Amick
My lungs fill with my centering breath.
I release it and the grip I have on the stone podium slowly.
There’s no time for me to mull over the many reasons why suddenly ours and Riven’s mother seem to care so much about our situation.
That’s not a topic for discussion today, or any day soon.
“The status of our completed Valtrue, and anything to do with or about our Binder is irrelevant to this trial.”
My gaze stays locked on Rellannaver, the Goddess of Accord. Her stare is as unwavering as mine.
“Very well, God of Knowledge.” She glances down at what I assume is her parchment detailing everything she intends to address. “We’ve examined the bodies presented as proof and require clarity on their condition.”
I nod so she’ll continue to her point.
“Whose barrier is surrounding and prohibiting their decomposition?”
“Ms. Yemi Andino’s.”
“Step forward, Ms. Andino.”
Yemi’s footsteps echo behind me until she appears at my side. The tremble I saw on her lips earlier is no longer there, and her eyes are as sharp as ever.
Good.
I don’t know what she did to snap herself out of her nerves, but I’m pleased she did.
She flinches the tiniest bit as the Goddess of Accord starshoots from her seat, appearing only a few feet in front of us.
“Your hand, Ms. Andino.”
Yemi’s fingers lack a tremor as she lays them against the Goddess of Accord’s, and she keeps her facial features neutral.
“A being of Boundaries. It’s been some time since we’ve seen a power such as that.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“I can confirm it is your power surrounding the bodies of the slain Attendants, but it isn’t completely yours. Step forward, Ms. Godrun.”
“Oh, that’s fucking—”
Whatever Riven was going to continue saying is hushed, undoubtedly by Kyzen. Hence why I told him to stay beside him at all times.
I almost wish he’d continue, though, just so his disruption would take the attention off Thayla.
My heart thunders in sync with her sure steps. It takes every bit of self-control not to lace my fingers with hers or stroke her soul as she stands beside me.
I keep my face as impassive as possible.
“Your hand.”
My sweet, protective Binder’s face isn’t nearly as relaxed as Yemi’s or mine. She can’t hide her true feelings for the goddess before us. Not entirely anyway.
The actual level of her hatred isn’t obvious, but close.
Rellannaver only touches her for a moment before she’s snatching her hands back.
“I shouldn’t be surprised, but I am. A being of Chaos isn’t what I would’ve assumed. You are strong, though. That isn’t a surprise, given your Pairing.” She holds Thayla’s gaze, searching for something. “Can you explain how a touch of your power mingled around the bodies with Ms. Andino’s?”
Truth to an extent, Mysenta.
“The Attendants cornered and attacked the two of us in the Athenaeum. The last thing I remember was punching one of them, then passing out from the drugs blown in my face. I’m not sure how or when my power reacted.”
“Drugs?”
“I believe that’s a part of Amick’s evidence.”
She nods once before starshooting away without another word.
“You both may step back. Amick, explain this event and present any evidence you have.”
From the moment I realized Thayla and Yemi had disappeared that day in the Athenaeum until we reached them in Hellveilious, I explain only the relevant details.
“How could you have been made aware they were in Hellveilious?”
My blank stare shifts to my father. The dimples in his cheeks make my jaw lock.
“Creed was made aware.”
“Step forward, my favorite son.”
I don’t bristle or shift from the comment. It’s always bothered Creed far more than us that he blatantly announces who he loves the most.
I know he doesn’t love me at all.
“Tell us how you were made aware.”
Creed stares into our father’s eyes. “The pull of her soul. Her soul is pure, and the moment she stepped out of the barrier surrounding the fighting rings, I felt the call.”
“You were in enough danger, Ms. Godrun, that your soul called out for death?”
The smirk on my father’s face screams that he believes he’s got us.
“Well, the God of Judgment had just announced a sudden death match, so yes, my soul called for the God of Death.”
“Death match?” the Goddess of Creation gasps.
“Another irrelevant topic for this trial,” I say.
Her eyes soften on me in a way they always have. It’s as confusing now as it was when I was a child. What’s the point of looking at someone with such tenderness if you’re not tender at all?
“Aside from the bodies, what proof do you have that Harriseen orchestrated this event?” Rellannaver asks.
I reach into my breastplate and pull out the illusion cube I took from Harriseen’s office the day I murdered him.
Something about it has always called to me, and all these years I’ve chalked it up to wanting it because of its rarity. When Kyzen and I stepped into that chaotic, disorganized monstrosity of an office to search for evidence against him, my attention locked onto it and wouldn’t waver.
