Chapter 23 Thayla #2
“It would seem that the…relic you all were tasked with finding has gone missing. The God of Obliteration has demanded a search of your home. One has already been done on the God of Strength’s house. Now we are here.”
“V, take the Binding and get the hell out of here.”
“None of them are stepping foot in my damn house.”
“Move, out of my way at once.”
My attention snaps behind Derivius at that voice and my feet plant themselves in their place. The tension in my body intensifies as my muscles prepare to react.
“You vile, disrespectful girl, have no say in the matter,” the High Chancellor shrills as he flaps a parchment far too close to my face. “A search has been decreed, and you will move out of the God of Chaos’s way, or I will move you for him.”
“Try.”
My eyes narrow in a dare—maybe a wish—but I’m being snatched back faster than the High Chancellor can respond.
Multiple times I’m handed off through the line of my men until I’m behind Kyzen. My ears ring so loud, the conversation happening a few feet away barely registers.
“Very well.”
Amick’s cold tone pierces my clogged hearing and the fury racing across my chest is a combination of the five of ours.
What the actual fuck is happening?
By the time the guys push me back into the living room, it sounds like a fucking stampede is coming through our front door.
My walls close in as Mellcom takes a spot a few feet in front of me. His eyes sear through mine. It takes everything in me not to scream for him, Jeremiah, all of them to get the fuck out of my house.
My safe space away from them.
A place they haven’t been able to fucking taint.
“Gladian, a member each of your Valtrue and a member of the God of Obliteration’s guard, take them each to their rooms to search. The rest of you search the common areas.”
My sneer shifts from the High Chancellor as Mellcom takes a step toward me.
Mara cuts him off and wraps her fingers around my bicep. It takes everything in me not to snatch away from her.
“Where’s your room?”
“Down that hall,” I grit through my clenched teeth.
“Better luck next time, Golden bitch. Looks like you’re with me.”
I peer over my shoulder, catching the kiss Riven blows Mellcom. Kyzen’s, Amick’s, and Creed’s glares burn into my skin, and I cling to the soothing sensations pumping through my chest.
As we disappear down my hall, Mara untangles herself from me and keeps her fierce scowl facing forward. The fucking asshole Dark God behind us, though, barges through us the second I open my door.
“Watch it, motherfucker.”
He snarls at me as he whips around and I ball my fists at my sides.
“Don’t,” Mara commands far too damn calm. “They’ve got permission to retaliate on any resistance or act of violence against them.”
His disgusting smile has my blood both boiling and freezing. There’s plenty of intelligence in his eyes, but his black gums have my mind convinced he’s nothing but a beast ready to bite.
He spins around and with a burst of—or maybe it’s natural—strength, he flips my mattress clean off my frame. I stand here, trembling and seething as he senselessly tears my room apart.
Mara disappears from my side, and I stomp behind her into my closet. If I’m left out here with him, I’ll tear his damn head from his neck.
Unlike him, she lazily flips through my clothes hanging up.
“Did they do this shit to your room as well?” I ask, slinging my hand toward the sound of destruction going on.
“Yep. From top to bottom.”
“What the fuck?”
“Are you asking for an actual answer or?”
“No, I don’t want a damn answer, Mara. I know why they’re doing this, but it’s taurnshit.”
“Yeah, well, what are we supposed to do? Ignore a decree from a Beginning God? Fight them off?”
Yeah. That’s exactly what we should do.
I don’t say that out loud. Instead, I run my fingers through my hair as I calm my breathing.
“You need to stay away from Mellcom and Jeremiah.”
My eyes fly open and land on where she’s kneeling at my single dresser that I only use for my bras, underwear, socks, and well…my clothes from Oddian.
Clutched in her hands is one of my old shirts.
“Yeah, you don’t really have to tell me that.”
“Yeah, I do. I know you don’t give a shit about me or what I have to say, but I’m being serious. I thought at first how much they talked about you was them struggling with the change. It calmed down for a while. Even on the quest it wasn’t bad, but since the Abandon…”
“What? Spit it out now.”
“The way they talk about you is obsessive. Mellcom brings up the fact that he saved you every day. The more he talks about it, the angrier he gets. Jeremiah feeds into it. Every time your name is brought up, their tones make me uncomfortable and that’s not a sensation I’m used to.”
My expression blanks as she stares at me with complete sincerity. I see another truth in her eyes, though, that I know she won’t admit. Especially not to me.
She fears them.
Been there.
