Page 125 of The Gods Veiling
17
The third repetition of three knocks at my door finally draws a sigh from my lips and I push from my desk to go answer it. I’ll never be able to focus with the constant interruptions.
I’m fully aware of who’s on the other side. Each of my brothers has a distinct knocking style and the one currently banging away is none of them.
With a chipper smile, Thayla gives me a small wave as she stands, pretending to be innocent at my door. “Hey, Amick, do you have a minute?”
“No.”
Her face falls. “Then why did you answer the door?”
“You wouldn’t stop knocking.”
Must I explain everything?
She crosses her arms over her chest, which I realize is a cue for annoyance. I’m not sure why she’d be the one annoyed, though. I’m the one being interrupted.
“I only knocked three times.”
“You knocked nine times.”
She presses her lips together and closes her eyes. While she thinks about the insane number of times she knocked, I take this wasted minute to examine her up close.
The minor injuries she acquired during training today are almost healed. Although the Healer that helped her is quite skilled, her body’s accelerated response to it is another sign that her power’s settling in as it should.
Over dinner, Creed interrogated her ineffectively about how she learned the skills she did and what the issues with her and half of Gladian’s Valtrue are. I appreciated her short, straightforward responses. He didn’t. When she started to return the questioning to him, he stomped off, and she grunted something about hypocritical gods.
The entire meal, Kyzen and Riven continued making comments to her about how she was glowing. I studied her closely to see if I saw any sign of power within the domain of the God of Light. All evidence so far would prove that to be a highly unlikely domain. Yet it’d be a chaotic twist of events, so I can’t rule it out.
I never caught a glimpse of the glow. Her skin fluctuates between her tanned, sun-kissed shade to a richer, darker tint when she’s experiencing emotional responses. Such as right now.
Blood’s beginning to rush to her cheeks now that she’s realized I’m observing her.
“Well, it would seem like you do have a minute since you’re just standing here staring at me.”
“I’m standing here, waiting for you to say whatever it was you needed to so I can get back to what I was doing.”
“Has anyone ever told you you’re kind of an ass?”
“Other than Riven, no.”
“Well, you are.”
“If that’s all, I have more important things to attend to,” I say as I go to shut my door, but she has the audacity to push back on it.
“No, no, wait, please. I really do have a request.”
I arch a brow.
“Can you explain to me what’s going on with my powers and when I can expect something to happen? Or at least when I can expect to be able to control the lights in my room?”
Well, that’d be a topic that falls under my domain and responsibility to explain.
“Come in. Shut the door behind you.” I reach my desk to close the text I was reading at the same moment the click of the door resounds around the room. “Don’t touch that.”
“How did—you weren’t even looking at me.”
“You’re inquisitive like I am but reckless like Riven is.”
