The sweet feature on her face fades, and her demeanor shifts back into the more serious and practical stance she had moments ago.
She’s going to give me whiplash.
“The Angel Aura Amethyst is a powerful tool at your disposal. Surround yourself with it. When the Messenger decides it’s time to speak more freely, their words won’t hurt so bad if multiple stones are near.”
“How do you even know about those?”
Her lips curve. “I may or may not have one myself.”
There’s no way.
“One day, truths will be revealed to you. Each one will feel like a betrayal.” Her gaze doesn’t waver as my breath hitches, and I gulp down what feels like glass. “Be careful where you place your anger. It is not V’s, Seismet’s, or the God of Chaos’s fault. Some knowledge should never come from them, and it isn’t fair to demand it.”
Her eyes close as her head tilts toward her shoes. I rock from side to side, sensing another change wash across her.
“I know what it feels like to be abandoned,” she admits in a mumble like the words hurt her to say as much as they hurt me to hear. “What saved me from drowning in that feeling was realizing the sacrifices were worth it because it benefited my Nexus, me, and…Elementra, so many others. That isn’t a selfish desire. It’s a mutual agreement. The sacrifices made on my behalf gave me an amazing life and my creator, still to this day, rewards me for the sacrifices I made. Make sure you and yours benefit. Know your worth.”
The weight of her conviction presses in. I don’t fully understand it, but I recognize truth when I hear it.
“Last but not least,” she breathes.
Power ripples from her hand as she gestures it in a circle. I stumble back, colliding with a wall of nothing but air as silver liquid spirals between us. Her arm vanishes into it, swallowed whole.
A gasp tears from my chest, and my knees nearly buckle.
“Why the fuck do you have a Gods Binding?”
“It’s cleansed back to its original state, and my sister and I have taken care of it for many years now. It’s time I return it.”
She presses it into my hands before I can refuse.
“Other than knowing you were at risk for growing corrupt if that power settled inside of you, this was the whole reason I came. The Gods Binding is a creation of order.”
“Yeah, you’ve already said that. And I’m painfully aware,” I mumble.
She hums. “Seven replicas were made that never should have existed. They stripped power from the original, and that imbalance has been growing for centuries.”
“So what, we destroy them?” I ask as dread curls low in my gut.
“No. If one is destroyed, the original can never be whole again. Seven came out—”
“Seven have to go back in,” I breathe.
Fuck us. Seriously.
“Together,” she confirms. “That act alone will right countless wrongs.”
My gaze burns into her. It’s terrifying how much she knows. And what’s even more disturbing is how certain she is that we’re the ones meant to carry this through.
“Are you a Messenger as well?”
The question claws its way up my throat before I can stop it. It feels too important to leave unasked, though.
“Not like the one you’re…tied to, but in a way.”
I nod, although I still want to push for more. I don’t. I get the sense that if she wanted me to know, she’d say it.
“Can I use this in the meantime?”
