Page 319 of The Gods Order

“The Valories told me when the realm changed, you changed. Are you changing again?”

“I have already. I began shifting the moment you five returned my missing pieces.”

“How?” I ask.

“This conversation, for starters. It once took great power for me to reach out directly. My communication was limited. Much of my guidance was misconstrued or manipulated. Now, the realm no longer requires prophecy or silence. It has begun to find its order.”

A shiver races over my skin as the essence pulses.

“When guidance is needed, you will hear me. You will feel me. You will know what the realm requires. What you do with that knowledge will always remain your choice.”

“What’s your opinion on murder?”

Oh my gods.

My eyes drift shut as Kyzen, Creed, and Amick glare at Riven.

“In what sense?”

Dear Gods Binding, please don’t feed into him.

“As in, it’s my opinion there are still gods with power they don’t deserve, who contributed too much to corruption to still be alive.”

“Then it would be in your power to remove their power. And when the time comes to restore power, you will be able to. As long as the realm stays balanced.”

“Hold on—” A disbelieving laugh bursts out of me as I raise my hands. “What do you mean in our power? You’re giving us the ability to remove and distribute power? Isn’t that toeing the line of the same mistake as last time?”

“It is the same ability wielded by those before you. You will choose what to do with it. No replicas of me will be needed. You will simply call for me. I will answer.”

My hands drag down my face. That is a fuck ton of responsibility and trust.

“Well, works for me.”

My head snaps toward Riven.

“What?”

He shrugs, mismatched eyes drifting over all of us.

“I’m in.”

Silence.

Utter silence.

Kyzen blinks. Creed stares like he’s trying to determine if someone replaced him. Even Amick looks mildly disturbed.

“What?” Riven asks.

“You don’t even like responsibilities,” I say. “We have wanted to right the realm so we could avoid more.”

He rolls his eyes.

“Let’s be real. This is different. Could we actually walk out of here and pretend we didn’t hear any of this?” He doesn’t wait for an answer. “Could we go back, watch everything unfold, and let someone else deal with it after everything we’ve done?”

We gape. Riven sighs.

“No, none of us could. We know what happens when people with power decide they don’t want responsibility. We’ve spent our entire lives fixing the mess everyone else left behind. You think I’m going to spend the next few centuries watching someone else screw up what I—we—just fixed?”