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“Who?”
“Tempest.”
“I already told you my name is Tempest.”
Aiden rolled his head to face her. “You know that’s not what I mean. You’re a god, aren’t you.” It wasn’t a question. He was stating it as fact.
Tempest kept her gaze on the floor in front of her. “Yeah. I am.”
“Why did you help me?”
“Which time?”
“Let’s start with when you healed me in the desert.”
“I really didn’t mean to do that. I don’t regret it, but I wasn’t looking for you, either.”
“How did you find me, then?”
“Fate.”
He huffed. “That’s not an answer.”
Tempest fidgeted with her fingers as she wondered how much she should tell him. “How much do you know about me? I mean, the goddess version of me?”
He rolled his head back to look at the room and sighed. “Not much. Other gods, you hear rumors of their lives from time to time; battles and arguments. Most of it, I’m sure, is completely made up. But you… you are quiet. I know you help people. I know you can judge a soul and decide what kind of person they are. You’re the only god who can do that besides the ruler of Toph. You’re not as powerful as the god of the dead, but you are known to be more forgiving. Of course, I just saw you rip the soul out of a man, so I’m not so sure how true that last part is.”
Tempest’s head snapped towards Aiden. “You sawwhat?”
“The black mist that came out of him,” Aiden pointed to the body to his right, “that was his soul, right?”
Tempest’s mind leapt from repose to riotous. No mortal should be able to see that. None of this made sense. Why was a god messing with an emperor? Literally taking over his body and then wiping his memory of it, but leaving this latent sense behind. Who could do that?
No, not one god. At least two. One who seized control of Aiden’s body but didn’t seem to want him dead, and one who was trying to end him.
Tempest’s vision started to darken. Her wound wasn’t closing as quickly as usual, and she was still losing blood. Cursed cresten iron.
“Yeah, that was his soul.”
“Okay, anything else I need to know?”
She considered keeping the rest secret but decided otherwise. Maybe if she weren’t trying to figure all of this out alone, she could actually save Aiden from whoever was trying to kill him.
“I found you in the desert because I could sense you. I can feel anyone’s soul if I focus on them and am close enough, but for some reason, I could feel yours long before I found you.”
“So you followed it?”
She nodded. Pain from the wound on her shoulder shot through her neck in response to the movement, and her vision tunneled for a moment. Aiden didn’t notice the waver in her body when it hit.
“Would you have stumbled on me if you didn’t feel my soul?”
“No.”
“Wow. You weren’t kidding when you said it was Fate that brought us together.”
“I’m pretty sure Fate is also why I was able to heal you. That’s not something I can normally do.”
“You weren’t lying about that either, huh? I thought you were when you told me you couldn’t heal me before.”
