Chapter 273 - The Tolerance of Twined Fates (1/2)

Aegin had been confused most of the night. For some reason, he'd felt anger. Though for the life of him, he couldn't work out what he was angry at. He had plenty of reasons to be angry about the what ifs, but as dawn approached and the ship left without so much as a wave from the Paladins, Aegin was pretty confident that his path to the West was set.

So, if he was not angry over the what ifs, then why was he feeling anger? For his deal with Devina? Perhaps it was the Hunger, angry that Aegin had effectively restricted its freedom. Despite her being a representative of Order, blood was blood. It wasn't like their connection with the Great Gods made the blood burn his throat or anything like that. If anything, it imbued him with perhaps slightly more energy than normal. So really, the Hunger didn't really have a legitimate reason to be angry either.

Of course, the answer to his anger came to him as he set foot back in his room and was greeted by one of the chairs flying at him. In truth, it wasn't his anger at all that he was feeling.

”How dare you!” shouted Devina.

Aegin sighed. If him bringing her into his room didn't get everyone on board talking, this certainly would.

”You bastard!” she snapped as she took a step forward and threw her fist towards his face. Aegin caught her fist instinctively and used it to turn her around, pushing her arm into her back as he propelled her forward into one of the walls.

”Let me go!” she snapped.

”You will take a breath and calm down before I do anything,” Aegin stated calmly, ”I'm tired, so this better be worth being angry over”.

”You've tainted my Life Lines!” she growled, ”They're mixed with shadows because of what you di-”

She gasped in surprised as Aegin suddenly released her and disappeared. Devina turned around in surprise as she saw the bathroom door part way open. Her eyes narrowed and she marched towards the door only to freeze as soon as she saw the reflection from the small mirror.

Not only did Aegin have Life Lines...but they were black. Black Life Lines. The very thought of it seemed wrong. Devina turned away, knowing that he had not given her permission to see them. But then, as their colour registered to her, so did something else.

She could not read them.

She couldn't help her curiosity then as she turned back to look, only to find that he had pulled his shirt back over his head to cover them. He stared out of the bathroom at her. His eyes challenging her to say something. Her jaw clamped shut.

Aegin sighed, ”It's temporary”.