This silence forces you to think.
The thoughts it brings to the surface are suffocating.
I bounce around the fire to each of my guys, impatiently waiting for the hour mark to be up. Their tension bleeds out as long as they’re touching me, but once I move on to the next, the stress returns to their shoulders.
All their anxiety, unrest, turmoil, eagerness, you name it, assaults my chest when Amick finally calls for everyone’s attention.
I’ve got to learn how to block out their emotions.
My gaze lingers for a few extra seconds on Mara before it moves on to the rest of them.
I haven’t bothered to learn the names of anyone in the two extra Valtrues. Not even the two Binders. Their eagerness is annoying. It’s solely because they were chosen for this, and if they’re a part of thissuccessfulmission, they’ll get some recognition.
I couldn’t give a fuck about that.
Jeremiah is past the point of freaking out.
I don’t focus on him long, though. Too much shit runs through my head when I look at him.
Chasin, I can’t get a read on the guy. He honestly doesn’t fit in with their bunch at all.
And Gladian…part of me believes he’s concerned for Mellcom’s well-being, and he wants his Valtrue back whole. The other part is convinced he’s only taking this so seriously because it’ll be frowned upon if he leaves a member of his Valtrue to die.
“Are we all still in agreement about breaking away from the outskirts for the rest of the trek?” Amick asks.
That was a decision I wasn’t torn about, although it carries a greater risk.
If we stuck to the original plan, we’d follow the forest all the way around until we had a one-mile straight shot to the back of Seductions. That’s a less populated area, and it decreased our chances of running into anyone sooner. The biggest factor influencing the change in plan was that route would take over three hours.
None of us has three hours left on our fuses.
Everyone either nods or mumbles their agreement.
“From this spot, we’re five miles from Seductions. At mile two and a half, we hit our first structures and lose the coverage of the trees. From what we last remember and Sevryn’s last accounts, the area is majority housing. Be prepared for there to be morehomes now developed. If we can evade, we evade. If we can’t, we kill quickly and quietly.
“At mile one and a half, the houses give way to the heart of the Abandon. The streets will still have people mulling around, so we’ll stick to the shadows and behind the buildings. There’s no stopping to regroup, talk, or anything from that point on. It’s a straight shot down the same street.
“Our Valtrue will take the lead and handle anyone we come across. If we get overwhelmed or encounter a group too large for us to handle, only then do the rest of you step in. We can’t make any scenes or cause a commotion that draws attention to us.
“There have never been precautions or guards at the back door. Them having Riven would lead me to believe they changed that. If that’s the case, we take the guards down, then move in. If they’ve put something stronger in place, we’ll observe it and make our decision on how to proceed from there.”
Amick cuts his eyes to Yemi, and I swallow nervously. That’s a conversation he had with her—us—out of earshot of our extras.
He believes, which means he’s more than likely right, that the Goddess of Seduction wrapped her essence around the structure in a sort of makeshift alert barrier.
Like how we can tell when someone with permission to enter our room or house has entered, she may have placed something that tells her when one of the guys, maybe even me, has arrived.
Yemi will determine if there’s something like that in place.
If it’s only the door, she can interfere with it enough for us to go through undetected. If it’s the entire structure, the Goddess of Seduction will know no matter how we enter, so at that point, we storm in.
“We don’t want to go in swords and power blazing. The goal is to go undetected for as long as possible. The front of the structure isn’t any concern of ours. That’s where the alcohol isserved, dancing takes place, and emotions build. There may be a few beings lingering, but they’ve most likely moved on.
“The back is our focus. There’re multiple levels and rooms. The Dark Gods and full-blown Oblirians’ partaking in the activities here will be fornicating or fighting, while under the influence of either alcohol or an ability under the domain of Seduction. Possibly both. Inhibitions will be lower. Power will be primed.
“You need to be prepared to keep your wits about you. The power of Seduction is strong here and can influence you in multiple different ways. The Goddess of Seduction rarely releases her own power because her underlings take care of that. She only adds influence if they aren’t feeding her as much as she’d like.” Amick finishes.
Bile races up my throat and my lower belly cramps. I subtly lay my hand there and will my seduction to stay where it is.
