Page 211 of The Gods Order

“Why didn’t you all want the five of us to be raised together?” Amick asks.

I ball my fists at my sides.

“The prophecy.”

He stares at me intently, hanging on to every word that leaves my lips as I repeat everything Mellcom said to me in the Veil. It doesn’t take more than that for understanding to dawn across everyone.

“Sabe never figured out it was you two?” I ask.

Meridamus and my father shake their heads.

“She blamed me for a while,” Derivius says. “She and Kira kept me incredibly close for years after that so they could keep an eye on me.”

“That’s why you were around nonstop?” Kyzen asks, and Derivius nods.

“And they never blamed you? Not once?” I ask again, focusing on Meridamus. “It wasn’t suspicious to them at all that you just kept disappearing?”

“That’s always been my nature. During the times that I had to come back to Godsden for extended periods, the…Etains kept Mellcom.”

Jeremiah’s family.

Of course.

I shake my head once as I place my hands on my hips and glare at the floor for a long moment.

Then I glance at Derivius.

“Did you know in the Veil he was the god who spoke to Mellcom? Did you lie to me?”

“No,” he states firmly. “At that point, I truly didn’t know. I had my suspicions, yes, but that was never a part of the plan they shared with me. He didn’t admit the truth until I confronted him when he approved Harriseen’s request for their fake Valtrue to join you all on the search for Sabe’s Binding. After that, I knew I couldn’t tell you the truth yet. It would lead to more questions and answers too soon.”

I stare at nothing and breathe. No one attempts to fill my silence. That annoys me more than anything. By this point, answers should be offered without me having to ask questions.

Guess that’s not how this is going to go.

“Why?” I ask, lifting my head to meet Meridamus’s gaze once more.

My voice cracks around the single word.

“Why leave us?” I take another step toward him. “Then, eleven years later, why come to Mellcom in a dream and tell him to do the one thing you spent years drilling into our heads never to do?”

I shake my head again, unable to stop.

“Why leave us a note saying you were going to help my parents? Why disappear without another explanation?” My chest rises sharply. “Why build our lives one way…only to turn around and unravel everything you’d taught us?”

My hands fall uselessly to my sides.

“Just…why?”

He holds my gaze without flinching.

“I left because my part in raising you had ended.”

A humorless smile touches his lips before disappearing just as quickly.

“I knew you wouldn’t see it that way. I knew you’d believe I’d abandoned you as well. I accepted that consequence the moment I walked away.”

His eyes drift toward my men for the briefest second before returning to me.