the most boring Faerie of this universe.
And that means a lot coming from me,
I have read the chronicles of the Penepolysian wars.
Twice.”
I laughed, remembering all too well that I’d actually dozed off when he mentioned the Chronicle in one of our lessons. I was about to reply when another message appeared from him.
“I wanted to ask you something,
but it’s very personal and you don’t have to respond.”
Intriguing.
“Shoot.”
He didn’t respond instantly. Had he run into an acquaintance again, or was he stalling?
“Tonight, when you met Veridus,
what did you see when you looked at him?”
That was an odd question and not something I would consider personal.
“You’re odd, Theo. But I’ll indulge you.
I simply saw him, I think.
. Grey hair, green eyes with a scar on the left side of his face.
Why do you ask?”
I slid out of bed, getting myself a glass of water as I could feel a headache coming on. When I returned, another note had appeared.
“Veridus is the the God of Stories and Lies. He governs the realm of storytelling,
where every tale, true or false, shapes the world. He is the keeper of forgotten histories
and the spinner of lies that become legends.
His face shifts depending on who’s looking at him,
reflecting their deepest desires or secrets.
But it seems that he wasn’t up to his usual tricks tonight
if you simply saw him in his truest form.”
A knot formed in my stomach, because it was not entirely true that he had seemed like any other God. The way he stared at his hands and the way he looked at me had felt strange at the time, but now the memory hit hard. His hands were covered in golden paint like Theo’s, only smeared, as if someone had touched him or he had touched something. I was debating whether to tell Theo when another note arrived.
“You are not responding.
Either you have gone to sleep or something
else happened with Veridus.”
Damn it, why was he so perceptive? It would have been easy enough to just pretend that I was asleep, but I had read enough romance novels to know that keeping a secret like that never did any good.
