Chapter 35 Creed
Creed
The murmurs behind me fall silent as I toss my head back and laugh.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything as entertaining as watching Thayla plunge a stick into the side of Sevryn’s neck for the third time since their sparring started.
And sexy.
She’s fucking drop dead gorgeous.
I can’t wait to get her back home.
I didn’t even want to leave her bed this morning.
“You do that stupid shit again and I’m going to snatch you by that fucking bun on top of your head.”
“For that comment alone, asshole, the next strike is going to be in your eyeball.”
Again, I don’t suppress my chuckle as she points her stick right in his face. He smacks it away, and they both pounce at one another.
“Do you think we should stop them?” Yemi whispers as she comes up right beside me.
I force my feet to stay planted instead of stepping away from her. Obviously, if she were still scared of me, she wouldn’t get close to me.
“Not a chance.”
She hisses and grimaces when Thayla lands a perfect knee shot straight in Sevryn’s ribs. I grin.
“If you say so. In Sevryn’s defense, he just wanted to train since he hasn’t in days. Not get beat up.”
“Then he probably shouldn’t have talked shit to her the entire walk out here. He was provoking her and you know it.”
She cringes and turns her head to the side as their battle rages on. “Yeah, I know. I’m going back over here with Doren and Riven. Keep him alive for me if you will.”
She won’t kill him.
Hurt him…probably.
I’ll fuck him up if he actually hurts my Binder. He knows the rules. No power and no face shots. She follows them as well, but she flipped her shit on me when I told him to pull his punches.
He thought he got the best of her as soon as their first match started and he flipped her over his shoulder. Little did he know, I’ve been doing that shit to her for a long time. She knocked his feet out from underneath him within a second of her ass hitting the ground.
She then laughed in his face as he wheezed for breath.
He deserved it for inviting himself to our training.
The fucker was literally standing a few feet away from Thayla’s back door when we walked out of it. His sudden appearance scared her so bad I’m surprised a power of hers didn’t burst out and blast his ass.
When he asked if he could come with us, I said no. Thayla gave in and told him to go get Yemi when he started his bitching and moaning about being stuck in the house.
Of course, it couldn’t be just the two of them. No. Doren and Iric also had to join as well. At least Nero had already left for Valveilious.
Too many fucking people.
We’re down a member of our Valtrue also.
Our morning routine is all out of order thanks to us starting later than normal. So much later that Amick was probably five minutes late getting to the Athenaeum.
The second he started his shit about breakfast not being done and how he was going to be behind, Thayla sat herself on his lap. Her arms wrapped around his neck, her lips met his, and that was it. He didn’t complain anymore.
He even thanked me for breakfast when he left.
She’s got us wrapped around her finger.
Her soul.
Fuck, last night was…
A throat clears beside me, and I cut my eyes over to Iric. I force them not to roll as I smother my smile and focus back on the two of them fighting.
“Creed.”
“Iric.”
We fall into silence, and both our gazes follow Thayla and Sevryn as they battle through the meadow grass.
I don’t usually get to sit back and watch either of their skills.
I’m typically training Thayla, and I left Sevryn at the Court the few times I’ve taken him.
They’re fucking impressive.
She’s come so far.
My Goddess of Death.
Ugh. I’m turning into a sap.
“You all seem lighter today,” Iric comments in his quiet, observant tone.
I sigh and cross my arms. “Well, as you’re well aware, emotion carries weight.”
There’s no point lying to this god.
I’ve studied up on his abilities since Riven’s truth taurnshit made him spit out why he was basically running away from us. The more I learned, the shittier I felt for not noticing someone like him being stuck in Hellveilious.
That had to be agonizing for him. His power probably stayed in a constant state of stress.
“I apologize. I didn’t mean—”
“You don’t have to apologize or explain. I understand there’s a compulsion to your power that you can’t quite control.”
I don’t glance at him, but I swear I sense his flinch through the energy in the air between us.
“So you’ve all looked into my abilities.”
“I have.”
“Your brothers and Thayla haven’t?”
“I’m not sure about my brothers. Amick would be the one to take the initiative and do some research. As for Thayla, no.”
“Do you believe she remembers all the conversations had at dinner that night?”
I turn to face him completely then. My eyes narrow, while his stay as calm and collected as they always are.
“Why would you ask that?”
He continues to hold my gaze.
“Do you remember Lusia Nighly?
