It had been years since he had been able to. The life of soldier permitted few luxuries, the role of a Celaenian general even fewer. It was rare when he permitted himself to indulge in excessive drink because it slowed the reflexes and muddled the mind, two things that could equate death in the battlefield. But death had already come to call on him twice in one night. He did not fear a third visit. Yet e had yet to find peace. His nude body kept tossing and turning against the silken sheets, knotting them around his muscled limbs. The light breeze coming in through the open windows fluttered the silk drapes but could not cool the perspiration that broke out over his skin. .....