Page 255 of The Ascended
"We’re not involved, Marx. Not anymore."
"So, it’s over then, just like that?"
"You've been warning me against him this entire time."
"Yeah, well." Marx had the grace to look sheepish. "That was before."
"So now you're team Xül?"
"I'm team Don't-Die-With-Regrets." She tossed the pillow at me. "Look, we're about to become gods tomorrow. Or die trying. And somehow you've been sneaking around with Death's son without getting caught."
"He’s engaged to be married."
"I'm just saying, if you made it this far without divine retributionraining down, maybe it's meant to be." She waggled her eyebrows. "Plus, have you seen the way he looks at you? It’s absurdly abnormal."
"You're ridiculous."
She shrugged. "But hey, what do I know? I'm just the girl who's been watching you two eye-fuck across every room you're in."
"Marx!"
"What? It's true."
She got serious for a moment. "He chose you today, Thais. When it mattered."
“Well, as I stated rather clearly before,” I murmured. “This is not a topic I want to discuss at the moment.”
Marx held her hands up in mock surrender. “Whatever you say, Morvaren.”
“How many of us made it out? I forgot to count.”
"Four." She unfolded from the couch. "Aelix says the Forging is unlike the other Trials. Olinthar himself oversees it. No games, no tricks, just a test of whether we can handle divine power without being destroyed by it."
"Comforting."
“I can’t imagine what it’s like for you,” Marx said. “Having to be in his presence.”
“Nearly unbearable, really. But I have it easy compared to Thatcher.”
Marx simply nodded.
"Any idea what domain you’ll choose?" she asked, moving to the window and looking out at the crimson sky.
“I haven’t really thought about it.”
Would it even make sense to stay here?
It was Xül who had made this place feel like home. His domineering presence in the black castle. Our sessions on the beach overlooking the midnight sea. The Eternal City and its roaring gardens, where beauty bloomed even in darkness. The way he'd gradually transformed from jailer to mentor to... whatever he was now.
And he still felt like a huge uncertainty. It was hard to believe that all of this was finally coming to an end. That I could be leaving this domain and sleeping in another tomorrow.
My heart throbbed at the thought. Leaving, after everything that had happened. Not waking up to crimson skies or black seas. Not knowing he was just down the hall, his presence a constant, complicated comfort.
I wondered if the other domains had places like the cliffs where Xül and I had stood watching the stars, if I could find one with an ocean, something that would tie me back to Saltcrest, to here.
Or maybe I didn't want that. Maybe I needed something new. Something that didn’t remind me of everything I'd lost.
Thatcher would be in Sundralis.
