Her voice is low and full of warning. Something about her tone, how it’s laced in venom for my benefit, has my blood growing hotter. Not in an uncomfortable way but a foreign one. It’s never been this intense in my life.
I’m well aware of what the sensation that’s spreading through me is.
I’m not willing to examine it right here and now, though.
Surprisingly, Riven’s brows crease in confusion rather than anger as his gaze moves from her to me. My eyes are unblinking as they meet his.
After a moment, he scoffs and shakes his head. “Whatever you say.”
Thayla mimics the unpleasant noise, then turns to me. “Would you like to explain what you know now?”
“Yes.”
I don’t waste any more of our time on distracting conversations and sensations. I inform her while she was traveling the realm to us on the Veiling Day, we were breaking into the restricted area of the Athenaeum. After a moment of her expressing she wishes she had been with us to stick one to the High Chancellor, whatever that means, I tell them what I really discovered.
“You’re going to have to move your Gods Binding lesson up for me. I understand that the Binding itself is a large, singular creation that somehow stores and holds the Beginning Gods and everyone else’s essence of power. I can’t wrap my head around how it’s been split to make what you’re saying are miniature replicas, as well as the Volreen and the Gods Veil. I can’t picture it.”
“We’ll cover that soon. Today isn’t the day to discuss it. You have too much running through your mind already and you won’t comprehend what I’m teaching you.”
She crosses her arms and jolts her hip out. If she stands like that too long, she’s going to throw her back out of alignment.
“Are you trying to tell me I’m overwhelmed?”
“Yes, because you are.”
“I am not. I’m fine.”
I give her a silent look that supplies her with ample opportunity to tell me the truth. I don’t need to examine her ears to know she’s lying to me, but why she feels the need to is going to circulate through my mind nonstop until I know.
“You’re—”
“You claim that in the book you read in the restricted area, it states seven replicas were made, and the original Gods Binding is somewhere in the Sanctum. Which we’ve always assumed, basically known that, but now we know with certainty. We also know now that two Beginning Gods were irresponsible enough to lose them somehow and never reclaim them.”
“Correct.” I nod to Kyzen, although I’m annoyed that he cut me off.
“Since we don’t know the true interworking of these replicas, I’m assuming that means you don’t know how to release the power in one, but you believe if and when we find it, you’ll be able to figure it out?”
“Yes.”
“So we don’t truly have two months to find this. We need enough time to find it, then provide you with time to figure it out. Do you think it’ll be able to release the rest of our power to us?”
A huff filters across my mind, but I hold it in so I don’t discourage Kyzen and his questions. I appreciate his brainstorming, but this is the perfect example of why I don’t tell them things before I know enough.
All that does is create more questions and assumptions.
Not that all assumptions are bad. Some have proven to lead me to great discoveries. Some, though, are a waste of time, energy, and resources. We’re under a time constraint. We can’t make decisions based on baseless ideas. I need time to truly do my research before we embark on a dead end that gets our Binder taken from us.
If that happens, there’s no doubt, assumption, or question about our reaction. We will wage war on the Abandon.
On our father.
Again.
“The plan I’m formulating consists of two weeks of research, which will include a more in-depth dive into the Gods Binding. These replicas were made in its likeness, so they’ll function the same, just at a lower level of power. That leads me to believe it may not be able to release all our power to us, but a significant portion. That part will involve more than myself as I’ll need to break into the High Chancellor’s office. Then—”
“It tickles my heart that you did that once. How did you pull that off without us?” Riven asks, giving me a prideful smile.
“I didn’t break in. He asked me to retrieve something from his office, and I took an opportunity. Ellian happened to be present and I believe caused a distraction for me. I didn’t risk spending more than a few minutes in there, though, and the High Chancellor never brought it up. This time, I’ll need longer than that. I don’t want to read the text. I want to copy it and bring it back here so I never have to worry about this again.”
