As always, Patreon supporters can read ahead by one extra chapter (for the 1$ supporters) and five extra chapters (for the 5$ supporters) ahead on my three flagship stories.
As of right now that means access to:
Shadows and Dust (Updated the 10th of every month): the Mass Effect story where FemShep has the Phoenix Force from Marvel. Chapters 22 through 26
Crown of Slaves,(Updated the 20th of every month) the Star Wars : The Old Republic Sith Inquisitor isekai. Chapters 29 through 33
Nothing Is True, Save For the Blood We've Shed (Updated the 30th of every month): the crossover between The 100 and Assassin's Creed. Chapters 32 through 36
Additionally, that provides access to the Wild Card story below, which updates once a month on a random date (whenever a chapter is ready, essentially).
And So The Eagle Conquered, a Skyrim story with the MC named for, inspired by, and planning to emulate Constantine the Great of the Byzantine Empire. Chapters 6 through 11.
Cauldron of Ghosts, a Worm/Solo Levelling Fusion Fic wherein Taylor becomes The Player. Not an AltPowerTaylor Stations of Canon fic! Chapters 4-8.
Even if you don't want early content for these three stories, consider becoming a 1$ supporter anyway! Every dollar adds up quickly and makes quite a difference in my life!
10$ Supporters now receive benefits as well, including NSFW and SFW images of various scenes or moments in various stories, or even just the characters themselves doing lewd things that aren't specific scenes!
Currently, this includes images from Echoes In Eternity, And So The Eagle Conquered, Crown of Slaves, Cauldron of Ghosts, Embracing the Stereotypes, and Shadows and Dust, but there are much more to come!
Finally, Patrons of any tier at all can vote in the polls to control actions and events in the Patron-Guided Baldur's Gate 3 story, Embracing the Stereotypes.
Consider joining my Discord[1]! It doesn't require payment of any kind at all, and not only will it allow you to get updates via announcements, nor just chat with me and your fellow readers easily, but you can also help make decisions about stories and in-story events through the polls that I often hold!
And thank you, as always, for reading! Like, comment, etc! Your appreciation fuels my creation!
##################################################################################################
The morning after Helgen's destruction, Riverwood was a hive of activity, and with good reason. After a frank conversation, it had been decided that only the first wave of refugees would be sent deeper into the Hold, to ease the strain on the town, while the surviving legionnaires and Elisif would remain behind with the elderly, the children, and the less physically capable. A letter from Gerdur would accompany that first wave, asking for Hold Guards to help escort the more vulnerable to the city itself, creating a…more palatable political situation than the Imperial Legion marching through the Hold as guards rather than temporary guests.
That same letter would be requesting a Thing, on behalf of the Jarl of Solitude and the Ruby Throne, on the matter of dragons.
While they were making their way down towards the Hold, the locals would be seeing to the immediate needs of the injured (with Lucia Valerius lending her talents with healing to the task) while Constantine would lead a group of legionnaires into the mountain pass to clear out Bleak Fall Barrow, though he had to admit, he rather suspected most of the bandits would have cleared out by now. The lower watchtower did overlook Riverwood, after all, and it wasn't like the mass of soldiers and civilians making their way into the village could be easily missed even at that sort of distance.
Rikke, for her part, and her evocati would be staying in the town, keeping Elisif under their watchful eyes and planning for the upcoming march to Whiterun itself.
Gerdur, of course, would be doing one thing and one thing only: caring for Hadvar. Who was still mostly unconscious, but everyone agreed he was out of the woods, and so left the blonde trovärdig to doting over the man that she was clearly still deeply in love with.
As for Camilla and Elisif? Well, they had become thick as thieves, bonding quickly over their surprisingly similar attitudes, natures, interests, and appreciation for Constantine's heroics. Elisif had come to greatly appreciate Camilla's intelligence and cleverness, the way she recognized opportunity for it was and the fact that her talents played a very large part of why the Riverwood Trader was as successful as it was.
And now they were watching Constantine, once again wearing his armor, speak with the dozen men that he was going to be leading up into the Barrow.
"I've met a great many soldiers in my life, Cammy, and seen a great many briefings take place in Castle Dour or the courtyards of the Blue Palace." Elisif remarked softly to her new-found friend, as they watched the small muster taking place below them from the second-floor balcony of the Valerius family shop, her eyes lingering on the firm but friendly expression on Constantine's face. "None of them like this. Those men look up to your brother, and they've known him barely a day."
