“Let’s get this over with,” Creed grumbles as he stomps forward.
Amick and Kyzen squeeze my fingers to get my feet moving, and we follow behind an incredibly quiet Riven.
His silence is more worrisome than his giggling.
Our footsteps fall still as we line up with the other two and stare at Derivius. The almost heartbroken look on his face both pulls at my heartstrings and pisses me off.
“It’s really nice to see all of you.”
“Where have you been?” Riven asks low.
My chest pulls tight at the emotions in his tone and my soul strokes his tether. His shoulders deflate and his harsh exhale echoes between the crumbling walls.
“Valveilious, mostly. There’s been some shifts in the Domain Gods’ dynamic.” He arches a brow at us, but we don’t say a thing. “And I’ve been attempting to get this Worthiness taurnshit revoked, but the others won’t budge. I know my silence has been upsetting all of you. I’ve heard your words and I’m sorry for that. I didn’t mean for it to last this long, but I’ve tried not to draw any extra attention toward you.
“Harriseen is a sneaky fuck who’s done a marvelous job at hiding whatever his true ulterior motive is. He’s earned a lot of favor in the last few days, and the gods, Beginning and Domain, are in favor of this, hence why I’ve called you here. I just left them at the Neutral. We’re to reconvene during the measuring and discuss the Valtrues as the results come in.”
“Gods.” Kyzen and Amick release my hands as I fling them to my head and grip my roots. “You all are mind fuckers, you know that. I mean, when you say stuff like that or when you say you’re going to run interference, I don’t understand. Are the seven—well, six of you—actually getting together at a fucking round table and talking shit out?”
“Yes, actually.”
My hands drop from my head and I stare at him, dumbfounded.
“You’re serious?”
“I am. We made an agreement many millennia ago—a powerful agreement, mind you, not just a verbal one—that no matter how we felt about one another, if something happened that could change the trajectory of the realm, we’d come together. Even if it was about one of us. Have no fear, it’s purely selfish on all our parts. Change in the realm changes us.”
“How can you sit across a table from them and make decisions for the realm?”
There’s no accusation in my quiet question. It’s genuine confusion. I’ve seen the hatred in his eyes that he has forObliteration and Seduction. I could never put my differences aside and speak to them calmly.
“I don’t have a choice. I know the boys have explained the gist of my disownment to you. The realm is forbidden from worshipping me, my temples—aside from this one—have been obliterated, and I am essentially their slave. I do as they call and command. Within reason of the disownment, that is.
“There is a formal agreement in place that prohibits them from actually making me a slave. Their beckoning must be reasonable. Obliteration and Seduction could never order me to the Abandon to do as they say, but like the quest for the Binding and how K put me in charge, those sorts of things I must adhere to.”
“So I understood when Kyzen explained why you couldn’t come with us to the Abandon, but essentially, every time you’ve told us you can’t step in, you really can’t? You have to be sneaky in the way you help us or do anything because it’ll get you in more trouble?”
“That’s correct. And Valories know I can create trouble for myself as it is.”
“If you just left a meeting with them, it wouldn’t be hard for them to find out you’ve come here. So what was your point in calling us here an hour before the measuring?” Amick asks.
Derivius tightens his lips and drops his head for a moment. His shoulders rise and fall as he takes measured breaths. The crumbling look on his face both worries and confuses me.
“There’s no getting you all out of this. A couple of the Beginning Gods…don’t know you’re in a completed Valtrue yet. When your results come across, more so Thayla’s since she’s the Binder, there’s no telling how the other two are going to react.”
“The other two? Which ones are you talking about?”
My question has the guys growing tense and the shock written across their faces doesn’t come close to matching what’s racingthrough their souls. A flare of panic, which I don’t understand, ignites in each of them.
“I’ve done everything I could to keep your father andherdistracted as well as done everything they’ve told me to do. They’ve been searching the Abandon nonstop for the missing Binding, but as soon as your results come through, they’re going to know the truth and come looking themselves.
“They’ll finally tell the others what happened and then they’ll side with the two of them about whatever they plan to do with you. Consequence and I will be outvoted. I’m sorry to put you all on the spot like this, but you need to tell her this last truth. Prepare her.”
My entire body flinches with the rush of emotions that spear me through my chest. They’re so sharp, they steal the air from my lungs.
“What in the realm are you talking about? What is he talking about?” I frantically ask the guys.
What damn truth now?
