“He isn’t a fucking traitor. He got taken.”
Gladian throws his hands in the air as his bellow travels down the chambers. Footsteps around the corner shuffle in a hurry, exposing their eavesdropping and scaring the shit out of them.
Pathetic Defenders.
Regardless, his little tantrum has my head tilting a fraction as my gaze jerks from him to Jeremiah.
I can’t wait until Thayla gives one of us permission to kill him or Amick snaps on his own.
He’ll be the least likely to get any shit from her.
I settle the wrath brewing in me enough to speak.
“You’re as lousy as you were the day you set foot in this region, and your soul is even more tainted. You know what you’ve done was cowardly and wrong, or you would’ve told the rest of your Valtrue the truth by now.”
Gladian’s eyes narrow as they drift to Jeremiah and then back to me.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
I point my finger at Jeremiah’s paling face.
“Your Valtrue members put my Binder’s blood in the Volreen without her knowledge. They’re in cahoots with a higher-up god, and that’s how they got here. I hate to say I’m thankful for something as atrocious as that, but I know I got the realm’s greatest Binder out of their betrayal. Then you took it upon yourself to fucking whip her.
“I’m not sure if your coming with us on our quest gave you some false sense of forgiveness, but I promise you, Gladian, we haven’t forgiven or forgotten. Our hands are tied. We can’t kill you and get away with it.
“So yeah, I would—I will—leave your Valtrue member in the Abandon to rot in whatever hell my father’s putting him through. The only thing that will change that is Thayla expressing outright that she doesn’t want to leave him behind. You’ll find out her decision when we return.”
I let my gaze roam over their Valtrue.
Starting with Mara.
My threat, warning, dislike for her, whatever you want to call it, is clear in my eyes. It’s shocking her soul is still in such good shape with the personality and mentality she has.
Honestly, I don’t know how Chasin ended up with the lot of them. He’s never snide or threatening. The gods fucked something up for him.
Jeremiah’s shaking in his skin, and his fists clench at his sides.
“He’s my—”
“Shut your mouth and don’t say another damn word unless it’s explaining to me what the hell you two did,” Gladian sneers, cutting the piece of shit’s sentence short.
Obviously, he’s pissed, but there’s something else lingering in his gaze that I can’t quite put my finger on. Nor do I care to sit around and wait for him to explain.
The finality in my words leaves no room for argument, and we don’t wait to give them a chance to come up with one.
The hallways and chambers are deafeningly quiet and emptier than I’ve ever seen them. The lack of distraction makes my eye twitch and my soul ruffles around restlessly.
“Walking or starshooting?” I ask as we reach the exit of the Court.
“Walk,” Amick answers, and I sigh.
“Go ahead. I’ll walk with him.” Kyzen offers.
I don’t know whether I’m happy there’s life back in his eyes or not.
We’re going to need the side of himself that he hates once we get back to the Abandon.
Sourness spreads across my stomach as my power wraps around me and carries me right outside Riven’s door.
