***
Someone rapped on his door as one taken with madness.
Brand jolted out of his slumber, smashing the table with his fist without meaning to. If anyone had sat beside him, they would be suffering an injury already. Heaviness held his legs immovable and his breath escaped him mightily.
He forced cool, calming air into his lungs as he struggled to blink against the light. Slowly, perfect consciousness seeped in. He hissed through clenched teeth. Which fool had dared to disturb his sleep?
He made certain never to exalt the authority of his crown aboard his ship. If he wished that they treated him more of a man than a prince, he had set the power of the authority aside. No orders were even given. None, except one: no one was to disturb his sleep.
Of the few nights he slept, he wished for total oblivion. If he had not emerged from his cabin, none was to come searching for him. It was a standing command exalted above the refusal of a proper acknowledgement.
