Chapter 46: The Campaign

Time was a balm to all wounds, but that did not mean the wounds did not still hurt. Marion had come to accept the quiet sadness that lingered with Eris, though they knew he did not resent them. He could not resent them, even if in the end it had been their hand that felled his father. They both needed time to rest and there was little room for quiet. There had been little time for peace either. Surviving ashen-kin had surged outwards into the world and the Crownlands had fallen into chaos.

Eris did not hide the parts of himself that he had once been ashamed of when he led the retinue and the remnants of the Crownsguard out to decimate the remaining ashen-kin. The capital was purged first and the pyres were built high to burn the fallen taken from the crypts. The gate beneath was destroyed, the carved seals defaced and the walls broken apart so that nothing could be built again in that place. The prince had taken the extra step, sealing the depths of the burial vaults in ice.