Richard slammed his fist into the wall of his office for the dozenth time since he returned to Pelith. Many things had gone wrong for him over the last few weeks.
The chief among them was that Lucius survived the assassination plan that was put in place. He left the entire plot up to the elven bitch known as Shiyani and assumed she would take care of it. Richard was not one to plan, he preferred the more honorable route of direct confrontation, so he had left the plan to her.
He had already dirtied his hands more than necessary by using an assassin. However, he also recognized that he was given little choice. There was absolutely no way for him to have been able to leave his command at Watcher's Retreat, make it past enemy lines unnoticed, track the Marked One down, and then kill him. After all that, he would have to somehow return to his command in a reasonable time. It was practically impossible.
