Page 48 of The Gods Veiling
Silence falls over the room as the Chancellors bow to him. With confident, excited steps, he disappears into the Gods Veil without a backward glance at any of us.
Quiet murmuring filters through the air as the tension in the whole room deflates when nothing crazy happens. I feel like I suck it all in as my muscles lock up tight.
“Are you okay now?” a quiet voice asks from beside me.
“Oh.” I peer down at Rose’s hand still holding me. She quickly releases me and places her palm on her chest. “Thank you for whatever that was you did.”
“Oh, um, you don’t have to thank me. I saw you were…” she trails off and drops her eyes from mine.
“I was freaking the fuck out. That whole Pairing explanation had me ready to run for that waterfall we saw coming in.”
She laughs lightly before covering her mouth with her hand. Lambrit, the little sweetheart, immediately turns around at the sound and smiles at her. “That was very impressive, Rose.”
Hell, even my face blushes with how he just said her name like a prayer. Poor Rose literally turns the color of a rose. I’ve never heard him speak like that before.
With a pinched but very curious grin, I decide to give them a little privacy when Lambrit starts asking her questions about her abilities. This feels like a nice bonding moment between them, and I don’t want to stand here like a creep.
I go to properly introduce myself to Yemi but stop short when I see that she’s just staring off. The dazed, withdrawn look on her face hurts my heart.
“Yemi.”
My voice startles her, and she shakes her head, then looks at me. “Ma’am?”
“Oh, ew, no. Please don’t call me ma’am like…ever again. I’m just Thayla.” I stretch my hand out toward her, and she stares at it like she’s afraid it’s going to turn into an animal and bite her.
Finally, and ever so slowly, she grips it. “We’re trained to address the gods by ma’am or sir.”
Of fucking course.
“You’re a god as well. What did your training say if you’re chosen as an Attendant? What then?”
“Then we follow the rules set forth by our Attending God and of the Godsdawn.”
Her answers are robotic, memorized, and emotionless.
What have they done to her?
“So technically, you have to do as I tell you?”
A small, I mean, minuscule, touch of anger crosses her face before she shoves it down. I smile.
“Yes.”
“Good. Then no more ma’ams or sirs. That goes for all the gods around here. If they don’t address you as such, you don’t do that either. Well, within reason. Don’t get yourself killed like I almost did today.”
Her head slants to the side just a fraction as she observes me. The longer I stare, the more I see the resemblance that’s bugging me so bad.
“You’re Havar’s cousin, aren’t you?”
Emotion finally flares to life across her face. “You know him?”
“Know him, no. He was the one who escorted us today. I was mouthy on the trip, and he said I reminded him of you. The two of you have the same eyes. Well, and hair, skin tone, and noses.”
She snorts just a smidge before smothering it down and her serious, blank face returns. “We’ve heard that our whole lives. Our moms are twins. We’ve practically been raised as siblings instead of cousins.”
A pang passes through me, one she probably understands, judging by the crack in her tone when she said mom. Before I can stop myself, my eyes cast to Mellcom, then away rapidly. I wasn’t fast enough that she didn’t catch it, though.
She doesn’t verbally ask, but the raise of her brow is a question on its own. I ignore it.
