My Trash Talent Is Actually OP!

The door opened slightly as the king stepped in, calm but concerned.

"Is she stable?" he asked.

"She's better," Asher said.

Nova gave a small wave. "Still breathing."

The king nodded. "I'm glad. I saw one of the maids sobbing in the hallway. Something about getting strangled by hair?"

Everyone glanced at Sinnett.

"She provoked me," he said simply.

The king gave him a look. "Try not to strangle the help next time."

"No promises."

Cinder entered behind him, her gaze falling on Nova. Her expression softened just a little.

"You're alive."

Nova nodded slowly. "Thanks to your fire, I nearly wasn't."

There was no anger in her voice. Just tired honesty.

Cinder looked away. "I didn't mean to harm you."

"I know," Nova said. "Still happened though."

Sinnett stepped between them quickly. "Alright, no need for tension. She's fine, let's leave it at that."

Cinder didn't argue. She just turned and left, silent as usual.

The maid's words were still getting to her. She knew she did bad things, but she wondered if Asher and the others actually trust her.

The others started leaving. Zain stretched. "I'm going to sleep for twelve hours."

"Go," Asher said. "You earned it."

Sinnett gave Nova a wink. "If you need help adjusting to your new body, I volunteer."

Asher grabbed a pillow and chucked it at his head. "Out."

Sinnett ducked, laughing, and left the room.

Nova sighed and laid back down on the bed. Her eyes stared up at the ceiling

"You scared me," Asher said quietly, from where he stood.

"I scared myself."

They were silent for a moment.

"I'm not used to needing help," she added.

"You're not weak for needing it."

She smiled a little. "I'll pretend I believe that."

"I'll make you believe it eventually."

"Still think I'm worth saving?" she asked.

"Always." he wasn't saying that to make her trust him or anything. He actually meant it, which was quite weird even for him.

But nevertheless, he wasn't taking it back, she would save him if he was in such a situation, he was sure of that.

As soon as everyone left and no foot steps were heard, Asher closed Nova's door quietly behind him and sat near her bed scrolling through his phone.

The halls were mostly empty now except for Tay, Sinnett, and the king.

Sinnett leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. "You should warn your people. The maids, the guards, anyone who gets near Asher when he's on edge."

The king raised an eyebrow. "You threatening me, Sinnett?"

"Just saying," Sinnett said, shrugging. "They poke at him the wrong way, especially when Nova's involved, and you'll have more than a sobbing maid to deal with. He doesn't think straight when she's in danger."

Tay nodded beside him. "You've seen it too. He goes cold, fast. Not angry like Sinnett, just… blank. That's worse."

The king looked down the hallway where Asher had disappeared. "I noticed. He gets that look. Like nothing else matters except protecting her."

Sinnett sighed. "Yeah, but don't mistake it for love. Asher's still figuring that part out."

"Oh?" the king said, amused. "You sound sure."

"I am," Sinnett replied.

"He's got a soft spot for her, sure. But he had that for Emma. For Zero. For Alya too. Asher's loyal as hell, and protective, but love?" He shook his head. "I don't think he knows what that is. Not outside of family."

"Interesting," the king mused, despite not knowing the other people mentioned. "Then what do you think it is?"

"Instinct," Sinnett said. "Responsibility. Guilt maybe. Hell, even obsession. But not love. Not yet."

The king hummed thoughtfully, then glanced toward the stone flooring beneath them. "He mentioned something else, too. Souls. Buried ones."

Tay stepped forward. "Yeah. He thinks something powerful is under this city. Has for a while now. He can feel it."

"He's right," the king said. "There are old things buried here. Not in the poetic sense. Literally. Remnants of the old world, heroes, mages, dragons. Their bones, their artifacts. Their power."

"Graves?" Sinnett asked.

"Kind of," the king replied.

"This city has layers. During wars, people hide underground. But they share that space with what came before. The dead. The sealed. Some say that's why the city stands, because it's built on power."

Tay looked intrigued. "So the energy here...it's real?"

"As real as his strange abilities," the king said.

"But don't get carried away. This place isn't some grand trial or test. It's just a city. A stubborn, old city. Nothing divine about it. The peace here exists because we fought tooth and nail to keep it that way."

A city hidden for so many years, even after the fall of dragons managed to escape war without being noticed.

Sinnett was very amused, because he also hadn't heard anything about the city, until he looked into Zero and Nova's background.

His information showed that there were sitings of a city near their home land as well as the land of the lost.

And even after checking it out, he found nothing, until now.

Sinnett nodded slowly. "Then we'll try not to break it."

The king smiled faintly. "See that you don't."

Tay then spoke, "Can you take us to the city underground? We might need to mark where we start the raising before leaving."

He then raised both his hands, "We mean no harm, we already told you everything, and we won't ruin your city's peace."

Sinnett chuckled softly, "I might, but till then count on us to keep it peaceful, maybe to pay you back for letting us stay here, you tell your guilds to take a break."

The king stared at them for a while. He wasn't sure he could trust what they said, but for some reason with how Sinnett spoke, especially knowing he was a Varrow.

A bloodline that conquered and destroyed everywhere they went, Sinnett not trying to take over or do anything chaotic was already proof.

He simply nodded and smiled, "I hope you keep to your words, my people get frightened easily."