Every spine at the table seems to slump. I close my eyes and sigh.
“Just say it,” Creed growls.
“Kira is…difficult to read right now. I expected fury after what happened. Instead, he was calm. Charming.” Derivius grimaces. “He called a meeting.”
“About what?” Amick asks.
“You. He argued that if you acted in good faith, you wouldn’t need the month I proposed to prepare for trial. A week would suffice. The vote passed.” He hands Amick a scroll, and we all stare as he rolls it out. “You have one week from tomorrow to prepare and present your case against Harriseen.”
“Very well,” Amick says low as he scans the parchment, and unease spreads from my toes to my head.
I swear a flash of worry just rushed across my soul, but it didn’t last long enough for me to know if it was his, mine, or one of the others.
“That’s not enough time to gather ten Domain Gods’ signatures to break the agreement, though.”
“I know. Keep that information to yourself for now and reveal it after the trial,” Derivius says.
Amick reads the parchment two more times, then nods. “Do you have any insight you can share with us about the whereabouts of the other replicas? I need to start preparing for that as well.”
“Let me…do some digging around about their hiding spots.”
“Digging? You believe they buried them?” Amick asks.
I reach over and pat his hand. “An expression usually referring to gathering information.”
“Ah. Okay then. In the meantime, after Ellian’s speech tomorrow, Riven, Creed, Sevryn, and Doren will search for the bodies I need.”
“We will?” all four say at once.
“Yes. I’ll be tied up with helping Ellian with the Attendants, then following that, preparing for the trial, and my new duties don’t provide me ample opportunity to search a forest. You’re the best suited to find them.”
“What fucking help am I for looking for bodies?” Sevryn snaps.
“You need some fresh air,” Amick says seriously.
Yeah…I’m not sure how fresh the air is around two corpses, but okay.
Better them than me.
Thayla
7
The Assembly may have been this packed on the Veiling Day, but I didn’t have to stand in the middle of it.
This is the greatest number of gods I’ve seen in one place, and I’ll admit, it’s unsettling.
Ellian asked us to position ourselves “casually” between the Attendants and the rest of the gods. So we did. Now, though, there’s a literal fucking circle around us of nothing but empty space.
I’d like to believe I’ve grown used to the guys receiving wide berths, but this is ridiculous. The only group outside of Yemi’s Valtrue, Lambrit, and Rose brave enough to stand with us is the group I’d rather not be anywhere near.
Despite Kyzen and Riven positioning themselves where my body is blocked, Mellcom’s eyes do everything they can to sear through them and get a glimpse of me.
I can’t stand it.
My skin’s crawling, and my fingers twitch with the desire to stab him right through those haunting green orbs of his. Thank fuck Creed worked out a rotation that keeps me away from him and Jeremiah.
I don’t allow my gaze to travel toward them or their Valtrue. My attention roams over how tense Yemi’s men are standing and how opposite Lambrit is. He’s beaming with excitement this morning. It both warms my heart and makes my stomach cramp.
