There was something pained in her expression, somethingdevastated, and it had a weight sinking in his stomach. Her throat bobbed as her hands slid from his face, pressing against his chest instead.
“I went to Gale’s today. He has a copy of your mother’s lineage.”
Will’s frown deepened. He knew Aya well enough to know that she would not approach his father unless she was truly desperate. “Why would you need that?”
It seemed a great effort for Aya to even speak her next words. “Because the second forgotten goddess…Evie’s aunt…she was a Seer. The first Seer.”
For a long moment, there wasn’t a single sound in the room—not even their breaths could pierce the silence that had settled between them. Will stilled, his grip on Aya’s hand going slack as his mind slowly slotted the pieces together.
“My mother was a descendant of the second forgotten goddess,” he breathed. His own voice sounded far away, as if he were submerged deep underwater.
“Yes,” Aya murmured.
Numbness spread through Will’s arms, and he gripped Aya’s wrists again if only to keep himself tethered to something real.
“So…” he tried, but his words tangled on his tongue, his gaze unseeing as he stared down at Aya. “That means…”
“It means you have godsblood, too.”
Will tried to speak, but he couldn’t manage a single sound. He suddenly felt dizzy, as if the room were tilting. He released his grip on Aya as he took a step backward, his trembling hand finding the wall behind him as he tried to catch his bearings.
“You told me once that the gods demand balance,” Aya explained carefully. “That this is how Pathos gets his. I think…I think you wereright.”
Will frowned as he racked his memory. He had said that, hadn’t he? When they were in the barn in the Athatis compound, and Aya had unexpectedly learned exactly how vulnerable his shield could be.
“That was a joke,” he argued weakly. He cleared his throat against the roughness in his voice. “You don’t actually think…”
“I do,” Aya insisted. “I think it’s a consequence of the goddess having children with a mortal. A consequence that has been passed down for centuries.”
Will pressed the heels of his palms against his eyes, hard. This was too much. Goddesses and mortals and lineages and Seers and…
“Fucking hells,” he cursed, his hand falling to his side. “I’m related to thatbitch.”
Evie. Heloathedto think it. But Aya…
Aya breathed a laugh as she stepped into his space, her arms winding around his neck. “Very, very distantly,” she reassured him, her lips quirking in the corners. “I won’t hold it against you.”
She was using his own trick—goading him to bring him out of whatever place he was tucking himself into. No wonder it made her furious. But Will let his arms wrap around her waist, let the familiar weight of her against him settle his raging heart.
It was not weak to feel too much. It was not weak to need people.
Aya tilted her chin up so she could hold his gaze. “If I’m right,” she began slowly, “that means—”
“Evie could have the same issue,” Will filled in for her, his brow furrowing.
Aya nodded. “It would explain why she refuses to open the veil herself. She kept insisting it was because it would drain her before she battled the gods, but what if it’s more than that? What if it’s because doing so would make her more vulnerable?”
It was entirely possible, but…
Something Aya had just said had jarred another thought to the front of his mind.
“Wait a moment,” he murmured. “The veil.”
Aya had said she was the only one who could interact with it. But if he had godsblood…
“Will.” There was a plea woven in the single syllable of his name, and gods, it made so much sense.Thiswas the grief he’d seen lingering in her eyes.Thiswas the dread that had dragged her shoulders down.
“I can help you heal the veil. Can’t I?”
