Page 126 of The Gods Veiling
“Ugh, don’t compare me to him. I’d never drop a statue head in someone’s food.”
“But you’d steal a statue head.”
Her silence is answer enough even though I already knew that.
“Do you have specific questions?”
“Do you really believe the Valories made the decision to take all our power, or it was the Beginning Gods?”
My eyes blink repeatedly as I stand straight. I contemplate what I want to say as I rotate to face her. “Why would you ask that?”
“I’ve always believed that the Beginning Gods had more to do with it than they led the realm to believe. Now, being here and seeing that they can seriously just release however much or little of it back to us as they please, it kind of solidifies that assumption in my mind.”
Interesting.
I may have underestimated my Binder.
“I believe the Beginning Gods had more to do with it.”
She crosses my room to one of the seats in front of my desk and kicks her feet out of the slippers she has on. Instead of sitting normally, she crosses her legs underneath her as she climbs in the chair.
I can’t help but watch her every move. “What are you doing?”
“Taking a seat so I can listen to you.”
“Why are you sitting like that?”
She leans back and shifts herself around before falling still once more. “I’m comfortable like this.”
“Do you absorb information better when you’re comfortable?”
A thoughtful smirk crosses her face. Kyzen does that to me when I’ve said something he finds funny, but I didn’t say anything akin to humorous just now.
“Yes. I do learn better when I’m relaxed and comfortable.”
I make a mental note to get a chair for my office tomorrow in the Athenaeum. Until her arrival, I never allowed anyone in there aside from my brothers and unfortunately the Chancellors.
If she needs comfort to learn more efficiently, I’ll make sure to accommodate that while she spends her required time with me.
“We’ve already told you it would take some time for your powers to settle as your body grows accustomed.”
“I know that, but is there a specific or average time frame I should be expecting? Signs I should be looking for? Is there already enough in my body that I could access to control the lights in my damn room so it’s not so dark when the sun goes down? If so, how do I do that? And Kyzen mentioned you may have a torch lamp I could use until I can do that.”
Her powers aren’t at that point yet. She knows that, but she appears to be looking for another answer to curb her denial for some reason.
I cross the room to one of my shelves, grab one of the many torch lamps Kyzen knows I have, then walk back to my desk. I set it down and make sure she’s watching me. Which she is.
“Turn this to the right twice.” I show her, turning the mechanism that rubs the flint and steel together, and a flame flickers to life. “This one, twice to the left will douse it.” The second knob controls a covering device that smothers the fire.
“This is an ancient and outdated method of a light source from the nonmagical realm. It’s fickle and volatile. Don’t burn our home down. Make sure you don’t leave it on while you sleep.”
“Understood.”
“Show me you understand.”
Her brow arches as if she’s asking a silent question, but when she doesn’t vocalize anything, I nod for her to do as I instructed. She leans forward in the chair and lightly runs her fingers down the glass casing and around the controls. She seems fascinated, so I don’t rush her.
It’s a good thing she’s cautious and willing to examine something thoroughly before implementing what she’s learned.
