Bonus two

King Tobe walked the halls of the castle. It was the darkest hour of the night and he was chasing sleep through the hallways of the castle as if it were a lover using hide and seek as foreplay. He had had neither sleep nor foreplay in so long he’d forgotten what both felt like. The loss of his wife, Queen Aylese, a year ago had left him wretched and haunted – a ghost of a man that even the goddess of rest avoided.

As he wandered the halls, he took a mental roll call of the night guards. He had seen many of these men as infants on the breast, and now he rented their lives to protect his. The irony that there was not much left of him to save not escaping him.

Jacob. Brantley. Matthew. Jamil. He named them all in his head as he passed them. Grayson. Thomas. Eryk.

“Who are you?” His roll call had been interrupted by a new face.

The young man looked confused, almost hurt. The King knew all of their names, but he had forgotten him. “Weston, your grace,” the young man bowed.

“You don’t belon