Page 31 of The Gods Order

“Yeah. Mellcom’s nor Jeremiah’s rooms ever disappeared.”

“Did they change on the inside?” I follow up.

She shrugs. “I wouldn’t know. The only time I saw them was after the Dark Gods and Harriseen tore everything apart. I haven’t been in either of them since.”

Ugh. That’s a horrible reminder.

“You seem flabbergasted, Gladdy. Are you really this surprised to find out how much the gods fuck with us?” Riven asks with a small chuckle.

“This isn’t just them fucking with us,” he shouts, and my eyes widen as he paces. I’ve never seen him so…emotional. “This is them manipulating an entire system.”

“Yeah, duh.” Riven snickers. “Get with the program.”

“How the hell do you expect me to get with a program no one tells me about?”

He tosses his hands up and Riven’s smirk grows. I reach over and grip his wrist, glaring at him to stop pushing right now.

Not the time.

“Why would you assume we’d keep you informed when you’ve been nothing but problematic with us for twenty years? We were mere teenagers upon our arrival here and had done nothing to you to deserve the treatment you gave us. Not to mention the unforgivable cruelty you showed our Binder,” Amick says.

Gladian stops in his tracks.

“No,” he says low. “You didn’t deserve the treatment I gave you. None of you did. I blamed you all for the sins of your father, then grouped Thayla in with you.”

Creed folds his arms, and his glare at Gladian deepens.

“Exactly which sins did he commit against you personally? Or you’ve just been taking everything he’s done to the realm out on us?”

For the first time since I’ve known him, the God of Strength hesitates to meet Creed’s stare. When he finally does, there’s no defensiveness or anger. He seems…I don’t know.

“My eldest brother was Vihaan, the God of Death.”

His words slam into us, and Creed goes rigid.

“What?”

“The god you killed that day in Hellveilious was my brother.”

The Court falls deathly silent. Not even Riven makes a peep.

My thoughts trip over themselves as I think back to the cryptic things he said when we went to Hellveilious. He hadn’t been there since Vihaan’s funeral.

“There were three of us once. Vihaan, me, and…our younger brother. We grew up together. Fought together. Covered each other’s asses more times than I can count. Especially our youngest brother’s.”

The way he said that makes my stomach tighten. A faint, bitter smile touches his mouth before disappearing with the hand he drags over his face.

Amick tilts his head to the side. “Why especially him?”

Fuck us. We know who that him is…

“Because he enjoyed doing things he shouldn’t have enjoyed doing.” His stare drifts somewhere distant and none of us utter a sound while he seems to pull himself out of his memories. “At first, it was small things. Punishments that went too far. Cruelty disguised as discipline. Vihaan and I cleaned up the messes. Buried complaints. Made excuses.”

“Why?” Riven asks.

“Because he was our brother.”

His answer is immediate, and my men look at each other. They know and understand how that is. They also know, though, there’s a fine line between unyielding loyalty and enabling abuse.