Chapter 413:
Caspian
I am back home.
The Devil kept her end of the bargain. The first trade ships have sailed under her protection, their flags flying high, their holds full of goods that should have been lost to the monster years ago. The markets are reviving. The people are eating. The kingdom is healing.
I sit in my office.
Once, this was my brother's office. His chair. His desk. His maps still pinned to the walls. I can smell his scent in the wood—or maybe I am imagining it. Maybe I am imagining him.
It feels... awkward.
I am finding it hard to settle down here again. For some reason.
The room is too quiet. The walls are too close. The air is too still. I miss the creak of the ship, the slap of the waves, the endless horizon stretching before me.
Here, in the courts, there is etiquette. Rules. Obligations.
Men suck up to me, their smiles too wide, their words too sweet. They want favors. They want titles. They want to be close to the new king—the replacement.
