All Chapters of Her Exiled Husband Is A Forgotten God : Chapter 31
- Chapter 40
44 chapters
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
POV: Kael / SantosThe war room had once been a government command center.Designed during the Cold War to survive nuclear apocalypse, it had been repurposed dozens of times over the decades—serving various agencies, various purposes, various secrets that humanity wasn't ready to know. Now it served as the nerve center for a coalition that would have seemed impossible just months ago.Kael stood at the head of a long table covered in maps—both physical and metaphysical, showing Earth's geography alongside the invisible lines of divine influence that crisscrossed the planet. Around him sat the strangest alliance ever assembled: Celestine, the hunter who had once held his chains and tortured him for the Council's pleasure. Santos, the mortal director who had spent her career preparing for exactly this kind of conflict. Maya, the woman who had built a religion from hope and determination alone. And Ava, his wife, his anchor, the woman who was becoming something neither mortal nor divine.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
POV: KaelAgainst everyone's advice, Kael agreed to meet with Veridian.The location was neutral—a space that existed between dimensions, accessible only to beings of sufficient power and carefully warded against violence. It resembled a vast garden, with paths of silver light winding between structures that might have been plants or might have been something else entirely.Veridian was already waiting when Kael arrived.The golden god stood beside a fountain that flowed with liquid starlight, his form as beautiful and treacherous as ever. He smiled when he saw Kael—that empty, calculating smile that promised nothing and offered everything."Judge." The old title, spoken with ironic reverence. "Or should I call you Aelindor now? I understand you've reclaimed your memories.""Kael is fine.""Humble. I like that." Veridian gestured to a bench nearby. "Shall we sit? This promises to be a lengthy conversation.""I prefer to stand.""Suit yourself." Veridian sat anyway, crossing his legs w
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
POV: AvaThe society gala glittered like a lie made manifest.Ava moved through the crowd in a dress that cost more than her entire previous life—silk and diamonds and subtle enchantments that made her invisible to the wrong kinds of attention. She was not the Ava Morrison who had married a broken man to save her family's reputation. She was something else now. Something between mortal and divine, perceiving frequencies others couldn't see.The Harlow estate sprawled across acres of manicured grounds, the main house a monument to old money and older secrets. Every surface gleamed. Every guest sparkled. And beneath the glamour, Ava could see the truth.Golden shimmer around certain guests—the mark of collaborators, visible only to those with divine perception. Subtle distortions in reality where agreements had been made, promises bound, souls mortgaged for power and prestige. The entire event was a web of invisible threads, all of them leading eventually to beings who considered humani
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
POV: KaelThe exposure changed everything.Before, the war had been fought in shadows—divine beings moving through the mortal world like ghosts, collaborators maintaining secrecy through careful management of information. The truth about divine interference had been an open secret among those who held power, but the general public had been kept ignorant.Now the veil was torn.Social media exploded with footage of divine manifestations. News networks scrambled to verify claims that had seemed impossible hours ago. Governments that had spent decades covering up divine activity found their careful lies unraveling in real-time.Some people panicked. Some people prayed. Some people simply refused to believe what they were seeing, retreating into denial because acceptance was too terrifying to contemplate.But many—more than the Council had expected, more than even Kael had hoped—responded with a strange kind of relief. As if something they'd always suspected was finally being confirmed. A
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
POV: KaelThe Council declared war three days later.Not against Kael specifically—the official proclamation targeted "destabilizing elements threatening divine order." But everyone knew who they meant. The beings who had exposed Pyralis. The mortals who had documented collaborator crimes. The growing movement that dared to suggest divine authority could be questioned.The hunters came in waves.Celestine's former colleagues flooded the mortal realm—beings of light and geometry, armed with weapons that existed in too many dimensions, carrying orders to capture or kill anyone connected to the resistance. They attacked safe houses in six countries simultaneously. They struck at worshipper gatherings. They targeted the infrastructure Maya had spent months building.The secret that governments had worked to keep was collapsing. Divine beings fighting in city streets. Reality distortions visible to ordinary humans. The news called it terrorism, natural disasters, mass hallucinations—anythi
