Gabriel arrived at dawn, the day after the carnival. Aurelius recognized him in a second as he stepped from the carriage at the palace's gates.

  Aurelius hadn't expected anything special from the day other than having dinner with Mephisto. But as he sat casually on the balcony of his quarters, his first mentor was suddenly there.

  Gabriel, with his dirty-blonde hair and single bluish-green eye, had been his first window to the world. Gradually, Aurelius had begun to wish he'd never met him. Now, he didn't know what to feel.

  Seven years. It had been seven years since they met. It felt like an eternity ago. It felt like yesterday.

  Aurelius furrowed his brows as he saw six children run alongside Gabriel. He put his cup down and hurried inside.

  "What is it now?" Cade moaned from bed. If she hadn't been so pretty, she would have been a sloth.

  Aurelius uttered one word as he dressed himself properly. "Gabriel."

  Cade sat up. "Huh? Really?"

  "Uh, huh."

  "And here I was starting to think he wasn't even real."

  Aurelius gave her a serious look, and she gave him a sheepish smile. Then he rushed off.

  "Wait for me!" she yelled as he slammed the door.

  Aurelius rushed through the halls of the palace, careful not to damage any paintings or busts on the side. He arrived at the palace entrance. He stood at the top of a staircase, and at the bottom was Gabriel. Their gazes met, and they froze. Gabriel's children came to the staircase but quieted down and stopped beside him, all eyes on Aurelius. The children were roughly how old he had been when he first met Gabriel.

  On a closer look, Gabriel's age could be seen. The lines on his face were sharper and deeper, his skin no longer so smooth as it once was. When Aurelius first met him, he'd thought of him as a god. Now he saw just a man almost forty, no longer in his prime. However, he was no less for it.

  Neither made any expression for a moment. Aurelius wondered if Gabriel still recognized him. Then a warm smile spread on Gabriel's face.

  "Aurelius, you've..."

  "Grown?" Aurelius asked, preparing something funny to say.

  Gabriel squinted a little. "Changed," he corrected.

  Aurelius blinked, a little stunned. He read those words with a negative connotation but realized Gabriel meant it in the opposite way.

  Aurelius chuckled, starting down the stairs. Gabriel came up to meet him and wrapped him in a solid hug.

  Aurelius remembered the last time he'd hugged Gabriel. Back then, he'd had to go on his tiptoes for his face to meet Gabriel's chest. Now he leaned his down. Only when he noticed how much shorter and smaller Gabriel was did the passage of time sink in. Gabriel reached behind his head to ruffle his hair. Aurelius let him. He'd earned that privilege.

  When they separated, there were glints in Gabriel's eye. He wiped the tears from it. Aurelius laughed a little.

  "You just smell, that's all," Gabriel said.

  The children laughed from the bottom of the staircase. Aurelius took a sniff of his own armpit. "I don't smell." The children laughed louder. "I don't!"

  "Quiet down now," Gabriel said. "Come over here; I'll introduce you to Uncle Aurelius."

  The children gasped and began racing up the steps.

  "Uncle?" Aurelius whispered.

  Gabriel flicked his wrist. "Oh, they've heard a lot about you, and it just kind of..."

  Everyone seemed to have heard a lot about him these days.

  "I'm Requias!" The first one to reach Aurelius extended a serious hand. "I'm the oldest." He said with a big smile, squinting his orange eyes.

  "No, you're not." A black-haired kid pushed Requias aside. "I am."

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  "Right," Aurelius said, hesitating to shake his hand.

  "They're both lying," a third one said.

  "Tch. We don't know who was born when."

  "We're adopted." The fifth one sulked. He was a little chubby and seemed like the youngest.

  The sixth one said nothing, shaking visibly when Aurelius met his eyes. He looked away and back before waving a little. Aurelius waved back.

  After getting Requias and the black-haired kid to stop fighting, Gabriel introduced them to Aurelius. Their attention was then taken to the top of the staircase where Cade had arrived. She was wearing that thin black coat of hers, trying to make an impression.

  "Ah, I also have someone to introduce. Gabriel, kids, this is my companion, Cade. She's from Mircrest."

  There was a unified "Wow!" from the kids.

  Cade seemed a little confused as to what all of them were doing in the middle of a staircase but came down to meet them.

  "She's pretty," the youngest kid said.

  "And badass," another whispered.

  Aurelius turned to see that it was Requias. They were staring at Cade with glazed-over eyes. When they noticed that Aurelius was looking, they shook from being startled. They shrank a little, thinking he was mad.

  Aurelius just gave a wink and a thumbs up. They were right on point.

  When Cade and Gabriel met, and Gabriel went to kiss Cade's hand, Aurelius expected a repeat of what had happened with Alexander. Instead, Cade blushed. Aurelius opened his mouth in amazement. When Cade noticed his expression, she bit her lip and slapped him on the arm.

  "You two are... together, correct?" Gabriel spoke in Miran. Cade seemed surprised by his fluency but realized that, of course, he was fluent since he'd been the one who taught Aurelius to read and write properly after all.

  Aurelius nodded. "Uh huh."

  Gabriel smiled at Cade. "Aurelius' luck is truly beyond my grasp."

  Cade giggled a little in that way she did only when she was with Aurelius and almost never in public. Aurelius snorted a little at Gabriel.

  That's when Alexander showed up. Cade stepped aside, and Gabriel met Alexander's gaze sharply.

  "Long time no see, old friend," Gabriel said in a low voice.

  Alexander had a difficult frown on his face, like he would've wanted to smile but couldn't in that situation. Aurelius soon found out why.

  ***

  Gabriel was mad. He'd found out about the search for Aurelius and couldn't tolerate Alexander breaking his father's promise not to involve him in the war. Alexander argued Aurelius was going to take part in any case, so being angry for the search was petty nonsense.

  Aurelius had no take on the argument. He almost took Alexander's side in the hopes that it would stop them from fighting. He didn't because he feared it would escalate things, but he didn't like seeing old friends fight.

  Gabriel left without the matter being settled. He asked if Aurelius wanted to come on a tour of Alexandria with the kids. He refused, telling Gabriel he had dinner with Mephisto. Gabriel seemed disturbed by the name but didn't answer when Aurelius asked about it.

  Alexander had also trailed off when talking about Mephisto's father in relation to Ares. Aurelius wondered about what the connection was. Could it have been something to do with the Elite Troop?

  Aurelius spent the day mulling things over, eating grapes on the balcony until he lost his sense of taste.

  Then a carriage arrived for him and Cade. It was to take them to Mephisto's home. Aurelius wasn't sure what he expected. He was stunned, nevertheless.

  The carriage took them to a castle on the other side of the inner city that he'd admired when he'd arrived in Alexandria. It seemed he'd made quite a wealthy friend.