Chapter 133: A fine morning.

Damon stood in the middle of the transformed chamber, Xandros remained several feet away from him, his grey eyes fixed upon the man who wore Lucien’s face, and although there were countless questions still pressing against his mind, he understood from Damon’s earlier words that whatever secret had brought him back was not something he intended to reveal tonight.

Damon tilted his head slightly when he noticed the look in Xandros’s eyes, and a faint, almost amused smile appeared upon his lips as he folded his arms across his chest. "That," he finally said, his voice carrying that same calm confidence that seemed to accompany everything he did, "will be something for later, Xandros, because there are certain things that are far more entertaining when you allow them to unfold on their own."

Xandros’s expression remained composed, although his eyes narrowed slightly at the answer, because he had never been particularly fond of people who deliberately spoke in riddles when they knew he wanted an explanation. Before he could press the matter any further, however, Damon glanced toward the records scattered across the tables and then back at him, and the amusement in his expression slowly disappeared, replaced by something considerably more serious.

"As for your investigation," Damon continued, lowering his arms as he took a few slow steps across the marble floor, "I think it would be wise for you to take your wife out of the Western District for the time being, because there is someone else meddling here now, and unlike the merchants you were investigating, this person has been moving through the district without drawing attention to themselves."

Xandros raised one eyebrow at that, his attention immediately sharpening as he studied Damon’s face, and the casual way Damon had delivered the warning made it even more concerning than if he had sounded frightened. "Someone else?" he asked, his voice quiet but firm, while Christophine and Seth both shifted their attention toward the two men, clearly listening to every word.

Damon gave a small nod, his expression becoming unusually thoughtful as he looked toward the darkness beyond the chamber. "I am certain of it, and I am even more certain that whoever it is did not come here because they were interested in the Western District itself," he explained, his voice dropping slightly as he turned his gaze back to Xandros. "They came here for you, or they came here for Rosaline, and either possibility is troublesome enough that I would not recommend allowing her to remain here while you continue digging into matters you do not yet understand."

For several moments, Xandros said nothing, and the silence between them became heavy as he considered the warning, but eventually he gave a slow nod because Damon was not someone he could afford to dismiss, especially when the man had already demonstrated that he knew far more about what was happening beneath the Western District than anyone else in the room.

"I will keep it in mind," Xandros replied, his voice carrying the restrained certainty that usually accompanied his decisions, and after saying that, he stepped closer to Damon until there was barely any distance between them before reaching out and placing one hand firmly upon his shoulder.

Damon looked down briefly at the hand resting against his shoulder before lifting his eyes toward Xandros again, and for the first time since his appearance, something almost familiar passed between them, as though the centuries separating their memories had momentarily disappeared. Xandros’s lips curved faintly, and despite everything that had happened, there was something strangely genuine in his expression when he spoke.

"It is nice seeing you again," Xandros said, his voice quieter than before, while his fingers tightened slightly against Damon’s shoulder. "I am glad you have not become dust yet."

Damon stared at him for a moment, and then a low chuckle escaped him as he shook his head, his eyes carrying a strange mixture of amusement and certainty. "That will never happen," he answered, and although the words sounded almost playful, there was something unnervingly absolute about the way he said them, as though becoming dust was not merely unlikely but something that could never happen to him.

His gaze then shifted toward the direction of the underground passage, and his expression changed once more as he remembered something else. "When you return," Damon continued, "you can tell your little emperor that the smuggler will definitely pay him a visit soon enough, and perhaps when that happens, he will finally understand that this little investigation of his has grown considerably more interesting than he expected."

Xandros gave him a long look but did not bother correcting the way he referred to Emperor Darius, because Damon had never seemed particularly interested in titles or formalities. Instead, Xandros stepped away from him as Damon moved toward the edge of the chamber, where the darkness seemed to swallow the golden light surrounding them.

"You should leave," Damon said, glancing back over his shoulder. "All of you should get out of these underground passages right now, and once you are outside, go and see your wife before anything else."

Christophine frowned slightly at his words, but before she could question him, Damon continued walking toward the darkness, his footsteps echoing softly against the marble floor as he spoke without turning around. "I have already taken enough of Lucien’s time for tonight, so I think it is better that I give him his body back before he wakes up and starts wondering why he has once again found himself somewhere he never intended to be."

There was something almost unsettlingly casual about the statement, but Xandros understood what Damon meant, and he did not stop him as the mysterious man disappeared into the shadows. Within moments, the strange golden glow began to fade, the magnificent black-marble hall slowly returning to the ancient underground chamber they had originally entered, and the silver decorations vanished as though they had never existed.

Xandros turned toward Christophine and Seth, his expression once again becoming unreadable as he glanced at the scattered records. "We are leaving," he announced, and neither of them argued because whatever they had come here expecting to discover had already become far more complicated than a simple investigation into smuggling.

The three of them made their way through the underground passageways, their footsteps echoing through the ancient tunnels as they retraced the path they had taken earlier, and although Seth remained unusually quiet for most of the journey, the questions building inside him eventually became too much for him to ignore. As soon as they reached a wider section of the passage where there was enough room to walk beside Xandros, he quickly moved closer to him and lowered his voice.

