“So what do we do? How do we get out of this?”
Amick shakes his head and my shoulders straighten as a pit builds in my stomach. The others tense around me.
He always has some sort of backup plan.
“The only solution I have as of right now is we refuse. What issues that brings about is unknown and very risky. The High Chancellor has the right to measure power. It’s written law. He’s responsible for overseeing all Becoming Gods in the Godsdawn. Technically, him requiring this isn’t breaking any rules, but he has motives he’s not being honest about for doing this. That’s very clear.”
Our heads pivot toward the entrance hallway at the sound of three gentle knocks at the door. Confusion crosses all our features.
“Are you expecting someone?” Creed asks me and I shake my head.
“Answer the door, little troublling.”
My body flinches at Derivius’s voice and I grab Kyzen’s hand as he steps over Riven’s legs to go see who it is. He tugs me up after I struggle to get the tangled blanket from around me.
“I was just told to go answer.”
His eyebrows draw down. “By who?”
“Chaos.”
They all get to their feet, but they allow me to walk the distance to the door on my own. I have every intention of laying into Derivius’s ass as soon as I lay my eyes on him.
We’ve all tried countless times to get in touch with him since we got Riven back. What have we got in return?
Silence.
“You’ve got some nerve—”
The words die on my lips the second I see all the people standing behind him.
My grip on the door tightens and my arm jerks with the need to grab a weapon that I don’t have on me.
“Hello, Thayla. I apologize for showing up unannounced.”
“What the hell is going on?”
My quiet question has a tense smile forming on his mouth. I gulp as my eyes roam across Gladian, Chasin, Jeremiah, Mellcom, and Mara. Her gaze holds mine, but I don’t know what the fuck her tight nod means.
Behind them…there are at least ten, maybe more, Dark Gods.
I instantly recognize the same ones who escorted us to the God of Obliteration’s temple. The others are a brutal bunch, ready and willing to start some shit.
“It would seem that the…relicyou all were tasked with finding has gone missing. The God of Obliteration has demanded a search of your home. One has already been done on the God of Strength’s house. Now we are here.”
“V, take the Binding and get the hell out of here.”
“None of them are stepping foot in my damn house.”
“Move, out of my way at once.”
My attention snaps behind Derivius at that voice and my feet plant themselves in their place. The tension in my body intensifies as my muscles prepare to react.
“You vile, disrespectful girl, have no say in the matter,” the High Chancellor shrills as he flaps a parchment far too close tomy face. “A search has been decreed, and you will move out of the God of Chaos’s way, or I will move you for him.”
“Try.”
My eyes narrow in a dare—maybe a wish—but I’m being snatched back faster than the High Chancellor can respond.
