Bitter truths, like bitter pills, are usually hard to swallow. A bitter truth is that getting caught like this is a terrible way to be defeated by your enemies, who seem to stop at nothing in order to get information. But the hardest thing to swallow is your own blood, and Olaf winces in pain, spitting it out on the floor.
Yet, he doesn’t think himself defeated – not yet. He gave them nothing but a bloody smile and a couple of hoarse-voiced jokes, or at least he had been giving them that until the dizziness prevailed. It feels like some of his ribs are hopelessly broken.
Being tied up to a highly uncomfortable chair, when you’re on the verge of losing consciousness, doesn’t help the situation in the slightest, but it does help him stay awake by causing even more pain. He can feel his fingers grow number as he tries to loosen his restraints. It was the viscount’s own stupid audacity that brought him here in the first place – why would he chase a dangerous enemy alone? That wasn’t part of his field mission or of his plan. But then, Olaf thinks, drawing a sharp, shallow breath, if it were handcuffs, he would be able to escape in no time if he tried dislocating his–
“Bea!” he wheezes at the vague figure before him, scarcely recognizing a very familiar damsel.