CHAPTER 162: A GIFT

Ariston

Rael’s room was simple. Cleaner than I expected, though still cluttered with all kinds of things. The window was cracked open, letting in the sound of the wind brushing over the rooftops.

From where I sat, I could see it clearly—far in the distance, past the edge of the city, looming like a shadow carved from stone.

The Demon Palace.

Rael’s room faced it directly. I wondered if he’d asked for that on purpose. He was there when the spider-nun attacked us. Did he figure out something was happening because of this view?

He sat across from me, slouched into the wooden chair like he had nowhere else to be, legs propped up on the round table between us. He was still eating—slow, careless bites of his last apple. His coat was draped over the back of his chair, and he looked almost... comfortable.

Unlike me

"How’ve you been?" he asked, casual. Like we were two strangers who’d just run into each other on the road. Like it hadn’t been years.

I didn’t answer.

My back was straight, too straight. Hands locked together in my lap, jaw clenched so tight it ached. The firelight in the corner of the room flickered, casting long shadows on the walls, and for a moment I just stared at him.

Then I said it.

"Why did you abandon me?" I went straight to the point

He didn’t flinch. Didn’t even blink. Just let out a soft sigh through his nose, not annoyed—worn out. He pulled his legs off the table and leaned forward slightly. The apple core made a soft thud as he tossed it into the bin beside the desk.

His face was unreadable. That same calm mask I remembered from the nights he came home battered and refused to say why.

"That all you want to ask me?" he said after a moment. "Not curious what I’ve been up to? Not even a little? Just that?"

I didn’t hesitate.

"That’s all I’ve wanted to ask for years," I said quietly, voice sharp. "I don’t care what you’ve been doing. I don’t care what mission you ran off to finish. I don’t care who you’ve been hunting or helping or chasing."

I leaned forward now, matching his stare.

"I just want to know why you left. One day, you were there. And the next, you were gone. No explanation. No letter. No warning. Just... gone."

The wind pushed faintly through the cracked window. Neither of us moved.

I could hear my own heartbeat in my ears. I’d imagined this moment for so long—what I’d say, how I’d hold my ground. But now that I was here, sitting across from him, it didn’t feel like a confrontation.

It felt like standing on the edge of something old. Something that never healed right.

Rael looked at me for a long time. His eyes weren’t cold, but they weren’t warm either. Just... tired.

He didn’t speak right away.

"Tell me," I demanded the answer, "Why did you leave that night?" I asked, recalling the night I tended to his fever as a teenager. Made sure his body cooled down and got so tired I fell asleep by his side.

Only to wake up and see that he was gone again

Except this time, he never came back.

"I left you a note didn’t I?" He said

"Your note said you weren’t coming back." It was on the bed he slept in, "I initially thought you were joking." I pursed my lower lip, "I spent months in that hut alone before I realized it wasn’t a joke."

He clicked his tongue, "You’re making me feel guilty," He scratched his cheek with his index finger. But he didn’t look guilty at all

"Aren’t you going to say anything?" I clenched my fists over my thighs, trying to keep myself composed, "Tell me!" I raised my voice, "Why did you leave?!"

"I’ll tell you," He said, "On one condition."

"What condition?"

***

Draegon

The hood was heavy, casting a deep shadow over my face as I stood at the edge of the market square. Even so, I could feel the eyes on me.

Demons, young and old, stole glances as they passed. Some paused. A few children stared outright, curiosity outweighing manners. A tall figure wrapped in a cloak too dark for summer and a presence that made people shift aside without realizing why—there were only so many beings in the city that could exude that kind of weight.

But no one said anything. Not out loud.

I kept my head down and stayed still, watching the structure rise at the center of the square.

The cage.

Thick bars, reinforced sigils, and a central platform that would soon hold the corrupted ones—the lost causes. The black milk’s discarded remnants, broken and hollow, wandering aimlessly like ghosts in rotting skin. It was almost finished now. In a few days, every demon in the capital would see what their silence had enabled.

They needed to see it. Needed to understand that the darkness wasn’t just in the old ruins or foreign lands—it was here, in the veins of their neighbors, their children, their own ambitions.

The crowd thinned, the square giving way to the winding paths of the upper city. I turned away and walked with slow, deliberate steps, keeping to the side streets and avoiding direct stares.

I was almost past the jeweler’s row when something caught the corner of my eye.

!

Glass windows gleamed with golden light, their displays set out like offerings. Necklaces, rings, trinkets made of starlight metal and stone. I passed them without a second thought—until I stopped.

Then, I turned back.

There, tucked between rows of gilded bangles and opal-cut ear cuffs, sat a piece that made me pause.

A hair ornament—-thin and delicate, shaped like the arch of a wing, set with pale sapphires that shimmered like frost. It wasn’t extravagant.

It was... her.

I stared at it for a long moment.

Then pulled back my sleeve as I raised my arm to look at the bead bracelet Aelin had given me. The cord was a little worn now, frayed at one end where it rubbed against my wristplate. But each bead still held the warmth of her fingers.

I smiled.

I’d never given her anything in return.

Not really.

The birth scale I placed in her hand that night—it hadn’t been a gift. It was a promise. An oath bound in blood and history. Eternal, yes, but heavy. Sacred.

This was different.

I put down my arm and walked into the shop

This would be a gift.