Page 84 of The Gods Veiling
“Thatyoudon’t want. Plus, how do you even know you want nothing to do with her? You haven’t even spoken to her.”
My eyes narrow on him. “Stop avoiding my questions, Derivius. I don’t need to speak to her. I feel her.”
“You’re sure it’s her you feel?”
My power flares to life and my eyes darken at the accusation. He throws his head back, laughing, and I rein it in. I won’t allow him to goad me. He’s doing well enough at it already.
Chaos loves to tempt death.
I release a deep breath that’s tainted in hatred. Not exactly at him, but what the other gods have made of him. What they’ve made of us all.
“You know she can’t be attached to me, Derivius. This little slice of soul trying to cling to mine for dear life will never survive me if it attaches. That isn’t a threat. You know that. I can’t fathom why you’d make such a careless decision with an innocent soul.”
The smallest flinch passes through his eyes. He did think about that but obviously changed his mind. It makes no sense to me.
“You really don’t believe you can take care of her soul?”
His question hangs in the air with a heavy silence. You can’t hear the footsteps he takes toward me or the breaths falling from my chest. Just the lingering uncertainty in the answer I don’t have.
The closer he gets to me, the more he looks like the man we used to see more than enough as children. Where Riven got a crazy glint in his burgundy eye from his chaos domain—I believe an unfortunate gene that passed down from our father—Derivius’ blue is fun and mischievous.
His chaos can be deadly, always unpredictable, but he’s always had a purpose behind it.
“Tell me what’s going on.”
“I can’t do that, Creed.”
The pain that flashes across his face guts me. He’s never been one to lie. If he can be honest with us, he is. Always has been. Whatever’s going on, it bothers him that he can’t say.
“Then tell me the truth of her. Why did you do this to her, to us? Does she understand what’s going on? Did you explain to her what splitting a god’s soul will do? Does she understand the danger not only her bodily vessel but part of her being is in?”
“No, I didn’t. I figured the god who knows the most about souls would take this time to learn something new himself and teach her. All she knows and understands is her soul has been split. The rest you all need to figure out together. As a Valtrue. I’ve been turning a blind eye purposefully and protecting the schemes you and your brothers concoct. I’ll continue to do so, but you all must find your way through this.”
His hands land on my shoulders and I stare into his one black eye. Its coloring isn’t natural. I remember when they both were blue.
I caused that one to turn black.
He caused the scar across my left eye.
“You’ve signed over her death, Derivius. One way or another. We both know that.”
The calculating smile that crosses his face has multiple meanings. It’s always a drawl between a welcoming sight and a warning. You never know until the aftermath which it truly meant.
“No, my boy. I’ve signed over the deaths to those who deserve it. We all just have to get to that battle first.” He turns from me but stops a few paces away and peers over his shoulder. “Inform your brothers and keep in mind, you lose her, you lose more than the power you’ve been given.”
With that, he leaves in a flash of bright white light and his low laugh rings all around me.
The trickle of sweat down my neck and under my shirt fuels the confusion pouring through me. As the turmoil builds, so does the tugging in my chest. The more stress I’m under, the more it bleeds into her soul.
I close my eyes to get it under control, but the comfort of darkness does nothing but push me further.
She’ll have to deal for the night.
I let the feeling consume me as I destroy anything I can get my hands on. Stones erupt everywhere around me from the pieces I hurl against the walls. Notthat there were any recognizable chunks of him left, but I want there to be nothing but dust.
A burning sensation sears across my cheek as fragments fly around. The warmth of my blood flowing down my face and across my lips has a bellow pouring from my mouth that shakes the gravel at my feet.
I stomp through the open doorway, not bothering to slide the stone back in place. Let the fucking animals run wild in there for all I care.
