Role

Chapter 10

The dagger came to my brother's neck just as I pushed his face away from mine.
I don't know if in that moment I made it easier for his assassin to cut him
down or if by instinct I rejected his advances at the most inopportune
instance. Either way the result was the same. The drow who felled him bore the
markings of an Imperial Shadow and was gone just as quickly as he appeared.

I think he smiled at me as he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

My brother, dying, tried to speak. Little came out and I only shuddered, mouth
agape as I held him closer. A wail finally escaped my throat.

It seemed clear to me that cruelty was the more assured path but after I buried
the man whose last name I took, I turned to a lit trail and thought not of
revenge. Surely there was some better way. I made my way to the Academy.