Page 74 of The Gods Veiling
The kitchen seamlessly merges into the living room and my jaw drops as I take in the stunning design.
Dark gray walls add depth and a sense of peace to the space. Their surfaces hold no portraits of gods or statues, but there are gilded frames that hold paintings, and pictures of different sceneries.
The stained-glass windows display the light in a dance of colors and patterns across the dark hardwood floor. A few plants around the room add just enough pop of greenery that goes perfectly with the rug in the center of the room.
Mindlessly, my feet carry me across the space to the back of one of the couches. My nails create little patterns on the leather as my attention is sucked into the fireplace. The black stone is decorated with intricate carvings of wings and there are ancient-looking bookshelves on each side.
Those must be the bookshelves Kyzen thinks Amick’s losing his mind over.
I can hardly believe four men live here.
I snatch my hand from the couch and jump when a shout reaches my ears. My heart thunders in my chest as I scan the room, only to find it still empty. The voices lower, but whispers of their words carry out here.
All four doors are still shut, but I assume they’ve congregated to one.
A little eavesdropping won’t hurt.
Thayla
10
On silent feet, I pad my way over to the first door and place my ear to the wood.
Nothing.
I give it a moment just to make sure before moving to the next and repeating the process. I hear them better now, but it’s still muffled nonsense.
As I reach the third, my fingers flinch when they lie flat. A chill runs through me as my cheek presses to the door and their voices sound like they’re right on the other side.
My heart thunders in my throat and I slow my breathing to calm it down. I make sure to exhale through my nose and my body falls motionless.
“Don’t raise your voice again. I told her to get familiar with her room, then come out when she pleased. We’re going to get this figured out.”
Kyzen.
“What’s there to figure out? I’m pretty fucking sure your wrist looks just like mine does. Like all of ours do.”
Riven.
His angry but smooth voice has the arm my mark is now on twitching.
“Exactly. That’s what we need to figure out. What do these marks do exactly? It has to be more than just a tie to us. It feels different from anything that’s been explained. Will it take away the power we gained or kill her if we figure out how to remove them? What are our next steps in all of this? How much do we tell her?”
Kyzen’s response has my skin growing hot. I’m not completely sure if the mark and my soul are connected, but I definitely felt like I was dying there for a second when I tried to snatch it back. So if they try to remove the marks and they are connected, I’m done for.
He who I’ll never name again, I hate you.
“You should’ve made her stay the night in the healing villa. What do you think about this?”
“I think she’s a temporary anomaly. Did she say anything about her domain or power?”
That was Amick responding to Riven’s mean ass. And did he seriously just call me an anomaly?
Kyzen’s nicknames aren’t so bad now.
“No. I gave her the parchment to read. She did, didn’t say anything other than she’s still in the dark, and didn’t want to keep it. So she’s either unhappy about what it said, not the gloating type of god, or…” Kyzen trails off.
Really? That was some sort of weird test?
