A small slip of a snort bubbles out of Yemi, but she sucks it back down and faces forward when we both look at her.
“Yeah, yourBindermade that quite clear to me.”
He doesn’t waste another second with me as he steps through the opening, pulling Yemi along with him. He misses the small smirk on my face.
I bet she did. I hope she fucking rocked his jaw.
I follow right behind them, gritting my teeth at the tug against my skin from the power of the Goddess of Illusion and the God of Boundaries, whose power surrounds all of Hellveilious. It’s not that his power is bad, but his barriers all feel the same.
It’s too much of a reminder of what returning to the Abandon feels like.
I’m not through to the other side for a second when a hiss of pain catches my attention. Yemi’s hunching over, gripping her arm, and I lunge for Sevryn.
Not even fucking five seconds…
“Creed, stop,” Thayla shouts, jumping in front of me while also casting a fearful glance over at Yemi.
The second that cry of pain ceases, Thayla runs to her, and I snatch Sevryn up by the collar of his shirt. He pivots, shoving me in the chest, and we draw our fists back at the same time.
“Stop!” Yemi and Thayla shout, but we’re already swinging.
We crash into an unseen wall that ripples like water, although it sure as shit doesn’t feel like it. I grip my knuckles, hissing as blood blossoms like I collided with cement.
“If you two fucking assholes don’t stop for a second and learn to speak to one another, I’m going to lose my shit.” Thayla’s hoarse scream cuts through my fury as she holds Yemi’s arm.
Tears run down Yemi’s face as she stares at Sevryn. “I didn’t know, I swear. This shouldn’t be possible.”
His chest heaves as he glares menacingly at me. His eyes drift down to his wrist, then over at Yemi.
“What the fuck is going on?” Riven asks.
Thayla scans each of us, Sevryn, then she settles on Yemi’s nod.
“She’s a Binder and he’s a member of her Valtrue. The brand started appearing the second they came out.”
I grab him as Amick snatches his wrist. He attempts to pull it away, but I grip him tighter while my brother observes.
“Stop fighting and let me see. You were born in the Abandon. This shouldn’t be possible for you. Yemi is Thayla’s Attendant, and she shouldn’t have a Valtrue.”
Amick’s calm tone has him giving up his fight, but his now worried eyes continue to bounce over to Yemi.
“Are you okay? I didn’t hurt you, right?”
She shakes her head, making her tears fall faster. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“It’s a B. It doesn’t match ours,” Amick says as his brows furrow. “Chaos didn’t do this, or he would’ve marked them.”
“It’s okay, Yem. You didn’t do this. You have no control over it. We don’t know what the fuck he’s playing at, but it’s okay.”
He?
“Who the fuck is he?” my brothers, myself, even Sevryn, ask.
Their paling faces scream they know something we don’t.
The girls have some explaining to do.
