Chapter 28 Thayla #2
“It’s not. I don’t know how to say what I’m trying to say and that’s frustrating me beyond fucking belief.
Am I actually over what happened? No. Will I ever be?
Probably not. I can’t dwell on it, though.
It’ll drown me. I’m not trying to shove it down.
I’m trying to grip the small sense of normalcy I felt when I woke up and not let it go. ”
Silence settles between us again, but I can tell the difference now. It’s not heavy. They’re waiting for me to keep going.
“I don’t want you all to tiptoe around me or encrypt your conversations. That’s going to do nothing but make me feel like more of a freak than I already am.”
“You’re not a freak,” Kyzen argues.
“She’s definitely freaky.”
All heads snap to Riven, including mine.
His wink and the kiss he blows me first shock me. Then it obviously shocks my entire system.
My laugh bursts free before I can stop it. It continues to ring loudly throughout the whole house, and I struggle to breathe through the fit. Tears tumble out of the corners of my eyes as I tilt my head back.
“Damn. I think I broke her.”
The laughter tapers off as I catch my breath and wipe my face clean. A few snorts straggle out, and I clear my voice while attempting to compose myself.
“Do you ever think before you speak?” Amick asks.
“Not typically. I’m usually just as surprised with what comes out of my mouth as you guys are.”
Oh my gods.
I cover my face as more chuckles crawl up my throat. There’s no doubt I’m the shade of a berry.
“I needed that,” I say as I dab my eyes with my shirt. “You’re so full of fucking shit, Riven.”
“I’m going to take that as a compliment, thank you very much.”
His brothers scoff at him, and he wiggles his eyebrows at them.
Valories, that’s my little psycho.
The thought has me exhaling deeply. They all sense the shift.
“No, I’m not fine. Yes, I will be. I just want you all to treat me the same way you were prior to this happening. Can you all do that for me? Please.”
Their answers are immediate. In their nods, on their faces, and across their souls. The weight I was holding in my shoulders lifts and I slump.
“Thank you.”
“You have nothing to thank us for, Thayla. We’re going to do whatever you need us to do.” The heat in Amick’s eyes make mine flare. Thankfully, he turns them to Kyzen before I melt into a puddle.
“As for what was discussed, nothing about what happened to Thayla was addressed and the Chancellors all purposefully left notes out about the Power Worthiness Test. Aside from Ellian.”
Shit. How did I forget about that?
Never mind. Dumb question.
“The High Chancellor is going to announce the change in a couple of days, exactly one week from the measuring. A decree will be sent to all completed Valtrues then. He didn’t state whether he was going to discuss this with me first or like the others, we’ll just receive the decree when it arrives.”
“Have you thought about a way out of this for us?” Creed asks.
Amick’s lips fall flat. “No, and we royally angered the one person who could get us out of it.”
Fuck, I forgot about that too.
“None of you have spoken to Derivius since that night?”
“We’ve tried apologizing, but we haven’t heard anything back,” Kyzen mumbles.
I haven’t allowed myself the opportunity to think about reaching out to him.
Now that it’s presented itself, I know I’m not ready to have a conversation with him.
I’m not mad at him, per se. I understand, but then again, I don’t.
I don’t understand how the High Chancellor was granted the power to do this.
Their voices fade from my ears as I mull over the fact I haven’t allowed myself a moment to think about anyone outside of the four of them.
Not Lambrit, Yemi, Havar, or Rose.
I know Riven said they allowed at least Yemi and Lambrit to come to my door so I could hear them, but that didn’t feel…well, real.
I wasn’t one hundred percent sure the race in the woods was happening, so I didn’t give it much thought when I called out for Seismet.
I haven’t attempted to communicate since.
And V…
Gods, V.
A hoot flutters the air and spears me right in my chest. It snatches me out of my mind and my gaze snaps up.
“Thayla.”
I believe that was Kyzen who spoke my name, but I’m not sure. I don’t remove my eyes from the creature soaring toward me.
My breathing picks up as his small form lands in the middle of the table, and I stare down at him.
Tentatively, he waddles closer.
