9. Thayla
Thayla
The morning air does little to settle my full stomach.
After my men had their wicked way with me, we devoured every last cookie Creed baked in my bed. I went to sleep with a smile on my face, my vagina fluttering, and a belly full of sugar.
I still wasn’t hungry when I woke, but my nerves had me gorging on the feast Creed’s nerves made him cook for breakfast. He obviously won’t admit he’s nervous on my behalf, but the signs are clear.
None of us would ever eat that heavily before going to the Court, but that didn’t stop us this morning. Granted, the training about to take place here won’t be like what we do there, but I have zero idea what Val and Meridamus have planned.
Fuck me, I hope Yemi agrees to come with me.
That should deter any unwanted conversations.
“We don’t have long,” Amick says, and I nod, tearing my attention from the tree line.
My slow steps carry me to Yemi’s back door, and the contents in my stomach slosh around more. I’m not nervous to talk to her or Doren about what we’re asking him to do. It’s simply because as soon as we’re done, we have to go to the front lawn.
Just get over it. This is what you agreed to. So stupid.
Not two knocks later, Yemi’s back door swings open with enough force that I’m shocked it doesn’t come off the hinges.
“Well,” Sevryn says, leaning against the doorframe with entirely too much attitude for this early in the morning. “You all look emotionally unstable. Should we get our armor on?”
A snort escapes me, easing some of the swirling in my belly.
“Emotionally unstable? You’ve been spending a lot of time with Iric,” Creed says, smirking.
“Yeah. Tell me about it.” He rolls his eyes and crosses his arms. “You all look pissy. So armor or what?”
“Maybe in a few hours. Depends on how the morning goes,” I say.
“Fucking lovely,” he groans, turning from the door without actually inviting us in.
I shake my head and follow his grumpy ass.
“Uh-oh,” Yemi calls from the kitchen where she and Doren are cleaning the counters and washing dishes. “If you’re paying us a home visit this early, the plans for the day have changed.”
“You’re so smart,” I tease, plopping onto a stool at her counter.
“Just recognizing the patterns.” She laughs.
Amick clearly isn’t in a “let’s gradually move into this conversation” mood. He clears his throat, gains everyone’s attention, then jumps straight into explaining the discussion we had last night with Val and Meridamus.
I cut my eyes at him as he finishes addressing Doren. I intended to approach our request as just that—a request. Amick approached it as, this is what we need you to do.
“Doren, don’t feel obligated to drain yourself dry to do this for us,” I say, daring my Candyman with my eyes to argue. “We know this is a big ask.”
“It’s not, Thayla,” he says, grinning and shaking his head. “I’ve told you time and time again, I’m going to do whatever is needed of me to help my friends.”
Gods, he’s too sweet.
“Also, I really don’t think this will drain me completely. Possibly significantly, but since all my power has been released, it’ll take a great deal to suck me dry. Plus, you have a Binding I can hold while I search. That alone will help tremendously.”
“Damn, I didn’t even think about that,” I say, sitting up straighter. “Of course you can hold one. Hell, all five if need be.”
“One should be plenty.” He chuckles. “When were you thinking about me attempting this?”
“Derivius is going to let us know a day and time. Sooner rather than later. His job is to get them all together in the Neutral long enough for you to have ample opportunity to search,” Amick says.
“Sounds good to me. I’ll be ready when you are.”
His easy agreement warms my heart. Truly.
He rarely, if ever, tries to stop our plans.
Well, he did try to tell Yemi and me to stop trying to get through that barrier in the restricted room. We all know how that turned out—and what wouldn’t have happened, I guess, if we’d listened.
“That obviously wasn’t the only thing you wanted to discuss,” Yemi says, arching a brow at me.
I lift mine right back at her as Nero presses himself against her back and kisses her cheek. He sets his mug in the sink with a sly smirk as she squirms, instantly blushing red.
I decide against teasing her.
I’m happy they’re making good progress.
“They want to train me. Well, us. Val wants to work with you on your power too, if you’re up for it.”
Her pressed lips part, and the rummaging around the house stills. I don’t have to see her other three men to know they’re frozen, staring at her just like Doren is.
“Really?” she asks with a tinge of excitement. She crushes it as fast as it rises. “I mean, no, I don’t have to. If you don’t want me to, I comple—”
“Yem,” I say, leaning forward on her counter.
I can’t reach her, but if I could, I’d grab her hand.
“Don’t suppress your excitement because of me.
I know learning more about your domain is important to you, which makes it important to me.
Would you like to train with the God of Boundaries? Honestly?”
Her mouth opens and closes repeatedly before she nods.
