Page 51 of The Gods Order

I subtly cut my eyes to Derivius.

He knew that. That’s why he did what he did. He stole Sabe’s Binding so she had no access to the original. Only the knockoff Veil in the Abandon.

“Tell me, ol’ Boundaries,” Riven says, “have you always guarded the original Binding?”

“Not around the clock, but yes, over the years. I only came physically if I sensed Kira pass through the barrier. I arrived the other night when I felt you all pass the first door.”

I didn’t need his timeline, but the back-and-forth makes sense.

Too much sense.

“And after you abandoned our dear sweet Binder, did you come back every time our father summoned us?” Riven asks.

“I did.”

“So you skipped right on through Oddian without—”

“Riven,” I mumble, shaking my head. He sucks his teeth and lifts his hands.

I know he means well, but I’m not opening that line of discussion any further.

“It was him,” Kyzen says, pointing at Val but staring at Derivius.

“You’ll have to be more specific, my boy. Good ol’ Val has done a lot of things,” Derivius says, winking at him.

Kyzen scoffs. “When Harriseen sent the correspondence requesting Thayla be banned from the quest, I asked you if you thought he’d sent a message to our father. You said you’d know if he did. It was him. He would’ve relayed it to you.”

“Ah.” Derivius’s teasing smirk shifts into guilt. “Yes. Val’s barrier is rigged to notify him of all things Kira related. And all things Tha—”

“Enough, Chaos.”

I cross my arms.

He was going to say Thayla related. Of course.

“The path we’re working on is locating the original Binding and gathering the replicas,” Amick says, getting everyone back on track. “We have two left.”

“Kira’s and Rella’s,” Meridamus says.

We nod.

“I’m still sifting through options, but we’ll have to go to the Abandon to acquire our father’s. There’s no way around it.”

I flinch, even though it isn’t surprising. We just haven’t fully discussed it. I’m not naïve, though. It’s not like we can just ask him for it.

Meridamus’s expression hardens. “You say that like entering the Abandon is merely inconvenient.”

“It’s extremely inconvenient,” Amick says. “And dangerous, unpredictable, and guaranteed to end in bloodshed. But it’s still necessary.”

They fall still, absorbing the weight of his words.

Val rubs his face, then sighs.

“The Abandon has changed.”

“Yeah, no shit. Our father’s passing out power like sweet treats,” Riven says.

“He is, and it’s eating away at my barrier.”