46. The end of the beginning.
He entered his room and headed straight for the bath. Thankfully water had been drawn, so he discarded his attire and stepped into the wooden tub filled with cold water.
A swim would have been better.
But the walk from the manor to the lake in the woods would have been too long and he was truly tired. Besides, he did not want to be far from her.
His composure was slipping. He knew it.
And he did not want that to happen.
He wanted to talk to her earnestly, sincerely… It was not his desire to hurt her. Yet, it was because of him she had ended up in that state in the first place.
"I should have dealt with them quickly," he muttered, regretting that he had indulged in combat at all. If only he had just finished them all at once, then she would not have seen that.
As the water gradually washed away some of the anxiety he had felt, a fresh anger grew in him. Anger toward whoever had sent those assassins.
