Page 164 of The Ascended
"What happened to him?" I asked. "To Kavik, I mean."
A shadow flickered across Xül's face. "He's dead."
"You killed him?" I whispered.
"When I arrived and saw him with his hands around your throat..." He paused, a muscle twitching in his jaw. "The dead tore him apart."
"I don't remember much," I admitted. "Just the cold, and the souls appearing, and then... darkness."
"Kavik was a Legend," Xül said, his voice low and tense. “His absence isn't something that will go unnoticed. When Pyralia discovers one of her Legends is gone..." He trailed off, his expression grim.
"You think there will be consequences," I surmised.
"I know there will be," he corrected. "The question is what form they'll take, and who will bear them."
"We don't know what's happening," Xül continued, his voicesoftening, "but for now, we need to keep this quiet. If Kavik was sent by Pyralia and he never returns..."
"Then there are few who know what actually happened here," I realized.
He nodded. "Staying silent might tell us more than demanding answers. I want to see how this unfolds—who reacts, who doesn't." His eyes met mine, searching. "Can I trust you to keep this between us?"
"Of course," I said without hesitation.
"Thank you," he said quietly.
"And in the meantime?" I asked. "What do we do?"
"In the meantime," he repeated. "I won't leave you like that again. I promise."
Warmth bloomed in my chest at his words—something dangerously close to trust. I pushed it down, focusing instead on the practical.
"Why were you in the city so long?" I asked, trying to keep my tone casual.
Xül hesitated before rising.
“I wasn’t in the city, starling.” His voice was low. “At least, not the past few days.”
“Then where were you?”
"Verdara," he said finally, his back to me. "With my father."
Verdara. Davina’s domain.
He sighed, a soft sound barely audible. "And Nyvora," he said, the name hanging in the air between us.
I tried to ignore the pang in my chest at the mention of the beautiful goddess who had made her interest in Xül abundantly clear at the Banquet. It was stupid, this jealousy—unfounded and unjustified. I had no claim on him, no right to feel anything about who he spent his time with.
"Why?" I asked, keeping my voice neutral despite the sudden tightness in my throat.
When he finally spoke, his voice wasflat, resigned.
"My father has come to a decision," he said, each word carefully measured. "About who I will marry.”
"So it's her—Nyvora," I whispered, hating how my voice betrayed me by cracking on her name.
He nodded once, a sharp, tense movement. "I don't know when, but yes. Eventually. We were in Verdara accepting the terms."
Pain twisted in my chest—an irrational pain that I had no right to feel. I tried to keep my expression neutral, but I must have failed because his brow furrowed.
