“Good. No more speaking from this point on. Only listen and do. I’ll walk you through step by step. First, close your eyes and find your power.”
I do as he orders silently and breathe in through my nose, out through my mouth. I can’t lay my hands to my stomach like I’ve been doing, but I lower the Binding to rest against it.
Come on, Thay. You, your Valtrue, and your Seduction. You got this.
Heat and light pressure build in my lower belly, and I smile at the familiar sensation. I caress it sweetly, same as if one of them was running their finger down my face.
“Good. It’s one swift process from here, so listen to me carefully. You must do this in a single, flowing motion.”
Shit. Okay.
“Now unlike how you’ve been practicing pushing it onto them, you’re going to solely focus on pouring your power into the Binding. Think of it like you’re filling a glass with water from the faucet. The glass is the Binding. The water is your power. Let it flow until it’s full. You’ll know because it will feel as though your stomach is becoming empty.
“At that moment, you speak the start of the Valories prayer, mentally or out loud, whichever you’re more comfortable with, and you’ll fill in the rest with what you want. End with saying the five of your names.”
Oh gods. I have to come up with the prayer? I don’t pray. What in the realm am I supposed to say? Why didn’t he tell me this—
“Stop your thoughts, Thayla. Now. The words will come to you.”
Damn it. Okay. Everything’s going to be A-okay.
I inhale and exhale until I feel myself calm down. I swear the things I’d do to Riven if he just decided to lather me in his power right now.
That won’t work. Focus.
Breathe.
I grip my power a little tighter, beckoning it to come forward. Usually, I’d picture it expelling from my belly button in four different directions, but I don’t think that’s the best thing to do here.
Instead, I imagine it swimming up my body like a river, flowing backward up a mountain. Once it reaches my collarbone, I send it cascading down my arms and into my hands.
I hold it in my fingertips until I can’t hold it anymore.
Pour the water.
Not only does the power immediately leave me and enter the Binding, it feels as though the Binding is literally sucking it out of me.
It’s not painful or uncomfortable.
It’s relieving, actually.
The pressure inside my belly lessens more as the seconds, hell minutes, I don’t know, pass me by.
As each drop of power fills the globe in my hand, my stomach empties. Not in the way it feels when I’ve gone too long without eating.
Like…I’m missing something that’s meant to fill that space.
A cramp spreads across my whole abdomen and pulls a grunt from my lips.
I believe that’s my cue.
What to say? What to say?
Something short, sweet, to the point.
What do we want? What do we…
“By the Valories we do serve. Release the power we deserve. Riven, Creed, Amick, Kyzen, and Thayla Godrun.”
