Chapter 359: Peace

Chapter 359: Chapter 359: Peace

The meeting with President Sovan ended without anyone attempting murder, possession, ancient ritual, or the resurrection of another dead imperial relative.

Liam found that suspicious.

He waited until the doors of the private salon closed behind the last Edravan minister before narrowing his eyes at Arik.

His husband noticed immediately.

"What?"

"I am waiting."

Arik removed the formal clasp at his throat and set it on the narrow table beside the windows. Morning sunlight spilled across Verera below, catching on the river and the blue-glass government towers clustered along its banks, while the mountains they had crossed only hours earlier rose dark beyond the city.

"For?"

"Something strange."

Arik looked at him.

Liam crossed his arms.

"The president was reasonable. Nobody tried to poison lunch. The reintegration negotiations are proceeding normally, and the finance minister actually admitted their debt structure is unsustainable without pretending the numbers mean something else."

"That last one impressed you."

"Deeply."

Arik smiled and shrugged out of his black formal coat, leaving him in a fitted shirt embroidered with restrained gold at the collar and cuffs.

Liam continued watching him.

"What?"

"You are doing it again."

"Existing?"

"Being calm."

Arik’s eyebrows rose.

Liam stepped closer, his own formal jacket already unbuttoned after three hours of diplomacy.

"Last night you found Felix."

"Yes."

"You found your original body sitting inside a glass display like some deranged museum exhibit."

"Yes."

"You absorbed it."

"That sounds worse when you say it."

"It was a corpse, Arik."

"My corpse."

"That is not helping."

Arik laughed softly and reached for Liam, but Liam placed one hand against his chest before he could pull him closer.

"No. Explain first."

Arik looked down at the hand stopping him.

"You are very demanding after diplomatic meetings."

"You like that."

"I do."

Liam’s expression remained unimpressed.

"Why aren’t you angrier?"

That finally took some of the amusement from Arik’s face.

Liam lowered his hand.

"Felix preserved your body for almost thirty years. He used Amara, tried to use me, murdered your family, poisoned Nuria, and apparently kept your corpse on a throne because his obsession needed interior decoration."

Arik winced faintly.

"That description is unpleasantly accurate."

"And last night, after Mezos took him, you were more concerned about getting me somewhere warm than about the fact that Felix was finally in your hands."

Arik was silent for a moment.

Then he shrugged.

"I was tired."

"Arik."

"And you were cold."

"That is not an answer."

"It is part of one."

Arik crossed toward the sofa near the windows and sat, resting his forearms against his knees before looking back at Liam.

"I want peace."

The simplicity of it made Liam pause.

Arik continued.

"The same thing you want."

Liam moved closer.

"You still wanted revenge."

"I did. I probably still do, somewhere."

"Somewhere?"

Arik leaned back.

"What exactly am I supposed to take from him now?"

Liam frowned.

"Everything."

"There is nothing left."

That stopped him.

Arik lifted one hand, and a faint thread of red ether curled over his fingers.

Dense and luminous, carrying a warmth Liam could feel from several steps away before Arik allowed it to sink back beneath his skin.

"That was Goliath’s original ether," Arik said.

Liam looked at his hand.

"The dragon blood?"

"Yes."

Goliath had descended from dragon blood, and the ether left inside his original body had retained that inheritance even after everything else was spent closing the Gates.

Arik flexed his fingers.

"I wondered for years why parts of my ether felt incomplete whenever Goliath’s memories surfaced. Now I know. He separated enough of himself to be reborn, but some of his original power remained anchored in the body."

"And Felix kept it."

"He preserved it."

"For himself?"

"Eventually, probably."

Arik’s mouth curved without humor.

"But he couldn’t consume it. It was never his."

Liam sat beside him.

"And now?"

"Now it is where it belongs."

Liam studied his face.

"That still doesn’t answer why you aren’t furious."

Arik looked toward the mountains beyond Verera.

"Felix already destroyed himself."

The words were quiet.

"His poison has been consuming him for decades. His ether was almost gone when I stripped what remained last night, and what he did to himself trying to survive was worse than anything I could have designed without becoming exactly the kind of person I spent two lives hating."

Liam said nothing.

Arik glanced at him.

"His soul is damaged."

"How badly?"

"Beyond recovery."

Liam’s expression shifted.

Arik nodded.

"When Felix dies, there will be no rebirth. No return to the Core. No next life where he can begin again."

"Nothing?"

"Nothing."

Arik leaned back into the sofa.

"He consumed pieces of his own soul every time he forced it into someone else, every time he fed his corruption instead of letting himself die naturally. What remained was already unstable."

Liam understood then.

"And you took the last part capable of sustaining him."

"Yes."

The red ether beneath Arik’s skin flickered once at his throat before disappearing.

Liam stared at him.

"So Felix knows he is going to disappear."

"He does now."

There was no satisfaction in Arik’s expression.

"I could kill him today," he continued. "That would give him exactly what he wants now that he understands he has lost. An ending."

Liam’s mouth tightened.

"You are leaving him alive."

"For as long as his body manages it."

Arik’s gold eyes hardened slightly.

"He wanted eternity. I am allowing him the remainder of his life instead."

That sounded much more like Arik.

Liam almost smiled.

Arik continued quietly.

"He will return to Nuria. His crimes will be named publicly. Every family he destroyed will know the truth. He will watch the empire he tried to own continue without him, and when his body finally fails, there will be nothing waiting."

Liam rested his shoulder against Arik’s.

"That is revenge."

"Perhaps."

"A very elaborate one."

"I was raised by Damian."

"That explains a lot."

Arik laughed.

Liam finally allowed himself to relax against him.

For several seconds, they sat quietly while Verera moved beyond the glass and Edrava continued conducting its very ordinary governmental crisis downstairs.

Liam looked up.

"So no ancient corpse problem?"

"Resolved."

"No hidden soul fragment?"

"Not that I can detect."

"No unexpected second Felix?"

Arik stared at him.

"Do not summon one through pessimism."

"I am being prepared."

Arik wrapped an arm around his waist and pulled him closer.

Liam went willingly.

"I want normal," he murmured.

"I know."

"Work. Coffee. You being irritating."

"I can provide that."

"Good."

Arik kissed his temple.

"And perhaps," Liam added, "a month where nobody attempts to enter my soul."

"That seems reasonable."

Liam narrowed his eyes.

"You said that too carefully."

Arik smiled.

Liam sighed.