Page 337 of The Gods Order

Thayla races to the surface of the glass, and an amazed laugh spills from her lips. We gawk in astonishment as he leads the first Vedaryas to touch our realm.

The stars shift once more, showing glimpses rather than lingering.

The Court. The Sanctum. The Athenaeum. Their bedrooms.

The first souls arriving.

The first time the realm became something more than land and power.

It feels like we’re standing in time itself.

Slowly, the moments fade. Anylah and the Eye return us to the present, but the awe remains.

“The stars have always been beautiful,” she whispers. “But so few know that they are so much more than light.”

“That’s going to change,” I say and every head turns toward me. “In due time, it’s all going to change. The realm will know.”

No one responds. They know it’s true.

Standing here, surrounded by the history of every soul that came before us, I understand something more now than I ever have.

Time isn’t only what we lose. It isn’t only precious because it can pass us by. The time coming is just as special. It provides us with the chance to heal. To grow.

The chance to become something greater than what came before.

Thayla wraps her hand through the crook of my elbow and lays her head against my arm as my swelling emotions continue to rise. My brothers close in around us, pumping their own readiness down my soul.

For the first time in a very long time…

None of us are afraid of what tomorrow will bring.

Amick

41

I truly despise the three new chairs in my office in the Athenaeum.

They are ghastly to look at every day.

Thayla’s single one is fine. An additional one for each of my brothers is ridiculous. They’re more than capable of standing. I shake my head at the monstrosities and focus back on the parchment spread across my desk.

Four parchments to four different regions. All saying the same thing.

We’re canceling the upcoming Veiling Day.

We aren’t ready to start distributing power out to the realm. Not as in mentally or emotionally ready. We’re logically not there. So many details still have to be worked out, and it’s a process that, despite my fixation, can’t be rushed.

Over the last three months since the battle, our focus has been almost entirely on the Abandon.

The new Seductions has been destroyed. It went up in an even bigger blaze of glory this second time since Riven had Vulius make him a perfect concoction of whatever. I will admit it was impressive.

All the training locations our father and Seveous had assembled were also annihilated.

We saved our father’s house for last.

Together, my brothers and I walked the halls one last time, letting the nightmares surface, then fade with the ash our Binder turned it into.

Decimating his Veil took a good bit of effort because all the corrupt power had retreated to the safety of its existence. The second it was gone, though, a pulse flowed through the Abandon, snatching any lingering corruption out of the inhabitants living there.