Page 163 of The Ascended
My eyes widened as I stared at him, searching his face for any sign that I'd misunderstood. But his expression remained grave, resolute.
"You—" I started, then stopped, afraid to voice the implication of his words. The room suddenly felt too small, too close. "Do you really believe that?"
"Of course I do.” He leaned closer. “But a word of warning—be careful who you share your grief with, starling," he said, his voice returning to its measured tone. "Not everyone who wears a crown deserves your trust."
"Right," I said softly.
He nodded once, the shadows around him gradually receding. His eyes focused on me again, studying my face. I met his gaze, letting him see all the broken pieces I usually kept hidden.
"Why didn't you call Miria this time?" I asked after a moment, changing the subject. "To heal me?"
"This was an unprecedented attack," he said carefully. "Kavik entering my domain uninvited, targeting my chosen contestant..." He paused. "It raises questions."
Then I remembered. Kavik's strange behavior, the unnatural emptiness in his eyes. The way he'd spoken like a puppet with someone else pulling the strings.
"He seemed… wrong," I said slowly.
"He was," Xül agreed. "Aelix and I have been trying to make sense of it since it happened. Kavik is many things—impulsive, hot-headed, occasionally insufferable—but this isn't in his nature. Not his character."
"He killed his own contestant," I pointed out.
"That's different." Xül’s brow furrowed. "Legends eliminate their own contestants all the time. If a blessed proves unworthy or becomes a liability, they're removed." His tone was a reminder of the brutal reality of the Trials. "But coming to a domain in which he has no authority and targeting another Legend's contestant?" He shook his head. "Unheard of."
"The timing was interesting."
His lips curved. "That he chose to attack while I was away? Almost as if someone knew I would be absent."
"Do you think they did?" I asked, watching his face carefully.
He considered this, his mismatched eyes narrowing slightly. "It's possible. Any number of beings could have known I would be gone."
"Kavik was trying to kill me. Not Marx, not Aelix. Me." I met his gaze directly. “Why?”
Xül paused, and in that hesitation, I read the truth—he didn't know. For all his power, all his knowledge, he was as much in the dark as I was. He shifted closer to me, the mattress dipping slightly under his weight.
"Kavik has been committed to the domain of Pyros nearly his entire life," he said slowly. "It makes no sense for him to target you. I don't know what Pyralia would gain by your death."
"He kept repeating the same phrases over and over," I recalled, remembering flashes of the attack. "Like he was stuck in a loop."
"Yes. ‘The girl is a threat. She must be eliminated.' Over and over, like he was?—“
"Brainwashed," I finished.
Our eyes met. Whatever happened with Kavik, it wasn't natural. Someone or something influenced him, used him as a weapon aimed directly at me.
"When I arrived," Xül said, his voice dropping lower, "he didn't even acknowledge me at first. Just kept trying to kill you, even with me standing right there." A shadow crossed his face. "Kavik may bereckless, but he's not suicidal. He knows better than to challenge me in my own domain."
"So someone powerful enough to make him forget that," I concluded.
"Yes."
A thought occurred to me, one I had been afraid to voice. "Could he have been sent by Olinthar?"
Xül's brow furrowed as he considered this. "If Olinthar wanted you eliminated, he would have sent Lightbringers," he said after a moment. "They're his personal guardians, completely loyal and far more efficient."
"Unless he didn't want it traced back to him," I countered.
Xül's eyes narrowed. "I can't be certain," he admitted. "But Pyralia typically remains neutral when it comes to divine agendas. She prefers to stay out of political machinations." He shook his head slightly. "I see no reason why Olinthar could convince her to be complicit in this. Not without him revealingwhyhe might want you dead. Which we both know is unlikely."
