Previously In
Thayla
Handing over the Binding didn’t go as planned.
Now…my little psycho is in the clutches of the God of Obliteration and the Goddess of Seduction. The second she dragged him across the barrier, I snapped. I couldn’t stop myself from going after him.
I let Chaos reign.
While my men battled Oblirains and Dark Gods we didn’t even know were there, I stood toe to toe with Kirabaddon. He told me to come with him, give up my tiresome fight, and join him. He’d give me access to Riven.
I refused. I attacked instead.
A barrier slammed between us, blocking him from me but not me from him. I should’ve cut his head off.
He escaped with the surviving Dark Gods, the Oblirians, the bodies…and Mellcom.
Everything spiraled.
Rage flooded me, sharp and uncontrollable, and a memory surfaced—one I didn’t know I’d been holding. It drove me forward like a spear as I pounded my fist into Jeremiah like the crazy bitch he called me.
Moments later, we stormed back through the barrier to Godsden, where Derivius informed me my Chaos is different from his and Riven’s.
Riven amplifies others’ emotions. I force mine onto them.
I can bring people to their knees, make them sob—while refusing to break myself.
The others focused on getting Riven back while I struggled to hold myself together. Creed, Kyzen, and Amick went to the Court for updated maps of the Abandon. While they were gone, I sat in Riven’s room, forcing myself to breathe through the storm in my chest. To control it.
Because if I didn’t, I’d destroy our chances of reaching him safely.
We settled on a plan.
Amick wasn’t thrilled about using the same route he’d planned twenty years ago, but it was our best option. I wasn’t thrilled that it would take two days to reach Riven, but using our powers would expose us to the God of Obliteration.
Before we left, Gladian showed up asking me—of all people—if he and the Valtrues he assembled could come. Creed had apparently put me in charge of Mellcom’s fate.
Whatever. I agreed—with conditions. Derivius would bind them, and Riven remained the priority.
The Abandon greeted us like a graveyard. The forest felt wrong. Too quiet, too heavy, like the land had given up on life. The darkness pressed in, forcing everyone into an uncomfortable silence.
During our final break, Mara approached Yemi and me. She apologized—shocking—and hinted at her true feelings about living under everyone else’s expectations.
She was the least of my concerns.
Seductions.
Even the name carried power. A place where influence saturated the air and people lost themselves without realizing it.
As expected, the Goddess of Seduction had an alert barrier around the building. Yemi nearly drained herself blocking the power so we could enter undetected.
Inside, we split.
Kyzen, Amick, Gladian, Mara, Chasin, Jeremiah, and one Valtrue headed for the fighting chamber.
Creed, Sevryn, Yemi, the second Valtrue, and I went to the…sex chamber.
The sight of naked bodies and the undercurrent of wrongness hit me in my stomach, but none of it mattered once I saw Riven chained in the center of a platform.