"He's always been like that. Magnetic, charismatic, easy to respect." Camilla agreed, leaning on the railing and watching him just as closely, a faint smile of pride on her lips, and she shook her head slightly. "Never found what it was that he used to do, beyond being a soldier, but…it's pretty obvious he's used to being in charge, isn't it?"
"Yes…yes it is." Elisif blushed faintly as she thought of what she had witnessed the night before. The way that Constantine had certainly seemed to take charge in regards to Rikke, who Elisif had previously thought to be, perhaps, the person with the least capacity for positive emotion that she had ever met but had instead turned out to be a very passionate woman indeed. She'd never be able to look at the Legatus the same way again, and not just because she'd witnessed her having sex with a man she barely knew. In fact, judging by the Rikke she had seen last night, above and beyond the sex, she rather thought that she might be able to get along better with the woman. A snarky remark or two to prove that she was rather less of a pretty, delicate doll than everyone seemed to take her for, and perhaps she might find herself with a friend -if not an ally, given Rikke's first loyalty must always be to her General- in Castle Dour.
She wouldn't mind having more friends. In fact, she had half a mind to try and take the Valerii back to Solitude with her. Constantine certainly deserved to be rewarded for what he had done, and…well, perhaps when her mourning period was over, having him at hand might not be the worst thing in the world. She hardly had many good prospects for a husband here in Skyrim, and she doubted that any from the other lands and provinces would prove to be particularly spectacular either.
But…Constantine might not allow it. It was obvious that he adored his sisters, and it was equally obvious that coincidence had played no part in his choice of him. That he picked a small village in the mountains, right near the Imperial border and in the one neutral Hold in the entire province (and one that had acquitted itself very well in the Great War, with their lancers and their war mammoths) had been a deliberate attempt to keep his sisters out of it, and Solitude most certainly wouldn't qualify as the same.
Something to think about, until the moment came that their paths might part.
"There they go…" Camilla sighed, and Elisif refocused to see Constantine leading the way towards the bridge out of town, the legionnaires following in ranks. It was…an impressive sight, and she couldn't help but sigh softly as well -sounding far too much like a maiden in love than was appropriate for a woman only six months widowed- at the image he cut.
The two women remained at the railing in companionable silence as the column disappeared into the morning mists that clung to the mountainside. Below them, the remaining activity in Riverwood continued its purposeful rhythm, with refugees organizing their meager belongings, legionnaires helping them pack and prepare, and the steady stream of conversations that accompanied any large group forced into unexpected proximity by tragic circumstance.
"Tell me something," Elisif said eventually, curious, glancing at her new-found friend with an arched eyebrow. "What was he like as a boy? Constantine, I mean."
"I don't know. Lucia, either." came the surprising reply, and Elisif couldn't help the querying sound that sprang from her lips in response, garnering a small, wry grimace from Camilla. "Truth be told, he's not actually our brother, by blood. A cousin, of some sort, and distant at that. After the war, Lucy and me's mother and father were dead, killed during the chaos near Skingrad as things fell apart. Constantine found us about four years ago, took care of us, got us back on our feet before…well, before we had to make hard choices…or before someone made them for us."
Elisif grimaced, fully aware of what 'hard choices' a comely young woman like Lucia, never mind a beauty like Camilla, would have been forced to endure in such circumstances. A tale as old as history, and likely older still, as terrible a truth as it was.
"When the Thalmor started roaming the Imperial heartland, he brought us up here. That was a year ago, now, or a bit more. Bought the Riverwood Trader and keeps it supplied, though even I don't know all the details of where his gold came from or who help supply our goods. Started teaching Lucy 'n' me how to protect ourselves and others, not that he ever lets us out of his sight for long when danger's afoot."
This time Elisif smiled, for the last few words were spoken with such an aggrieved tone that she couldn't help but find them cute. If she hadn't already known Camilla was chomping at the proverbial bit to get out into the wider world and live a life of adventure, it would have just been made painfully and blatantly clear to her.
"And you know…what, about his past, then?" she pressed, ignoring for the moment the many emotional tripwires that filled the story she had been given thus far. Though whether it was because she felt she lacked the capacity to truly help with them or because she was trying to keep Camilla's mind off of darker things, not even she would have been able to say with certainty.
