***
Nikalaos was a coward.
He wasn't ashamed of it, at least not anymore.
He had been, once upon a time, back when he still cared about his House's reputation and the people who whispered behind his back.
But that was before the incident... before the night he'd gotten himself drunk and picked a fight with some Runebearer in a backwater inn.
Only later did he find him to be a House Death heir.
And he, Nikalaos?
Nothing more than a middling fool from an old House that barely held on to its land.
Damn that Goddess, he should've never knelt to Her...
It was by accident; he fell for no more than a moment.
Almost instantly, he was accepted.
He saw not even a whiff of a Blessed.
None of it made sense, but he'd long since given up on that.
In any case, he should've died that night.
Nikalaos didn't, and that terrified him.
Because ever since then…
He knew they were coming.
