“Marvelous.” She spins and takes a single step before peering back over her shoulder. “Creed, dear. Don’t touch anything.”
My frown deepens as I glare at her back until she disappears from sight.
“This is awkward as fuck,” Thayla says.
“Yeah, no shit,” Riven scoffs.
“This place is absolutely gorgeous, but besides the tension rolling off the four of you, why does it feel so weird?”
I drag a hand down my face, scanning the foyer again.
“Because nothing’s aging,” I say.
She squints at me. “We’re immortals. None of us really age.”
“I’m not talking about us. We aren’t the only living things here. Soil should dry, leaves should wither, seeds should fall and split the ground open again. Nothing here ever dies. Therefore, it never completes the cycle.”
Amick nods. “There’s no natural turnover here. She always keeps everything alive and pristine.”
Riven lets out a low chuckle. “She always hated messes.”
“It’s not about a mess,” Amick adds. “It’s about her controlling the things she creates.”
Kyzen and I grunt our agreement as Thayla’s gaze bounces over each of us.
“Okay. So she’s controlling and likes everything perfect. I assume that means she was the same way with all of you?”
“Oh no, not me since she didn’t create me. Well, she aided in my creation, but you know, I didn’t come from her. I was barely allowed over,” Riven says.
He can wipe that stupid-ass smirk off his face.
It doesn’t fool any of us.
Especially not Thayla.
“Yes, she was like that with us. We lived double lives when we were with her. At our father’s, she tried to force us to be one big happy family, but she didn’t stand in the way of how he raised us. Here, we had to be perfectly behaved children,” Amick says.
“And if you weren’t?”
“She’d go fucking crazy,” I grumble.
“Crazy like the screaming kind or…”
The four of us share glances, and Kyzen huffs.
“Screaming, pitching fits, threw around threats she never followed through with. Fighting and training were always beneath her, so she wasn’t physically abusive to us like our father was, but mentally and emotionally…”
She hums and her eyes observe the room. After a small shake of her head, attempting and failing to hide how Kyzen’s words bother her, she turns into Amick’s side.
“Are you okay? You did really good at your trial.”
He offers her a small smile as he runs his finger down her cheek. “I’m fine. Annoyed we’re here, wasting hours when we should be gathering signatures, but it’ll be over soon. How are you? You handled yourself and meeting the Goddess of Accord perfectly.”
She snorts as she ducks her face. “Seems my jewelry worked like a charm. There was a quick moment of panic when sheinitially touched me and my mind buzzed, but it immediately simmered down. I was nervous as fuck, though, and it took a lot of restraint not to mouth off a few times.”
I smirk at that.
There were a few times I thought I was going to have to step in front of her.
