Chapter 19: EX 19. What will be my Purpose?
The clatter of cutlery had long faded, replaced by soft goodnights and the creak of doors closing one after another. Dinner had been warm, filled with smiles and quiet conversation. After all the revelations that took place in one night plus Leon's return from the Trial World, rest was not a luxury it was a necessity.
Steam curled from the bathroom door as Leon stepped out, towel draped around his neck, damp hair clinging to his forehead. The cool air of his room kissed his skin as he changed into his night clothes with lazy, practiced motions. His mind, however, was far from idle.
He thought back to what his mother had told him at the dinner table. She had once planned to reveal the truth. If he hadn't received the trial resonance by eighteen, she would have sat him down and told him everything but fate had taken a different turn.
But Leon didn't care.
Was there a twinge of sadness knowing he didn't share the Kael bloodline? Maybe for a second. But it passed like a fleeting shadow.
They had raised him. Loved him. Fed him. Trained him. He was forged in their fire, shaped by their discipline and held by their warmth.
Bloodline? That was just ink on a forgotten scroll. What mattered was real and tangible. His mother's embrace. His father's teachings. The way his sister stood by him no matter the trouble.
He pulled his shirt down over his head.
No... something would have to be seriously wrong with his head to let something like blood redefine his identity.
He was a Kael. Through and through and nothing would ever change that.
Climbing into bed, Leon grabbed his phone and flopped onto his back, thumbs flicking across the screen. As a message from Elizabeth popped up.