"Is that all there is to the investigation?" Seth asked, glancing toward Christophine before looking back at Xandros, his expression revealing his obvious curiosity.

Xandros gave a brief nod as he continued walking, his gaze remaining fixed ahead of him. "Yes," he replied simply, although the slight tension in his jaw suggested that there was considerably more on his mind than he intended to discuss.

Seth frowned at the answer, clearly unsatisfied, and after taking several more steps, he finally asked the question that had been troubling him ever since Damon appeared. "Then who exactly was that man?"

Xandros slowed slightly, his grey eyes shifting toward Seth for only a moment before a faint, almost incredulous smile touched his lips. "That," he answered, "was one crazy nutjob."

Seth stared at him, waiting for an explanation that never came, but Xandros had already begun walking again, leaving Seth with no choice but to follow while Christophine watched the exchange with a quiet expression that suggested she was just as curious as he was.

"It is time for me to go and see my wife," Xandros said after a moment, his tone becoming more decisive as he approached the end of the underground passage. "As for the emperor, Emperor Darius can solve the rest of the matter with Damon when the time comes."

Before either Christophine or Seth could respond, the air around Xandros suddenly shifted, and in the blink of an eye, his figure disappeared from the passage entirely, leaving the two of them standing there in silence.

Seth stared at the empty space where Xandros had been standing, his brows drawing together as he slowly turned toward Christophine. "He could have explained more."

Christophine folded her arms across her chest and gave him a knowing look before turning toward the passage ahead. "You already know he was never going to."

By the time Xandros returned to the residence, the night had already deepened considerably, and the corridors of the mansion were almost completely silent, with only the faint glow of the lamps illuminating the path toward the room he shared with Rosaline. He paused outside the door for a moment, his expression softening as he imagined her asleep inside, and after opening the door quietly, he stepped into the room without making enough noise to disturb her.

Rosaline was still sleeping.

She lay beneath the covers with her white hair spread loosely across the pillow, her breathing slow and peaceful, and the sight immediately eased some of the tension that had settled over Xandros during the hours he had spent underground. He closed the door behind him, removed the outer layers of his clothing, and quietly prepared himself for bed while keeping his movements careful enough that she would remain undisturbed.

Once he was finally beside her, Xandros slipped beneath the covers and looked toward her sleeping figure for several moments, allowing himself the rare opportunity to simply watch her without having to deal with questions, arguments, investigations, or threats from people who seemed determined to drag the past back into their present.

He reached toward her carefully, his arm settling around her waist as he drew her closer, and although Rosaline remained asleep at first, the familiar warmth of his body seemed to reach her even through her dreams because she shifted slightly before unconsciously moving closer to him. Xandros allowed a faint smile to appear upon his lips as he settled against the pillow, holding her gently against his chest until sleep finally claimed him as well.

The following morning arrived quietly, and when Rosaline slowly awakened, the first thing she noticed was warmth.

It was a familiar warmth, one she had begun to recognize far more easily than she cared to admit, and for several moments she remained still beneath the covers, her eyes only partially open as she tried to understand why she felt so comfortable and strangely protected.

Then she straightened her body slightly and turned her head.

Xandros was still asleep.

Rosaline stared at him in silence, her green eyes widening slightly at the sight because this was something she had never really seen before, at least not like this. Usually, whenever she woke, Xandros was already awake, already dressed, already looking as though he had been awake for hours and had somehow managed to accomplish half a day’s work before she had even opened her eyes.

But this morning, he was simply there.

His shoulder-length hair was slightly disheveled against the pillow, his features relaxed in a way she rarely saw when he was awake, and without the sharpness of his grey eyes watching her, he somehow looked younger and less intimidating than the man everyone else feared.

Rosaline swallowed quietly as she continued staring at him, and despite knowing that she should simply turn away and get out of bed, she found herself unable to do so.

Her thoughts began wandering before she could stop them, returning to the strange way he always seemed to appear whenever she needed him, the way he had held her during the night, the way he could be infuriatingly arrogant one moment and unexpectedly gentle the next, and most dangerously, the way her heart had begun reacting to him before her mind could decide whether she wanted it to.

She frowned faintly at herself, as though annoyed that her own thoughts had betrayed her again.

Still, she did not move away.

Instead, after several seconds of hesitation, Rosaline slowly lifted her hand and brought it toward his face, her fingers hovering uncertainly for a moment before finally touching his cheek.

The warmth beneath her fingertips made her breath catch softly, and she found herself studying his sleeping face with an unfamiliar tenderness that she would never have allowed herself to show if he had been awake.

Her fingers moved slightly along his cheek, and just as she was beginning to wonder what it would feel like if she allowed herself to remain this close to him without thinking about anything else, Xandros’s eyelids suddenly moved.

Rosaline froze.

His grey eyes opened almost instantly, catching her hand against his face as his gaze settled directly upon hers.