Chapter 19 Thayla
Thayla
“Stop whatever this nonsense chatter is and get in the carriage.”
I shoot an apologetic smile to Doren, Nero, Sevryn, and—fuck, I don’t know his name yet—as Amick stomps through their circle.
He plops down in the seat closest to the window and rests his fingers against his lips as he instantly falls into his thoughts.
I shimmy my ass right into his lap.
“I’m not in the mood for a conversation right now.”
He says that, but his other hand grips my thigh to hold me in place.
“Then don’t converse, just listen. I don’t have any wise words to give you because I’m not all that happy with the decisions being made individually here lately either.
The thought of something happening to any of you sends me into a rage I don’t know how to control.
So until we get home, listen to everything the new additions to our group are about to say. ”
“You believe one of them is going to say something worth hearing?”
I run my tongue across my teeth to stop myself from smirking at him.
“Well, one of them is who gave us the Binding. Another has a lot of pull in Valveilious apparently, and the newest is an Attendant who never should’ve been assigned here. So yeah, I’m sure one of them is going to say something interesting.”
He contemplates that long enough for everyone to join us in the carriage and take a seat.
Kyzen, Riven, and Creed spare me a glance as I sit in Amick’s lap. My initial thought is they’re just checking on us, then I realize there actually aren’t any more available seats.
So, this is where I’ll be sitting for the entire flight.
“Very well. It seems everyone has wiser insight than me today and I find that I thoroughly hate that.”
“Fuck, I relate to that so much. I hate when someone’s funnier than me.”
I press my finger to Riven’s forehead and push him back from right between mine and Amick’s faces. He pouts for a moment, but I blow him a kiss, and he pretends to catch it.
Then he proceeds to lick his palm.
Fucking psycho.
“We have our moments, but you’re still the wisest, Candyman.”
The carriage rolls back, slinging me fully into his chest. As smooth as cream, he uses his finger to tilt my chin up and lays a gentle kiss against my lips.
“Thank you, Mysenta.”
“Anytime,” I breathe.
I clear my throat and adjust myself on his lap, but the moment I’m settled, I wish I had kept my face tucked into him.
Yemi’s entire Valtrue stares at me like they don’t know what to think of me and I can’t help but squirm.
Amick subtly grabs my hips, but that makes my blood grow hotter.
“So…” I trail off, giving literally anyone the opportunity to say something.
“I have no way to express or repay my gratitude for what you all helped me with today. I also want to apologize to my entire Valtrue for not finding you all sooner,” Doren says.
Valories, he’s too freaking nice.
I wonder if he’s the oldest of the bunch.
I’m also curious if what he’s been through has made him so appreciative.
“Doren, I’ve told you many times now that you have nothing to apologize for. Now that we’ve found Iric, we can return with Sevryn to collect Yemi and have their things moved to my home.”
My body locks up and my gaze whips to Sevryn. His glare is unkind, so that at least tells me this is news to him as well, and not some taurnshit he’s already agreed to.
“You three are more than welcome to go live in your home in Valveilious. Yemi and I aren’t going any-damn-where.”
I exhale at Sevryn’s sharp words.
“We can’t or shouldn’t live separately. We’re a completed Valtrue,” Doren says desperately, but I couldn’t give a fuck about that tone now.
They’re seriously considering moving my best friend away from me.
I’ll be damned.
“Doren’s correct. Not to mention, with the two of our standings, it makes the most sense for us to live in Valveilious.”
“Oh, so you’re a pretentious asshole?”
“I’m sorry?” Nero’s forehead wrinkles like he’s really confused.
“You’re about to be if you suggest moving my best friend away from me again.
Also, fuck you for thinking you can make decisions for her when you haven’t spoken to her about this.
You don’t even know her, her situation, her power, her already established relationships, anything.
Not to mention, she actually has a family member in the Godsdawn. And she has me.”
“Are you insinuating she’d rather live in the Godsdawn than Valveilious?”
“I’d bet my life on it that she isn’t going to be willing to move. And I can assure you, you”—I jab my finger at him, so my point gets across real clear—“won’t be pressuring her into that decision. If you try, you better hope Sevryn gets ahold of you before I do.”
Riven claps his hands and kicks his feet as he falls into a fit of laughter. The smirks Kyzen and Creed are giving me aren’t helping the situation.
“Oh man. We should’ve pegged you as a control freak the moment you verified you were a Mediator. All you middlemen crave control.”
