“I’m sure Amick is going through a thousand emotions right now, so I can’t compare, but I’m also nervous as shit. I was petrified the first time I met Derivius, and he’s obviously the nicest of the bunch,” Yemi says.
“Oh, he can be an asshole, bestie, don’t let him fool you,” Riven says.
“Well, he’s never been an asshole to me, and I’ve heard nothing but pretty horrible things about the others.”
“We’re all aware of how awful the God of Obliteration is. All the Goddesses are their own brand of crazy, and we honestly don’t know much of anything about the God of Consequence.We’re all meeting him for the first time with you tomorrow,” I say.
“Damn…” she hums while bobbing her head. “That actually makes me feel a little better.”
“Good. Can we change the subject? Something happier perhaps,” Thayla huffs, stabbing food onto her plate.
I send a stroke down her soul, and she jerks her attention toward me.
Honest to the Valories, I love that.
Despite me doing it to ease the panic creeping across my chest from her, I can’t explain the feeling that comes over me when she recognizes my soul.
Even though hers goes in four directions, she always knows who’s doing what.
That’s unbelievably captivating to me.
It feels…deeper.
I don’t even remember how my soul felt without hers attached to it.
“Oh, I have something,” Riven says, banging his hand on the table before snapping and pointing his finger at Thayla. “Remember that thing of mine you put in your mouth?”
Multiple groans sound around the table and Thayla’s face turns beet red as she sneers at him.
“I swear to the gods, Riven,” she grits out through clenched teeth.
“What?” he asks. “Oh…you freaks. I wasn’t talking about my penis. That unidentified fruit you ate.”
She sighs, closing her eyes as she splays her fingers across the table. “Why didn’t you just say that?”
“I couldn’t think of the word at first. I was too excited about the news.”
“Just spit it out.” I chuckle.
“So, with my new annoying responsibilities of keeping tabs on Plentiful duties, I went and checked on those trees we woke up and ran into the god who takes care of them. Turns out, I didn’t create a whole different fruit. Well, I did but didn’t. Apparently, some time ago, a Peechen orchid was planted there, and it died off. Or so they thought. When I woke up the currently planted trees, I also woke the roots of the old one up as well.”
Her eyes widen. “Holy shit. Then they merged together when your powers worked against you and basically created a cross between the two.”
“Don’t appreciate you adding that tidbit, but yes. Cool shit, am I right?”
A laugh bursts from her, and it drags one out of everyone at the table.
Riven jumps into the story of their adventure out to that farm while everyone else finally starts fixing plates. Between bites, Thayla corrects his overexaggeration with the truth of the events.
Hours pass in laughter like we haven’t experienced in a long time.
Undrugged, by the way.
My gaze drifts to Amick’s door every now and again. I’m torn between knowing that he needs some alone time, and that’s normal, while also hating that he’s missing out.
It’d please him to witness everyone in Yemi’s Valtrue actually getting along with each other and with us. He’s been stressing over their divide with Nero. He sees something in the Mediator that the rest of us can’t yet. Well, not completely anyway.
Tonight is showing me a different side of him.
