Thayla
Gods, this day will go down in history as the most awkward in my life.
Fuck, I can’t even process this.
One second, I was mentally losing my shit over whether Obliteration was going to make enough snide comments to have the goddesses agreeing with him that Amick acted with ill-will.
The next, I’m literally standing in the Goddess of Creation’s house.
I’m so ready to go the hell back home.
“Here it is. Please forgive me if something isn’t to your liking. I obviously don’t know you personally, but I do have a way of getting a sense of people.”
“I’m sure it’s beautiful.”
She returns my smile.
I believe both our gestures are fake.
I can’t exactly get a read on her. Her words, for the most part, are spoken so sweetly. The glimmer in her citrine eyes, though, says there’s something very strange lurking around inside of her.
She motions for me to open the door, and I do so without wasting a moment. The faster she gives me this little tour, hopefully, that means the faster we can leave.
My eyebrows most certainly reach my hairline when I get my first glimpse of the grand room.
My first two steps in are slow as my eyes trace everything.
Holy shit. How in the realm did she do this so quickly?
It’s absolutely massive. It seems to be as big as all the guys’ rooms put together. I don’t even know where to focus first.
The large four-poster bed, wall of windows covered in white curtains, the sitting area, the bookshelves, the small, delicate plants decorating the space…
Wow.
Granted, it’s not my taste. There’s far too much white, cream, and gold, but besides that, everything about the room is stunning.
“You love it. I can tell. You haven’t even seen the best part, though.”
With no warning, she grips my elbow and tugs me farther into the room toward the only other door in the space.
My feet nearly trip me up as soon as we enter the bathroom.
What the fuck?
My eyes scan the three Attendants kneeling on the tile floor with their heads bowed.
“These will be your personal Attendants. They’ll make sure all of your needs are taken care of so you can be your most beautiful self every day. Let me show you your closet.”
My mouth gapes and my stare wills the Attendants to look at me.
They won’t.
They don’t move.
I don’t even take in the actual bathroom as she pulls me along through the archway in the wall. Again, I nearly trip over myself.
I’ve never seen a closet so big in my life.
It’s got to be as big as my room back in the Godsdawn.
“How…is it already full?” I ask.
“Oh, silly girl. I’m the Goddess of Creation. A snap of my fingers and all of this was ready for you. And no worries, if I got the sizing off, it’ll shrink or…grow to your body once you put something on.”
I’m pretty sure she was just talking shit about my body.
“Why did you do all of this?” I ask before I can stop myself.
She gives me a sad smile as she links her arm through mine again and guides me back out of the room.
The Attendants still won’t budge. I only know they’re alive because their chests are moving softly with their breaths.
“Can I be honest with you, goddess to goddess?” she asks as we make it to the edge of the bed.
“Uh, sure.”
She pats the spot next to her as she sits down.
I slowly lower myself.
“It’s been very clear to me that the boys aren’t very comfortable here just yet.
Since you all arrived, they’ve looked to you for approval, guidance, to check on you.
I figured if I gave you the grandest space and made you more comfortable, they’d follow suit. You have a lot of influence over them.”
“I wouldn’t call it influence. We work as a team, like a completed Valtrue should.”
“I can’t believe no one told me they were in a completed Valtrue. Mothers should be informed of these things.”
I don’t say anything as she huffs and her shoulders sag.
To be honest, I don’t know what to say to her.
It’s clear now she’s trying to compensate for not being in their lives, but she’s trying to do it with stuff.
My men don’t give a shit about stuff.
“So tell me everything. What do my boys love to do? How have they been? My poor sweet Kyzen doesn’t talk a lot anymore. He must be so sad, but Amick seems to speak now, so that’s a good thing. Has Creed gotten his…issues under control or does he still rely on Rella’s son?”
I blink. Obsessively.
It’s a battle to get my anger in check while also trying to process all the shit she just asked.
“Kyzen and Amick speak plenty, and they’re both very happy. Creed has no issues, and Rella’s son’s name is Riven.”
There’s no hiding the bite in my tone, but it doesn’t faze her. She waves me off.
“Of course, of course. You need to tell me everything about them.”
“I don’t need to do anything. These are questions you should be asking your sons if it’s so important to you to get to know them.”
An annoyed breath falls from her lips as she slaps her hands on her thighs and stands.
“I have tried since you all arrived. Their clipped words give me nothing. Hence why I’m asking you.”
My forehead wrinkles as I stand from the bed.
“So you separated me from them so you could question me about them?”
