[color=#6ecff6][center][sub][h1][b]Siegfried Aschwin[/b][/h1][/sub][img]https://i.imgur.com/bYbIH9t.png[/img]
Location: The Stone's Throw Kitchen
Mentions: [@Haha][@13org][@Theyra][/center][/color][hr]Siegfried stood in the corner of the cramped kitchen, his broad shoulders nearly brushing the hanging pots overhead. He had remained silent through Brigitte's speech, those pale eyes—too bright, too cold, with that faint elongation to the pupils that made people uncomfortable—tracking her movements like a predator watching prey. Except she wasn't prey. She was something else entirely.

A Fenris. Kurt's daughter. The wolf's pup, standing there with scabs on her lips and madness in her eyes, swearing blood oaths in a tavern kitchen. The irony tasted like copper on his tongue.

The universe had a sick sense of humor.

Siegfried watched Eirún give her silent approval, watched Aslan lower his hood and pledge himself with earnest conviction. Young fools, both of them, caught up in the romance of rebellion. But he understood it. He had been young once too, before the Luxun burned that out of him.

He shifted his weight, the leather of his gear creaking in the silence that followed. His gaze moved from Brigitte to Nika, lingering on those Luxun features with something darker than mere disdain. Pact-knight. Forged by iron and snow, the girl said. The words were pretty, but Siegfried knew what Luxun blood meant. He knew the arrogance, the cruelty, the way they looked at people like livestock to be bred and butchered for power. The knight hadn't run. Hadn't betrayed her when he could have. That counted for something, even if Siegfried's gut still twisted every time he looked at that face.

[color=#6ecff6]"Mages,"[/color] he finally said, his voice cutting through the kitchen like a blade through silk. He pushed off the wall, taking two steps forward so the firelight from the main room caught his features properly—the hard planes of his face, the old scars, those inhuman eyes. [color=#6ecff6]"You want to gut the mages who took your keep. That's what you're really asking for."[/color]

He looked directly at Brigitte, and there was something in his expression that might have been respect, or recognition, or hunger. Maybe all three.

[color=#6ecff6]"I've made a career out of killing spellcasters. Watched them burn, choke, bleed out on their own hexes when they realized their magic couldn't touch me. It's what I do. It's what I'm for."[/color] He let that sit for a moment, the weight of it, before continuing. [color=#6ecff6]"So yes, Lady Wolf, I'll take your coin. I'll hunt your mages. I'll carve through whatever traitors sold you out and left you bleeding in the snow."[/color]

He paused, and something flickered behind those reptilian eyes, something old and bitter and deeply, personally invested.

[color=#6ecff6]"Know this, Lady Wolf, I don't do it for your bloodline. I don't do it for your father's legacy or your grandfather's memory."[/color] His voice dropped lower, became almost conversational. [color=#6ecff6]"I do it because every mage I kill is one less abomination walking this world. One less [i]parasite[/i] who thinks they can reshape reality to suit their ambitions, one less bastard who believes people are just material for their experiments."[/color]

The venom in that last part was palpable, and his eyes flicked briefly to Nika before returning to Brigitte.

[color=#6ecff6]"You want sanguine snow? I can give you that. I can give you mages drowning in their own blood while their spells fail and their wards crumble. I can give you traitors learning what happens when you bet on the wrong predator."[/color] A cold smile touched his lips, humorless and sharp. [color=#6ecff6]"I charge for my services, yes. But this?"[/color] He gestured vaguely at the room, at her, at the situation. [color=#6ecff6]"This I'd almost do for free. [i]Almost[/i]."[/color]

He crossed his arms over his chest, the axe and sword at his belt shifting with the movement. He met her eyes, the eyes of a wolf burning with righteous fury and exhaustion. [color=#6ecff6]"You have my blades, Lady Wolf. My name is Siegfried."[/color]