One none of them should’ve found themselves having to do.
Footsteps neared, and Emil stepped onto the veranda. Casteel turned. “How long have you known about this?” he asked.
“Not long,” Emil answered, coming to stand beside us. “A few days.”
“And you didn’t think to tell us?”
“That’s on me,” Malik said as he walked out with Helenea. “I asked him not to say anything until I spoke with them.”
A muscle ticked in Casteel’s jaw. “And why would you do that?”
“I wanted to give them a choice.” Malik crossed his arms and faced his brother. “You know, since they have been afforded so few of them.”
“So, instead of telling me, you told Emil?”
“I was talking to him about the house we went into,” Emil explained, squinting as he stared at the clouds. “How normal it all looked and how it wasn’t what I had expected or seen in some of the other homes.”
“It seemed obvious to me that he,” Malik said, nodding toward the auburn Elemental, “had an open mind.”
“And you thought we wouldn’t?”
“I thought she likely would,” he said, glancing at me. “But I told you there was a lot you didn’t know about the Ascended. You didn’t seem interested in hearing more.”
“It wasn’t lack of interest, Malik.” Casteel’s voice was level, but the anger and frustration in it were apparent. “I just had other, more important shit on my mind.”
“I know.” Malik’s head tilted. “That’s why I told you before—”
“Before we made the mistake of killing them?” I finished for him.
He nodded and kept his gaze on his younger brother. “I never would’ve known about Mira and the others if it weren’t for Millie.”
My heart skipped. “She showed you this?”
“Yes. But, technically, she had no choice.” A brief grin appeared. “Long story. And to be honest, I didn’t believe it when I first met them. Ascended, who feed on wild blood? Who are willing to meet the sun instead of taking mortal blood? Bullshit. Of all the Ascended I’ve known, I’ve never met one who would lower themselves in such a way to survive. But the thing is, Cas, I hadn’t met all the Ascended. I only met the worst of them. Unlike Emil, who hadn’t had much one-on-one time with them, I was blinded by my experiences and couldn’t even consider the possibility there was a different way for them to live. Not until I saw it for myself. Which is why I wanted you all to come here.” He met our stares. “I wanted you to hear what they had to say in their own words.”
Casteel fell silent. His shields were up, but I imagined he was feeling about a dozen different emotions. Because I was.
“How many are like this?” I asked.
“There are about two thousand Ascended in Carsodonia.” He rocked back slightly on his heels and glanced at the quiet Descenter. “You think roughly twenty percent of them?”
Helenea nodded.
“A Descenter,” Casteel commented, drawing her gaze. “I wouldn’t have guessed, in a thousand years, I’d find one cozying up to the Ascended.”
“You wouldn’t find me cozying up to the Ascended in a thousand years.” Helenea’s voice was steady, but she clutched her skirt in a white-knuckled grip. “Those in there? They are not the Ascended.”
“How could you see them as anything but vamprys?” I asked.
“Because I am willing to see the truth,” she said. “Whether or not it fits my narrative or beliefs.” Her grip on her skirt eased, and her attention shifted back to Casteel. “The Descenters may have started as a resistance group against the tyranny of the Blood Crown and as supporters of Atlantia, but our ideology has grown beyond that.”
“How so?” Casteel mused.
“It includes all those who have had their freedoms stripped away. And that includes the Ascended.”
My brows rose. “All of them?”
“We believe they should be given a choice—a chance to live without pain being inflicted upon them or inflicting pain on others. So, technically, yes. All.” Her fingers straightened as she let go of her skirt. “Wedo notbelieve the same for those who choose to continue as Ascended, however.”
