Page 42 of Immortals and Ink

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

The sack of Constantinople lasted three days.

On the first day, Alexis didn't leave the cistern. He slept off the fatigue and rage from the day before.

Aurelio didn't die. Arslan was worried that Aurelio had lost too much blood, but Anubis didn't turn his back on him. Aurelio returned from the Duat on the second morning, his wounds healed and bruises fading. One eye was now a golden amber, the other brown, but that seemed to be the only side effect.

He didn't remember the lane or the man who had killed Jannisaries and told him where to come. He recalled only the chapel doorway and Arslan's golden eyes hovering above him.

Alexis stayed away from Aurelio while he healed and tried to reconcile himself in the new world he had been reborn in.

On the morning of the third day, a herald's cry went out across the city that Mehmed had ordered the sack to end and that any soldier still taking property after the noon hour would answer to his sword.

Arslan came down to the library at noon to tell Alexis. Like the peri, he had hidden away in books to try to push back the horrors that kept trying to creep into his mind.

"He has called it off finally. The streets and the sea will be passable soon."

"Then I'll leave tomorrow night. It's time I went home." Alexis stood and stretched. "Is Constantine talking yet?"

Arslan shook his head. "Not to me. He glares at Phaidros, but that's about it. You should go and see him before you leave, regardless."

Alexis knew it was pointless, but he still straightened his shoulders and went down to the cells.

Con was awake and sitting up on his bed, his back against the cell wall. There was a pile of books beside him, but none of them were open. He had washed and changed into fresh clothes, which was a good sign.

"I'm sailing tomorrow night," Alexis said, trying to keep his voice steady. "Phaidros will remain here to keep an eye on you. When the city is settled, he'll let you out."

Con refused to look at him.

"I won't ask for forgiveness, and it would be a lie because I'd do it again, Constantine." Alexis adjusted the amethyst ring on his finger, tempted to leave it behind and unable to part with it. "You are alive. The city is changing, but it lives too. The prophecy about it beginning and ending with a Constantine came true, like we all knew it would. One day, you will learn that every ending is a new beginning and not to mourn every death. Let this place go and find your new beginning, even if that is without me."

Con's head turned a fraction. Not enough to look at him, only an acknowledgment that he had heard.

That is enough. It has to be.

* * *

The following evening, Arslan waited for Alexis by the statue of the dog-headed saint Alexis had carved for him.

The night was clear for the first time in weeks, and the moon was up. The pomegranate trees in the courtyard had blossomed in the past three days, and the red flowers in the lamplight looked like so many wounds.

Death of a thousand cuts, Alexis thought, and it was a fitting description for how he was feeling.

Arslan looked exhausted, but he still managed a smile. "He needs a name."

"Who does?" Alexis asked.

"Aurelio. He's no longer a mercenary from a Genoese family. That person died in the siege." Arslan raised a brow at him. "You saved him. You pick."

Alexis thought of the dying man still trying to protect innocents and the heat of Anubis's blessing in his aura. "Kahil."

"Kahil," Arslan repeated, feeling out the name. "Friend. Companion."

"Sì. He fought beside his cousin for a city that wasn't his. He's going to spend a long life as a brother to men who won't be his blood. He will be the friend who will keep you sane, and you will make sure he becomes a decent immortal."

Arslan's golden eyes twinkled with a spark of magic. "I have a feeling he's going to be quite the challenge."

"The young always are. Don't worry. A few more gray hairs will suit you," Alexis managed to tease, and the pain in his chest eased as they laughed softly.