"Only what he has told us, when pressed, which isn't much. He's a veteran, done a bit of fighting for the Empire and a bit more for others. He's definitely done some things that he knows would break our hearts, though I can't imagine what he could have done that could make us love him less." she answered, sounding rather serene about her utter lack of knowledge about her deadly kinsman. "He's fought some bad things too, dangerous things that even your average legionnaire wouldn't meet, so we've always assumed that he was a part of some special force."
Elisif nodded thoughtfully at that, remembering quite suddenly with something like an epiphany that he had referenced fighting daedric warriors when he was…engaged with Rikke the night before. She wasn't the most familiar with the way the Imperial Legion operated, but she would be willing to lay good odds on the fact that the average legionnaire wouldn't be sent up against such an enemy.
"All in all, he's a mysterious man, a wounded warrior with dark eyes and a solemn heart. Like something right out of my novels." Camilla finished with a soft, breathy sort of laugh, her eyes carrying an odd sort of light to them, and Elisif considered her for a moment, contemplating whether to pry further, before somewhat reluctantly deciding against it. She didn't want to insult or anger her friend, after all.
"He certainly cuts a dashing figure…" she murmured instead, her gaze drifting back towards the mountain path where Constantine and his ad-hoc force had disappeared. The mist had fully enveloped the column now, as though they'd stepped into another realm entirely. Perhaps they had. Divines knew she felt like she was living in a different world than the one she had been born into, of late!
Camilla smiled, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "He does, doesn't he? Though he'd be mortified to hear us discussing him like this. Mortified or swaggering, it's hard to tell with these military men."
A comfortable silence fell between them, broken only by the sounds of activity below. The refugees were being sorted into groups now, the first wave preparing to depart for Whiterun proper. Rikke's voice occasionally rose above the general murmur, crisp and authoritative, betraying nothing of the passion Elisif had witnessed the previous night, instead the stoic legatus once again. Remarkable, and yet oddly endearing.
"What sort of novels do you read?" Elisif finally asked several minutes later, genuinely curious. The Imperial woman's cheeks flushed slightly as she glanced away, the fingers of her right hand rising to fiddle a bit with a few strands of hair in a near-universal display of shy embarrassment.
"Oh, you know... adventure tales, mostly. Some romances." Camilla's left-hand fingers tapped a nervous rhythm against the wooden railing, even as the hair started to wind itself around a slowly twirling index finger. "There's this series by an author in Cyrodiil —'The Time Hunter', by Aingeal Ridire— about a mercenary with a mysterious past who travels across time solving problems that others can't and saving maidens condemned to a terrible and untimely death. The hero reminds me of Constantine sometimes."
Elisif smiled even as she blushed deeply, finding the comparison more apt than she was entirely comfortable with, given her current internal struggles. Still, she soldiered on, glad to discuss one of her favorite pastimes with someone of similar tastes. "I've read those! They're quite popular in Solitude, not that anyone will admit as much, especially in my court. Of course, it would be even more scandalous if my thegns knew that I was reading such things!"
"How did a proper lady, a Queen, like you come across them, then?" Camilla asked, half-curious and half-teasing, and Elisif rolled her eyes slightly.
"A dear friend of mine, Jordis, introduced them to me." by which Elisif meant that her wicked, cackling beast of a golden-haired friend had read passages aloud to Elisif whenever she could get away with it and the poor Queen couldn't escape her evil. "What's worse, my court mage, Sybille, is a fan of the author as well. Have you read her 'Mageworld' books?"
"I've never even heard of them, no." Camilla shook her head, a gleam of interest in her eyes, one that grew as Elisif's blush deepened, the sparkle in the jarlskona's eyes was bright and her smile genuine (if perhaps a bit wild) as the pair turned more fully to face one another.
"Well, suffice it to say that I shall never look at vampires or werewolves the same, ever again. In fact, did you know that…" Elisif started to explain, and as the conversation continued -growing steadily steamier and punctuated with increasing amounts of laughter, giggling, and blushing- she seemed less a mourning queen in a war-torn land, and more a beautiful young woman being passionate about passion with someone who was rapidly becoming dear to her heart.
###########################################################################
Kassandra felt…strange. A good sort of strange, to be sure, but strange all the same. As short as it had been -with no insult meant to Constantine's stamina or ability in bed, he clearly had plenty of both, but circumstances had conspired against them- last night had been deeply satisfying, and made something of an impression on her.
More than one, she thought with a distinctly feminine, lewd giggle in the privacy of her mind, resisting the urge to rub her stomach where his bulbous head had 'impressed itself' on the deepest parts of her. Deeper than any other man, or even particularly enterprising women, had ever stood a chance of reaching.
