Thayla
Wood colliding with wood mingles with the grunts and groans that pierce my hearing as soon as my starshoot releases me.
Sevryn pops up right beside me, wearing a look of disgust that almost pulls a chuckle from my lips.
“Let’s find this big fucker, then go do what we’ve got to do,” he says.
Heads turn in our direction as we march through the many sparring matches. I don’t pay them any attention as my eyes stay peeled for Gladian. It really shouldn’t be this difficult to find his ass.
“You really don’t like him, huh?” I ask.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Do I need a reason?” he asks with a smart-ass arch in his brow.
“Not necessarily, but usually there’s a reason behind the level of dislike you have toward him. You had never even met him until our quest.”
He grunts, staring and shaking his head at the two male Defenders who are beating the shit out of each other a few feet to our left.
“He’s the reason my father turned out the way he is.”
My feet slam to a stop. “What?”
“Yeah. Once upon a time, they were best—”
“Godrun!”
We turn to the bellow of my name, and my blank face morphs into a sneer as not only Gladian and Mara march toward us, but so do Chasin, Mellcom, and Jeremiah.
“What are you doing here?” Gladian asks as soon as he approaches us.
“I need a word with you. Privately.”
He tilts his head to the side, nodding for the others to back off. Chasin’s the only one who walks away. Granted, I don’t give a shit if Mara hears, but the other two…
“Whatever you need to say to him, you can say to us, Thay.”
I drag my glare to Mellcom as his slimy-ass power coats my skin. My shoulders straighten and I grip the tingles racing down my spine.
“Back off, Bellame. Now,” Gladian warns, but Mellcom doesn’t remove his eyes from mine.
He takes a step forward, and I hold my arm out to stop Sevryn from getting in front of me.
Mellcom and Jeremiah scoff out laughs that make my eye twitch.
“If you’re here without your…Valtrue, then something’s going on. You can tell me, Thay.”
My heart rate kicks up as he moves a foot closer to me.
“Tell me—”
My fist connects with his mouth, and his body goes flying through the air until he soars through the barrier. Jeremiah bellows his name, running after him, while Sevryn throws his head back, laughing.
I stare down at my fist coated in white, glowing power, and attempt to shake it off as if that’ll send my power of Boundaries back into my spine where it’s supposed to be.
“Oops,” I say when I meet Gladian’s shocked expression.
“What the hell was that?”
“Just a little Chaos. Nothing to be concerned about.”
His eyes narrow.
“Despite his ass not fucking listening to my command, he was right. You wouldn’t be out here without your Valtrue unless something was wrong, so spit it out.”
With a snap of my finger, the parchment for signatures and a pen starshoots into my hand, and I hold it out toward him.
“I need you to sign this.”
He tentatively unrolls the parchment and his eyes widen comically. They flash from the paper to me numerous times.
“Where the hell is your Valtrue right now?”
“That’s none of your damn business,” Sevryn growls.
“It is my business if she’s asking me to put my damn neck on the line and sign this.”
“You worthless piece of—”
Again, my hand lands on Sevryn’s chest and he whips his attention down to me.
Looks most certainly can communicate.
His is saying you’ve got to be fucking kidding me.
Mine is telling him to back the hell off.
“In a little over twenty-six hours from now, they’re supposed to report to the Neutral for a hearing that would allow them to void the agreement made on their behalf under the Law of Doppia Disaccord.
They aren’t going to make it in time because they’re currently being held hostage by the Goddess of Creation.
I’m collecting the signatures for them, then I’m busting them out.
Any more questions or will you just fucking sign now? ”
If I thought his shock was comical before, it’s hilarious now.
“You’re serious?”
“Deadly.”
He holds my gaze for a moment longer, then passes me the parchment back. My scowl deepens.
“You’re not going to sign it for them? Are you kidding me?”
“I am. After we collect the other signatures.”
“We?” Sevryn and I say at the same time.
“No offence, Godrun, but you don’t know how to talk to gods. You got an issue with authority and you’re about to ask Domain Gods to sign something that basically draws the line in the sand on where they stand. You need me.”
My nostrils flare.
“I don’t have an issue with authority. I have an issue with fucking self-righteous assholes trying to control and lord over those they view as lesser. All I need from you is for you to embed your essence in your signature when you sign this.”
“And I said, I will. After.”
“Come on, Thayla. We don’t need his ass, and we don’t have time for this shit. We’ll pick another name off this list,” Sevryn says as he grips my bicep.
You’re going to find alliances from unlikely sources.
Don’t let old grudges or differences stop you from reaching your goals.
That doesn’t mean you forgive and forget.
My hands clench at my sides as Willow’s sage fucking advice runs through my mind without my say-so.
