The Ascended (The Aesymarean Duet, #1)

by Bree Grenwich

"The greatest triumph of the Aesymar was convincing mortals to revere the very system designed to keep them in their place."

"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 now, knowing all of this, I can't make myself stop wanting you." And there it was. I’d never felt this peculiar mixture of rage and longing, irritation and desire. Never wanted to simultaneously slap someone and pull them closer. It was maddening.

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

"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, Xül. Only yours." "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."

"I'm not choosing anyone over you," I interrupted. "We've decided on each other, and we have an eternity to explore what that means. But I'm not going to sit idly by in Draknavor while all these plans unfold around me."

Sel dravira en ti. Niv valen, niv asra, niv loyeth. El atanen en ti. Vah serané. The words echoed in my mind, fragments of Xül's chanting lingering in the space between sleep and wakefulness. He'd repeated the phrase three times while his hands had traced patterns across my back, his touch reverent and purposeful. Words I didn't understand but that seemed to burn themselves into my skin and memory alike. They'd felt like a prayer.

I blinked away sleep to find Xül with his back to me, shoulders rigid, attention focused on something on the floor. When I moved to sit up, I froze at the sight of a small puddle of blood near his feet.

The bandage was already soaking through with crimson, far too much blood for a simple accident.

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