When she'd first woken up this morning, feeling more than a little sore and strangely pleased, she had put her good mood and desire to stay in bed down to finally getting a good fucking again, after the better part of five months with nothing but her own fingers for company. Which had certainly been a part of it, a large part of it, but she was starting to think a far greater part of it had to do with distinctly girlish thoughts, unsoldierly and unprofessional thoughts, like the idea of how pleasant it would be to spend all day in bed with a man of Constantine's…ability.
Not to say that she was in love with him, that was an absurdity after how brief a time that she had known him, and she was at any rate beyond such childish fantasies as love at first sight or, for that matter, first fuck. But that didn't mean she didn't remember, and appreciate, long and lazy days spent in bed with a talented lover or three, doing whatever they pleased as much as they wanted.
Honestly, she missed those days. Proud as she was of what she had accomplished, and the responsibilities and trust she now held as a result, she was very, very fond of sex. Frequent, energetic, preferably creative sex, and when one was a Legatus there wasn't much in the way of time for such things. Nor, as she had alluded to the night before, trustworthy company.
But, for all the other secrets he seemed to be holding for the time being -and a good fuck or not, she certainly hadn't forgotten nor intended to forget his promise to reveal those secrets in Whiterun- she trusted him with intimacy, and she found herself…reluctant to give it up. Reluctant enough that she was seriously considering making a few quiet suggestions to the Valerius girls, and perhaps even Elisif herself, that Solitude might be better place for a man of his talents than Riverwood. After all, he was due a rich reward for his actions in Helgen, and it would be entirely within her right -and indeed expected of her- for Elisif to name the man a thegn for saving her life from a Nine-be-damned dragon attack by an ancient, world-eating dragon-god.
Besides, it was entirely in line with her duty to make sure a man with access to the sort of information he seemed to hold be kept safe and secure where he could put it to use aiding the Empire in putting down this damned foolish, self-sabotaging rebellion a good portion of her people seemed intent on carrying out. The last thing that they needed was to weaken the Empire and strengthen the Dominion, not when they could simply wait a generation or two and out breed the psychotic bastards. Killing good, healthy, breeding-age fighters was the dumbest thing she could imagine, and she said that as someone who had yet to 'do her duty' by having children of her own.
But how could she?
She'd grown up in a household with an active-duty, high ranking military officer, and though she loved her father immensely, she had sworn that she would never spend more time on the battlefield than she did at home with her spouse and children, as he did. An oath that would have been difficult before, and was virtually impossible now.
She sighed, shaking her head a bit tiredly. There was no point in all this, now was hardly the time to think about a life that she couldn't have nor why she couldn't currently have it, and quite frankly it was hardly the time for her to be thinking about how well she'd gotten fucked the night before, nor the fact that she currently still had a bit of Constantine's seed leaking out of her pleasantly sore sex. No, now was the time to think about her duties. The problem was, she was…a bit at odd ends at the moment. The first wave had just finished crossing the bridge, officially no longer her responsibility, and the last thing her medics or the locals needed was her peering over their shoulders as they tried to tend to their patients and their responsibilities.
No one worked better when they had an officer looming over them, less so someone of her particular rank and authority.
And it wasn't like she could socialize either, so what was she to do?
It wasn't like anything particularly exciting was going to happen, after all. Not in Riverwood, at any rate.
Hmm, she could lead a search party up to Helgen, couldn't she? Sift through the rubble a bit. There was a thought.
It would certainly be more exciting than sitting around this small town -village, really- waiting for Constantine and her troopers to come back. It wasn't as if her evocati couldn't keep Elisif dróttning safe, never mind that vicious little thing that was Camilla Valerius.
Honestly, she barely knew the girl, but Kassandra was positive that she would go far if she ever joined the Legion, or the Companions. The girl was dangerous, and while she was painfully green when it came to fighting people outside of her brother or her sister, her technique was virtually flawless, she had no compunctions about pulling tricks that weren't strictly honorable, and it was quite clear that her brother had never taken it easy on her in spars. Likewise, she knew for a fact that Camilla was rather fond of the Lady of Solitude, though unless she had entirely lost her feminine instincts, both of the twins had been quite jealous of how close Elisif had stuck to Constantine when they first arrived. Of course, they'd settled down as soon as they had found out she was a mourning recently-widowed young woman, and not someone trying to 'steal' their elder brother away.
