Page 52 of The Gods Veiling
“Calm yourself, Gulliver. Let the young girl voice her thoughts. I, for one, am anxiously waiting to see what the Gods Veil makes of her. The gods will do what’s necessary with her.”
The deep tone wraps around me. The Chancellor who gave the names of the Abernie Chosen observes me closely and I do the same in return. There’s a twinkle in his eye like he is enjoying seeing me and his fellow god get so worked up.
“You’re right, Ellian. They’ve no doubt witnessed the disobedience and ignorance from her. And it’d seem they’re eagerly ready to address it with her.”
I follow the Chancellor’s line of sight down to the parchment gripped in his hand.
The answer to how they know when to call our names is scripted right there for me to see. Mine is elegantly written and glowing below the dull ink of those called before me.
“I’ll be sure to pray for you, Thayla Godrun.” Chancellor Gulliver laughs darkly as he rolls the parchment up and holds his hand out toward the Gods Veil for me.
I scan the other Chancellors, who are all wearing condescending smirks. I won’t be receiving any guidance or helpful motivation from any of them, so I face the object of my fear.
The swirling white does, in fact, draw me in. Its allure is powerful and promising. It’ll be welcoming and so comforting the moment I’m inside.
My feet move of their own accord and my thoughts are no longer my own. As soon as my body is fully engrossed inside, warmth spreads through me like I’m lying under the rays of the sun.
At first, it’s relaxing and just right as it warms the chill that cold, dark room left on my skin.
Then it becomes painful.
My eyes fly open wide as I gasp in panic and blinding white light steals the sound and my sight.
Riven
7
“This is so boring. What should we do to liven this place up a bit?” My question is a delicate whisper in the ear of this random god standing in front of me.
He tries to swat me away like a pesky little critter, then sneers over his shoulder. I greet him with a bright smile and wiggle my finger.
His face pales to a concerning shade of white, then he stumbles over his feet as he hauls ass away from me.
I huff and place my hand to my heart as I face my brothers. “Goodness, I think he saw an Oblirian.”
Kyzen tosses his head back, laughing my name. “Why did you bother him? He wasn’t doing anything to you.”
“Not doing anything? Look at all this space. Why in the realm did he come and stand right in front of me? He would’ve blocked my view.”
Amick scans the small clearing around us. “There’s all this space because you’re scaring everyone. As usual.”
“I haven’t done the first thing to scare anyone.”
No sooner do the words leave my mouth than a girl somewhere behind us screeches at the top of her lungs. I don’t have to turn around like my brothers to know that she’s now covered from head to toe in rainbow dust.
She just ruined my celebration explosion.
It was supposed to go off when the High Chancellor stepped on the platform.
Kyzen snorts while Creed and Amick turn their glares on me.
“Honestly, that was incredibly disappointing. Not my work at all.”
I brush the lint—maybe that’s some residual powder—off my shoulder and continue to smile forward. I promised them I’d behave today.
I’ll meet them somewhere in the middle. That harmless little prank is absolutely nothing.
I behaved enough this morning if I’m being honest.
