A collection of six guards stand outside of the door to Terrence's chambers. None notice me. They try to convince Terrence to come out, not to force them to break the door down, to not to slit their friend's throat. In most cases threatening to hit him or promising him wine convinces him to comply with most orders, this occasion however proves to be special.

"Please my lord," one guard yells at the door. "None of us wish you harm and Orson has done you no wrong! Just let him go and we can talk like civilized men about whatever troubles you!"

"Get me Harold or this man will paint this floor!' Terrence yells back, quite clearly enraged by something.

"My lord no one wishes for it to come to that! This incident will not be seen well when inspected from any angle! You know what the prince is like when he's angered, remember what he did to Lord Stephen the second?"

"Probably doesn't," I chime in, causing all the guards to jump. "Given the fact that he was crying out the good lord's sister's name while the good lord was crying out for a doctor."

"My prince!" The negotiator exclaims. "I had not seen-"

"Good sir!" I cut across him. "I do not care!"

"It's just that… well… your cousin is suffering from a mild-"

"If threatening to slit throats is only mild what's actually slitting them?" I inquire. "Inconvenient? Unfortunate? Scandalous maybe? More importantly, what's major?"

"I don't mean to be the fool my prince it's just that-"

"Well you've somehow managed to let my cousin press a blade to a man's neck so it's quite clear you are," I yawn. "Is it safe to assume it's just him and the guard in there?"

"Yes my prince."

"Right then, you're dismissed."

"Your pardon my prince?"

"You're dismissed," I repeat calmly, "all of you, go patrol the halls or whatever your duties are."

"My prince I fail to understand-"

"Are you hard of hearing or simple?" I inquire.

"My prince we can't just-*

"Go away,"I simplify. "You're clearly not going to be of any shitting use to me here if you can't even understand orders as simple as that. So instead of standing outside of these chambers prepared to shit yourself at any given moment fuck off and do something useful!"

"Apologies my prince," the guard says meekly before scurrying away like a beaten dog. The others stare blankly for a moment before following him.

I push open the door and walk into Terrence's chambers without waiting or asking for an invitation. The stench of wine is overwhelming and cousin seems to have created quite the mess when subduing the guard.which is hardly surprising. Several jugs of wine are scattered on the floor along with more goblets than I'd care to count. Blood stains the corner of the bedside table and Terrence sits on his bed awkwardly holding a limp guard by the collar of his shirt with one hand and pressing a blade to the man's throat with the other. He stares at me with wide, bloodshot eyes, his clothes are filthy, they're coloured more by stains than dye and I can smell his stench from here. I'm still wondering how he didn't end up getting brained as soon as he tried to touch the guard.

"What did you do?" He asks quietly.

"When?" I respond innocently. "Where? And to whom?"

"Don't jest at me cousin, tell me what you did or I-"

"I did a whore shortly after your heroic retreat," I say. "I understand why you might begrudge me for not telling you about her shortly afterwards but draining this man seems a bit excessive."

"Mock me again and this man will decorate my walls!"

"You do that and you know I'll let you swing for it," I say calmly.

"Hang me you're kin killer," Terrence says with a grin. "Let me live and you show weakness. After this man's throat opens no possible ending is preferable for you. So tell me what you did or your reputation will suffer."

"To whom!" I repeat, anger beginning to creep infect my voice. "You echo that order as if I only performed one deed during your absence and as if there's something that could obviously prompt this reaction from you!"

"To the boy!" Terrence yells. "What did you do to the boy you degenerate?"

"The bishop's pet? I didn't touch-"

"The boy you had swing!" Terrence spits. "The young murderer we watched choke! What did you do to him?"

"I believe you've just answered that question," I point out, carefully stepping over the litter as I approach him. "I had him swing, for good reason too. I could have sworn we've already talked about this-"

"Stop fucking talking!" Terrence screams, taking his sword away from the man's throat and pointing it in my direction. "Stop playing the fool! And fucking stop acting as if this is a friendly exchange! Just answer the damned question! Do nothing more, do nothing less."

"What answer do you want?" I yell back, briskly advancing towards him until the point of the blade pokes my chest. "I met the boy at those gallows, same as you! I gave the word and watched him swing! I cut down his corpse that very eve and set it aflame along with the others! Why don't you tell me what else you'd like to hear? I enjoyed watching him choke! The very thought of it fills my guts with darkness and I have not slept a night since it happened. I regret not giving him a proper burial. He was scum and fortunate that I didn't piss on his corpse! Something like one of those? Should I inject a bit more regret or enthusiasm? Should I shed a fucking tear?"

"You didn't burn his body," Terrence says quietly. "I know you didn't burn his body so don't fucking lie to me-"

"Tell you what Terrence," I sigh and drop to one knee and gently grab hIs blade by its edges and press the tip to my throat, he offers no resistance and I suspect I could take the damned thing from him in a moment. "This game of guessing what fantasy you've managed to formulate became dreadfully boring shortly after it started and inconvenienced me before I even decided to play. So colour your blade with bright red blood or tell me what madness led to this or I'll beat you into a smear, strip you of all your wealth save for two gold rings and then I'll exile you."

