Page 39 of When Death Called Life Home (When Deities Awaken #1)
Chapter 39
‘I’m Here, and I Love You’
ASCIAN
U pon her return, Maelo looked more stressed than she had when she left the dungeons. She’d been gone maybe an hour or two at most. Sweat coated her skin, and even without Heart energy, Ascian could tell her heart was racing.
“Maelo?”
She looked over at him as her feet hit the floor of the dungeons, then they flickered behind her to Verena. Ascian caught on, closing his mouth and keeping it that way until Verena attached Maelo’s chains and scanned over them all.
“Verena,” Ascian greeted when her gaze landed on him.
“Commander,” she replied. “Your second here just saved you a couple days of waiting.”
Ascian raised an eyebrow, his chin lifting. “Is that so?”
Verena only smirked and ascended the staircase. The door above clicked closed and cut off the brighter light, again. Ascian was somewhat grateful for it. Not only the privacy it allowed them, but with his eyes adjusting to the dimmer lights, the brighter ones created a painful throb just behind his eyes.
He turned his attention to Maelo. “Are you okay?”
Maelo’s body sagged against the cold wall with her eyes closed. The only sign she’d heard him speak was that of her head turning the slightest amount towards his voice. “I’m okay.”
“You’re sure?” Ascian pushed, and earned a soft nudge to his stomach from Alora.
“Give her a second,” Alora murmured.
Maelo’s lips curved at Alora’s words. She slowly opened her eyes and glanced across at them. “They had me heal Osiris.”
“Did you expel the damaged energy?” Alora asked immediately.
Ascian took that as his turn to nudge her back and murmur, “Give her a second.”
The exchange brought a small laugh from Maelo’s body. “No, I didn’t get a chance. I think the cuffs are the only reason his wounds haven’t transferred to me. They absorbed all the damaged energy along with what remained of mine.”
Ascian frowned. That couldn’t be good. “But the second those cuffs come off, you’ll need to expel it.”
Maelo nodded, her hair bunching up against the stone. “I spoke to Osiris, too.”
Ascian tensed, teeth grinding hard enough to send a ping of pain to his brain and get him to loosen up. “I don’t want to hear it, Maelo.”
“Ascian,” Maelo grumbled, sending a weak glare his way. “He didn’t intend to get us locked up.”
“And yet, that’s what happened,” Ascian responded. “He even had his cronies shackle you up. How does that say anything other than a plan had been made and actioned out perfectly?”
“I-,” Maelo paused with a frown. “I don’t know, okay? I didn’t get to ask him about that, but I felt the truth in his body. He had no intention of locking us all up and handing you over to the Elders.”
Ascian shook his head as he leaned it back against the stone wall. “That would be a nice thought, but his actions say otherwise.”
“Az?” Alora asked from his side. He glanced down at her and hummed for her to continue. “Osiris didn’t exactly have a chance to do anything else after you started beating him.”
Ascian stared at her, jaw working as he thought over his next words. “Do you think I should have acted differently, amorsa?”
Instantly, she replied, “No. I trust your decision-making undoubtedly. I’m just saying, maybe Osiris didn’t think it through.”
“He didn’t,” Maelo confirmed, drawing Ascian’s attention back to her. “He literally hasn’t been able to, Az. I think after Raine died, it changed how his brain worked. His decision making has been compromised, and that includes thinking of all the outcomes to any plans he makes.”
“You’re telling me, that my childhood best friend turned into a complete asshole because his grief for our dead sister altered how his brain functions?”
Maelo flinched at his bluntness, but it wasn’t enough. Why did Osiris get a pass for getting them locked up because of grief? He wasn’t the only one grieving. Hells, he had only been Raines’ partner . They weren’t even soul-joined.
Ascian opened his mouth to say more but Maelo’s gaze sharpened. “Don’t you dare say that he’s not the only one grieving, Ascian. I know he’s not, but until now, it didn’t seem like you were to everyone else around. Do you know how many Reapers I’ve had to calm down because of your dickhead attitude? Because I understand why you’re in such a foul mood some days while everyone else has forgotten?”
Ascian’s chest grew heavier and heavier with each sentence she threw at him, weighing on his heart and spreading the cracks that had only just begun to heal.
“You’re not the only one grieving a fucking loved one, Az!”
Alora’s fingers slipped through his, gripping his hand tightly and bringing it to her lips. The kiss she pressed to his knuckles drew away the poison aimed at his heart. A dart carefully pulled back through layers of muscle and skin until it was removed entirely. Ascian looked at her and found her loving eyes focused on him. She didn’t need to say the words with her mouth when her gaze told him everything.
I’m here, and I love you.
He slowly tore his attention from her and back to Maelo, who still glared at him with a pained expression. “I’m sorry.”
Maelo blinked and the glare disappeared, the pain lingered as it always had since Raine.
