“Leyla,” Aiden whispered, shaking her shoulders. She appeared to be in a strange meditative state with the Vorpal Blade across her lap. He knew exactly what the weapon was capable of and didn’t want to startle her and end up missing a limb, or worse. “Leyla, it’s important.”

She let out a hiss and shuddered when he ran a hand down her back. “So cold!” Her hands wrapped around the Vorpal Blade’s grip, but he stepped back out of reach. After she flailed aimlessly for a few seconds while she came to, she saw him and perked up. She smiled wide as she jumped to her feet and stalked toward him. “Hey you. I missed you very much.”

Aiden opened his arms for her to embrace him, and she curled herself in his chest, the Vorpal Blade dissipating before she reached him. He held her close, grinning. “Looks that way.”

“Why are you so cold?” she complained, shuddering.

“I suppose my training worked a bit too well.” He shrugged. “Not the worst outcome, even if a little inconvenient.” He looked around the little camp Arkayan and James stayed at. The two tents were setup as they’d been before he left, but neither Arkayan or James was anywhere to be seen. “Where are the others?”

She looked around. “Huh, didn’t notice them leave. Not too sure, though I vaguely remember them talking about hunting the elder hydra again for some material James needed.”

Aiden let a haze of mist expand out from him, obscuring the vision of anybody who might be watching them. After what he’d talked about with Khione, he didn’t know who to trust. And Arkayan had been very anti-Khione. Aiden didn’t know what information to trust anymore and didn’t want to risk exposing the fact he knew anything contrary to tip of Arkayan.

The Shadowborn Royal was still a wild card. Aiden didn’t know how powerful he was, and worse still, James trusted Arkayan deeply. Seeing how they’d been since Arkayan hatched from the incubator, Aiden didn’t know where James’ loyalties lied anymore.

He wasn’t in a hurry to test either.

“You’re tense,” Leyla muttered, squeezing him tighter. “I’m guessing not everything with your training went well?”

“Training went better than I could’ve expected, but the meeting with Khione after was nothing like I expected it to be and has left me with a lot of questions. More than I know what to do with,” he explained, sighing. “I never asked for all of this.”

“If you don’t want to, then why are you? Why are we?” She stepped back, putting him at arm’s length with a smirk. “Nothing is stopping us from disappearing from all of this. We could go find somewhere away from all the prophecies, fights against gods, and realm-threatening chaos.”

Aiden raised a questioning brow, crossing his arms. “You’d leave behind all this chaos? Isn’t that kind of your thing? I’d suspect as the Trinity, you’re growing stronger by the minute from how chaotic everything is.”

“Seriously Aiden. We can leave. We don’t owe anybody anything. As you said, you never asked for this. You take a world of responsibility onto your shoulders and let it crush you. The only difference between now and when we met is that you’re not a depressed puddle,” she said, rolling her eyes. “And that has more to do with me than you.”

He really considered what she said for a moment. They could leave everything behind, could put the games of the Divine Realm behind them. The uncertainty of who to trust could easily be a thing of the past.

But what would happen to everything he had wanted to protect in the first place? What would become of his family? What would become of Earth?

Those questions twisted his stomach in a knot. Until he knew for certain that the answer to those questions was “they’d be fine”, he knew he couldn’t leave. Not yet, and maybe not ever.

He looked Leyla into her eyes and deep into her soul. “You know I can’t. But I won’t stop you from going if—”

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“Don’t even try that shit with me,” she said, huffing. “It was only a suggestion. I doubt you’d ever considered running away and doubted you’d entertain the idea. It surprises me more that the response wasn’t an instant no.”

As much as he wanted to leave, there were far too many things he wanted to protect. And not temporarily. He wanted to secure their safety against the system and the gods for good.

Maybe then he and Leyla could seek paradise.

That day was not today.

“Now, what’s bothering you? What did Khione say?” Leyla asked, moving on from the topic of running away seamlessly. Her eyes narrowed. “Don’t tell me she tried to make a move on you? If she did, I’ll cut her.”