Kyzen huffs at Riven.
“Don’t group us all together.”
“Well, yeah, aside from you, but you don’t count.”
“If my opinion matters in this decision, I’d prefer not to live in Valveilious.”
Iric’s voice is so calm and collected, and a smidge of guilt spears through my chest over the fact that I wholeheartedly took over the direction of that conversation.
I can’t help it, though.
As soon as taking Yemi away was mentioned, chill bumps broke out across my skin and my chest pulled tight like it was preparing to rip open.
“Is there a reason for that?” Nero asks.
“Yes.”
Iric’s one word leaves zero room for argument or follow-up.
“So, it’s two to two,” Riven announces.
Doren shakes his head as his worried eyes bounce to everyone in the carriage.
“I don’t have a preference aside from I want to be where my Binder is.”
“Three to one,” Riven again cheers like this score keeping is the best role he’s ever been given.
I shoot him a glare to shut up.
“It wouldn’t matter if it was four to zero. It’s Yemi’s decision where she’s going to live. End of fucking story. Plus, Doren, I can’t believe after everything, you’d want to go there. I can assure you, shit hasn’t gotten better.”
“I had the intention of staying under the radar for a while and slowly integrating back into society once we all were together.”
“Maybe there will be a compromise or something—”
“You know, Thayla, we must have been wrong about the fourth bedroom not appearing. It obviously wasn’t because Iric was in Hellveilious but because Nero didn’t want a room there. That makes the most sense now.”
Nero glares at Sevryn either for his words or for cutting him off, but I don’t feed into the taurnshit. Sevryn’s trying to stir this up now when I’m actually freaking the hell out about Yemi leaving me.
“The continuation of this conversation is utterly pointless and quite frankly, it’s giving me a headache. So, if no one has anything remotely important to discuss, then I kindly ask for silence.”
Amick’s fingers flex against my side and I sense his annoyance growing stronger in my chest.
My poor genius.
I feel like I got his hopes up, only for these assholes to crush that.
There’s plenty that needs to be said and discussed. I know for a fact Amick has about a million questions he wants to ask Doren, but I don’t know if he’s resisting that because of the two newcomers or if his mind is elsewhere.
Now isn’t the time anyway.
“I need to know how you ended up here and for how long. You wouldn’t have gone through the proper processing or I would’ve known.”
“How would you have known?”
Creed stares at Amick, not in anger, but I swear almost like a plea, requesting him not to do this right now. Iric’s steady gaze roams over them, not at all bothered that his opportunity to answer was cut off.
A hush falls over the carriage as Creed sighs and rests his elbows on his knees with his fingers laced together.
“The door we walked through to get into the carriage is the only one not laced with my power.
The crime determines what door you pass through.
Upper and middle levels, a piece of their soul separates from them as soon as they pass through the threshold, then it attaches to me as it goes to the pool.
“Lower-level criminals lose their whole souls. Again, a shred will connect to me, then go to the pool. If a pure soul had passed through any door, I would’ve known and I would’ve come.”
“That’s why you didn’t know about us. We had to be brought through there,” I murmur.
“And me. The door we took was the same my father marched me through when he brought me here,” Sevryn adds, and his entire Valtrue whips their heads toward him.
“What do you mean?”
Doren’s question is a soft breath that fractures the scowl on Sevryn’s face. He doesn’t respond other than a shake of his head, though.
“My crime was using my power when I wasn’t supposed to. First against the High Chancellor’s order, who then took it upon himself to label me an Attendant. My punishment was that I was assigned to a goddess in Valveilious.
“I then, three years ago, spoke out of turn to her and again, used my power. She didn’t take kindly to that and assigned me to Zareb. She thought she was granting a favor by assigning me and my particular abilities to that part of Hell.”
To say I’m confused is an understatement.
Iric’s voice doesn’t hold the least bit of anger or animosity. I’d be fucking raging and plotting my revenge. He, on the other hand, is calm and understanding. It’s baffling.
“So you’re not an Attendant at all? Like that isn’t your legitimate Designation?” I ask.
“No. My Designation is a Healer.”
“What about your Domain?”
I give him a small, apologetic smile for my directness. I didn’t really think about that being a tad personal before the question slipped free.
“I have a Domain under the Goddess of Creation. I’d prefer not to share my abilities yet. With the high tension surrounding us right now, I don’t think it’d be appropriate.”