It never ceased to amuse Kassandra how long and eloquent people waxed about the jealousies and possessiveness of men, as brothers, fathers, or as lovers, as if they had never met a woman. She was pretty sure that, if the two Imperials knew that she had slept with their brother, they would have tried their hardest to claw her eyes out. Which was, in all honesty, more endearing than it ought to be, especially given the fact that Constantine had been an enthusiastic participant, most definitely wanted more, and was in all ways that mattered -and, likely as not, those that didn't- entirely capable of looking after himself.
Still, it was a rare man who could resist the affections and the demands of his little sisters, and there was something to be admired in the connection between the three of them, how devoted they all were to one another. Family, whether by blood or by choice, was to her the most important thing in the world.
She sighed again and rolled her shoulders, feeling the tension in her muscles ease slightly, and turned her gaze toward the southern road. Perhaps a trip to Helgen's ruins would be worthwhile, if only to ensure nothing of military value remained for scavengers. The thought of bandits picking through the remains of her fallen comrades made her jaw tighten. Besides, the people of Helgen deserved to know what had become of their kin and their home, and it had been a full day since Alduin's attack. While some wooden structures might still be smoldering away, she knew the great conflagration that had burned at their backs when they entered Riverwood had ended sometime in the night.
"Centurion." she spoke the word suddenly, neither raising her voice nor even looking to see if the officer in question was within earshot. She knew that they were, after all. In an instant the man was by her side, waiting for her instructions. "Gather half of the surviving troops and any volunteers amongst the people of Helgen and Riverwood and have them report to me near the north gate. We're going to investigate the ruins and recover whatever remains and properties that we can. The rest will remain here under the direction of yourself to keep things secure."
"Understood, Legatus." he saluted immediately and departed just as quickly, starting to shout names and call for volunteers to come forward, and as she started to make her way towards the meeting point, Kassandra couldn't help but cast her gaze towards the skeletal ruins on the side of the mountain in the distance. Up there, likely in this moment, Constantine and dozen of her troopers were confronting Divines only knew what. She might, in other circumstances, be nervous about the fates of all thirteen of them, especially her men, but…somehow, she doubted that they would be confronting anything that they couldn't, with Constantine in the lead, manage to deal with.
#################################################
Luvia Junius, Legionnaire of the Ninth, flinched slightly as the weight of the dead body -whose owner had, until moments ago, been busy trying to cut her throat- was dragged off of her by her savior. Taking the hand that was offered, she allowed herself to be pulled up to her feet, and chanced a somewhat embarrassed glance up at the man through her lashes.
"You alright, Luvia?" Constantine Valerius asked, his voice a rumble that had cheeks tinting peek, before she took a moment to examine herself, taking special care to test her recently-healed left arm's functionality. She smiled as it worked without difficulty and without pain, glad that she didn't have to be sent back early again, the second time in as many days.
"Yes, sir. Still fit to fight, sir." she reported with a dip of her head, and he smiled and patted her shoulder in response, turning to examine the small group that they had just fought and killed. Between the bandits guarding the ancient watchtower, those outside the main entrance, and those that had come outside when they heard the fighting, her unit had followed Constantine into battle against over a dozen criminals already, and doubtlessly there were more inside, in the deeper parts of the barrow.
"Not a sir, Legionnaire. Not anymore." he reminded her almost absently, frowning softly to himself. "It's strange, I wouldn't have expected a group this large to be in a place like this. The pickings are slim to the point of nonexistent, and while the barrow might be easy enough to survive in with a fire or two and good clothes, it's a hell of a trip to get food or other supplies. So why are so many of them here?"
"You did say that the leader's journal referenced a large treasure room deeper in, sir. Perhaps he was able to use that as a lure to get more people to join up?" she proposed after a moment of thought, and he grunted, waggling a hand back and forth in the universal gesture for 'maybe'.
"That's true, and that would certainly get a lot of people joining up, the dumb or the reckless ones, but this is a few too many people for just dumb and reckless. He must have been pretty convincing to get all these people to sign on with his plan, and more so to avoid getting himself gutted so that they could keep the treasure for themselves." he responded, before shrugging and resettling his grip on his sword. "Not that it really matters, in the end. The result will be the same regardless of why they're here. Let's wrap this up and get home in time for dinner, eh? Further down and further in, boys and girls."
