The Grey God

Since he realized he wanted more from her than to spar?

Seeing her name there surprised him, but it seemed only natural a woman he'd watched and admired from a distance so long would be his mate. He simply hadn't wanted to face what his instincts told him. He'd been drawn to Jenn since he'd started to recover his mind. It was not the hard, fast, lustful connection he felt with his first mate, but a deeper connection. Attraction had given way to admiration and respect over the months as he sparred with her and saw her in action. He'd mated with Claire days after meeting her. He never knew more than lust for her.

But Jenn was different.

His gaze went to the line above his. Adrian. Damian would have a son, a future. Darian never thought it possible, yet seeing the name of his little brother's son made him want more out of life. Would the name of his own son or daughter ever be written beside his and Jenn's name on the monument?

Darian rubbed his face, his fingers running the length of where the deepest and most knotted scar had been. Sometimes he still felt it there, even knowing it wasn't. He pulled the necklace Jenn had taken from the immortal world and rose, wanting to see why it was so special to her.

He made his way through the orchard and over the wall at the other end, stunned by the mess that had been the immortals' imperial city. Distressed by the damage, he jogged to the central square, where smaller obelisks marking lesser immortal Houses rose out of the ground.

He searched until it was almost too dark to see, finally coming to the one with the same marks as Jenn's necklace. He knelt and then hunched to see the names at the very bottom of the small obelisk.

Jenn, Finian, Talia. A husband and a daughter. As the lower ranking of the married couple, the name of Jenn's betrothed was added to her family's record, indicating he was likely the son of another servant. A small dirt hole was in front of the obelisk where she'd dug up the necklace.

Darian sat for a long moment, comprehending why Jenn viewed the immortal world with such bitterness. He didn't know if she still yearned for her husband during a time when marriages among servants were arranged, but there was nothing that could soothe the ache a mother felt at losing her child.

Her loss was darker than his. He began to understand her reluctance to be involved with him and how thick the walls around her heart were, if she spent the years since the Schism learning how to shut people and emotion out.