“Thanks for the warning. Mellcom tried to approach me in the Athenaeum earlier.”
“I heard. He was pissed Chancellor Akova dismissed him because he wasn’t supposed to be there.”
“You purposely just got in his way, didn’t you?”
She lays my shirt gently back into the drawer and stands. Based on the shattering of glass echoing behind me, it looks like my closet will be the only area of my room not decimated.
I swear I’m going to kill that fucking asshole if I get the chance.
“I know I’m not everyone’s favorite person. I’m not even a girl’s girl if I’m being honest. But I know a dangerous, unhinged man when I see one. If it had been him bringing you in here rather than me, your night would’ve gone differently.”
“Thayla Godrun!”
The shout of my name has us both startling out of our stare down. The High Chancellor’s bellow has the walls shaking and no words pass between Mara and me as we rush out of the closet.
My steps slow and my lips press together the moment I have him, plus the far too fucking many Dark Gods with him, in my sights.
His shoulders heave as he glares down at the statue head—his statue head, to be precise—in his hands.
“What is the meaning of this?”
I shrug.
“Decoration, I suppose. It came with the room.”
The veins in his neck bulge as his face turns a frightening shade of red.
“You are a liar and a thief. Mara, seize her.”
“Sir?”
“I said seize her!”
She hesitates too long for Harriseen’s liking. With a snap of his fingers, I jump into position as all the Dark Gods charge toward me.
“Don’t fight them.” Mara grunts as she gets shoved out of the way.
My heart races and my blood vibrates as they back me into the threshold of my closet.
Holy fuck.
Deep breath.
Six to one. Piece of fucking cake.
My fist lands across the jaw of the first Dark God who steps within my reach. His face snaps to the side.
Purposefully slow, he pivots his head back to me with a dark, deranged grin on his face.
Fuck me. I’ve never faced one without one of Creed’s swords.
The six of them pounce at once and I swing or kick in every direction. The second two of them grip my biceps, I scream for my power.
It sizzles through my body like wild rapids. I’m not even sure which one I’m begging for, but the command to kill is on the tip of my tongue.
I choke as something gets wrapped around my throat and the power blazing in my veins slams to a stop.
My wild gaze lands on the High Chancellor standing before me, smiling in victory.
“You will finally learn your lesson. I, Harriseen, High Chancellor of the Godsdawn, record your crime, Thayla Godrun.”
I gasp as heat spreads across my body like a blaze of fire. Just as fast as that sensation begins, it stops. There’s a lingering buzz beneath my skin that I can’t ignore, though.
What the fuck did he just do?
He spins from me and barks out a command for us to follow him. If my glares alone had power, he’d have a broken back or be dead before his foot stomped against the floor again.
My thrashing against the hands that hold me does nothing but cause them to tighten their grasp to bruising pressure. They don’t fucking lighten up even after I force myself to compliantly put one foot in front of the other.
I attempt to keep my shock at bay as we enter the kitchen, but the cabinets hanging onto their hinges for dear life have my steps faltering. The power washing through the space takes my breath away as the house naturally tries its hardest to get everything back in order.
The combination of mine, my Valtrues, and a little extra power glides across my skin.
Glass, pots, and pans, our coffee, food, fucking everything is littered across the floor. It becomes a struggle to pull air into my lungs as piece by piece of destruction gets cleaned up.
There’s no telling how long this will take.
I’m sure when the Goddess of Illusion designed this convenience feature, she didn’t expect the house to be trashed in a matter of minutes.
Tears of fury burn the back of my eyes as I drag my attention to the living room.
The bookshelves are torn apart.
I’m pretty sure those fucking assholes even threw a few in the fire.
My poor Amick is going to lose his mind.
“What is the meaning of this?” Derivius barks as he stomps out of Riven’s room and heads toward us.
His power blasts across the space and Mellcom slams to a stop at his side, unable to push forward.
The blood dripping from his lip pleases me, but the smirk on Riven’s fades as soon as his swirling eyes land on me. His gaze drifts down to my throat and a bellow erupts from his mouth.
It’s only a matter of seconds before my other three men are attempting to pull him back, until their eyes land on me as well.
“Get your hand off—”
The High Chancellor cuts Creed off with a flick of his hand.
“Thayla will be taken into my custody for thievery. She may not have had the missing relic, but she was in possession of a priceless statue that was stolen from the Athenaeum.”
Priceless…this arrogant ass.
“As we are all well aware, stealing from the Gods Athenaeum is a punishable offence.”