Many houses would soon be empty, which would go a long way toward alleviating the cramped confines of Croft’s Cross. That thought made me feel a little better—a tiny bit.
Making sure the hood of my cloak remained in place, I jumped off Setti’s back, landing on my feet as Casteel turned to assist.
“I could’ve helped you.”
“I know.” Stretching up, I kissed his cheek. Or tried. I ended up kissing his hood.
I stepped back and made my way toward the stairs. Malik was already at the door. As I passed two large urns on either side of the steps, my gaze flicked to the wilted flowers within and then lifted to the baskets hanging from the veranda ceiling. The stems draped limply over the sides, and the plants were clearly starved of water.
“So, what are you showing us?” Casteel asked his brother.
Malik opened the doors. “Follow me.”
Delano and Casteel exchanged a look as we walked inside. A pleasant scent reached me.
“That smell.” Delano sniffed as he closed the door behind us. “Apples and cinnamon?”
“That’s surprisingly…homey for a house occupied by the Ascended,” I remarked.
Malik crossed beneath a chandelier, heading for a door tucked into a shadowy corner of the stairwell. He opened it, and I tensed, knowing why we were headed downstairs. He hadn’t wanted to show us something but rathersomeone.
My hand reflexively went to my thigh and the shadowstone dagger I’d grabbed and hidden there before leaving the Solar. Not that I really needed it if push came to shove. I could level this house if I had to.
“The Ascended Kolis drained,” I said, entering the lamplit stairway behind Casteel and trying to shake the unease I felt at entering the home of an Ascended. “Were those homes near here?”
“Several avenues back,” Casteel answered.
The stairs emptied into a foyer of sorts, and I saw hats hung next to closed, colorful parasols and delicate, drawstring reticules. The sight of something so…normal was unsettling.
Malik opened the doors ahead, revealing a wide hall with golden vines molded into the walls and ceiling. The female Descenter from earlier waited at the end before an open archway. Seeing her surprised me.
I glanced at Casteel. He frowned and remained silent, though I knew he was thinking the same as I was.
This was the very last place I’d expected to find a Descenter.
Taking a deep breath, I cleared my thoughts and walked ahead. I needed to focus on whatever this was about.
Helenea bowed her head as Casteel and I neared, her nervous gaze bouncing to Malik and then behind us as if she were looking for someone.
“I was told you met Helenea earlier,” Malik said.
“Yes.” Casteel drawled the single word with a raised brow.
Before I could chime in, I was immediately distracted—and confused—by what I saw within the large chamber. And I wasn’t the only one as Helenea quietly closed the door behind us.
The space appeared as if it was bathed in sunlight, an illusion created by the windows painted along the walls and the soft blue skies and heavy-limbed oaks rendered inside the painted frames. The bright, overhead lights made it feel like we weren’t underground, but in a chamber above.
Both Casteel and Delano came to a halt as I scanned the chamber. I saw Emil standing by a lit fireplace, speaking to a male—an Ascended dressed in dark trousers and a loose shirt. They looked to be having a rather important conversation and seemed unaware of our arrival. A handful of other Ascended sat around a table, playing some sort of card game. Another female with glossy, dark curls and cool-brown skin was curled into the corner of a settee, her attention fixed on the book in her lap. None of them were dressed in fine silk or draped in elaborate jewels.
These Ascended were already nothing like the ones I’d seen at Wayfair or Castle Redrock in Oak Ambler. Or even in Masadonia. They looked…ordinary.
Malik cleared his throat.
Across from us, Emil’s head jerked up as the male Ascended turned and stopped moving. The card game halted. The book in the woman’s lap was forgotten. They all stared with dark eyes, and even though I couldn’t feel anything from them, it was clear they were either nervous or afraid.
I quickly glanced at Casteel and found him looking around the chamber. Stepping forward, I reached up to lower my hood. “Hello,” I said, because I honestly had no idea what else to say.
The Ascended moved at once. All of them. I’d frozen, but Delano moved forward, hand on his sword as if he believed they might attack.