The ridiculousness of the suggestion caught Aiden off guard. The laughter that slipped out was uncontrolled, a deep-bellied thing that touched his core. It only got worse when he looked up at Leyla and saw her expression of absolute seriousness. He tried to wave away the concern, but it turned into an uncoordinated flail as he doubled over, mirthful tears slipping free.

“I’m serious!” Her voice was like a whip crack that helped him regain his senses.

He gasped for breath, feeling lighter than he had in days. Once he got his breathing under control, he let out a sigh. “Yeah, sorry. That was just too funny.”

“I might cut her anyway, since you think she’s so funny,” Leyla growled.

Aiden paused. “Honestly, I’d like to see you try.”

Violet light shined from her eyes as lightning-like veins spread across her face. “Oh, would you now? How about I start with you?”

“Ah, on second thought…” He put his hands up to pacify her. “She’s trapped in the Void. You know, the Void. Like Arkayan's home. That Void. And I think I figured out what was stolen from her that I’m tasked with receiving.”

After a deep breath, the violet promise of violence receded until nothing remained. She flicked her wrist, and her scythe was there, spinning dangerously in her hands and awfully close to Aiden’s face. “So? Isn’t that better for us?”

He shrugged. “I have no idea. From what she says, she’s being framed for pretty much everything.”

“Yeah, right. Like anyone would believe that,” Leyla scowled.

Aiden pursed his lips. “That was my thought too, but she looked like she’s having a pretty rough time there. At least from what I saw of her. And if she really is stuck in Void without a way out, what does she have to gain from deceiving me? The biggest part of this that doesn’t make sense is that Arkayan is convinced she’s the ultimate evil.”

“Hmm, see, but what if he’s not wrong?” she said slowly, tapping the side of her jaw as she thought. “If they were able to bind her and steal her memories, who’s to say that they weren’t able to somehow control her at that time? She’s powerful, so maybe their bindings began to fade and they couldn’t continue controlling her and exiled her to save their own asses?”

“Seems as good as an explanation as any I can come up with. I doubt it’ll be possible to get the truth from anybody either.” An idea came to him. “What if I used the Authority of Midrath to put one of the gods from the Upper Realm under a truth oath and questioned them?”

“Can you even do that?” she asked, tilting her head to the side. “Also, what would that achieve?”

“Might add some clarity on the situation, I guess. It’s about as good a plan as any. Otherwise, we’re going in blind. There’s no way to guess where they’re keeping Khione’s memories. All we know is they’re somewhere in Halla, but I can’t imagine the place being a small one.”

“If the size of Valhalla is anything to go by, it won’t be.” She hummed to herself, again tapping the side of her jaw. “That’s true. Without a guide, there’s no way we’ll be able to find what we’re looking for in any reasonable amount of time.”

“What a mess.” Aiden groaned as he looked at the swirling dome of snow around them, wondering how much longer they had until Arkayan and James returned. “What about V’Yenya? Or maybe Avacyn? She said her people had been in Midrath for a long time and told me quite a bit about the history of the Shadowborn.”

“V’Yenya? Avacyn? Who are these people?” Leyla asked.

“Long story short, they’re natives to Midrath,” he explained as he contemplated if either one of them could help. Avacyn had a personal grudge against the Shadowborn, so he might be able to convince her to help him free Khione simply out of spite for what had happened. V’Yenya was a different question entirely. But he needed someone. “Seems as good an angle as any, because I highly doubt Kyriall would be open to questioning or keen on the idea of handing over something he’s been given the responsibility to protect.”

Leyla flourished her scythe, grinning. “You know, what if we actually try to go talk to Kyriall? I’ve heard he’s not all that bad, unlike Xenith. Doesn’t like getting mixed up in all of this. Might turn out he’s not as willing of an accomplice as you think he is.”

“He did bless Blizzy…” Aiden considered the idea for a brief moment before a powerful force smacked against the blizzard dome that encapsulated them. He looked toward the damaged part of the dome. “Seems we have company.”