Heirs of the Gods

Ch 49: Home

Ella had many regrets in her life.

It was hard not to, when she lived so callously at times. Most of her decisions were made out of sheer duty, or the need for survival. They were high risk and required painstaking calculation, stone-cold rationale. There was little room for sentimentality and even less room for mistake. These weren't choices made to suit her whims, they were made to serve a higher purpose. It was rare the time she chose to do something purely because it felt right. Because she truly wanted it.

Because of this, she could never say that she regretted Aedion.

It hadn't been a decision she'd made based on tireless calculations, weighing risks and benefits, making sacrifices and cutting losses. It hadn't been about what was right and what was expected of her. It had just been something she'd wanted to do. Something that made her happy— something selfish and indulgent and utterly hers.

What she did regret, was the way she reacted when she touched him.

It had been so sudden, she hadn't even had time to process it. She'd trailed up her hands and felt a scar. Twin slashes of thickly raised, scarred skin against her hands. She hadn't been expecting it but damn it, she wished she could have swallowed her gasp. Grabbed onto him, spoke to him before he left, anything.

But she hadn't had a chance to do any of this. Before she could even utter a word, he'd left. He'd left, and the last thing she'd seen was his pale, stricken face. Then, she'd found herself alone in his bed, cold and bereft.

Ella had replayed his expression all day, until her heart ached. She wanted to reach out to him, to tell him that it didn't matter. Because it didn't. Ella didn't mind the scars, she had enough of her own to care about something so trivial. Did he think she was disgusted by them or frightened? It made her miserable to think he could even consider this.

All she could do was pace. And wait. And pace again. All day she'd gone through what she'd say to him, cursing her own lack of eloquence. But as much as she waited and as much as she practised what to say, Aedion never showed up.

Morning turned into evening and evening turned into afternoon and by nightfall, Ella was past being a nervous knot. As much as she wanted to give him his space, she realised she couldn't stand to stay there any longer.

By night time, she'd made up her mind. She was going to go find him, whether he wanted to or not. And so, she made her way, armed with nothing more than a cloak and a hefty dose of courage.

It was at the Petrium that it occurred to her to try something she'd never done before; she pulled on the bond.

The subtle lurch in her stomach gave way to the feeling of recognition, and soon enough, instinctively, she knew he was in Brineport.

———————

As Ella walked down the cobbled streets, she was met by a remarkably quiet atmosphere, starkly different from the hustle and bustle of daytime. She could only wonder what Aedion could be doing there, peering around the closed shops and dim streets, void of any people.

The streets were practically deserted, illuminated by the soft glow of lanterns and the warm light coming from curtained windows.

Still perplexed, she tugged on the bond link again, and sure enough, it led her to Alder Park. More specifically, the residential area surrounding it.

Ella furrowed her brows, more confused than before as she followed along the path to one of the last houses in the area, a bit distanced from the rest.

She stared at the house in front of her, dumbfounded. It was beautiful, undoubtedly. A large, half-timbered house with exposed wooden beams—like the characteristic Brineport style—with deeply pitched roofs and a large, smoking chimney. The body was decorated with exposed stone and multiple bay windows. It was quite large but still managed to look cosy and inviting, surrounded by thick groves of trees that gave it an air of privacy.