Today

“Inago?”

I stop on the stairs. That was definitely been another thump from his room.

“Inago? Are you all right?”

He’d told me, told me that he wouldn’t be the same today. The man is eaten up by something and has an unhealthy obsession about Fen Dakis… but I thought it was just drunken talk.

Yet, now it’s early morning, the last of the stragglers have found a new home in the gutter and he is usually up and scribbling at his corner table.

I rap on his door. “Inago?”

The room is in darkness, the shutters still pulled tight.

“Go away, Shena.”

I should do as he orders. I should. Instead, I enter and stand at the end of his narrow bed. My eyes grow used to the gloom. Curled into a tight ball, he has the sheets twisted around him. “Do you need a doctor?”

A bitter laugh escapes him. “No doctor can help me.”

“But—”

He erupts from the bed. “Look at me! Look what’s she’s done.”

I scream. And I can’t stop.