Page 192 of The Gods Veiling
I really want to ask if he’s trying to say she’s now on the side of the Abandon or what, but I don’t as I hear footsteps coming our way.
My eyes widen at the person who walks around the corner. “Mrs. Akova?”
“Oh, well, hello, Thayla girl, and please, just Annalise. What a nice surprise seeing you. And with Kyzen. Well, that’s not really a surprise. How are you, dear?”
She holds her arms out and to my shock, Kyzen lets my hand go. His breathtaking smile lights up his face as he returns her hug.
“Couldn’t be better. What’s brought you all the way out here this morning?”
“Oh, you know, that lovely husband of mine left a scroll on the kitchen counter, so I rushed it here before his meeting.”
“Aww, your husband?” I ask with a smile. She didn’t mention her husband the other day. I bet he’s just as sweet as she is.
“Yes, of course, my Ellian.”
Ellian…Ellian…why is that familiar?
“Chancellor Ellian.” Yemi leans in and clarifies.
“Oh,” I say, a little disgruntled, then fix my face. “Oh.”
Luckily, she chuckles at me, then turns to Yemi. “And who might you be, dear?”
“Yemi Andino, ma’am.” Yemi bows lightly, but Mrs. Akova…Annalise tsks at her.
“None of that, sweetheart. The only person who bows to me is my husband.” She winks, causing Kyzen to gag and Yemi and me to laugh. “Speaking of him. Thayla, I swear he isn’t nearly as bad at home as he is here when duty calls. If he gives you too much trouble, you let me know and I’ll take care of him. You must excuse me, though. I need to get to the children before they tear half of Godsden apart. It was lovely seeing you kids.”
She gathers some of her gown in one hand and waves repeatedly to us with the other. I can’t help the smile and small laughs that fall from me as she goes.
“She’s so sweet and funny. I never would’ve guessed she was married to Chancellor Ellian, and I didn’t realize she knew all of you. Well, I guess how she does makes sense now.”
Kyzen turns to me and cocks his head to the side. “What did Riven tell you about her when you met her?”
“Nothing really, other than she’s the caretaker to the kids who were with her.”
He hums and I arch my brow at him. “She was our caretaker as well. We lived with the Akovas for our first few years here. Well, lived is a stretch. We were supposed to live with them, but we kept running away. Ellian was the one who talked the other Chancellors into allowing us to live in our house here rather than wait and they’d still check on us.”
Color me shocked.
There’re so many small details, such as this, that I haven’t considered since he explained the little he did of their past. Now the questions in my mind run wild.
Have they always lived in the same house we now live in? Have they always lived alone? Did they live with their parents while that fucking god did whatever he did?
Their parents…
How could their parents allow this to happen? Were they forced to hand their children over? Are they still alive? Did they ever try to help?
“You still with me, gorgeous?”
I blink my eyes as Kyzen’s thumb runs across my cheek. “Sorry. That’s just not at all what I expected you to say.”
His face says he knows it’s more than that, but he doesn’t push. “Ready to snoop around?”
“Can we actually snoop or are we just going to look at stuff?”
Yemi huffs. “Don’t you think you got in enough trouble with Amick the other day when he caught you going through his desk?”
A sly smirk crosses my face. I wouldn’t call that getting in trouble. He used that stern, smooth tone on me as he lectured me. I couldn’t even focus on the words actually coming out of his mouth.