“Yes. I’d really like to.”
“Okay then,” I say, leaning back. “It’s settled. We’ll train together with the God of Boundaries.”
“Gods, I’m nowhere near prepared.” She presses her fingers into her temples, and I smirk at her immediate panic. “Amick, when do you think you can copy that book for me? Goodness, I’m going to have to read fast. When does he plan on starting this training?”
“Soon. This morning, actually,” I say, and she shrieks.
“What?”
“In five minutes, to be precise. We’re about to meet him and Meridamus on the front lawn,” Kyzen adds.
“You’re serious? Thayla, what the hell? I’m still not dressed,” she hollers, sprinting toward her room.
I shouldn’t laugh, but I do.
“Well, that was a pleasant surprise. She’s very excited,” Iric says as he puts his plate in the sink and grins at me.
“Excited or nervous?” I ask.
“Both.”
Yeah, same. Sort of. I could puke.
“Kyzen, are you joining them this morning?” Nero asks as he approaches him.
“Yeah, that was the plan since today isn’t a Court day. Why? What’s up?”
“I was just going to seek some advice. I’ve received the most ridiculous request for mediations and was wondering how you decline aiding in those situations.”
Kyzen snorts, gripping his shoulder. “This isn’t Valveilious. There’s no declining.”
Nero looks absolutely baffled, and I do a good job holding in my laugh until Sevryn tosses his head back. Riven, of course, begins giving Nero the worst advice I’ve ever heard, and judging by the concentration on Nero’s brow, I’m afraid he’s taking him seriously. Hopefully, Kyzen corrects that.
“I’m ready,” Yemi shouts, crashing out of her door with her arms full of papers and a shoe.
“Yemi, come on.” I chuckle, getting out of my seat and strolling over to take some of it from her. “What are you doing?”
“Bringing my notes. These are all the observations I’ve made of my power since it settled.”
“And you don’t have all of this memorized?”
“Well, I mean, yeah, but what if he wants to look over them?” she asks.
“How about, for today, we just meet with him and see what he has planned? Then you can ask if he wants to read over this. For all we know, he’s been keeping an eye on you and knows exactly what you can do.”
“That’s both creepy and flattering,” she says, then sighs as I take her shoe from her hand.
“Go put all of this up, come get your shoe on, and let’s get ready to go.”
She grumbles under her breath but doesn’t argue.
It’s adorable how all the men just grin at us. Sweet little saps.
They’re all cute enough to distract me from my racing heart and thoughts.
As soon as Yemi comes out of her room and finishes putting her shoe on, she links her arm through mine and tugs me along. She’s either too distracted by her own eagerness to notice the shift in my energy, or she senses it and is trying to force me to face this head-on. Probably both, knowing her.
Our men trail behind us, and my breath spills out as we exit her door. The two people waiting on the lawn aren’t the two I wasn’t ready to see.
Lambrit and Rose greet us with bright smiles and waves.
“Are you two ready to officially, sort of, meet the God of Boundaries and the God of Consequence?” Yemi asks, and their features fall.
“What?” they ask.
I clear my throat and bob my head. “They should be here any second now.”
“Sorry,” Yemi mumbles. “I didn’t realize they didn’t know.”
“It’s okay. You’re just excited.”
“I’m now realizing how annoyingly so. I’m sorry, Thayla. That’s shitty of me. Of course this isn’t exciting for you, and I’m acting like this is the best day ever.”
“You don’t need to apologize. I’m fine,” I say, firmer than I meant.
Guilt flashes across her face, and I internally curse myself. She’s not wrong for being excited. If my life weren’t such a tangled mess and this were simply two Beginning Gods willingly helping us and pledging their allegiance, I’d probably be excited too.
Before I can apologize, a warm hand laces through mine, and my shoulders slump. Amick’s reassuring caresses across my soul and the pattern he draws with his thumb ground me.
“Considering who’s showing up,” Iric drawls beside Yemi, “I’d say mild emotional instability is the appropriate response.”
“There are those choice words again,” Sevryn snorts.
The corner of my mouth twitches despite myself. Then the lawn stills.
The conversations and quiet chattering die mid-breath. The air sharpens, and my power tightens so suddenly down my spine that every nerve snaps to attention.
There’s no bright flash of white light like with starshoots. Instead, the space splits open a few feet away. Val and Meridamus emerge like reality simply made room for them.
“Wow,” Lambrit mumbles. “Did you just step out of a boundary?”
I want to tell him don’t be silly, that’s impossible, but Val nods.
“My boundary barricaded my starshoot,” he says. “Lambrit Armend. It’s nice to finally meet you.”