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
POV: Kael / KorvainKorvain took command of military operations the next morning.The scattered resistance became a coordinated force within days. Where before they had been reacting—defending, retreating, surviving—now they began to act. Strategic strikes against hunter bases. Ambushes that turned the Council's advantages into liabilities. A campaign of pressure that kept their enemies off-balance."The Council has numbers," Korvain explained during a strategy session, his massive form bent over holographic maps showing troop positions across the globe. "They have infrastructure. They have millennia of experience maintaining order through force. What they don't have is flexibility.""Explain," Santos said. Her skepticism of working with another divine being was evident, but she recognized competence when she saw it."Their hunters are trained for enforcement, not warfare. They expect obedience. When they encounter resistance, their first instinct is escalation—more force, more destru
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
POV: KaelLysara waited in a space that existed between dimensions.The meeting point was neither divine nor mortal—a pocket of reality carved out of the void itself, accessible only to beings who knew the precise frequencies required. Kael arrived through a fold in space, his senses extended for any sign of ambush.The information broker manifested as he watched.She was ancient—older than the Council, older than the Archon, possibly older than the concept of organized divine governance. Her form was beautiful in a terrible way, constantly shifting, covered in symbols that represented every secret she'd ever collected. They moved across her skin like living tattoos, rearranging themselves in patterns that suggested meaning just beyond comprehension."Judge." Her voice was like silk wrapped around broken glass. "Or should I say Kael? Or perhaps Aelindor? You've worn so many names.""Kael is fine.""Humble. I appreciate that." She gestured, and seats appeared from nothing—two chairs fa
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
POV: Maya / KaelMaya had never intended to become a religious leader.She had started as a researcher—someone who documented unusual phenomena, who collected stories from people who claimed to have experienced something beyond ordinary reality. Then she had met Kael. Then she had witnessed things that couldn't be explained by any science she knew. Then she had found herself at the center of something vast and terrifying and undeniably real.Now she managed a global network of believers, coordinating thousands of people who had staked their lives on the existence of a god who admitted he could be wrong."The faithful in Seoul are requesting guidance," her assistant reported. "A group wants to stage a protest outside the Korean collaborator headquarters. They say it's time to take direct action.""Tell them no. Peaceful witness only. Anyone who engages in violence loses the protection of the network.""They won't like that.""They don't have to like it. They have to follow the principl
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
POV: KaelKael drafted the principles in a single night.He sat alone in a small room, writing words that would shape how millions understood their place in the cosmos. The weight of it pressed down on him—every phrase could be misinterpreted, every principle could be twisted, every attempt to create something good could become a tool for harm.But Maya was right. The faithful needed something. Without structure, belief became chaos. Without principles, devotion became fanaticism. Without guidance, people filled the void with their own interpretations—and some of those interpretations were dangerous.So he wrote.Not commandments—he had seen what commandments became in the hands of beings who demanded absolute obedience. Not laws—laws required enforcement, and enforcement required power that could be abused. Guidelines. Invitations. A framework built on everything he had learned in three years of humanity.The core tenets emerged slowly, each one paid for with the weight of experience
CHAPTER FORTY
POV: Kael / AvaThe cost of the attacks was measured in more than numbers.Kael walked through the rubble of what had been a neighborhood, stepping over debris that had been someone's home, someone's life, someone's accumulated years of meaning. The destruction was deliberate—not targeted at military assets or strategic positions, but at civilians. At believers. At anyone who had dared to hope for something different.This was the Archon's message: there is no safety in resistance. There is no shelter in faith. There is only submission or suffering.It was effective. In the hours after the attacks, reports came in of faithful wavering, of worshippers questioning whether the cost was worth the cause. People who had believed in Kael's message were suddenly confronted with the reality that belief could get them killed.But something else was happening too.Among the rubble, among the grief, people were helping each other. Believers and non-believers working side by side to dig out surviv