I starshoot outside our front door and command my Chaos to cover me. Tiptoeing through the threshold and down the short entrance hall, I pause and listen to the feminine cackling coming from the living room.
The three goddesses are none the wiser that I’m watching them. They’re all comfy on the couch with what smells like coffee and sounds like entertaining gossip.
“I’ll get it.” Thayla chuckles and stands at the three knocks that echo behind me.
“No need, angel,” I say, dropping my Chaos. Her mug hits the ground as the other two jump and shriek. “I’ve got the door.”
“Riven, you asshole,” Thayla shouts as I smirk and turn around before she hurls something at me.
I fling the door open for Sevryn and Doren, then march my way back into the living room. The glare my little burden gives me is equal parts sexy and terrifying.
Not knowing if she wants to kill me or fuck me makes my dick painfully hard.
Damn, I love that dangerous creature.
“What in the hell—”
“Bad, bad burden.” I wiggle my finger back and forth as I plop down on the couch, then lace my hands in my lap. “You’ve done something you shouldn’t have.”
Her nose scrunches in the most adorable way. “Amick made it seem like what I did with my Consequence at the address was okay. It actually wasn’t?”
Oh, damn. I forgot she did that.
I don’t have a clue if it was bad or good.
It was fine with me.
Before I can answer her, a bright flash of light spears through our living room and my eyes widen at Derivius’s appearance. Thayla’s mouth gapes as she glances between him and me.
“I really fucked up, huh? I didn’t mean to declare a consequence on my own. I was just pissed that that fucker so blatantly threatened the Attendants.”
Derivius cocks his head to the side. “Whatever are you talking about?”
She sighs while pinching the bridge of her nose. In a short explanation of the events, she breaks down the information Amick gave her on the power of Consequence, then informs him of how the gods took the news of the Attendants at the address, and how she used her power of Consequence on them.
“So Amick’s explanation about you not directing consequences on your own is partially correct.”
“How is it only partially correct?” the man himself asks as he, Creed, Kyzen, and Lam-the-man join us.
“Shit,” Thayla mutters as she laces her fingers on her head. “If you all are home when you have more important things to handle, that means I really did screw up.”
Derivius snorts softly. “Oh, relax. You didn’t screw up anything this morning at the address.”
“I threatened that asshole with my power,” she snaps, tossing her hands up. His smirking is pissing her off more.
I swallow down my laugh.
“If you had actually declared a consequence that crossed a line, you’d know.”
“It would’ve done that rebound thing that Kyzen explained, right?” she asks.
“That would’ve depended on the declared consequence. The power of Consequence as well as the power of Accord are your only two powers that create an awareness rather than a visibleor physical action. You understand that so far, yes?” he asks, and she gives him a timid nod.
“I believe so. The times I’ve used either of them, you can’t actually see my power come out of me or anything. It’s just a…knowing inside of me.”
“Exactly,” he says, clapping his hands together. “That is your awareness. Most of the time, you justknow. Good, bad, heavy, small. You feel the weight of an agreement rising or, in this case, a consequence coming, not the result. What you did this morning was warn him. You said,If you do this, something will happen.
“That’s Consequence doing what it does best…making someone aware, even yourself, that reality is about to answer. Now, if you’d said something like—If you raise a hand against them, I’ll cut it off—that would’ve been you deciding the outcome.”
