Page 62 of The Ascended
"That's why he's so?—"
"Bitter? Cynical? Determined to isolate himself from the rest of the Legends despite his father’s desires?" Aelix shrugged.
"And what does Morthus expect of him?"
"I fear I’ve said too much already." Aelix paused at the castle gates, smiling softly. "But you might find you have more in common with the Warden of the Damned than you realize."
“Oh, I highly doubt that.”
“You know, he was forced into the Trials too.” His eyes grew almost wistful. “Olinthar refused his ascension unless he battled it out with the rest of the mortals.”
I said nothing, absorbing his words.
"Now that he’s ascended, the other heirs have started treatinghim with the respect he was always owed. Of course, that would feel hollow. How could it not?" Aelix's expression grew thoughtful. "He knows why they changed their tune. Now he’s the legitimate heir to the second largest domain in the realm."
I let the words wash over me, but I still couldn’t find it in myself to feel sorry for the god. Not after everything he’d done. "So, what you’re saying is that he’s extremely jaded. Understood."
“You could say that." Aelix smiled sadly, looking over his shoulder. "And this is where I leave you for the night, Miss Morvaren." He turned on his heel, beginning to walk back in the direction we came from.
“Thank you,” I called after him. “For taking me out with you.”
He simply waved a response and disappeared into the darkness with Marx.
The castle corridors felt different in the deep hours of night—shadows longer, my footsteps echoing off stone walls. Exhaustion pulled at my limbs, but my mind buzzed with everything that had happened.
I rounded the corner toward my chambers and stopped short.
Xül lounged against my door, one shoulder pressed to the frame, arms crossed. He'd shed his formal jacket for a simple scarlet shirt that clung to his lean frame, sleeves rolled up to reveal the gold rings adorning his fingers. His eyes bore into me, and that infuriating smirk curved his lips.
"Well, well," he drawled, voice low. "She returns. Tell me, starling, did you learn anything useful tonight, or did you simply provide entertainment for our neighbors?"
I narrowed my eyes. "Far more useful than anything you've bothered to teach me."
"Mm." His smirk slid into a smile. "Such fire. I do hope Aelix didn't coddle you too much."
He seemed far too eager to speak with me.
I stepped closer, close enough to see the way candlelight glimmered off the rings in his braids. "What do you want?"
"Such suspicion." He pushed off from the door. "Can't a mentor check on his devoted protégé?"
"You've never checked on me before."
His golden eye glittered. "Perhaps I'm simply more subtle than you realize."
Before I could process that unsettling implication, he was moving past me down the corridor. "Come along, starling."
"Where—"
"The laboratorium." He glanced back, that wicked smile still playing at his lips. "Unless you'd prefer to stumble through tomorrow's lesson as blindly as you did tonight's tracking expedition."
I stared after him, completely off-balance. How would he even know?—
"Are you coming?" His voice drifted through the corridor, rich and all too satisfied. Like he knew with absolution that I’d obey. "Or shall I assume you've learned all you need from playing in the woods?"
Damn him. I followed.
Chapter 17
