What I’ve learned about the tie in her is staggering and petrifying.
I know I’ve upset her by avoiding speaking about or working with her on her power, but that’s because what I have to tell her is going to scare her.
It’s going to make her angry.
It will disappoint her.
She’ll have so many questions, and I want to be able to minimize those by explaining as much as I can at once.
The knock at the door has me tearing my gaze from the baggies hiding the Angel Aura Amethyst and my brows crease as Kyzen’s repetition continues.
He’s supposed to be asleep in bed with Thayla. He refused to help me read faster and told me to give it a break and go to bed.
I cross the room and pull my door wide, prepared to ask him what he wants, but my words fall short. He’s standing behind Thayla with his hands on her shoulders and a smug smirk on his lips.
“Night, little goddess. If you need me, I’m right next door.”
He gives her a kiss on her cheek and leaves her standing here before me, nervously twisting her fingers.
“Thayla.”
“Candyman.”
Her lips twitch and my heart swells with her infuriating but affectionate nickname for me.
“You’re supposed to be sleeping. We leave soon.”
“So are you, but you’re awake, obsessing over that book.”
“I am. I need to be as prepared as possible.”
“You’re prepared enough for all of us.”
The confidence in her tone has my shoulders dropping a fraction and warmth spreads throughout my body.
“I can never be too prepared when it comes to protecting you.”
My mind quiets as I observe the subtle blush blooming on her cheeks as she looks away from me. I have a desperate desire to turn her face back to me so I can map the patterns in her stained-glass eyes.
She’s the distraction I didn’t know I needed.
“May I come in?”
I nod and turn in with my door so she can walk past me. The small brush of her body against mine has the breath stalling in my chest.
She walks to the center of my room, a few feet from my bed, and looks around the room that hasn’t changed since the first time she saw it. Still, she observes everything with a fascination much like my own.
She wants to see everything.
Her eyes linger on my bag packed by my desk and the second one that’s empty but open beside it. With a quick glance at the books still piled around, she works out on her own, I still have to gather those.
“I’ve noticed since you starshot earlier, something has changed. Your power is different, as is the energy you’re giving off. Yet, you’re very nervous. At dinner, you talked, laughed, but you pushed your food around your plate, making it seem like you were eating. When Kyzen declared it was time for bed, you were more gentle than usual with Creed and Riven as you told them good night.
“Now, you’re standing here, fidgeting, and mapping out my possessions as though it’s the last time you’ll see them. You’re anxious, but it’s more than that. Tell me what’s wrong.”
She smirks over her shoulder. “You know, you aren’t the only god who can read me so well, but you are the only one who does it and it doesn’t upset me. Much, anyway.”
“My intentions are never to upset you. Just explain what I see.”