“Well, obviously. If they won’t open up to me, then you will.”
A small, stunned laugh falls from my lips. “You can’t force them to open up. It’s also not my place to tell you about them, nor would I do that to them.”
She cocks her head to the side, studying me.
“You care about them very much.”
The calculation in her statement is clear, and I know I’ve set myself up.
Four frantic caresses across my soul hit me as soon as I open my mouth. It’s like they knew she was setting me up to spill our secret.
I despise lying about our relationship, but we talked about this. We knew her and the Goddess of Accord finding out I was their Binder was inevitable, but every other aspect of our relationship we needed to keep to ourselves.
“Well, yeah. They’re my Valtrue.”
“Just your Valtrue, Ms. Godrun?”
She takes a step closer to me, and my fingers flex at my side.
“Yes.”
She hums. That quiet noise morphs into an unhinged laugh as her eye twitches.
I stand statue-still as she falls apart. The hair on the back of my neck rises as she holds my stare the entire time.
My soul stretches toward the guys, giving them a sharp tug. Hopefully, they understand that means get the fuck in here now.
“I see it all so clearly.” She sighs. “Rella may be the one who can tell when someone’s lying to her, but I’m Creation. I create life. I know when someone’s life revolves around another. Your life revolves around my boys, and their lives revolve around you.”
She steps closer, leaving less than an arm’s length between us. I allow my face to fall blank as I hold her stare.
“I figured making you happy would have them opening up to me, but that’s not going to be the case.” Her eye twitches again, and a sickly sweet smile crosses her lips. I have a desperate desire to step back, but the bed is blocking my way.
That smile slowly fades into a scowl the longer she stares at me.
“You’ve stolen them from me.”
My gaze widens and my mouth parts.
“Stolen? You think I’ve stolen your grown sons whom you haven’t seen in twenty years from you?”
“Don’t take that tone with me,” she shouts before taking a deep breath and closing her eyes.
Yeah…time to get the fuck out of here.
Don’t sass her anymore.
“Maybe we should get back to them. I’ll tell them how lovely my room is, and I’ll encourage them to have a conversation with you.”
She exhales and flutters her lashes at me. A terrifying calm clouds her gaze.
“As long as you’re here, they’re only going to care about you. Not me. I can’t have that. I need my sons to give me a chance.”
“I can assure you, harming me isn’t going to give you that chance. If you think they’re closed off now, touch me and see what they do.”
She sighs dreamily.
I snatch my soul.
The crazy Kyzen warned me about is really showing now.
“I have no intentions of harming you. I simply…need you out of my way. If you aren’t here to distract them, then we can actually have some mother-son bonding time. It was very nice meeting you, Ms. Godrun.”
“What does that—”
The air gets knocked out of my lungs as she shoves me back against the bed. Bright light steals my sight before I even hit the sheets and my stomach lurches.
My head slams down against a solid surface and I gasp for breath as my eyes shut tight. The struggling breaths leave my lungs at a speed my racing heart can’t keep up with.
My fingers clench around the sh—not sheets.
Soft murmurs pierce the panic in my ears and I sling myself up.
What the fuck?
I shove myself to my feet, kicking dirt everywhere as I stare around at the Defenders in the Court, who are gawking at me.
“You stupid, crazy bitch,” I scream at the sky.
“Damn, I haven’t even done anything to you today.”
I spin around, heaving as I lock eyes with Mara. Her brows are drawn down as she takes me in.
“What the hell are you wearing?” she asks.
“A swimsuit, obviously.”
She cocks her head to the side.
“A fucking gown, Mara. What does it look like?”
I whirl back around and stomp toward the exit of the Court.
“I’m going to kill that fucking cunt when I get my hands on her. I swear to the Valories, I’m going to strangle her with her own damn flowers.”
“Geez. Who pissed you off so bad today?”
I cut my eyes to the side. “Leave me alone, Mara. I’m not in the mood.”
“Obviously.”
“Godrun!”
My jaw locks and my head jerks. Ever so slowly, I turn around and glare at Gladian as he stomps across the Court toward us.
“What the hell are you doing here? It’s my time and I could smell your Chaos in my chambers.”
My nostrils twitch. “Came to get Mara’s opinion on my attire. She doesn’t approve, so I’m going to change.”
I turn around, but before I can take a step, he grips my arm. I stare at where his meaty fingers flinch around the bracelet on my bicep.
Not my Chaos, you gargantuan fuck.
He should probably be happy about that right now.
“Gladian. Let me go.”
My warning rings loud and clear.