Page 193 of The Gods Veiling
“I don’t believe she learned her lesson, Yemi.”
I did. Make more of a mess next time.
“Fine, we don’t have to snoop. Besides, everything here looks like it’ll cost me my life if I break it.”
“It’s so stuffy and glamorous. I hate coming here.”
I stop walking just as fast as we started and stare at Kyzen. “Then why are we here? Is that why you try to find stuff to do elsewhere?”
“I figured regardless, it was a good idea to show you around, and yeah, pretty much. My office isn’t like Amick’s where it’s been modified to fit my likes and needs. It’s just a fancy office with a desk, books with the laws, and cabinets that hold my records of the conflicts I’ve had to mediate. It’s nothing worth showing off.”
My frown deepens at his words. He said it all nonchalantly like he does everything else, but it makes my stomach hurt. Out of everyone, Kyzen puts his opinions and feelings aside so he can accomplish his role accurately. Him being biased wouldn’t go over well in certain situations, but I think he’s allowed that mentality to bleed out everywhere.
“Have you added any personal touches to it?”
“No, I don’t see any reason to. I don’t care to spend my time here, so there’s no reason to change the over-the-top design. The next person who uses it will probably like it more than me.”
I want to argue how if the Chancellors and gods expect this shit from him, then his space should be his own, but I keep it to myself.
His use of over-the-top design is spot-on, though. About the entire Sanctum. There’s white and gold marble everywhere we go. The entirety of the place is the same from room to room.
Marble, god statues, portraits of gods, and illusion walls that continue to confuse me.
Each of the Chancellors has their own offices here and their names are engraved on large gold plates that hang from their doors. I sneer and contemplate stealing the High Chancellor’s, but think better of it at Yemi’s pale face when I say that.
I keep it in the back of my mind to mention in Riven’s vicinity.
The things that pique my interest the most, though, are the eleven rooms we don’t have access to. Two of them are the rooms I entered on the Veiling Day. Kyzen and Yemi confirmed that it’s the only day they’re opened to anyone other than Chancellors.
Seven rooms, supposedly, were spaces held by each Beginning God once upon a time. They can only be entered by one of them.
According to Kyzen, there’s no record of whose room is whose or what’s inside of them. He said it drives Amick insane, just like the restricted room in the Athenaeum, but I don’t think it’s only Amick who wants to know.
He stared at the doors with just as much interest as I did.
The power pulsed against my skin as I stood there and observed each door. It didn’t feel welcoming or like a warning, just powerful. I had half a mind to wiggle the handles just to test the theory, but then I got afraid it might strike me dead or something. Me messing with a Beginning God purposely isn’t something I plan to do.
If or when Derivius ever gets on my good side again, I’ll tell him he can make up for his treachery by letting me see in his room.
The other two rooms…well, Kyzen has no clue what they are. No one does. Only the assumption that one of the rooms is the hiding spot for the original Gods Binding. There’re protections in place around them that were put there by the Beginning Gods and not even the Chancellors are aware why or what they’re for.
I’m going to obsess over them.
“Well, this is it,” Kyzen announces as he pushes a door wide very anticlimactically.
I suppress a smirk as I walk through the threshold.
Yep, it’s glitzy and so not him.
The light that shines in from the windows, that I do actually like, makes the room almost unbearably bright. I’m not sure where the white walls end and the white floors begin. The only other color in the room is the dark wooden desk, shelves, and what looks like the cabinet he mentioned.
With a huge smile on my face, I spin toward Kyzen, who’s leaning against the doorframe. His hands are shoved into his pockets and the smirk on his lips is already calling me out on my taurnshit.
“It’s very nice and clean.”
He snorts and shakes his head. “Well, thank you. I told you there wasn’t much to see.”
“There’s plenty to see. It’s a huge room.” I make my way over to the cabinet and attempt to open it but frown when the door won’t budge.