Shock races through my chest and an icy shiver slides down my spine. Guilt also rears its head, and I fight back the bile racing up my throat. I don’t know what fucking game he’s playing bringing her up.
I haven’t heard her name uttered in six years.
It’s one I’ll never forget, though.
“Why are you bringing her up?” I grit out.
“Lusia had a Domain under the High Chancellor.”
“I’m aware. Amick spoke highly of her abilities in record keeping. Get to your point.”
“I don’t know exactly what she said to the High Chancellor, but whatever she called him out about, it landed her in one of those rooms. The same room you, your brothers, and Thayla faced.
“Just as you can see certain stains on soul, traumas leave different kinds of marks. I see those. I know the patterns. That night at dinner, I needed to walk away because Thayla’s reminded me so much of Lusia.”
My throat tightens to the point I can’t gulp.
“Do they still look similar?”
“No. Hers is lightening.” He drags his attention away from Thayla.
“I was punished because I found Lusia after she was released from that room and I tried to help her. The High Chancellor found out and forbade me from helping anymore. I went back to her, though. I couldn’t help it. My power refused to do nothing.
“That was only day two of being out of that room and we were attempting to work through some of the fog. She couldn’t at that time, even remember why she was placed in that room. Then day three, we were caught again.”
“That’s when you were sent to Valveilious?”
“Yes, and Lusia Nighly was sent back to that room.”
My eyes close and I shake my head as I turn away from him. I pinch my lids tighter as the echoes of her prayers blare in my mind.
“You carry a guilt that isn’t yours to carry, Creed.”
“How could you possibly say that?”
“I see the difference. Guilt presents itself to me in shades of bronze. True guilt that comes from someone who is a wrongdoer is the brightest. Then it changes and fades. Guilt that’s really grief wearing a mask is the faintest.
“That appears when someone blames themselves for something they couldn’t have changed. That’s the shade that lit up behind your heart the second I said her name.”
Everything in my chest pulls tight. I attempt to lock it down, but I’m not fast enough.
Thayla’s gaze whips to me. As if she’s done playing with a toy that isn’t interesting to her anymore, she shoves Sevryn away and marches over to me.
I force my face to fall neutral and for my fucking soul to stop thrashing.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” She doesn’t appreciate that one-word answer at all. “Not now.”
My look was supposed to convey the meaning ‘we have too many fucking people around.’ That isn’t how she takes it.
“Iric,” she says, giving him a tight smile.
“Thayla.” He dips his head. “I’ll leave you two.”
We silently stare at one another while he joins the others behind us. Even whatever Riven, Doren, and Kyzen are laughing about doesn’t deter her glare from mine.
“We’ll talk about this later.”
“No, we’ll talk now. Your later means long after you’ve distracted me and I’ve forgotten about it for days or even weeks.”
Yeah, I can’t deny that.
She isn’t going to let this go.
“Thayla and I are going for a walk,” I call over my shoulder.
“We’ll join.”
“No,” I bark at Kyzen, earning me a smack on the arm.
“Give us a minute, please,” she says with a far sweeter tone.
I roll my eyes as he sticks his middle finger up at me, yet gives her the most charming smile.
Taurnshit.
“No freaky shit in the forest,” Riven hollers as I grab Thayla’s hand and tug her along. “That’s how you get critters in your ass crack.”
My huff is drowned out by Thayla’s laughing. The sound sinks deep into my soul, and it loosens up enough that it’s not constricting my damn heart anymore.
“So…”
“So,” I repeat after her and she sighs.
“Don’t make me play the question game right now.”
“What’s the question game?”
“Where you make me pry answers from you by asking question after question. It’d be so helpful and easier if you just told me what was said or what made your soul squeeze mine in a hug so tight it stole my breath for a second.”
My nose scrunches from that description.
“My soul doesn’t give hugs.”
She snorts. “Your soul most definitely hugs mine. A lot. All the time. It’s a big, ol’ sweet cuddly thing.”
“Enough.” I grunt and her victorious chuckle pulls a smirk to my lips.
“Fine. I assume whatever Iric brought up caused that to happen?”
“Yeah.” I sigh, then rub my hand down my face. “He brought up someone I haven’t thought about in years. Her name was Lusia Nighly. She died six years ago. She…”
My lips flap together as words escape me. I replay that day, those moments, repeatedly.
My choices that day have always weighed heavily on me.
Iric and his stupid-ass powers brought it all back to the surface.
“She what?” she asks quietly.
If you can talk about this to anyone, it’s her.