Ascension - Book Eight - Man x Man

Chapter 146 (M)

We spent the rest of the evening enjoying our children, cooking, and catching up on the formalities before the heavy of the evening could set in. Verando seemed to easily fall back into this domestic role, and as long he was cheerful, Darrius did not have a second occurrence of seeing what he was calling a scary face. 

Legardo and Pascal stay the longest, with Tomas and Rowan phoning in to promise a visit in the morning. We had plenty to plan with the visit to Greece still on the table, Rowan seemed more than happy to do as much research as she could muster overnight in an attempt to find a gate in the United States. 

The country was still relatively new, and the possibility of a gate existing was little to none. 

We eat and drink, and I take a moment to enjoy the small family that we had created and rekindled. Legardo and Pascal, Adriam and Victor, watching Silvia play with Darrius and holding Xavier for the boy refused to allow me to put him down since he'd woken up. 

 But all good things must end, and reality must be addressed, it takes longer than I imagined for the boys to finally close their eyes and succumb to sleep. Adriam explains they normally go down quite easily, but it must be their fear that we would leave again. No matter how much I promise them that I'm going to try to be home, those words fall on hardened hearts, I'd been wrong before. 

When I return downstairs, Verando stands with Legardo in the living room, before the grand fireplace as Pascal stokes a fire. Not that it was particularly cold, but it seemed like a task that required her to focus on anything but the embodiment of Death standing behind her. 

"Are you alright?" Legardo asks, hesitating as he hears me coming down the stairs. 

Verando runs a hand through his hair, I note he'd changed his clothes into something more comfortable. A simple pair of jeans and a shirt, seeing him dressed like a civilian felt even more out of place now. "Come now, Gardo, do you think that something as trivial as eternal damnation could get me down? Seems par for the course."

Legardo doesn't appear so convinced. "I used to think Mother made up all the terrible things that happened to you, now I'm starting to truly believe you are cursed. Anubis? Are you turning your back on our own gods?"

Cocking an eyebrow, Verando scoffs. "Our gods? Are you a Norseman now?" He crosses his arms over his chest, enjoying the warmth of the fire on his stonelike body. "Considering I am a version of a god, and harboring one, I feel like I'd be a bit exempt from my list. I imagine when Death is killed, there is very little to atone for, in that, I hope for a lapse in existence. I banish the blasphemy that is recreation, I don't wish for it."

Shaking his head, Legardo exhales, a quiet admittance that talking about his father's end did, in fact, bother him. "What does that make me? Make any of us? Is this hereditary?" He manages finally, causing my warlord to grow silent once more. 

After what feels like an eternity, I wait at the bottom of the stars, not daring to interrupt. "Gardo, you followed a very different path than I did and I believe that will be your salvation in all of this. When you pave the way to salvation in blood, it quickly turns into something much more sinister. I believe I was meant to come to this conclusion, just as you were meant to raise your family and do... whatever it is.. you do now." He gestures to the man passively, pouring himself a drink from the whiskey bottle on the mantle. 

"I'm a chef." He retorts shortly, irritated by the dismissal. 

"Mmm, exactly my point." Taking a quick sip, my warlord wrinkles his nose at the taste. "I think you're quite safe from this line of work, Gardo. You can do many things, taking lives is not one of them."