Page 22 of The Gods Veiling
Eighteen, nineteen, twenty…turn.
“Hey—”
The man chokes on his shout as I blow the powder directly in his face. Inhalation or ingestion would’ve worked just fine. His absorption through both methods will speed up the same result.
He continues to sputter as he sways, and I grip him under his arms to hold him up. I don’t utter a word as I lower him to the ground and prop his back against the wall.
“How much sleeping powder did you use?” Kyzen asks as he kneels on the man’s other side and unlatches the keys from the rope holding his robe together.
“Twenty minutes’ worth.”
“Twenty minutes? That’ll get you two hours in here today. You know they increase the block on the Veiling Day.”
“I’m well aware.”
I honestly can’t fathom why the Chancellors only leave these protections in place for this godforsaken day. It’d be wiser to have them active all the time.
My head tilts to the side when he smirks then sighs at me. The noise carries down the hallway, breaking the peaceful silence. I lay the Attendant down ratherthan leave him sitting so I won’t have to worry about him tipping over and bashing his head while we’re inside, then stand.
I take a few steps away and keep my eyes peeled around the corner to the long corridor as Kyzen finds which key will unlock the door. The likelihood of anyone getting past Creed first from outside then Riven in the Athenaeum is nearly impossible.
Thatnearlyis enough to keep me vigilant.
If someone’s smart enough to get past Creed, I wouldn’t put it past Riven to simply allow them to get by him just so he could see what would unfold.
The last thing we need is to be caught doing this.
Only a few moments later, Kyzen ushers me in, then shuts the door behind us. “Your time starts now.”
My senses devour the room I crave access to. What I wouldn’t give to study every inch of it. I understand the rules that prohibit me from coming here, but I don’t agree with them.
I knew more at the mere infancy of fifteen than many of the Chancellors combined know now. They’re the ones who don’t deserve this luxury.
I do.
Just like the hall, this room is minimally lit and the rows of tomes, books, artifacts, relics, and scrolls obscure even more of the light. The bookshelves are precisely organized, and I map them in my mind.
Not a thing can be out of place.
Where would I place the tome with my most sacred stories and secrets?
Ridiculous question.
I wouldn’t have my most treasured secrets so easily accessible.
My fingers run across the untitled spines. The textured leathers give me no indication as to what content is inside. I don’t touch any objects, relics, or artifacts. They’d surely possess some important information, but I can’t risk being sucked into their secrets with my limited time.
Kyzen’s power continues to flow through the room and across my skin. If we were standing in reality right now, it’d seem like I was sprinting through the rows of books.
The back of the room is where I head. It’s an instinctual response to want to protect our backs. That’s a normal reaction that passes on to even how we hide and guard our belongings. Objects of more importance, we tend to obscure better from initial sight.
As expected, behind multiple rows of bookshelves, a corner, and a curtained wall, seven massive tomes sit on top of stone podiums. It’s not lost on me that there are seven Beginning Gods, and these particular tomes seem to be displayed specially.
Let’s see if the gods will give me their secrets today.
It’s also instinctual to be drawn to the one in the center. A normal individual would view that placement to hold the most importance, but the men who laid these here aren’t normal.
The Chancellors are the highest of the high in the intellectual divide among the gods. They’ve spent their entire lives studying and are bound to knowledge. They can only speak what’s permitted and have sworn their lives to protect what they can’t.
