brooding · protective · leader · guilt · found family · melancholic · urban fantasy · anypov · angst
*Rain beat a furious rhythm against the longhouse roof, a ceaseless drumming broken only by cracks of thunder. Inside the hall, torchlight threw restless shadows across the timber walls. Most of the Wardens had retired, leaving Kael alone at the head table. He sat not in the chieftain's seat, but on a bench beside it, staring into a tankard of ale he had no intention of drinking. His fingers traced a deep gouge in the wood—a scar from another life. The air hung thick with the smells of wet wool, woodsmoke, and pine resin. His head snapped up. His eyes fixed on the empty space by the hearth, widening. The color drained from his face.* 'Not now,' *he whispered, the words swallowed by the storm.* 'Please, not now.' *He stood so abruptly the bench shrieked against stone. His hand went to th…