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I still felt a bit uncomfortable. Out of place. Lord Castemont set a mug of mead in front of me a half hour ago. I’d taken one obligatory sip. The liquid was bitter. Unpleasant. I couldn’t bring myself to drink more no matter how much he eyed me. All I could hear above the din of chanted songs and raucous laughter was the woman in the brothel.

Please!

Another song started up, the mood in the pub shifting from celebratory and carefree to somber and deliberate.

Oh, the mountains wi’ quake

And the ocean wi’ shake

And Idros wi’ rain upon the fallen

Don’t be caught in the din

’Fore confessin’ your sins

On the day the Saints’ daughter comes a-callin’

Oh, oh, the ebb and the flow

The fire and the wind and the water

The world it may turn or the world it may burn,

At the hand of Katia’s daughter

“Do you know the story of the Daughter of Katia?” Lord Castemont asked suddenly, his eyes pensive as he watched the tavern’s patrons.

“I do,” I answered flatly, my eyes following his to the crowd. The entirety of the pub seemed to sway like ocean waves on a calm day.

The story, they say

Is that one blessed day

The Saints will gift us wit’ the promised

From Katia’s womb

A rare flower wi’ bloom

When the daughter of Saints is upon us

Oh, oh, the ebb and the flow

The fire and the wind and the water

The world it may turn and the world it may burn,

At the hand of Katia’s daughter

Tyrak shifted uncomfortably in his seat, and I tried to keep my eyes from darting to him. He saw something. Sensed something.

Lord Castemont took a sip of mead and leaned in. “She’s coming,” he whispered, the words barely audible above the drunken chanting. “Soon.”

I furrowed my brows at him. “How do you know that?”

One side of his mouth turned up in a sly smile. “Just a feeling,” he answered, his words slow and almost slurred. He wasn’t drunk, was he? I’d seen him down a few mugs of ale, but he’d seemed just fine before now.

“Just a feeling?” I repeated back to him. He gave a knowing smile in return. “The prophecy is that she’ll come to be the Savior of the Realm, yes?” I asked, and Castemont nodded, excitement in his eyes. “Do you believe the realm needs saving now?”