These were the sorts of thoughts he still battled with every now and again.
It was the last bit of his heroic nature blowing out like a flame in a strong wind.
As he tossed his work vest on the coat hanger and hurled his clothes into the laundry hamper, a now familiar ease washed over him.
That intrusive need to rationalize who he was and what life choices he'd made lately subsided. Now there was calm.
Alaric put on a different pair of boxers and a black athletic T-Shirt. With a big stretch, his arms extended back toward the headboard, and his legs lifted his body into something like a bridge position as he let out a tired
groan.
The room was just a room now. Without Vladira here to control the castle's core, it was a dingy condo, not much better than the day they'd moved in.
He grabbed his phone off the bedside table and pulled it out.
> I'm done for the day. Going to take a nap while I wait for you to get home. Wake me up when you're here.
