Page 41 of A Reign of Storm and Madness

Ruen sighs, casting a glance between all of us before he moves towards where Kalix is standing. “Did you take care of things with Dolos?” he asks quietly.

A quick decisive nod is the only answer Kalix gives and Ruen takes it before slipping past him. A moment passes and then Kalix turns to follow, leaving Theos and me alone either to stay or trail after them. I don’t see much else to do so I step forward as well, slipping out of the opening with Theos at my back.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Theos asks as we fall into line behind his brothers, the four of us walking back through the Academy grounds to where I assume their tower is.

I’m not okay. Not even a little. Kalix Darkhaven knows my secret which means that he knows the Guild’s secret. Even if he doesn’t know what I’m doing here, just him knowing my lineage is enough to have me on edge. I don’t want to lie to Theos, not anymore. I’m tired and I’m cold and I really wish I had an idea of what the fuck I’m supposed to do. So, instead of answering, I simply lean into him, stealing his body heat as his arm moves up from my lower back to hook around my shoulders and bring me closer to his side.

I close my eyes as my head throbs and more cool wind smacks me in the face. I should have never come to this Academy, I decide. It was a fool’s errand to think that one mission would be the key to my freedom. Now, I’m paying the price for my idiocy and my own greed.

Chapter 24

Kiera

Two days pass and Kalix doesn’t say anything to the others. There are no further conversations or interrogations on what I’m doing here or how I even came to be after the party. No Mortal God guards come to drag me back to the dungeons. I don’t wake with a sword to my throat, and yet I almost wish there was something to break up the monotonous dullness that fills the time after the Day of Descendance party. Waiting and patience have never been my strongest suit even if I’ve had to learn to accept it in the last ten years. It almost feels like Kalix is tormenting me with it.

A part of me wishes someone would slap a pair of brimstone shackles on me by the end of the third day. At least then I wouldn’t be stuck with all this unnerving waiting. Kalix disappears immediately after classes are over and I shuffle through the hallways of the Mortal Gods Academy, my head throbbing harder than ever before as I’ve been staying up each and every night in anticipation of something—anything.

The doors to the library come into view, cracked open with the sounds of quills scratching and papers shuffling as I grow nearer. I pause as the soft, low timbre of Caedmon’s voice echoes back to me from within.

“Take this twice a day for the next week and I assure you, your limbs will feel much better, Sylvis,” I hear him tell the head Terra Librarian who had acted as if she knew Ruen well that one day he’d come to me here.

“I cannot accept such a gift, Your Divinity.” Sylvis, for all her pride, sounds like she’s about to cry, her voice trembling with the effort it takes to speak.

“You can and you will,” Caedmon insists. “You are a favorite of a God, Sylvis. This is for me just as much as it is for you. I cannot bear the thought of seeing you leave this place before it’s your time.”

Sniffles escape the library. Surely, they’re not speaking in front of all the other Terra? Or are they? After all, most Gods only see Terra as convenient tools to be used and discarded. They seem to forget that the Terra they employ all have thoughts and wills of their own. That they’re people.

Deciding that this isn’t necessarily something I need to be eavesdropping on, but also wanting to hurry into the library to get this shift over with, I press against the door and enter. Several feet away from the various tables and desks of the reading area, Sylvis and Caedmon stand with their heads bent toward each other.

Sylvis raises her eyes over Caedmon’s shoulder and spots me before quickly ducking down. It’s too late, though, I’ve already seen the red rimming her eyes that definitely tell me she’s been crying. I scan the area and note that there are far fewer Terra than usual, only about two or three of them remain at some of the desks and Caedmon and Sylvis are far enough away that they likely thought themselves safe from prying ears. Not me, though, since exceptional hearing is part of my own increased abilities—which just makes Kalix’s ability to intrude into my room without waking me that much more frustrating.

Pretending that I’m not interested in whatever little conversation that Sylvis and Caedmon are having, I move across the library until I reach the desk that sits next to Sylvis’ and the Terra there. The older man has a protruding nose and eyes that are far too close to be attractive, but he looks up at me with no hostility despite the marked uniform I’m wearing.

“What are my tasks for the day?” I ask him.

He directs his gaze to Sylvis’ desk as if to tell me that I should ask her, but then he realizes she’s not there. Guess he’d been too absorbed in whatever he was writing to notice when she got up. His head turns and he spots her some feet away.

“You’ll have to wait for her to give you your duties after she’s done talking to Lord Caedmon,” the man says. “Unless he has use for you.” He gestures to an empty table across from him. “You may sit there and wait.” And then, belatedly, as if he reminds himself he should say it, he tacks on a, “quietly,” in a harsh breath before going back to his writing.

I sigh and turn away, striding the few feet it takes me to get to the table. I plop down into my seat and set an elbow on the table, leaning my chin into it as I look around the reading area. It’s so quiet in here that it lulls me into a sense of peace. No wonder Ruen likes this place so much. I’ve never been one much for reading—beyond what I had to for education—but I think losing oneself in a story not my own, in a life that is not my own, would be nice right about now.

Seconds pass into minutes and I avoid listening in any further to Caedmon and Sylvis’ quiet conversation in the corner. I breathe evenly, counting the breaths as boredom gets the best of me, needing anything to focus my thoughts on lest I start thinking about other, far more complicated matters that only serve to make my head ache. My eyelids droop lower and lower until I cannot keep them open any longer.

I don’t realize that sleep has claimed me until a hand touches my upper back and I jolt up out of my seat. I automatically reach for the blade that I keep at the small of my back, stopping when I recognize the man standing in front of me with an amused quirk to his lips.

Caedmon looks me up and down as I shake myself and peer around the library, but all the other Terra are engrossed in their work and no one has seemed to notice my near blunder or the fact that I fell asleep while waiting for my shift duties to be relayed to me. I shuffle awkwardly, adjusting my stance as I glance at Caedmon, who still looks pleasantly occupied by my uncomfortableness.

“You’re with me today,” is all he says before turning around and walking away.

I blink and pause for a beat before I jump into gear and start after him, my shorter legs hurrying to catch up with his longer ones until I’m a few steps behind him and I can slow my gait to match his.

Caedmon leads me down the library’s multitude of shelves, past the point that Ruen had dragged me to before and around a corner. Statues appear at the end of a particularly thick shelving unit. We walk in silence down the row of statues for several long minutes until the sounds of the other Terras’ quiet working fades from even my own ears and nothing but echoing quiet lingers all around.

We come to a stop in front of what I think is the final statue only to find that the wall curves and there are several more just around the bend. I look up and up some more at the woman peering down from the inset into the wall. Down the side, there are several other similar niches, each of them holding a different statue. The one I’m standing in front of depicts a woman in a long flowing dress, her hands cupped in front of her, one facing down and one facing up as a spider dangles from a string on the top one onto her waiting palm.

I peer at her curiously. She’s beautiful, with long hair that flows down over her shoulders and curls around the ends of her breasts. Her figure is voluptuous with wide hips and a small waist. But that’s not why I find her interesting. I find her interesting because of the expression she has. Her lips are parted, slightly curved up at the corners, and her eyes are softly lidded as she gazes down at the creature in her palms.

“Tell me, Kiera,” Caedmon says, his voice dispelling the quiet that had flowed around us so suddenly that it makes my heart leap within my chest for a beat or two before slowly steadying out once more. “How much do you know about the Gods and how we came to this world?”

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