41. Kyzen
Kyzen
Excitement hums through the seven of us gathered at the barrier.
It settles beneath my skin with every smile, every quiet murmur, every impatient glance toward the wall of shimmering power that’s protected those who are stranded in the Valorian Veil.
The rest of our family waits on the other side.
Val stands beside Thayla, quietly explaining how to reinforce the barrier back to what it was. Losing his Beginning God status weakened the power woven into it, but it hadn’t disappeared completely.
At first, Thayla wanted to bring the barrier down altogether. In the last five minutes, she’s decided against it.
Not until we’ve spoken with the people living behind it.
After all these years, they can’t return to their original realms. They might not even want to. Regardless, we won’t force them to integrate into the regions. This has become their safe haven.
We’ll keep it that way.
“Gods, this has been such a glorious day. First, we got to have some fun in Hell, now this. I’m so giddy,” Riven says, tapping his fingers together rapidly.
“Fun in Hell?” Thayla asks, arching her brow with a saucy smirk. “Is that what you’re calling it?”
“Um, yes, because I had a blast, thank you very much.”
She shakes her head, side-eyeing my low chuckle.
“Ready?” Val asks.
Every conversation dies away.
Thayla steps toward the barrier, lifting her hand until her fingertips hover inches from its surface. The power responds before she even touches it. White ripples spread across it as if recognizing its new keeper.
She glances back at Val, and he gives her a single nod.
Drawing in a slow breath, she presses her palm against the barrier. Light blooms beneath her hand.
The woven power parts with surprising ease, peeling back into a narrow opening, wide enough for the seven of us to pass through. Just like he did the night he brought us here the first time.
On the other side, silence greets us.
The region rests quietly in the distance, tucked between rolling hills that have never known the devastation beyond this barrier.
Wisps of smoke curl lazily into the sky from scattered chimneys.
The setting sun bathes the fields surrounding it in a gorgeous glow.
The meadow grass sways beneath a warm breeze, untouched by ash, blood, or ruin.
Peace.
Real peace.
I thought this place was beautiful when we stood at the edge of the ridge and watched the sunrise. It’s just as breathtaking from this angle, but my perspective is different. It’s happier, more hopeful.
When we leave here today, we won’t be planning a war.
We’ll be planning our future.
“They’re waiting,” Thayla says softly.
I tear my gaze from the distance and meet her smile.
“Let’s not make them wait any longer.”
Amick’s power wraps around us, Val, and Ellian. He releases us right in the spot we appeared the last time we came.
A long, deep breath slips from Thayla as she stares at the house.
“Did you tell her—”
My question dies as the front door creaks open. A woman eases out, her gaze sweeping across the yard. I stare wide-eyed at her familiar rose-gold hair.
“Thane…”
His name leaves her in a whisper so quiet I almost miss it.
Val doesn’t.
He’s halfway across the yard before she’s fully over the threshold.
The smile that breaks across Anylah’s face steals every ounce of caution that was present not even a millisecond ago. Tears brim in her eyes as she sprints to meet him.
He catches her around the waist, lifting her effortlessly as she laughs through a choked sob. She buries her face against his neck while he holds her like he’s making up for every day they’d been forced apart.
Gods. After centuries spent side by side, a handful of weeks must’ve felt unbearable.
Beside me, Thayla doesn’t say a word. I glance her way just in time to catch the sheen gathering in her eyes. A small, almost disbelieving smile curves her lips as she watches them together.
Twenty years since she’d last seen both of her parents in the same place.
Without thinking, I slip my fingers through hers and give her hand a gentle squeeze. She doesn’t look away from them.
“Go join them, little goddess,” I whisper.
She shakes her head once.
“Not yet. I want them to enjoy this. I…want to enjoy this.”
I bring her hand to my lips and kiss each knuckle. The bond in my heart, plus where our souls are tied together, throbs with her awe.
I’m still getting used to both sensations. We all are.
Unfortunately, there’s no one who can give us advice on what we’re experiencing. Amick picked Doren’s brain about the Starwoven bond, and while it helped us understand parts of it, we quickly realized we weren’t quite the same as him and his Starwoven Valtrue.
Something he knew from the moment he heard about Thayla’s soul being attached to ours.
The Starwoven bond is a recognition between souls. An intense connection. One that strengthens once it’s sealed. But the souls themselves don’t actually intertwine.
Ours do.
When Creed split our souls and wove them with Thayla’s, he didn’t just strengthen our bond. He created and completed a whole other connection as well. That changes everything.
