I made it one step before the world went black.
I woke to the familiar scent of medicinal herbs.
Fighting through the soreness that wracked every inch of my body, I gritted my teeth and sat up. Alaric Abbott was beside me, carefully applying a poultice to my wounds.
"Mentor Alaric, I can't go back yet..."
His eyes were full of ache as he tended to the festering, inflamed gashes across my skin.
"I know. You want to wait until his birthday..."
He never finished the sentence.
A commotion erupted outside. The door exploded inward, kicked clean off its hinges, and over a dozen men stormed into the room.
They pinned me down. The one in front drew a knife from inside his jacket and drove it straight into Alaric's heart.
I screamed, a raw, animal sound, and lunged toward him.
But the moment I got to my feet, Ian walked through the doorway and backhanded me to the floor.
He stared down at me with pure revulsion.
"So that's why you've been hanging around. The little fraud has a hideout."
He planted his foot on Alaric's wound, the one still weeping blood, and ground down.
"Talk. He's the one who put you up to all of this, isn't he?"
"Get off him!"