It’s really starting to piss me off that she was so right.
“Fine,” I grit out through my locked jaw.
“I’m going too.”
“The hell you are, Mara,” Gladian says, snapping his neck in her direction. She holds my stare, not his.
“Works for me,” I say, shrugging.
Simply out of spite.
Granted, she can whoop ass if need be, so…
Gladian doesn’t look nearly as excited now.
“If you’re coming, you’re going to need to grab real swords. You aren’t going to like where we’re heading next,” I say.
“Which is where?” he asks.
Sevryn lets out a low chuckle.
“Hell.”
“Fuck,” he and Mara mutter.
“Last chance to back out. We’re leaving now,” I say as I turn from them and march forward, starshooting the parchment and pen back to the dining room table at the house.
“Chasin! You’re in charge. We’ll be back.”
Gladian’s bellow reaches my ears as his feet pound the ground behind us. Mara reaches my side first.
“You’re serious right now?”
“Very.”
“So this is why you got dropped out of a starshoot on your ass in the Court yesterday, huh?”
“That bitch shoved me through a starshoot.”
Her sarcastic-ass chuckle forces a twitch in my lips. So glad she finds that funny.
“What’s the plan?” Gladian asks, and I peer over at him as he takes Mara’s other side.
“Meet us at the entrance of Hellveilious.”
Neither Sevryn nor I wait for them to ask or say anything else. Our starshoots carry us away and we step out two seconds later in front of the shimmering barrier.
The warm rays of sun heat my back, and I roll my shoulders out.
“You sure about this? I don’t trust that big fucker.”
“He’s more help than a threat right now. Plus, if he tries some shit, I can just leave him here.”
“That’s comforting to know,” Gladian scoffs, and I glance over my shoulder as he and Mara finally join us.
“It’s best you know now that betraying my men will land you here. Oh, and also, you can’t say a fucking word about this to Mellcom or Jeremiah.”
“That’s a given.”
I hum in response as I face the barrier once again.
“V, we’re stepping into Hellveilious. You’re sure I’ll be able to starshoot the parchment to me in here?”
“Yes, as long as you don’t have to travel out of the Division. If it looks like you have to, starshoot it then and carry it with you. Also, I don’t see the God of Strength’s signature. What happened?”
I give him a brief recap and let him know what’s going on. His chuckling hoot has my eyes rolling.
“He may have a point,” he says.
“Yeah, yeah. Don’t take his side over mine.”
“Never.”
I smirk as I take a step forward.
“I’ll keep you updated.”
The barrier welcomes me in, bathing me in a warmth that sinks into my bones. All the tension in my spine flees me for a moment until we step out on the other side.
“Where to now?” Mara asks.
Sevryn laughs beside me.
“We go down, then into the Division.”
Her confused features continue to twist, while Gladian’s face stays stone-cold.
“You ever been here, Gladian?” I ask.
“Unfortunately. It’s been twenty-eight years since my last visit.”
“Why did you come here then?”
He peers down at me, indecision warring in his eyes.
“Vihaan’s funeral, and the crowning of the new ruler.” He briefly glances at the swords—Creed’s swords—strapped to my back. “I’ll never forget the smirk on his face when his father passed him those swords.”
I swallow down the fury that bubbles in my throat.
“You realize he was a child, right? He was seven. All he knew was what he had been taught.”
His lips tighten.
“Yes. I realize that now. It took me some time, though. Vihaan was a very dear friend to me. Not only me.” He casts his gaze to Sevryn for a fleeting second, then steps toward the black abyss of doom.
It still makes me highly uncomfortable.
“We’re jumping into that?” Mara asks in the highest pitch I’ve ever heard her voice reach.
“Yep,” I say.
“Ready?” Sevryn asks as he wraps his fingers around my bicep. I don’t draw any attention to it, but it definitely helps the sweat starting to coat my skin.
“Ready.”
My eyes slam shut as we step off the edge and plummet through nothing. I fight back the bile that attempts to race up my throat and Sevryn holds me steady as I sway.
Glancing to the side and watching Mara cling to Gladian for dear life helps. A lot.
I bite back my snicker and scan the obsidian stone structure looming ahead.
Wordlessly, we stomp across the rubble ground and tension coils through my muscles the closer to the Division we get. My plan for this part was pretty simple.
If the guards by the door try to stop us, Sevryn or I will stab them, then carry on inside until we find that god who did everything Creed ordered.
See? Simple.
Just like last time, the guards slip out of the walls unannounced, swords at the ready and my arms flinch with the desire to reach back for my own.
Mara and Gladian withdraw their weapons.
Then the guards drop to a knee.
“Ma’am,” they both echo.