Page 183 of The Gods Veiling
My nose scrunches. That does make the most sense, judging their words and actions, but him? She can do so much better than that little mouthy fucker.
“Those two are irrelevant to the conversation we’re about to have.”
“I wish that were true, Amick.” She blows out a breath as she stares down at her coffee. Her eyes are glossed when she picks her head back up. “They entered me into the Veiling in Oddian without my knowledge or permission. I never wanted to come here. I didn’t want to get my powers, or be with the gods, or do any of this. I didn’t choose this for myself.”
My mouth gapes open, as do my brothers’ as we stare at her in horror. That shouldn’t even be possible. Her blood had to be offered.
“What?” Riven growls.
She takes a deep breath. There’s a war raging within her and whatever her next words are going to be makes the hair on my arms stand up. This is about to piss us all off.
And I was right.
As she explains the whole scheme the two of them devised to obtain her blood, my body grows hotter. The fury I usually keep firmly locked away pounds inside my chest.
It’s sickening they had the motives to fuck with her life like this and then turn around and act as though they’ve done nothing wrong.
“I mean no offense to you, Thayla, but your story doesn’t add up. You’re making it sound like Mellcom, and his accomplice knew you’d be chosen, and that’s impossible,” Amick speaks his concerns quietly but matter-of-fact.
“I wish that were true too, but unfortunately, that’s the truth. He did know I’d be chosen. He also knew he would be, and he prayed very hard for Jeremiah to be as well. There’s a god who apparently has his eyes on me. And it isn’t Derivius. Well, not completely him. He most certainly does, but he’s not to blame for this instance. I know you all know about his involvement because I…” She pauses once again. I wouldn’t call the look in her eye guilt, but something in that domain.
“I eavesdropped outside of Amick’s door my first night here. I didn’t just hear the shouting. I heard everything you all said.”
My heart tries to fall out through my stomach as that night replays through my mind.
Shit.
We argued about what to do about her. I said we had to babysit her. We didn’t only have to protect ourselves but her as well. That we were stuck with her. I talked about removing her tie…
The unknown reality was, she didn’t even want to be here, and she heard all that shit.
Fuck. She probably thinks the way I treat her is purely an obligation.
“Thayla, you know a lot has changed in the last month, right?”
Her face is unreadable. “Has it?”
“Yes,” I state as firmly as I can.
She isn’t an obligation. I may have felt that way to begin with, but that’s because I couldn’t wrap my head around why the hell Derivius, any of the gods, would give us a Binder. As soon as she’s done telling us what she’s comfortable with, she’ll know why that was such a big deal to us.
“There’s a lot to my history in Oddian that I’m not exactly ready to share. The gist of it is, though, a year ago on the last Veiling, I spoke out against the gods, loudly, in the center of the arena in front of my entire training group.”
“That’s what the High Chancellor’s note on you meant. That was the altercation that resulted in your punishment,” Amick concludes.
“Yes. I said a lot of things that morning, but what stuck out was me shouting to the sky ‘Fuck the gods’ and I meant it. I still mean it wholeheartedly. My truth is, I don’t pray or worship. Not even to Derivius. I really and truly can’t stand thegods. Some of them that I’ve met haven’t been as bad as I thought they all were, but my opinion hasn’t changed much. Especially the more I learn the history and hierarchical structure taurnshit.”
The relief in myself and my brothers is visible. We’ve been tiptoeing around the topic of our opinions on the gods because we didn’t know if she was close to one outside of Derivius. The gods, especially the older ones, are ruining the Valorian Veil.
“Thank fuck,” Riven exclaims dramatically as he flops back on the couch with his hand to his heart. “You’re such a confusing thing. I’ve dropped multiple hints and each time you don’t give me a straight answer. You just told me yesterday you’d pray for me.”
“Yeah, well, we are in the Godsdawn. I figured not many of these self-absorbed assholes would catch my sarcasm. I’ve never really prayed for you. And don’t fret, Riven, I’ll spend the rest of our lives not praying for you.”
“That’s such a weird way to ask me to be your husband, but I accept.”
She scoffs and shakes her head, while Amick scowls over at him. I just chuckle because this is far less worrisome than anything I thought she was going to say.
Creed leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees. His thumbs rub his mug mindlessly in his nervous tick and his eyes are drawn down. “Go back to the god who’s interested in you. If it isn’t Derivius, then who? What are you talking about?”