"Yes, sir." the legionnaires all chorused together, some grinning faintly at his resulting mutter that he wasn't a 'sir', before one -Trajan, another man that had like Luvia help Constatine clear the Helgen Undercroft during the evacuation- continued. "Do you think we'll encounter any draugr, sir?"
"I doubt it. A group this large definitely would have drawn the attention of any that woke up by now, and either killed them all or been killed. Given how many we've fought and the lack of barricades, I'm going to assume that either there are no draugr able to access these levels, or the bandits already killed them all. If we come across any draugr corpses, be careful, by the way. They don't always stay dead when killed. One of the perils of the dragon cult, I'm afraid."
"What do you mean by that, sir?" a new girl, fresh out of boot, so new Luvia hadn't even learned her name yet, asked in a very small voice from the back of the group, and he waved his sword slightly as he responded, ignoring the way the motion sent fresh blood splattering across ancient stone.
"Despite what the histories would have you believe, the vast majority of draugr are not traitors that were cursed with eternal unlife and forbiddance of Sovngarde for worshipping the dragons. There are many, of course, that are bound to the mortal plane not by choice. Human sacrifices and ritually bound slaves, usually, as you might expect. But the majority of dragon cultists allowed their souls to be bound deliberately, in service of their priests and, ultimately, their gods." he explained quite casually, as though this was supposed to be common knowledge, and there were murmurs of confusion, especially from the Nordic legionnaires.
"But the histories all say—" one of them began, only to be cut off with a dismissive wave of Constantine's hand.
"The histories were written by the victors, as they always are. The Tongues and their descendants had no interest in portraying their enemies as anything but monsters and villains, perhaps with some good reason." Constantine paused at a junction in the ancient hallway, peering down both paths before gesturing the group toward the right-hand corridor. "The dragon cult was brutal, yes, but also deeply devout. Many of its adherents willingly underwent rituals to preserve their bodies after death, binding their souls to continue serving even beyond the grave. That's why draugr are so difficult to kill permanently. They chose this existence."
Luvia shivered despite herself. The thought of willingly becoming one of those... things was disturbing on a level she couldn't quite articulate.
"History is rarely kind to the defeated, and the Dragon War ended with total victory for those that rose up against the Cult. Ask yourself this: how many ancient Nord tombs have you seen or heard of? Dozens, at least, and those are only the ones that are known. Hundreds, perhaps. Each filled with the honored dead, warriors meant to guard their masters even beyond death, ready and willing to carry out the task. Now ask yourself: would an entire culture that revered such dedication since our ancient kin lived in an Atmora that was flourishing, suddenly consider similar service to dragons as worthy of eternal damnation? I think not. No, after the war against The Great Devourer history was written to condemn centuries of faith by those that had abandoned it not so much as a generation prior."
He gestured again, a wry twist to his lips, eyes a bit distant.
"Perhaps that faith needed to be abandoned, perhaps rising against the Dragon Cult was the morally correct thing to do. What I know certainly seems to say that it was at that point, whatever the cult might have been in the days of Ysgramor and Atmora. But that holds no relevance, and should hold no relevance, to the facts." he declared, looking at things that the rest of them couldn't see. "If you have to rewrite history to support or justify your cause, then your cause may not deserve justification to begin with."
The group fell silent as they processed his words, agreeing or not in the silent privacy of their own minds, the only sounds being those of nature and material echoing off of the ancient stones of the corridor. Luvia had no doubt that there would be many interesting conversations amongst her siblings-in-arms, especially the Skyrim-born, once they were away from anyone that smacked of 'rank' or 'authority'. She certainly had a few thoughts of her own, not that she was going to let herself get distracted by them right now. She'd heard enough horror stories about ancient Nord tombs when she'd been deployed here, the last thing she needed to do was step on the wrong bit of floor and have a spike-wall send her to the gods.
"Sir," Trajan ventured after several minutes, mustering a sort of courage that Luvia didn't have and was frankly surprised he possessed. "how do you know so much about the Dragon Cult and all this other stuff? That's not exactly normal Legion training."
"Legionary," he remarked, coming to a halt, and Luvia held her breath, wondering if Trajan was about to get reamed. Then it froze in her chest, as he looked over his shoulder at them, the flickering of the torchlight dancing across his bronze-gold eyes, the shadows on his face making him seem in that moment almost…predatory. Dangerous, her instincts screamed, and so she almost missed the rest of what he said.
"Whatever made you think I was normal?"
[1] https://discord.gg/3VKjmXBYY8