Page 50 of The Gods Order

Val and Meridamus narrow their gazes at him. Those features fade when they glance at my blank stare.

“I don’t like being manipulated into a situation I don’t want to be in,” I say, then starshoot the Bindings to the house.

“V, there are two Bindings in Amick’s bedroom. Will you get them and put them with the others, please?”

“Of course.”

I hold my hand up, stopping Val and Meridamus from speaking.

“You both could’ve handed them over in good faith and with no strings attached. That isn’t the approach you decided on. You deal with the consequences of that decision.”

“Thayla, please. That wasn’t what I was trying to do.”

“No?” I tilt my head. “You weren’t trying to find a way to force me to spend time with you since Derivius clearly told you I didn’t want that?”

“No. Not force or manipulate. Encourage. Offer.”

“Then why didn’t you just encourage and offer?”

His mouth opens and closes repeatedly. Eventually, he scowls at Meridamus like this is all his fault.

“What? Did you tell him there’d be consequences? Did you warn him I’d say no?”

“Yes,” Meridamus admits.

“Well, then you’re an idiot.” I shrug. Riven giggles at the offense on his face. “The whole point of this meeting was to see how we could work together. Me avoiding you two is irresponsible, given everything going on. We wanted to know your roles and how you planned to help us. If you had simply offered to train me, I might’ve said no at first. Then I would’ve gone home, talked to the guys, realized I was letting my emotions get in the way, and made a different choice. Now I don’t have a choice at all.”

The realization settles over both of them. Val’s eyes shatter. Meridamus rubs the back of his neck.

Lesson learned. For all of us.

“Amick, Kyzen,” I mutter, asking without asking for one of them to take over.

“When do you plan on making your return known to the realm?” Amick asks Val.

He exhales, long and slow.

“I haven’t decided. It won’t be impulsive or without reason. The longer Kira doesn’t know I’m back, the better.”

Understandable and an advantage.

The last thing we need to do is provoke the God of Obliteration into doing something rash. Like destroying the Godsdawn looking for him.

“What happens when the seven replicas reunite with the original Gods Binding?”

They blink repeatedly like Amick’s question was the last thing they expected. He notices their hesitation and keeps going.

“Will it strip your power?”

“Yes and no.”

“We’re not doing that,” Kyzen says, staring Meridamus down. “You won’t be vague with us, and we won’t be vague with you.”

Val steps forward an inch, inclining his head. “It won’t strip the powers we were created with, but it severs our direct connection and the boost we get from the Gods Binding. We’d have to go to the original Binding to wield it.”

“That means no more manipulating Valtrue pairings or releasing and taking power away on a whim,” Creed grunts.

“Correct. We’d have to lay our hands on the original Binding,” Val says.