Page 87 of The Gods Veiling
“Riven, you spoke to her earlier. You called her a burden, for fuck’s sake. More than once,” Kyzen adds as he moves to start picking Amick’s stuff up.
“Don’t. Out.”
The single low command from Amick has us all moving out of his space. We know when he’s had enough and even Riven knows better than to test that.
Usually.
“You’re sure there wasn’t anything else, Creed? He gave you no indication why it felt like we all got stabbed in the heart when our marks appeared before she did?”
Kyzen’s calculating questions make me flinch internally. He’s too fucking observant.
“No. I’m assuming it’s because it was just his will, not that of all the Beginning Gods. He forced it.”
He holds my gaze as he places his palm on his door. “I’ve considered that. It makes the most sense, but something’s missing.”
I grunt and head into my own room. No more than two steps in and that little tether now cushioned in comfortably starts tugging in my chest. I doubt they’re experiencing it as strongly as I am, but it won’t be long before they start questioning it even more.
No part of me feels guilty for lying to them. Sometimes it’s necessary.
Our lines are already divided. It’s clear that Kyzen and Amick are okay, possibly even happy about having a Binder. They just want the answers to why. Riven and I aren’t okay with this. For different reasons.
If they knew it’s more than a tie and that we now hold her soul, it’d push Amick and Kyzen closer to her, and it’d set Riven the fuck off. Until I know the extent of what it means to harbor a soul rather than set it free or lock it up, I’m keeping this to myself.
Then I’ll decide how I feel about this situation.
The many souls I’ve had to deliver down to Hellveilious beg to be set free. The echoes haunt me every night. Their pleas and essence aren’t things my brothers can hear or see like me.
They’ve seen what a god who’s missing part of their soul looks like, though. What they act like. Death is far greater a gift than being stuck in your corporeal body with no reason to live. Eventually, they always give up the fight. They always die.
I’ve never seen a situation like hers, so I don’t have the first fucking clue who she’s going to turn into.
If she tells them first, I’ll play dumb or face their fury for however long it lasts. If she doesn’t, the two of us will keep this unspoken secret between us.
In the meantime, I’ll keep her—and her sweet little slice of essence invading my body—the fuck away from me and my being until I can figure out how to make her whole again.
That’s going to be the challenge. My power’s begging to be set free so it can devour the delicacy living beside it for the time being.
Thayla
12
My early morning plan of getting ready and being as friendly as I can be isn’t going the way I wanted it to.
After a fretful night of sleep, no damn light in my room aside from what the fireplace and moon provided me, I literally stumbled around in the dark.
The bathroom was pitch black, so other than relieving myself, I was in and out of there. So now, dressed in my Oddian best—soft, clingy pants and a mid-thigh T-shirt—I’m standing outside of Yemi’s door, annoyed and ready to just get back in bed until the sun comes up.
Okay, this is ridiculous. You’ve raised your hand like ten times now.
Just knock already…
I stumble back when the door opens before I can raise my fist again. Yemi stands there with a mug in her hand and a smug smirk on her lips. “Figured I’d put you out of your misery.”
“How did you know I was out here?”
I follow her pointed finger to the small, darkened window I thought for sure was obscured by curtains. “I’ve been watching you for like five minutes now.”
“Well, that’s not creepy at all.”
