Chapter 2

Before I left for the Wildlands, Serena kissed me like she couldn't bear to let me go.

She begged me to reach her through the water mirror on the night of the lovers' festival, so we could celebrate together even from apart.

As luck would have it, a demon beast ambushed us that very day. Not wanting to break my promise, I threw everything into cutting it down as fast as I could, took grave wounds, and nearly lost my right arm.

But the water mirror stayed silent. No one answered.

Only the next day did Serena tell me she'd waited and waited for me until she fell asleep. I actually felt guilty over it, and apologized to her.

Thinking about it now, it's almost funny.

I looked into her eyes.

"But you said you'd never keep a male favorite."

Serena looked away.

"I did. But I won't let Wes suffer either."

"So, Charlie, let's end it. Let's divorce."

She set a divorce writ down on the stone table.

"Charlie, you're a brave general of the heavens. You can always stand on your own. But Wes is too fragile. I have to marry him, and it's my duty to take care of him for the rest of his life."

"This manor, and every reward from this campaign, I'm leaving them all to you as compensation. From now on we're still comrades-in-arms and friends. You can hate me, but don't make trouble for Wes. I can't bear to see him guilty or hurt."

My heart clenched so hard I could barely breathe through the pain.

And at the same time, it struck me as absurd.

She used to despise Wesley for being weak and useless, a vine that could only cling to someone else to survive.

I'd fought with her over it more times than I could count.

Now it was the other way around.

I couldn't hold back my fury. I threw my tea in her face.

"Serena, you make me sick!"

Her expression didn't so much as flicker, but her voice carried a warning.

"Charles, I know you're burning up inside. You won't feel right until you let it out. If you want, you can put a blade in me. But you'd better not go bother Wes."

"Otherwise the same power that lifted you to deputy commander can turn you into a mortal, not even fit to be a common celestial soldier."

"Becoming the heavens' foremost general is your dream, and the Griffin Legion is your life's work. You've suffered so much, fought for hundreds of years. That wasn't so you could end up with nothing, was it?"

I stared at her, unable to believe it, my fingers crushing the divorce writ into creases.

Serena was the God of War, my direct superior, and the one who shared my bed and knew me better than anyone.

She was threatening me.

Before she left, Serena handed me a handkerchief to wipe my hands, and had someone carry off the placard of the War God's manor.

Looking at this manor full of memories, a place that could no longer be called home.

The tears I'd held back so long finally fell.

The next day was Wesley's monthly rest day.

When I reached his manor, he was directing the servants as they packed.

Last night the servants at home had told me Serena had set up another manor. It looked like this was where she meant to move.

When he saw me, Wesley ducked his head, uneasy.

"Brother, you've only just come back from the front. You should be resting a few more days. What brings you here..."

I tossed the boundless pouch into his arms.

"I came to return those relics to their rightful owner. What, I'm not welcome?"

Wesley's face flushed faintly. He said quietly, "Then what tea would you like, Brother? I'll go prepare it."

I said nothing, my eyes on the trunk on the floor, still open.

No wonder Serena had left so breezily yesterday. I'd meant to have someone pack up her things and send them over.

But I'd found the study already emptied. Her clothes, all her personal belongings, gone.

So it turned out they'd already been moved here.

While I stood there stunned, a familiar parrot came flying out of the back courtyard.

It was the pet Serena had brought back from the mortal realm two years ago.

She raised it like a son, and taught it to talk whenever she had a spare moment.

It swept past me and landed on Wesley's shoulder, calling out.

"Daddy Wes, Daddy Wes."

I remembered how, right before I left for the Wildlands, Serena had just taught it to say Mama.

And she'd told me that by the time I came home, she'd surely have it saying Daddy Charles.

It had learned, all right. It just wasn't calling me.

I looked at Wesley and let out a mocking laugh.

"Why bother going to all the trouble of moving? Isn't it nice right here?"

"After all, while I was out there risking my life this whole year, the two of you were building your little love nest here."

Guilt in his eyes, Wesley held the boundless pouch back out to me, awkward.

"Brother, these relics are my compensation to you. Please, keep them..."

I let out a scornful snort.

"Compensation? Wesley, when that fox-clan fiancee of yours turned on you and fled the wedding, and nearly drove you to take your own life, I was the one who rushed to Blackpine Hollow and cut off her tail to avenge you. For harming an outsider without leave, I took a hundred strokes of the military cane."

"When you said you couldn't bear to stay in Blackpine Hollow, I was the one who brought you to the Ninefold Heavens, gave you a manor, arranged for a master craftsman to take you on as a disciple so you'd have a way to survive, and greased the way with immortal friends everywhere so you could take commissions before you'd even finished your training."

"Even the finest raw materials you used to forge your relics came out of my private stores. Seven hundred years of brotherhood, and as long as it made you happy, there was nothing I wouldn't do for you."

"Yet you live in the manor I gave you, carrying on with my wife, and then use my own things to compensate me. Don't you think that's funny?"