The Ascended (The Aesymarean Duet, #1)

by Bree Grenwich

"This is a risk I'm willing to take!" "Well, I'm not!" The words exploded from him, swirls of death energy slamming into the walls. "I won't watch you die!"

He'd been there with Osythe, and he'd saved her. Because that's what you do when you love someone. You save them. But we were not born of love.

Let us do what we came here to do. Let us have our revenge. We all win."

"Because passion without loyalty is simply another form of chaos,"

Gods help me. I'd fallen for him. The one person I absolutely couldn't afford to love. And it hurt. It threatened to rip my heart out. Because now we were here, and I could barely look at him.

"You shared my bed while planning to die. You let me fall for you—all while knowing you'd leave,” he continued. "I was bound to my secrets. You kept them to use me."

"Everything." The word ripped out of him. "You made me feel everything. Purposefully. I don’t let people in, Thais, you know this. Not like this. Not like you. And then I discover you were always planning to die.”

"Nothing about you has ever felt temporary to me." His voice dropped to a whisper. "That's the problem."

"Don't." I shook my head. "Don't say things you can't mean."

"Why? Because it's easier if we're both liars?" His hands covered mine. "I resent you. I resent that you made me need you. I resent that you were ready to die without a second thought about what that would do to me. I resent that even n...

"I need you to forgive me, Thais." He ran a hand down his face. “Tomorrow is coming whether we like it or not, and I can’t go into it thinking you hate me.”

“This divide—its all based around this fucking resistance. The secrets. The lies. The obligations.” He shook his head. “I’ve never chosen myself. But what if I did? What if for once, I did?”

Together, he confirmed. Until the end—whatever that looks like.

I looked into his eyes. My heart—the wretched thing—it needed the same. I needed for things to be right with us again, or at least as right as they could be.

"Only if you forgive me too," I whispered. "For what it's worth, hurting you is the worst thing I've ever done," he murmured. "I don't plan on repeating it. Ever."

"And I wasn't thinking—wasn't thinking about what it would do to you if our plan went sideways." "It would have ruined me. I need you to know that....

"Then tell me to fight for this. For us."

“You don’t understand.” He cut me off. “I love you, starling. I’m in love with you.”

“And I’ll be damned for eternity if I’m not willing to do the same. I’d burn Voldaris to the ground for you.”

"I’d wage wars for you," he murmured, his breathing ragged. "I won’t hide from it anymore. I’m done doing what everyone else requires of me. Done. I’m choosing me now. And I’m choosing you. Tell me that you want this too," he murmured against my neck, his hands already working at the fastenings of my dress. "That you’ll be mine."

"You’re the only thing I’ll ever want," he confessed between kisses. “I’ll be yours for as long as you want me, Thais. Eternity is a long time, and I know I’m asking a lot of you. And that there’s a chance that you’ll change your mind, a year from now—a thousand years from now.” He paused, looking directly into my eyes. “But when that day comes, my heart will stop. It will only ever beat for you, Thais."

“I’m yours, already, Xül.” I murmured. “I have been for a while.”

"You're playing with fire, starling." "Good," I replied, freeing him. My eyes widened at the sight of him. "I want to burn."

"Don't let go."

"Harder, starling? As if I hadn’t already planned on marking you so thoroughly that every god in every realm would know you belong to me."

"You like that idea, don't you?" His voice turned mocking, cruel. "The thought of being marked, owned, used by me?" "Yes," I gasped, the single word barely coherent as pleasure built within me. "Gods, yes." “Remind me again who you belong to?”

"And I'm yours," he growled. "Every part of me belongs to you, Thais. My body, my heart, my fucking soul—it's all yours."

"Tomorrow I break free," he said softly. "No more hiding. No more pretending. Whatever happens, whatever he tries to do to us—we face it together."

"When this is over," I echoed, "we'll have all the time in the universe."

"You will not die today,"

"Because I know you, Thais Morvaren. And you're too stubborn to die now, when you've finally gotten everything you wanted."

My eyes found her easily in the masses. Her beauty had always been enough to destroy me. But seeing her now, I was practically rioting to be near her. Trembling in the attempt to not pull her back to Draknavor.

The freckles I'd memorized, mapped with my mouth in the darkness—even those had transformed. Now they were glittering dust scattered across her skin, making her shimmer with each movement. Each mark a constellation I wanted to trace again, to see if they still tasted of mortality or if divinity had claimed even that.

The words dripped honey, but I heard the hemlock beneath.

"Golden eyes suit you, starling,"

I allowed myself one more moment, memorizing how she looked in this instant—fierce and beautiful and mine.

But the person I love deserves more than being relegated to shadows while I play politics with my life."

Sel dravira en ti. Niv valen, niv asra, niv loyeth. El atanen en ti. Vah serané.

I bind myself to you. My life. My soul. My Loyalty. Forevermore. I’m yours.

"Love makes fools of gods and mortals alike, my son."

"My heart will only ever beat for you." The words came out rough, edged with darkness. "You own me completely. You always will."

"I don't need anything from you." His voice was fierce. "I just need you to exist. To be here. To let me help carry this until you can carry it yourself again."

"You’ll find a way to claw yourself out of here, boy," he said, voice suddenly tight with anticipation. "And then you will find her. The girl with opalescent eyes and hair spun of moonlight. You will bring her to me. And through you, I shall touch the world again."

"Aether," she said finally. "I shall call you Aether."