This was where Alexius had found the exiled Watcher, crouched at the side of his road, the Forbidden Mountains looming like unfriendly giants behind him.
Alexius approached, unsteady on his newly mortal legs. He knew they were the same legs he’d always had, but now—walking on Mytican soil and knowing he, too, was mortal—they felt different. Weak.
“Alexius,” Xanthus said, a grin lifting the corner of his mouth. “Melenia told me to expect you. It’s good to see you again after all this time.”
“Hard to believe it’s been twenty years.” Alexius scanned the tall man from head to foot. Once eternally youthful, Xanthus had aged during his time here, but his bronze colored hair and copper-colored eyes were still as bright as they ever were.
“Yes.” Xanthus reached for his hand and shook it firmly. “Though it doesn’t feel that long. Welcome to your new home. You’ll like the mortal world. Come, I’ll prepare something for us to eat.” He turned to go, motioning to Alexius to follow, but the younger Watcher didn’t budge.
“I know what you did to Phaedra.”
Xanthus stopped in his tracks.
“She loved you. She missed you all this time. She thought you were lost to her forever. I can only imagine how betrayed she must have felt.”
Xanthus turned with hard eyes to meet Alexius’s. “It had to be done.”
“Because Melenia ordered it.”
“Phaedra was a complication.”
“She was my friend. And your sister.”
Xanthus’s brows drew together. “I had no choice. Melenia commanded it, and I obeyed. But I promise you, she didn’t suffer.”
“Perhaps she didn’t.” Alexius drew out the dagger he had hidden beneath his cloak. “But you will.”
As her gift to him, Melenia had told Alexius what Xanthus had done, and had allowed him this brief opportunity for vengeance.
“You don’t need to do this!” Xanthus ducked and dodged the blade.
“Wrong. I do. Now that the road is complete, you too are a complication. This is also an order from Melenia, but it’s a punishment you deserve.”
Xanthus fought back and managed to slice Alexius’s leg with a sharp piece of wood, which succeeded in slowing him down.
But not enough to stop him.
Soon Alexius’s dagger found its mark, and he watched the life drain from the eyes of Phaedra’s brother and murderer. In all of his two thousand years, Xanthus was the first person he’d ever killed. The thought chilled him, taking away any warmth he had left in his heart. But it also filled him with resolve.
“She commands,” Alexius said, “and I obey. Just like you did.”
“Then may your fate be the same as mine,” Xanthus hissed with his last breath.
Alexius walked away and didn’t look back.
ER 16
ALEXIUS
THE SANCTUARY
He’d been gone from the Sanctuary a whole week before he found Lucia.
“Alexius!” Timotheus had called out to him as he was leaving the Crystal City for the last time.
Alexius tried very hard to ignore him.
But he had stopped when Timotheus laid his familiar hand on his arm. He turned to face his mentor, who looked at him with a drawn brow. “I’ve been told you plan to exile yourself today.”