defensive than he’d intended.

“Hmm,” she hummed, studying him. “Can we sit?”

He gestured at the table, and they both walked over to it.

What the fuck is going on? he thought as they sat down together.

“I wasn’t sure if anyone else would be able to keep this visit a secret, so I asked Kara to accompany me.”

“Okay…?”

“The war isn’t going well for us,” she said simply. “We’ve been struggling to engage the forces of the great houses on our own terms, despite the fact we’re at somewhat of an advantage here in the slums. They’re dictating the flow of battle.”

“Why’re you talking to me about this?”

“Just listen for now, please. Information is leaking from us like a sieve, and the only reason we’re still in the fight is because they’re leaking even worse than we are, thanks to grandmother’s network. But we’re still the ones on the backfoot. The hussars are preventing us from accumulating strength in order to make a decisive strike.”

She fell silent then, giving him an expectant look.

Okay, I guess she wants my advice.

“Then don’t accumulate strength for one big fight,” he said. “They’re gonna be stronger than you anyway no matter what, right? So spread out as much as you can. Force them to choose between protecting their flanks or attacking you head on. ”

“You sound like the Marshal,” Surelin said wryly.

“Well, the ideal thing would be to leave the city entirely. Your back is going to be against the wall so long as you’re here. Literally. And it’s their wall.”

Her expression suddenly darkened.

“There’s something else,” she said. “The hussars have been galvanized by what happened in the merchant’s quarter. Even in the few instances where we happen to be stronger, they stand and fight to the last drop of blood.”

Gideon blinked and looked away from her.

“Tell me. And be honest. Do you feel any remorse for what happened?”

He studied the whiskey bottle on the table in front of him, thinking. This is the exact type of shit I was trying not to think about. But…

“...I regret that I wasn’t quicker about stopping them,” he said, looking back at her. “And I wish I’d kept a cooler head. But remorse? No, I don’t feel any. You didn’t see what I saw, Surelin. What they did wasn’t war, it was just…a vicious crime. Bad as it was, I stopped them before they could make it worse.”

They traded stares in silence for what felt like a long time. Surelin’s gaze was penetrating, as if her eyes were looking straight into his soul.

“If I could redo it, I would stop them before they went inside,” he said adamantly. “Even if it meant I would die in the process.”

She continued to stare at him silently for a few more moments, then seemed to relax a bit, settling back into her chair.

“I retroactively endorsed the punishment you gave to them,” she said evenly.

“...What?”

“Grandmother and Marshal Len supported the idea. We had to make it clear that random unauthorized killings would not be tolerated, even if it's the prince who has a hand in it.”

Gideon blinked several times, silently processing what she said.

“We have critical discipline and trust issues. The great houses are using various methods to subvert us. Bribes have turned a few, but it's more common for them to take hostages in order to coerce our people into betraying the movement.”

Trust…

“There’s something I need to tell you,” he said abruptly.

“What is it?”

“I lied to you about what happened. Twice.”

Traces of anger appeared in her expression, but she said nothing, waiting for him to explain.

“I didn’t overhear them like I said. Right after they left the meeting, Edea looked at me in a way that made me think she wanted me to follow them. That's why I went. I lied about it because I thought you would think I’m stupid. Or...worse.”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Her left hand curled into a tight fist where it rested against her leg. “...You followed them because of a look from my grandmother?”

“Yes.”

She inhaled and exhaled slowly, clearly suppressing anger.

“And the second instance?” she said after composing herself.

“...It’s not so much a lie as something I didn’t tell you. When I went inside and saw the bodies. I…lost control.”

“You lost control.”

He nodded slowly. The rising anger he heard in her voice filled him with despair.

“Yeah. I stopped thinking and just…did it. I don’t know how else to explain it.”

“Gideon, I swear to Kali if you are trying to mix in lies with the truth—”

“No, I’m being honest! I saw those bodies on the floor and it reminded me of Deb and everything, and I stopped thinking and just did those things!”

“Who is Deb?” she asked immediately.

Gideon’s teeth began to grind painfully.

She deserves to know.

“The woman who raised me, okay?! I’m not—this isn’t something I’m ready to talk about right now!”

Surelin’s expression shifted from anger to surprise and concern. He tore his gaze away from her.

“I suspected you were lying to me,” she said quietly. “But I wasn’t sure about what.”

A tired sigh left him as he hung his head, rubbing his face with his hands. Exhaustion washed over him like a wave.

“Do you admit that following them for that reason was irrational? And that you should've consulted with me first?”

He nodded, his hands still pressed against his face.

“Then I forgive you.”

It took a moment for her words to register, but when they did he sat back up and stared at her.

“You do?”

“Yes. I can tell you’re being sincere.”

He was simply overwhelmed.

“Thank you,” he said eventually. “I, uh…thanks.”

“Don’t thank me just yet. I’m losing this war and I need your help.” She suddenly scoffed and looked away from him, out the window. “I feel like all I've done since the moment we met is impose on you.”

“That’s not true. You’ve done more without my help than with it.”

She shrugged lightly. “In any case, I really do need you this time. I don’t have anyone who can help me to think like the hussars. And frankly, I need every single professional soldier I can get.”

“I’ll do whatever I can.”

“Will you come back to us, then?” she asked, looking back at him.

“Yes, absolutely,” he replied instantly.

