31. Kyzen #2
Whatever she heard…she doesn’t want to be the one to repeat it.
My fingers curl against my thighs. Riven’s crooked grin slowly disappears.
The corners of his mouth flatten until nothing remains of the humor that had been there seconds ago.
Creed straightens, his jaw locking so tightly the muscles feather beneath his skin.
Amick lowers his gaze to the ground between us, already preparing himself for whatever truth is about to rewrite everything he thought he knew.
I stop breathing.
I’ve learned over the last few months that when Thayla hesitates to say something, it’s for very clear reasons. She’s preparing to protect herself or protect us.
She can’t protect us from this, though. The truth waiting on her tongue is going to hurt no matter what. When she finally speaks, she doesn’t spare any of the story. She lays every crucial detail bare.
The original Gods Binding.
Our mother’s jealousy.
Kira.
The damage done to our souls before we’d ever taken our first breaths. The fact all four of them are connected, not only to each other, but him.
She tells us the entire story.
No one interrupts. No one asks her to stop.
We simply sit here and listen as every certainty we’ve ever had about our beginnings quietly comes apart.
Silence swallows us whole for a fleeting second once she’s done explaining these stains are here to stay forever.
Riven lets out a humorless huff of laughter before dragging both hands over his face.
“Well…” His voice cracks. “That somehow managed to be worse than every theory I came up with.”
Beside me, Amick’s head bows.
His fingers curl into loose fists against his knees, knuckles whitening as he silently works through every piece of what she’d just told us.
Creed doesn’t move at all.
His eyes remain fixed forward. I know that look. He’s replaying it. The vessels. The souls. The damage. He’s trying to understand what it means and how he can fix it.
I find I don’t have a question.
Not yet.
Only one thought continues to circle my mind.
We began our lives already a little damaged.
“So much for splitting our souls,” Amick says low.
“What does that mean?” Thayla asks.
Creed releases a long sigh, scowling at Amick.
“When the Vitos visited us, I noticed that it wasn’t just Willow’s soul attached to theirs.
Their souls were attached to hers. As one.
They said that’s the way of a Nexus. Then you told us everything Willow shared with you and the comment about us not being complete stayed in my mind.
I thought that meant I should split our souls and attach them to yours.
I’ve been planning on doing that, but I first wanted the stain on our souls gone so they didn’t spread to yours. Guess that isn’t happening.”
I shake my head. Both devastation and denial rage in me.
“But the pieces in us have been healing, changing. You said it yourself,” I say.
He fucking shrugs.
“What I see changing could be stains, but that doesn’t change the fact if we carry a piece of Kira’s soul in us, they aren’t being attached to hers.”
I hate that I agree.
I fucking hate that our father has stolen something so precious from us.
I really, really loathe that she’s already explained we can’t kill him.
It’s a bitter pill to swallow when that’s what we’ve wanted, planned to do for more than half our lives. We just have to fucking recognize, evil or not, he’s a part of the foundation of this realm.
I’m going to make his life fucking miserable as he rots away with no power.
Thayla clears her throat multiple times while drying off her face and rolling her shoulders out. After she wipes her hands across her thighs a few times, seriousness settles over her.
“There’s one more thing,” she says, then lowers her tone as though she’s afraid someone other than us will hear.
“Apparently, she had shared too much with me and when she went to continue doing so, the Valories, I don’t know, gave her a message, I suppose.
She then told me she had already said too much. ”
She glances at each of us, holding our gazes with a newfound intensity.
“When she hugged me bye, she whispered in my ear, ‘When the seven become one, he’ll make his move. Don’t wait for him. Make yours first.’”
I mull over those words, working them out in my mind.
Amick’s faster than all of us.
“We don’t need to prepare for his retaliation,” he mutters. “We prepare our own.”
“Our own?” Riven asks.
“Yes,” Amick says, pushing himself up off the ground.
He wipes his pants off, murmuring under his breath as his head bobs up and down like he’s already agreeing with something.
“Share what you’re thinking,” I say, standing and pulling Thayla up with me.
Riven and Creed jump up as well.
“We need to get home. We’ve got a lot to do today.”
“Give us a little more than that, will you?” I ask, calling out to him as he stomps toward Val.
His footsteps slow as he pivots back around to face us.
“We’re not going to give him the opportunity to build back his strength completely, then take his wrath out on Godsden when he senses his connection to the Binding sever. We put all seven replicas back into the Binding, then we attack.”
I blink at him, then peer at Thayla and the other two.
A slow smile stretches across her face as she eyes Amick up and down.
“We’re going to wage war on the Abandon.”
“Yes.” He nods. “Again.”
A little giggle pours from Riven as he skips ahead to catch up with Amick. He’s already barking orders at Val to take us home and summon everyone.
Creed marches forward to catch up with them.
My power stirs beneath my skin and a deep acceptance like no other I’ve felt before flares through my blood. The hair at the nape of my neck stands on end.
I lace my fingers through Thayla’s and our eyes meet.
“What’s wrong?” she asks.
I shake my head.
“It’s time, little goddess.”