The second I touched it, I saw why.
The truth of what he was hiding in this box.
I lay my hand on top of the illusion cube, surrounding it in my essence so it’ll open.
Carefully, one by one, I pull out the small, but undisputable, evidence.
“The Attendants didn’t act independently. They acted under order. This is the remainder of the powder used to drug Ms. Godrun and Ms. Andino when they were kidnapped and taken to Hellveilious. I located it in Harriseen’s desk.”
I hold the small little pouch flat in my palm and the Goddess of Accord starshoots it from my hand.
“Now, Amick, possession doesn’t prove instruction, dear boy.” Sabelline chuckles low as she leans toward the drug as if she’s truly interested.
“Of course it doesn’t. If you wish to disregard all the facts such as, this substance was located in his private office, the murdered Attendants didn’t possess abilities that could produce this drug or afford to acquire it with the exchange of power or gold, then maybe the signed decree declaring permission for the Attendants to pass in and out of Hellveilious will. ”
“Harriseen signed an official decree for Ms. Godrun’s and Ms. Andino’s extradition to Hellveilious?” my father asks with a disbelieving chuckle.
“He did. In the name of,” my attention turns. “Derivius, Beginning God of Chaos.”
“He did what?”
Derivius snaps his fingers and the parchment that we took from the God of Judgment that day in Hellveilious disappears from my hand.
We didn’t intend to keep this from him after we made the decision to act oblivious after Thayla’s kidnapping. That’s simply the way it worked out since after a short time, we were sent on our quest for the Binding.
I, though, have always had a tendency to keep everything that shows me the truth.
That parchment has been sitting on my bookshelf since that day.
Waiting for its purpose to be served.
“He almost got it perfect, but not quite,” Derivius says with a small smirk.
“Oh, Chaos. Don’t attempt to cover for them,” my father says. “Admit to them you sent their Binder to Hell.”
The two of them glare at one another.
“I did no such thing, nor did I sign this. Rella will be able to tell that.”
The Goddess of Accord holds her hand out, not bothering to cast Derivius a glance.
Her eyes and finger scan across the parchment as she hums.
“Almost, but not quite,” she finally states. “He didn’t drag the swirl of Derivius’s C out far enough.”
My father’s eyes narrow as she passes him the parchment as well.
“This proves someone forged Chaos’s signature. Not Harriseen explicitly.”
“Very well, dismiss that crime. Which, mind you, forgery and imitation of a Beginning God is punishable by death. A law all of you wrote.” I shift my gaze from my father’s sneer back to the Goddess of Accord.
“This is the dagger that showed me Harriseen’s truth when I touched it at the Power Worthiness Test.”
She nods, starshooting the weapon from my hand.
“You expect us to believe that just because you say so?” Sabelline asks, but I pay her no mind. My attention stays on Rellannaver.
I may not have any care or respect for her, but I can and do acknowledge that, out of all the Beginning Gods, she will be the most logical and unbiased. It’s her very nature to be that way, and I will capitalize on that.
She examines his dried blood left on the blade, then flicks her focus back to me.
“His essence is embedded in this object,” she states, passing the dagger to Sabelline, who then passes it to my father.
I set my sights on him and what reaction he’ll have now.
He scoffs without glancing at it before passing it back around.
“It may be his object, but all that confirms is it’s your murder weapon, not his.”
He doesn’t even attempt to hide the disdain in his tone. I knew prior to stepping into this place, I was already fighting against two Beginning Gods’ votes and that they’d be willing and ready to argue every point I made.
“It is,” I agree. “But it’s his as well. His embedded dagger doesn’t just cut, or in this case, stab. It witnesses. Every action taken with it is inscribed in Harriseen’s personal records that he kept on himself. I found it locked in his office, in this very illusion cube.”
“How did you get into his locked illusion cube without his essence?” my moth—Calista asks.
“I had his essence.” I nod at the dagger the Goddess of Accord sets in front of her.
Instead of waiting for her, I starshoot his book that holds all his confessions inside in front of her.
All their eyes move toward it.
A hum behind me, and the small stroke against my soul fills my very being with warmth.
Thayla’s confidence in me is so addictively potent.
Even when my secretive, sometimes falsely nonchalant mannerisms drive her crazy, she supports me.
I felt like such a failure as I sat in her bathtub, coming down from the sexual high, and sitting with the weight of what I had done.