Page 25 of As Above, So Below

Sighing, Vaelyn nods weakly. “Again,” he echoes softly.

Truth be told, I would rather not go through that again.

“You’ve given him no choice, Ves,” he says, curling some of his silver hair behind a pointed ear. “Because of your display, the Layer Lords think you will be the one to overthrow Netharis.”

I scoff, rolling my eyes. “I’ve no interest in involving myself with any of the Layer Lords’ eternal hunt for power.”

“It doesn’t matter,” he counters with a laugh. “You rattled the whole realm, cleaved the tower in two, and killed twenty.”

Their screams ring in my mind with the memory. And the sinful delight I’d felt as my shadows fed upon them rolls up my spine once again. I shudder against the sensation.

“I gaveeverything.It accomplishednothing, Vae.” The hopelessness I’d combated against the last few weeks returns with a vengeance. “I don’t want anything to do with the hells, let alone torulethem. Let me wither in peace.”

“I know that. Netharis knows that,” he says, tapping a nail on the back of the chair and I grimace at the sound.

So many little mannerisms like Netharis.

Every time I see him, a new one makes itself known.

“All your hiding these last couple centuries—gone. All of the hells is watching now. No one is going to let you wither.”

Of course they’re watching. They’re waiting for me to usurp Netharis’ throne or waiting for me to fail. I hate the truth of his words with the depths of my essence.

Continuing he says, “In fact anyone who has ever spoken to you over the last three hundred years knows you want nothing to do with the hells. At least, not anymore. You weren’t always this way,” he finishes softly.

He’s not wrong.

Scoffing a laugh, I peel myself from the wall and move across the room to my bed. “Netharis has made it clear I will be nothing.”

“What?” He stops tapping.

Sitting at the foot of my bed, I fold my legs beneath me. “Netharis has revoked my role as Death Bringer. I am to serve his House in other ways.”

HisHouse. Notmine.

“Now it makes sense.” He frowns, a crease forming between his brows. “He took away your ability to see the living realm, and you lost control of your innate.”

I hate how well my twin can read me.

“I didn’t lose control. I just…let go.” I say, my tone sour and resentful.

“You really wanted him to end you,” he says, bewildered by the truth of my earlier words.

I remain silent, and he purses his lips with a tight nod.

“Kassil has been meeting with Netharis in secret,” he relents with a sigh, shifting his weight. “Kassil hides it, but I have eyes in his House.”

“Again with Kassil, Vae,” I drawl annoyed, rolling my eyes.

I almost laugh.

He’s the perfect heir of the hells.

Having informants in the Layer Lords’ Houses is something Netharis would do.

“Listen,” he says, “when I brought him up last, it was before I knew about these meetings. These last few weeks while you’ve been…recovering have changed my perspective.”

My brows raise.