Page 154 of The Gods Veiling
I whip around and find Riven leaning against the wall with his foot propped up. He’s smiling deviously and my heart drops to my stomach.
“How long have you been standing there?”
“I was walking up, and you stormed right on by me like you didn’t even see me. I waited right here in case something interesting was about to happen. I’m a little disappointed, actually.”
I run my hand down my face and blow out a breath. “So sorry to disappoint you, Riven.”
“Oh, that’s quite all right. Not all of us can be perfect. It’s an art really.” Heuncrosses his arms and pushes off the wall. Every calculated stride toward me has my heart hammering. The way he traces over every inch of me makes my chest tighten and I refrain from literally screaming. “You seem to need a distraction. Want to ignore our roles and go fuck off in Godsden?”
An infuriating and hypnotizing sense of victory shines in his eyes and across his dazzling smirk. It’s like he knows I’m nervous to be alone with him, therefore he believes I’ll immediately say no to him.
“Thayla, there you are.”
I startle out of my staring and turn toward Kyzen and Yemi, who speed walk over.
“Were you looking for me?”
“Well, we just ran into a vicious Creed and you weren’t with him…so yeah, we came looking.” Kyzen arches his brows in question.
I clear my throat and give him a small grin. “Had a little disagreement. No punches were thrown, so it wasn’t too serious.”
“That’s always a good thing.” He laughs and guilt creeps through me. “Well, since your tour was over before it started, we can head to the Gods Sanctum or Athenaeum. Whichever you’d prefer.”
“Actually…” I glance at Riven, then back at Kyzen. “Riven’s offered to take me around today. I’m going to go with him.”
“Really?” all of them ask.
“Yeah, really. Just the two of us.”
Yemi’s eyes widen comically, while Kyzen seems nervous.
“Riven—”
“Nope, no warnings, brother. The little bur—Thayla will be safe with me. We’ll see you lot later.”
He bows dramatically, holding his hand out for me to lead the way. With one more tight smile aimed at Yemi and Kyzen, I do just that.
I want a distraction.
Thayla
21
“Gods, I keep forgetting you can’t starshoot,” Riven groans for the fourth time as we walk down a long path that will supposedly leave the Godsdawn and take us into the heart of Godsden.
“Thank you for the millionth reminder.”
“We should’ve stopped at the temples so I could pray for patience.”
When we passed that little path that broke off from this one, he asked then if I needed to go thank any gods for giving me another glorious day in his company. I responded that they’re punishing me for something.
He winked at me, then starshot away. I stood there dumbfounded, and it took him two minutes to return. He put his hands on his hips and proceeded to bitch about how far we’d have to walk when he realized I couldn’t do that yet.
I cut my eyes over to him. “You do remember you’re the one who invited me on this little adventure, right?”
“Yes, I recall.”
“What were you even supposed to be doing today?”
