For a long time, silence stretched between the two men, a heavy, airless void filled only by the distant, rhythmic backdrop of instruments and the buzzing chatter of the court. To Alpheo, the lords and ladies might as well have been ants for all the relevance they held in that frozen moment.
There were only the victors of the field at that moment, staring at each other across a table stained with wine and grease. Doubt gripped Alpheo's heart, a cold, sharp blade where once only the dull ache of weariness had stood.
Did you do it?
The question echoed against the inner walls of his mind, rattling his composure. He felt like a goat tethered before a tiger, seeing two roads branching before him: one promised death, the other a tenuous life. He had to choose. He tried to search the Kakunian's face for any hint, any flicker of a lead, but Merelao's eyes were deep wells of nothingness.