The first few days after stepping out of the Gods Binding, I couldn’t tell where my feelings ended and my brothers’ or hers began. Her happiness would wash through me before I realized it wasn’t mine. Her grief over the fallen Defenders would settle in my chest like a boulder.
And then there was the love.
Gods, the love.
I knew how deeply I loved her. But feeling the depth of Creed’s, Riven’s, and Amick’s unwavering loyalty, devotion, joy alongside my own…it was something entirely different.
We love the same woman with the same intensity, but in our own ways.
And I feel their love for me. Their love for each other.
There’s no hiding anything from any of us anymore.
Val finally sets Anylah on her feet, and they simply stare at one another for a long moment. Then, together, they turn toward their daughter.
“Thayla girl.”
Her fingers slip from mine as Anylah reaches for her.
Three quick strides carry Thayla into their embrace, and they fold around her.
My brothers and I don’t interrupt. We simply watch as twenty years of grief, anger, fear, and longing melt from all three of them.
The relief pouring through our bond steals my breath.
Not just because I feel it from Thayla…
I feel it from every soul tied to mine.
“Daddy!”
The shrill cry shatters the quiet. Our attention snaps toward the house just as a stampede of little feet barrels through the doorway.
Ellian barely has time to laugh before half a dozen children launch themselves at him, knocking him flat onto his back beneath a pile of squeals and tiny limbs.
“Well.” Riven chuckles, strolling over. “That looked painful.”
He starts peeling children off one by one by the backs of their shirts.
“Give the poor man a chance to breathe. He’s still got a wife waiting.”
Sure enough, Annalise stands in the doorway with that patient smile only she could manage and baby Ezra on her hip.
The moment Ellian reaches her, every ounce of restraint disappears.
He cups her face and kisses her like he’s making up for every second they’d spent apart.
“Eww!”
The chorus of disgust from the kids earns nothing but laughter from the rest of us. Only then does my attention drift beyond them.
Three familiar figures step through the doorway and Thayla gasps.
She slips free of her parents before they even realize she’s gone.
Lambrit reaches her first, but Laney isn’t far behind.
She wedges herself between them with all the determination only a little sister could possess, wrapping both arms around Thayla’s waist while Lambrit pulls her into a hug.
“Easy there, sweet girl.” Thayla laughs, somehow managing to hold on to them both. “You’re going to squeeze the life out of me.”
I frown.
Too soon.
“I missed you,” Laney mumbles against her.
“I missed you too. Did you have fun on your vacation?”
“So much. We played games, hiked, and your momma made cookies. I got to sleep with her one night because I had a bad dream.” She leans back just enough to look up at Thayla as seriousness crosses her little face. “I didn’t even know you had a momma. You never told me.”
Thayla’s mouth parts for a breath before she collects herself.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to keep that from you. I just didn’t…know where she was. We got separated when I was a little older than you.”
“That’s what she told me. She also told me one day you’d find her, and now you have!”
Thayla offers her a small smile as she tucks a piece of hair behind her ear.
“Laney!” Ellian calls from across the yard. “Come see me, sweet girl.”
Her head snaps up in his direction and a laugh leaves her as the kids once again bombard him.
“I’m coming.”
She gives Thayla one last squeeze before darting across the yard, weaving between everyone with a grin as she throws herself into Ellian’s waiting arms. A quiet chuckle slips from Thayla, but it morphs into another gasp. My attention drops to where her fingers curl around Lambrit’s hands.
Black glints against his wrist, and my brows rise.
“You…have marks,” Thayla says.
Shock and happiness color her tone, and her gaze bounces around wildly.
Lambrit glances down at the decorative A and L weaved together before exchanging an amused look with Rose. She turns her wrist over and I stare at her matching mark.
“We pretty much had the same reaction,” he admits.
Rose laughs softly.
“Actually, I think ‘panic’ is the better word. We were honestly petrified thinking we suddenly had a Valtrue.” She brushes her thumb over the black swirling lines. “Your mom eased our worries.”
Thayla’s gaze lifts, following Rose’s, and Anylah smiles knowingly as she joins us.
“Boys. I’m afraid we haven’t been properly introduced.”
Her soft tone flutters between us as she takes us in from head to toe. It isn’t in a judgmental way. More like finally laying her eyes on four boys she’s known since before they were even born.
That’s crazy to think about.
“Oh gods, sorry. That completely slipped my mind,” Thayla says.