The absence of a god standing guard at the restricted room’s door has the hair on the back of my neck standing up. My eyes widen as we slow to a stop and he produces the key to enter from his pocket.
“You have so much explaining to do, Lambrit,” I say.
“I know and I will once we’re all inside.”
He turns the knob, scampering inside as he holds the door open for us to follow. My footsteps fall still as I gaze around the room.
The room that is completely out of order.
“Explain,” I demand as I turn to face him when the lock clicks shut.
He opens his mouth, but Thayla beats him to speaking.
“This is where you’ve been running off to every night.”
“How did you—” He cuts his eyes to Rose.
“A powerful birdie told me,” Thayla cuts in.
His head hangs as he pinches his nose.
“V. Of course.” He sighs, then glances at me. “We both know that Ellian knew this would happen. We talked about this.”
“You two talked about this?” Thayla whisper-yells.
“No, not with the exact words, break into the restricted room by yourself and leave it in complete disarray,” I say.
“Then with what words?” she asks through her clenched jaw.
I scowl at Lambrit for getting me in trouble.
He gives me a guilty smile before giving her the summarized version of his first day as Ellian’s assistant and the conversation between the two of us.
I knew that pep talk was going to come back around on me.
“Regardless, we were supposed to plan for something like this, Lambrit,” I say. “Even if this is what Ellian ultimately wanted, he’s still bound as the High Chancellor of the Godsdawn to protect this knowledge. We aren’t only jeopardizing ourselves by being in here, but him as well.”
“I know that!” His shout echoes around us as he grips his hair, then takes multiple deep breaths when Rose lays her hand on his arm. “I know that, and this isn’t what I meant to happen. I just needed a distraction. I was—am—angry and the texts in the Athenaeum were leading me nowhere. I needed answers.”
“Answers to what?” Thayla asks.
“All of it. Everything. Why has all this happened? What are the gods really hiding? Why can some gods go have children with ungodly beings and everything work out when we’ve always been taught the opposite? Why aren’t the Veilatara allowed to flourish across the land? They’re trapped here, only helping the Godsden thrive. Everything surrounding the original and replicas of the Gods Binding. They’re manipulating the order of the Domain Gods and Valtrues. How does that really disrupt the system? We know it’s disrupting the natural order of things. Yemi and her Valtrue are living proof of that, but why? Just to pair the strongest together? No, that doesn’t make sense. Nothing makes sense.”
We all observe him as he collects himself. As idiotic as this decision was for him to make on his own, I understand. Every question he just asked haunts me as well, and I was working on a way to begin answering them.
Any other time, he’d be just as methodical and analytical as me. I suppose grief, though, has its way of pushing people a little further and faster than others.
“I’m sorry, guys. I should’ve thought this through and actually planned this with all of you. I’ll…” He cuts his eyes to the pile of text he has scattered around the table.
“You’ll tell us what you found and what you want us to look for. We’re here now, and we’re going to support you. Creed and Sevryn, guard the door in case the—” I tilt my head. “Lambrit, where are the guards?”
He tightens his lips.
“I may or may not have changed their rotations for last night and tonight.”
Riven tosses his head back, laughing as he pats him on the shoulder.
“Oh, gods, this is great. Is their scheduling Amick’s role or Ellian’s?”
