Page 53 of The Gods Veiling
Amick would’ve died to know that my expert backup plan was, if someone, namely one of the Chancellors, tried to walk down the restricted hall, I was going to push over an entire row of shelves.
The whole scene played out in my mind and made me giddy.
One would crash into another, then another, until the whole Athenaeum was sitting in a pile of chaos. As the Chancellor ran around like a madman, horrified at the mess, I’d swoop in like the savior I am and fix it all for him.
He would’ve kissed my hand and thanked me profusely for saving the Veiling Day. My reward would’ve been that I didn’t have to attend the ceremony, and I could’ve done whatever the fuck I wanted.
That would’ve been spectacular.
The reality is none of that happened. Whatever Amick needed, he either found or didn’t without a hitch. I stood around, twiddling my thumbs, and rearranged books for either him or one of the other scroll lovers to find and freak out about.
Not even one of them thanked me for my role.
Sigh.
I hope I’m around to see him freak out about all the things I moved. I wonder how long it’ll take him to find the piece I decided to keep as a souvenir for my hard work. The precious breath leaving my lips turns into a laugh as I think about his pissy red face.
The three of them shoot me a cautionary glance. My returned smile is feral and purposeful. With the touch of chaos already in the air, the half of my power that feeds from that domain is on high alert.
Ready and waiting to participate like a good sport.
The other half, my harmony half as I refer to it, is begging the wilder side to settle down and pay attention.
The two of them rarely see eye to eye.
I’m the only being to have not one, but two domains. Split right down the middle.
That makes me special.
The gods and Chancellors wouldn’t give me a title, so I gave one to myself.
I am the God of Duality.
The gods, the Godsdawn, and the rest of Godsden refer to me as trouble. Which is a little unfair. When my more well-behaved side of power comes out to play, they’re more receptive.
Everyone loves me.
But you can’t have peace without a little chaos.
A heavy hand lands on my shoulder and I smile innocently at Creed. His eyes narrow and his voice strains. “Could you stop bouncing around like that? You’re driving me mad.”
“Aww, you wake up every day mad. That has nothing—minimal—to do with me.”
“You’re making everyone nervous, Riven. Look around. Even the fully formed Valtrues have stepped away from us and we’re as far from the platform as we can get,” Kyzen butts in before Creed can chew me a new one.
His words are delivered thoughtfully as they always are, with that big, beautiful smile of his, but that doesn’t remove the unfairness of his statement.
“First of all, it doesn’t matter if they’re fully formed Valtrues or not. Everyone keeps their distance from us because the three of you, out of our pretty little quadruplet group, scare them so much. Second of all, why do I have to dull myself down to make everyone else comfortable? It’s not like I’m going to unleash my power and make everyone do something crazy.”
Again.
“We aren’t quadruplets,” Amick states.
“Just—”
Cheers and claps ring out, swallowing up anything else Kyzen might have added. The four of us turn our attention to the platform in front of the Sanctum and watch the High Chancellor emerge from the Gods Veil like he’s the gods’ gift to the Godsdawn.
See, this is when my surprise should’ve gone off.
