“I see. I suppose that title is fitting.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask.
“I’ve never addressedthat personas the Messenger, but the Fates. I also called your creator that until I learned more about them.”
“You talk to the Messenger? Are you kidding me right now? Do they talk to everyone but me?” I throw my free hand up in the air and let it slap back down on my side.
“Well,theyaren’t allowed to talk to you yet.”
“What?” Both she and I ask.
I was asking her, while she was asking V.
“Oh, absolutely not. I’m not keeping that from her. That’s ridiculous.”
“What is? What are you two talking about?” I ask.
Her attention bounces between V and me.
“The Messenger isn’t supposed to communicate with you until you prove your unyielding loyalty to your creator.”
I rear back. “What? That makes no sense. They already have.”
“And they weren’t supposed to.”
“Wait, is that why I haven’t heard from them? Also, V, why have you and anyone else I’ve brought this shit up to been encouraging me to forge a relationship if you all knew they couldn’t or shouldn’t respond anyway? What fucking more do the Valories want me to prove?”
“We’ve been encouraging you because building a relationship with them in the long run will benefit you despite whether they respond now or not. The Valories…”He trails off, turning his head away from me.
“Why are you being so hesitant?” I ask low.
“It isn’t in his nature to speak ill of your creator, but it is in mine. So I’ll tell you. They expect you to put them before all others. Your friends, family, yourself, your Valtrue. They expect to be above them all in your eyes.”
There’s no hiding the immediate denial written across my features. I can’t even pretend to feel that way.
I completely understand the power the Valories hold. Hell, they created literal Beginning Gods with more power and abilities than some can comprehend, but I could never imagine putting them above the people in my life that I…love.
Have they done things for me? Sure. I can’t deny that entirely.
But their love for me, for all their beings—especially here lately—feels conditional and transactional.
That isn’t love.
That’s manipulation.
“Uh-huh,” Willow murmurs, nodding like the two of us just uncovered something together.
Wait a second.
“You keep saying creator, as in one, and…”
I glance behind me, and I’m not the least bit surprised to find Amick already staring at me. Realization slams into me.
He usually addresses them as the Valories, but anytime he hasn’t, it’s creator.
Derivius’s words ring in my ears.
The gods may have turned their backs on me, but the creator has not.
