Boarstaff turned away, seeking Sebastian. He stood several paces distant, speaking quietly with Thornmaker. The village's defenders gave Sebastian a wide berth as they worked. Not just respect, but wariness. Perhaps fear.
They had good reason. Boarstaff had witnessed violence before, had dealt it himself in countless battles. But what Sebastian had done to Cassius wasn't the heat of combat. It had been methodical. Deliberate. Almost surgical in its precision.
The memory of Sebastian's bare foot pressing down on Cassius's face replayed in Boarstaff's mind. The calm in Sebastian's expression as bone and brass gave way beneath his heel.
Had that same expression been on Sebastian's face when he killed his brothers? Would it appear again, directed at someone who wasn't an enemy?
Boarstaff pushed the thought away. Sebastian had fought to protect the village. Had killed his own kind to save them. Whatever violence lived in him, he had channeled it toward their mutual enemies. That was what mattered.
Wasn't it?
"Warchief." Stonehammer approached, his armored boots heavy on the packed earth. The dwarven smith's eyes flicked toward Sebastian before settling on Boarstaff. "The council is gathering. Urgently."
Boarstaff nodded. "I'll be there."
"And him?" Stonehammer asked, not bothering to hide his meaning.
"I'll inform Sebastian of any decisions that concern him."
The dwarf grunted, clearly dissatisfied but unwilling to press the issue. He turned and strolled toward the central fire, where other council members were already assembling.
Boarstaff crossed to where Sebastian stood.
Thornmaker stepped back at his approach, giving them space.
"The council is meeting," Boarstaff said. "There will be questions about what happened here."
Sebastian's gaze remained on the settlement walls. "They'll want to know if more vampires will come."
"Among other things." Boarstaff studied Sebastian's profile, searching for some hint of what lay beneath the calm exterior. "Are you... well?"
Sebastian turned to him then, and Boarstaff was struck by how different he looked with his hair pulled back, his skin marked with scars where components had been removed. Still beautiful, but in a wilder way than before.
"I'm as I should be," Sebastian said. Not a direct answer.
"Rest, then. We'll speak after the council."
Sebastian nodded once, then walked toward the Heart Tree, his bare feet silent on the earth. Boarstaff watched him go, aware of the many eyes tracking Sebastian's progress through the village. Some curious, some fearful, some calculating.
The council had already begun their discussion when Boarstaff arrived at the central fire. Voices hushed momentarily as he took his place, but the tension in the air remained palpable.
"Twenty vampires dead," Thornmaker was saying. "Including a noble from an allied house. Cornelius will respond with everything he has."
"Good," said Rockbreaker, one of the older council members. "Let them come while we're ready, not when they choose."
"Ready?" Ironfist scoffed. "You saw what one of them did. Imagine a hundred like him."
"Sebastian is not like the others," Boarstaff said, entering the conversation. "That's why he fights with us, not against us."
Ironfist's eyes narrowed. "What I saw tonight was someone who kills his own kind with disturbing efficiency. Who's to say his allegiance won't shift again?"
"He killed his brothers for us," Moonsinger said quietly. "He won't return to House de la Sang."
"Perhaps not," Stonehammer agreed. "But that doesn't make him one of us, either."
Rockbreaker tapped his gnarled staff against the ground. "The question isn't whether he'll betray us to his father. It's whether we can control him at all."
"Control him?" Boarstaff asked, his voice hardening. "He's not a weapon."