“You—” A peal of surprised laughter escaped from her. “My goodness, and here I thought I’d have to convince you!”

“Surelin, I’ve been fighting for the wrong cause my entire life. Fighting for you is the first time I've ever felt like I'm doing the right thing.”

A warm smile appeared on her face. Gideon returned her smile, then looked down to play idly with one of the shot glasses resting on the table.

“Well—” she cleared her throat. “Well, what have you been doing since we split up?”

His smile faded as he stared at the shot glass.

Tell her the truth.

“I got drunk everyday.”

She sounded concerned. “You did?”

He nodded.

“Why?”

“...It’s easier to forget stuff when you’re drunk. To not think about things.”

“That doesn’t seem healthy.”

“Yeah. You’re not wrong.”

“So it’s not for the flavor? Kara enjoys alcohol and she doesn’t seem to want to forget things.”

An amused scoff left him. “People drink for lots of different reasons.”

“Hmm…”

She peered curiously at the bottle of whiskey on the table in front of them.

“Pour me a drink, then. I want to try it.”

“You—” He interrupted himself with a surprised laugh. “Y-you want a drink?”

“That’s what I said.”

“But you can’t do that. It's against your religion," he smirked. "What would Kali say if the princess of Forelia—”

“Shut up and pour me a drink!” she interrupted, shouting.

“Alright, alright.”

“You idiot.”

“Alright,” he said, grinning.

He slid two shot glasses together and filled them with whiskey, then handed one to her carefully.

“Here.”

“Thank you,” she said, then wrinkled her nose. “Oh, it’s burning my nose!”

“It’s whiskey,” he said simply.

She seemed very eager as she looked between her shot and the one in Gideon’s hand.

“We make a toast, right? Can I be the one who does it?”

“Go right ahead.”

“Okay! Um…what’s something appropriate to say?”

“Whatever you want.”

She thought about it for a moment.

“To your blade! I read that in a book, once.”

Gideon rolled his eyes and tapped his glass against hers.

“You can just take a sip if—okay, well…”

Surelin swallowed the entire shot in one gulp, and a look of overwhelmed disgust instantly twisted her features.

“Oh that tastes terrible!”

He laughed. “You could’ve just sipped at it.”

“But you and everyone else always just drink the whole thing! Oh my goodness, I can really feel that inside my stomach! It’s really warm…”

More laughter escaped from him as he watched her shake her head, grimacing.

This’s fun.

“It’s making me feel sick. What on earth do you like about that?! It’s awful!”

“Well, it’s pretty foolish to have hard liquor as your first ever drink,” he said wryly. "Normally you start with something easier on the throat. Like beer."

“I don’t like it,” she said, frowning deeply. “How can you tolerate it?”

“It gets better the more of it you have. No, wait—”

Surelin grabbed the whiskey bottle and poured herself another shot.

“I didn’t mean it tastes better…” he said, watching her swallow it.

She cringed as she set her glass down.

“Eugh! No, I don’t like that at all.”

He chuckled and set his empty glass down next to hers. “Taking two shots was brave of you.”

“When will it make me drunk?”

“Hah! It’d be really impressive if you managed to get drunk after only two shots. But then again you are pretty short.”

She turned to face him, frowning, and as she did her hand knocked the two shot glasses off the table.

“I’m not—oh.”

Scowling, Gideon bent down to pick them up. As he reached down for them, Surelin’s face appeared inches away from his, close enough for him to smell the alcohol on her breath.

They both jerked upwards, away from each other.

His eyes roamed across her face, and she looked stunned as she stared back at him.

Did she just try to kiss me? he thought, then the realization occurred to him. Wait, no. She was trying to pick them up, too.

“...I’ll pick them up,” he ventured.

“...You pick them up,” Surelin agreed awkwardly as he leaned down again to grab them.

He set the glasses on the table, then looked out the window, avoiding eye contact with her. Tense silence hung in the air between them.

An urgent knock at the door startled them both, and they glanced at each other.

“It hasn’t been thirty minutes yet,” Surelin said worriedly.

They stood up together and walked over to the door. Gideon opened it a crack, then swung it open wide when he saw Kara standing outside.

“Hey, sorry to interrupt,'' she said hastily, “but there’s a big patrol on the next street over going door to door. They’re gonna be here really soon.”

Surelin nodded to her and stepped outside. “I think we’d just finished up, anyway. Gideon?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you for agreeing to come back.”

“Yeah, of course."

A serious look appeared on her face for a moment.

"No more lies. None. Okay?"

He gave her a firm nod. "No more lies."

She responded with a half smile. “It was good to see you again. We’re still at the dyeworks, for now. Will you come visit us in the morning?”

“I’ll be there.”

“Good,” she said, and he saw her eyes dart down to his lips before she turned to walk away.

“Good seeing you again, too, Gideon,” Kara smirked at him.

His eyes rolled as she turned to follow Surelin. “Yeah, you too.”

She ran to catch up with her, and together they disappeared into a nearby alleyway, headed east.

Gideon shut the door, and turned back to scan the empty seats at the table.

Well, he thought, smiling. I’m in a really good fucking mood.

His gaze locked onto his armor, resting against the wall near the table, and he walked over to pick it up.

Too much time has passed to get the bloodstains out. Think I'll ask her for a new set. One that isn't tainted.