Page 137 of The Gods Veiling
I stand in utter disbelief as Verlet struts around me. Riven drops the glare he was shooting me and opens his arms wide. I nearly fall over when he wraps Verlet in a hug.
What in the realm is going on right now?
“Much. Much is going on,”Seismet says before peering below him and huffing viciously.
“Care to explain any of it? That’s the second time I’ve been told that pretty cryptically.”
I slowly make my way closer to him. I do spare the god beneath him a glance. He’s shaking in his skin. I have a small tinge of sympathy for him, but it gets washed away when a sad little sound travels through the air.
A young, much smaller Veilatara is pacing frantically between two others that I can tell are trying their hardest to calm it down. It’s just an assumption, one I’d be willing to bet on, that’s the young one who was struck.
“All I can say is, the realm is out of order, and it needs to find its place once again.”
“And why do I have this feeling my Valtrue and I will be right in the middle of it finding its place? It’s been hinted enough I get the picture, but no one will flat out say it.”
“I’ll say it. You’re in the middle of it. There’ll come a time when you all must pick the side you want to stand with.”
A deep sigh escapes me and I’m starting to feel like I constantly have to repeat myself.“I don’t want to stand or have a place.”
“It’s usually those who don’t that make the greatest of changes. Your parents were the same.”
My entire body flinches and I blink repeatedly.“What did you say?”
“Your parents didn’t want to choose a side or do what they had to either. Once you make a choice, though, there’s no turning back.”
“Did…did you know them? Have they been to Godsden? Impossible, they weren’t gods. What does—”
“Calm yourself, Thayla. I don’t know your parents personally. I only know what the Valories have shared with me.”
Heat rises through my blood as irritation at these non-answer answers takes hold. I’m so tired of feeling like a pawn and just going with the flow to figure shit out. Not even just this situation I find myself in.
I’ve literally been doing it my whole life.
“It’d be great if they’d share some shit with me. You know, it’s my life that’s been flipped upside down, again, and I don’t have a clue what’s going on. I’m pretty sure the guys are also, mostly, in the dark.”
“Why would they trust to tell any of you anything when you don’t trust each other? What good would it be to share secrets of the realm with five individuals who are supposed to be close but harbor secrets of their own and don’t share what they know with one another?”
I cross my arms over my chest and bite my bottom lip.“We’ve known each other for all of five seconds. Can we have a little time to get to know one another before we start telling each other our deepest, darkest secrets?”
“Sure. I forget sometimes that you gods know the best way to handle these sorts of things compared to us creatures.”
“That sounded a lot like sarcasm, Seismet.”
“That’s because it was.”
Another sigh escapes me, but its noise is washed away by a painful grunt.“Looks like you know exactly how to handle this situation.”
Ike’s panicked eyes bounce between Seismet and me. I imagine I look pretty crazy to him as I stand here in silence above him. He’s probably really freaking out right now.
A little fear won’t hurt him.
He should’ve thought about that before striking a poor young creature.
“I’m handling it the way Veilatara handle those who disrespect us so monumentally.”
“Do you think this is the best way to handle it?”
“Do you not approve of my choices?”