“V…”
My voice cracks and my lip trembles.
“Everything’s okay, my Vedae. I’m here.”
Tremors tear through my limbs as I reach my hand up and pull it back repeatedly. My fingers are both desperate and petrified to touch him.
“May I?”
“Please.”
He spreads his wings out, and my eyes map his feathers.
White. Frost blue. Lavender. Rich purple. Dark, dark indigo.
No black.
A harsh breath steals all the air from my lungs the second my palm rests against him. I squeeze my eyes shut, intending to fight off the water building, not make it fall.
His hoot sails across my skin, drying those tears before they even make it halfway down my cheeks.
“You’re alive.”
“Alive and well.”
I choke on my gasp as I pull him to me and hold him to my chest. The beat of his heart pounds against mine and I close my eyes to savor the feeling. It washes away the phantom pain I felt when his connection ripped from not only me, but the realm.
I’ll never let anything happen to him.
He’s my Vedarya. Mine. And only mine.
Forever and ever.
“That’s a tad possessive, don’t you think?”
“Not possessive enough if you ask me. You’re never to leave this house.”
“Not even to go to the hot spring?”
“Not without me.”
“Well, what if I have another Calling? They’ll need me.”
My body vibrates.
“Fuck them. They can figure it out on their own. I’m going to be your Vedae for the rest of my life.”
“You’re immortal.”
“Yeah, so you’ll be mine forever. End of discussion.”
He laughs at me like I’m joking.
I’m not.
“Okay, Thayla girl.”
“You know we’re only getting half this conversation, right?”
My glare snaps up to Riven and the tense wrinkles on my forehead morph to confusion.
“Huh?”
“You’re talking out loud. V isn’t talking to us.”
Oh. Oops.
“I was just setting the record straight that he’s mine and can’t go anywhere anymore.”
They all snort and V attempts to wiggle out of my grip, but I shove his little head back down to my chest. He pecks me. Hard. I hiss and keep doing what I’m doing.
“So what do you think about tonight?” Amick asks and I tilt my head to the side.
“What about tonight?”
He mimics my gesture.
“What we were just discussing prior to V landing on the table.”
What the hell were we discussing?
Amick goes to open his mouth again, but Kyzen clears his throat.
“Yemi sent a letter to Amick inviting us over there for dinner, but he declined because he thought you wouldn’t be up to it. We wanted to see how you actually felt about that.”
“Oh. Why did she send a letter to you and not me?”
“Technically, it was addressed to Thayla and her Valtrue. I am a member of your Valtrue, so therefore it was also sent to me.”
I arch a brow.
“That’s the technicality you’re going with?”
“Yes, it is.”
I smirk and shake my head.
“Did she say why she wants to have dinner? Like is this a social invitation or are they about to deliver bad news like we do when we host dinner?”
“We don’t deliver bad news every time we host people.”
We all stare at Creed. He eventually grunts.
“I believe it is more of the social nature, but she said that it was Doren’s idea as a way of properly thanking us for our help and he’d be open to discussing some things.”
“Did it really say that?” I ask Kyzen.
He smirks and chuckles at the way Amick frowns at me.
“Along those lines. It said he’d like to get to know us better.”
“How else would he get to know us without discussing and answering my questions?”
We all chuckle at Amick, which he sighs at and laces his fingers on the table.
“I’d like to go if you are up to it. If you aren’t, that’s perfectly fine as well. I can request a meeting with Doren alone at another time.”
Gods, he really wants to pick that man’s brain.
“I…” I sigh. “Yeah, we can go. It’d be nice to see my friends.”
I think.
“Very well. I’ll respond to her invitation then.”
“Great,” I say and give him a tight smile.
“This is going to be a grand time.”
Riven’s far too cheery tone is unsettling and Creed’s quiet groan is full of annoyance.
I already know where Amick really stands based on his enthusiasm.
Kyzen’s small smile is completely for my benefit.
“It’ll be fun, little goddess. And if it’s not, we’re walking distance from home.”
That’s true.
Besides, my friends don’t know that what fake them said literally crushed my soul and the new dreams I have for our futures together.