Thayla #3
“I create what is requested,” she continues. “I shape what is needed. I don’t decide how it’s used once it exists.”
“That’s an easy out. A way to alleviate any responsibility and accountability.”
“It’s my boundary.”
Her voice never rises in defense.
She truly believes staying neutral keeps the fault off her.
“You’re powerful enough to say no. To refuse. To stop it.”
“Yes.” Her immediate agreement throws me, and my face flinches. “I am. But that would require me to decide who is right and who is wrong. And I don’t do that.”
“People suffer, have suffered because you just do as you’re asked without asking any questions of your own.”
“Yes. I’m aware, unfortunately.”
Unfortunately…
Something in my chest twists. Anger, frustration, and something heavier tangled in between.
I shake my head and fall into the abyss of Ellian’s saddened gaze.
He sees what I see.
“Why did you have a child?”
My swift shift in the conversation seems to take her by surprise, but her face falls, uninterested once again.
“The Goddess of Creation was pleased with some assistance I provided her and asked if I’d like to be blessed with a child. I accepted, just as I’ve always accepted any gifts they offer me.”
Gifts…she says it as though Annalise was nothing more than a piece of fine art given to her to put on display.
The estrangement is completely clear now.
Her answer settles over me. It’s a weightless answer for her, judging by how relaxed she is. Yet it’s suffocating to me. How can she be so…
The realization slaps me in the face.
The neutrality. The calm. The refusal to choose.
It’s not discipline.
It’s design.
My gaze sharpens on her. I really look at her. At the way nothing ever quite touches her. The way her emotions never rise, never crack, never cost her anything.
She hasn’t removed herself from the reality of the realm.
She’s created her own.
“You don’t stay neutral. You just pretend the parts you don’t like don’t exist. You shape things the way you’re asked,” I say, stepping closer, “and then you walk away and convince yourself whatever happens after isn’t yours to carry.”
“It isn’t,” she replies, just as calm as before.
“It is,” I snap as my mind and tongue hum. “You just built yourself a reality where it’s not.”
Silence stretches between us.
“You think because you don’t acknowledge the damage, it doesn’t belong to you. Because you don’t pick a side, you don’t have to live with the consequences of either one.”
Her gaze fractures, just a touch. Mine glows.
“And it works, doesn’t it?” I chuckle. “You get to exist in this…perfectly curated illusion where your hands are always clean.”
“That is not what I—”
“It is,” I cut her off, stepping fully into her space now. “You don’t avoid responsibility. You reshape it until it no longer touches you.”
For the first time, her silence isn’t effortless.
It’s strained.
“You call it neutrality. I call it hiding. If you actually let yourself see what your illusions are used for—if you felt it—you’d have to admit you’re not separate from it. You’d have to admit you chose this.”
Her jaw tightens.
Barely.
But it’s there.
“And that would ruin your perfect little reality, wouldn’t it?” I tilt my head, holding her gaze. “The one where you’re never the villain. Never the cause. Never the one who should’ve said no.”
The air between us goes still and heavy.
“You don’t live in truth. You live in a version of it that’s easier to survive.” My voice slices clean through the quiet. “And one day, that version is going to crumble and you will have to face it. I’m going to make sure of it.”
My power hums through my body as a hush descends over us once again. This time, it doesn’t feel like she’s choosing to stay silent.
It feels like she’s stuck in it.
My pulse pounds.
“Which is exactly why I don’t want your help,” I add. Ellian shifts from side to side, but I don’t look at him. I don’t soften.
“I don’t even know what it is you believe I could’ve provided you,” she says.
“Your reach. Your power. Your signature. It doesn’t matter, though. I see where you stand, and it doesn’t align with us.”
Her gaze narrows slightly. “My signature? For what purpose?”
I don’t respond. I hold her stare.
“To break the agreement made on behalf of the boys. They’ve invoked their right under the Law of Doppia Disaccord.”
“Ellian,” I bark.
“And you think I would involve myself in that?” she asks him or me. I’m not sure.
I scoff, shaking my head at him first, then her.
“No. I think you’ll find a way to convince yourself it has nothing to do with you when, in reality, you’re already involved.
You’ve always been involved. You built systems they’ve suffered under.
You created the tools that were used to control them.
Like it or not, your power is all over this one way or another. ”
I turn from her, letting my disdain glare clearly through my eyes. When I reach her illusion wall, I lay my palm to it.
“Let me out or I tear this whole motherfucker down.”
There’s a beat of silence, then her power fades from beneath my fingers.
I’m out of Ellian’s office in a split second and my stomps echo down the hall as I reach his old one. Everyone whirls around as I barge through the door.
“About time. It’s been like an hour and a half. I was starting to freak out,” Yemi says, and bile races up my throat.
Seriously? An hour and a half?
Just like the room…it felt so fast.
The power of Illusion is so…strange.
“Plan B. Quickly. Who’s another god or goddess we can reach out to on such short notice?” I ask.
“Who did you just meet with?” Nero asks.
“The Goddess of Illusion. Needless to say, it didn’t go well.”
Iric hums an agreement, and my lips tighten as I nod at him.
“Okay, let’s see.” A second later, my list of gods appears in Yemi’s hands. Her eyes devour those who are left. “We can try the God of Pride. Or get Gladian to go speak with the God of Endurance. They may not hold the weight the Goddess of Illusion does, but they’re very prominent Domain Gods.”
“Sure, great. Let’s see if he’ll do that. Whichever and however it’s easiest, let’s do it and get ready to go.”
I twirl around, only to slam to a stop as Ellian leans against the doorframe with a small, tender smile on his face.
“You don’t need another god.” He pushes off the wall and strolls toward me. My gaze bounces from his face to the parchment of signatures. “She signed after you left.”
“Why?”
“I informed her that the God of Chaos, Goddess of Accord, and Creation allowed it to get this far. So she agreed for the same reason and excuse as always. The consequences of this won’t affect her.”
My bottom lip trembles from the rage that burns through me.
“Yes, they will.”
“I know.” He gently tucks a strand of loose hair behind my ear. “All that matters now, though, is you got what you needed. Now it’s time to set your men free.”
Fuck yes, it is.