Page 59 of The Gods Order

His fist bangs against the table while his other hand grips onto Creed for dear life. Even my most grumpy of brothers can’t hold back his amusement in this moment.

Amick doesn’t hide the smile on his face despite the fact he’s shaking his head.

Valories…

Despite all the shit going on in our lives, this is peace.

This is time well spent with the people I love.

Thayla

8

The morning air does little to settle my full stomach.

After my men had their wicked way with me, we devoured every last cookie Creed baked in my bed. I went to sleep with a smile on my face, my vagina fluttering, and a belly full of sugar.

I still wasn’t hungry when I woke, but my nerves had me gorging on the feast Creed’s nerves made him cook for breakfast. He obviously won’t admit he’s nervous on my behalf, but the signs are clear.

None of us would ever eat that heavily before going to the Court, but that didn’t stop us this morning. Granted, the training about to take place here won’t be like what we do there, but I have zero idea what Val and Meridamus have planned.

Fuck me, I hope Yemi agrees to come with me.

That should deter any unwanted conversations.

“We don’t have long,” Amick says, and I nod, tearing my attention from the tree line.

My slow steps carry me to Yemi’s back door, and the contents in my stomach slosh around more. I’m not nervous to talk to her or Doren about what we’re asking him to do. It’s simply because as soon as we’re done, we have to go to the front lawn.

Just get over it. This is what you agreed to. So stupid.

Not two knocks later, Yemi’s back door swings open with enough force that I’m shocked it doesn’t come off the hinges.

“Well,” Sevryn says, leaning against the doorframe with entirely too much attitude for this early in the morning. “You all look emotionally unstable. Should we get our armor on?”

A snort escapes me, easing some of the swirling in my belly.

“Emotionally unstable? You’ve been spending a lot of time with Iric,” Creed says, smirking.

“Yeah. Tell me about it.” He rolls his eyes and crosses his arms. “You all look pissy. So armor or what?”

“Maybe in a few hours. Depends on how the morning goes,” I say.

“Fucking lovely,” he groans, turning from the door without actually inviting us in.

I shake my head and follow his grumpy ass.

“Uh-oh,” Yemi calls from the kitchen where she and Doren are cleaning the counters and washing dishes. “If you’re paying us a home visit this early, the plans for the day have changed.”

“You’re so smart,” I tease, plopping onto a stool at her counter.

“Just recognizing the patterns.” She laughs.

Amick clearly isn’t in a “let’s gradually move into this conversation” mood. He clears his throat, gains everyone’s attention, then jumps straight into explaining the discussion we had last night with Val and Meridamus.

I cut my eyes at him as he finishes addressing Doren. I intended to approach our request as just that—a request. Amick approached it as, this is what we need you to do.

“Doren, don’t feel obligated to drain yourself dry to do this for us,” I say, daring my Candyman with my eyes to argue. “We know this is a big ask.”