Ascian swallowed and repeated himself, “I’m sorry, Maelo, that I forgot you also lost our parents and our sister. I’m sorry that I forgot you’ve had to push on with life without a second to properly grieve them, too. I’m sorry I’ve apparently been dealing with that grief with a dickhead attitude.”
Maelo snorted out a laugh at the last sentence. It brought a soft smile to his lips, to be able to bring a touch of humour to an otherwise sorrowful apology. He meant every word of it. He hadn’t even realised he’d been doing it; taking the pain and grief out on his Reapers. Perhaps not in actions, but a sour mood left a sour touch on everything, and he didn’t want to be like that. He didn’t want to put that negativity on anyone else, not anymore.
“And Osiris?” Maelo asked carefully.
Ascian’s lips immediately turned upside down, but he couldn’t break the hope he saw in Maelo’s eyes. Not with everything happening to them at the moment. They still had to get through the trials, to which Osiris was supposed to play witness to.
He sighed and rolled his eyes. “I will hear him out.”
“Thank you,” Maelo replied.
“That’s if we aren’t sentenced to death,” Alora piped up, and the atmosphere in the tunnels shifted.
Ascian glanced over at Riven, who must have felt his stare for he met it with his own. “Any wisdom from a scholar?”
“Are you looking for wisdom, or knowledge?” Riven asked back.
“Aren’t they the same thing?” Alora asked quietly.
Riven shook his head. “So much to learn, little caterpillar. Wisdom is generally more philosophical, whereas knowledge is information and fact.”
“Knowledge,” Ascian corrected, smiling at the laugh he felt shaking Alora’s body.
Riven sighed. “If you’re asking whether I know anything about the Elders' plans, I hate to say your punishment will likely be death. Either that, or you have to show your loyalty in some way. The Elders are, and forever will be, ruthless. There’s a reason they’ve survived, and remained, on the council for so many years. Anyone they even think will betray them gets their soul removed and their husk returned to the forest.”
“Hang on,” Ascian interrupted. “You said ‘removed,’ not ‘released.’”
Riven nodded in confirmation. “I did.”
“Why does the wording matter?” Alora asked. “They’re still dead.”
“Because released means their soul can reincarnate, but removed…” Ascian swore at the thought alone. “Of course they wouldn’t let a soul be reincarnated if they didn’t trust their loyalty the first time.”
“Wait,” Alora murmured. “You’re saying the Elders kill kill you? No future lives, no other chances?”
Riven, again, nodded in confirmation. “I’ve witnessed it once, with a scholar turned Reaper — yes, you did hear that correctly — they bottled the soul and took it with them when they left the Academy.”
“So, we have to kill them.”
Alora’s words sent a jolt of surprise through Ascian’s body. He blinked and looked down at her, seeing her in a new kind of light, adding another piece to a puzzle he’d forever be solving. She looked up at him when he didn’t speak and raised an eyebrow.
“Am I wrong? They’re dictating the entirety of their subjects. They need to go.”
Maelo raised her cuffed hands. “I’m with blonde-y on this one.”
Alora flashed Maelo a grin and Ascian swore his blood pressure spiked. Oh, those two are going to be so dangerous together .
“You do realise how crazy you two sound?” Ascian asked. “Kill the Elders, and then what? Create our own council?”
“Deity bloodlines run through both your veins, do they not?” Riven asked, almost sarcastically.
The history books had hinted at it, depending on who wrote the little notes, but they hadn’t been able to awaken them. Could they lead an entire race of people? A race that didn’t just stop at the Reapers, but as Verena had revealed, extended to the Vitarce, too?
“Nobody has been able to kill the Elders before now. What chance do we have of succeeding?” Ascian asked, more quietly than he liked to admit. He hated feeling so uncertain about the way forward. Until Alora returned, he’d never questioned the actions he took, but now? They were tied together through fate — if history was to be believed — and every single minuscule decision he made affected her, too. More than they ever affected the Reapers under his command.
“Do we need to be more powerful than them if we can surprise them?” Alora asked.
“Hard to surprise them when they have a Third in your mind at all times,” Maelo grunted in annoyance. “Your only defence with them is keeping your mind blank.”
Riven smirked and then flashed his teeth in a toothy grin. “Or you make them too uncomfortable to be in your mind.”
Maelo’s brows shot up at the suggestion. “As in…?”
Riven nodded. “Relive some of your fiery nights while they give the verdicts. They won’t want to watch it with you.”
Ascian shook his head in disbelief. “Okay, say we can do that. The surprise is gone once we take out the Third.”
Alora looked down at her cuffs. “So we have to wait until they take the cuffs off.” She paused, looking back up at the others. “Do they even take the cuffs off at a punishment council?”
“They do,” Riven answered. “While they’re great at absorbing the prisoners' energy, they also act as a barrier to another’s energy usage on said prisoner. They remove them as soon as the Elders are present.”
Ascian’s head fell back against the hard wall. “Well, we have a plan.”
“Barely a plan,” Maelo replied.
Alora’s grip on Ascian’s hands tightened. “We’re going to kill the Elders.”