"You didn't burn his body," Terrence repeats meekly, his hand shaking a bit. He lets go of his hostage, he slides to the ground and crumples to the floor like a discarded puppet. If this was an accident Terrence shows very little caring for it as he continues to stare at me, his eyes pathetically wet. "I know you didn't burn-"

"How?" I inquire calmly.

"I know you didn't-"

"You already said that, how do you know?"

"You didn't!" Terrence yells pressing the tip of the sword closer to my throat drawing a trickle of blood. "I know you fucking didn't so tell me-"

I jerk back and shove the flat of the blade, pushing the weapon away from my throat, I grab his sword hand and hold it tightly as I ram my free fist right into his manhood. Terrence groans and doubles over, dropping his stolen blade and clutching at his crotch. I rise to both feet and take a step back to observe this pitiful wretch of my creation before dragging him to his feet.

"What led you to believe I did anything other than incinerate a few corpses?" I reiterate.

Terrence just stares at me sullenly for a moment but when my fist is raised as if to strike him his jaw loosens."I saw him."

I shove Terrence into the wall opposite me in anger. He knocks over a painting and almost brains himself on a dresser but regains his balance.

"You threaten to murder man over your drunken delusions!" I yell, not bothering to mock calmness or indifference anymore. "The nobles will joke about lord Terrence the mad for decades because you can't differentiate between hallucination and reality! Do you know how much shit I will have to shovel to get those who sit beside me to get them to shut up about you! I can't even fuck you off to advise some duke or serve as a warden because should this incident reiterate I'm the only man willing to beat you into sense!"

"I saw him," Terrence repeats staring at me dully. "And he saw me-"

"Unless he was charred black and crumbling into ash I guarantee you didn't."

"All the marks were gone, all the filth but it was his face-"

"With every word you speak the risk of me cleaving your tongue in two multiplies."

"His eyes weren't right," Terrence continues. "Weren't his, weren't natural-"

"Yours will be cut out if you continue with this mockery!'

"Just tell me who you sold his corpse too," Terrence says quietly, almost a whisper. "I'll kill him myself. No one will know."

I grab him by his neck and strike him in the face. The blow hurts my fist and blood drops from the idiot's mouth.

"One fucking night away from being a king and my closest family lose all their damn wits," I spit. "Martin somehow grows more simple, you see dead boys now, what's next? Will Serah try to slit my throat for the crown? Will Bartholomew leave hIs stable and ask for my undying respect?"

"I know what I saw," Terrence groans. "I don't care for what reason you did it. I don't care what foul sorceries were used, I just know what was done to that boy was wrong regardless of-"

"Do you want to look upon what I left!" I scream at Terrence. "I watched his flesh char and fats fucking render! The mess froze overnight and the city watch couldn't tell where one criminal began and and the other ended! More importantly why do you think I'd bother selling a carcass of one street urchin? Do you think me to be wanting for some gold fingers? Do you believe that I just needed a bit more coin to organise that group of muses I wished for a while back?"

"I don't know why" Terrence states calmly. "But I know you claimed to have incinerated each and every corpse that dangled from those ropes and I know that one of them is up and walking about-"

"You know nothing! You drank yourself comatose and the dreams you saw while drifting through an ocean of wine mixed themselves into your reality!"

"I swam through that sea after I saw the boy-"

I throw Terrence to the ground and kick him in the gut eliciting a grunt of pain from him.

"For your transgressions you will be punished," I sigh. "You won't swing, nor will you be brutalized unfortunately. If you suffer justly then I'm a merciless man who cares not for his own blood but mark my words your life will be hell. I will find a way."

"Do what you wish," the ingrate moans. "Just admit to me what you did to the boy and tell who owns his body. Allow me to deliver justice to the degenerate and then do what you wish to me you blackhearted-"

I deliver another kick, this time to his face, silencing his nonsense and knocking loose some of his teeth. I then drop to one knee and lean in close to his face. His breath reeks of wine and blood, his flesh is beginning to swell and blacken.

"I hung the boy, I cut him down, I placed him atop nine other corpses, doused them in oil, I set them alight. They all melted together in the heat, fire went out before they were ash; what was left was this blackened, messy tangle of limbs and bones laid bare. I participated in no sale of flesh, no supplying of materials to sorcerer's and no resurrecting of the dead. I merely wrote two letters to the watch explaining the situation."

Terrence wheezes something that vaguely sounds like ‘liar’. I rise to my feet, scoop the sword up off the ground, grab the still unconscious by his shirt and drag him out of the chambers. Terrence can be left to ponder his delusions alone, should he feel a great guilt over tarnishing my reputation or fear towards what I may do to him and decide to brain himself, that might help the issue somewhat.