Chapter 36 Thayla #2
Pure…something—hunger, devotion, maybe a little of both—glare back at me through his eyes.
It’s delightfully distracting.
I watch his back the entire time until he reaches the statues of the Beginning Gods outside of the Sanctum. Either my gaze has a weight to it, or he wanted one last look at me. A small grin curves my lips as he peers over his shoulder and winks at me.
“Shall we?” Amick says, gesturing toward the Athenaeum doors.
“Yeah.” I exhale.
“So what’s on your agenda today for your first day back in what feels like forever, Thay?” Lambrit asks as we cross the threshold of the double doors.
“Not too sure, honestly. I told Amick to decide what I should do.”
“Yemi’s evaluation is coming up, so the two of them are going to go collect the final material Yemi needs and a book on Accord that I need for Thayla.”
“Evaluation?” I ask, peering between her and Amick.
Yemi snorts and rolls her eyes at me. “What do you think I do in that once-a-week lesson I have without you?”
“Honestly, I forgot about them. Do you even still go to them?”
She laughs, earning herself a shush from someone random. They fix their face as soon as they notice the blank glare on Amick’s.
“Not as much as the other Attendants do. For obvious reasons. Our lessons are technically flexible depending on our Attending Gods’ needs. I’m on par with everything, though.”
“I’m aware that you are. I have no doubt your evaluation will be perfect. This is merely paperwork nonsense.”
“I don’t know what that means,” I say.
“Everything I check out from the Athenaeum is recorded. So we have a list of materials we’re required to have checked out and gone over prior to our evaluations. I understand what’s going on now. Amick wants me to check everything out left on my materials list so I can get it out of the way.”
“That’s correct. With the Power Worthiness Test rapidly approaching, I don’t want anything left to chance. Although I know the two of you hold the strongest relationship between the other Attendants and Attending Gods, I want that recorded and unquestionable.”
I still feel like I don’t know what the hell they’re talking about, but the sassy smirk on Yemi’s face lets me know whatever he said pleases her.
“Who does the evaluation?”
“I do.”
“Oh, well, then why can’t you just say she’s great and move on?”
Rose and Lambrit chuckle as we approach their table and they lay their stuff down. Yemi and I tell them we’ll see them in a few as Amick keeps pulling me along to his office.
My feet fall still as soon as I pass through his doorway and inhale.
I didn’t expect the smell to hit me so hard, but the deeper I breathe, the more my lungs fill with the comforting scent of parchment, ink, and Amick.
Fuck, I didn’t realize how much I missed this smell.
My shoulders sag and I focus on the rhythm of his thumb running over my knuckles.
“I’m very pleased you’re back today, but if at any time you want to go, you just tell me.”
“I will, but I’m happy to be back in here with you. I missed it.”
“Aww, how sweet,” Yemi teases as she squeezes around me so she can actually get into the office.
I snort. “Sorry, Yem.”
“You aren’t. At all.”
Amick and I smirk at one another, then I follow behind him as he lets my hand go and moves over to his desk.
“If I could just sign off and say, ‘Okay, Yemi Andino has passed her evaluation,’ I would. She obviously will get preferential treatment even though she doesn’t need it.
Unfortunately, because everything that Attendants do is closely watched, we need to abide by the rules to an extent, so we don’t draw any extra attention to her. ”
“Yeah, I’m really not worried about it, Thayla. It’s literally a conversation where he asks me questions and I answer, then he goes over his notes on me. I swear, I know everything I need to do to be the best Attendant you could ever have.”
“I don’t doubt that whatsoever. I just think the fact you need an evaluation at all is fucking shitty.”
“Well, when you have to give your two cents on me, you can complain to the Rising Chancellor.” She laughs, but my head whips to Amick.
“I have to give you my opinion on her? Like officially?”
“Yes. Your personal review of her and how she’s handled her responsibilities. I was going to fill that out for you.”
“Thank you. I’d still like you to do that but add a note in there that I think this whole process is taurnshit.”
“I will,” he says, most certainly just to appease me. “Here’s the list of the four texts you still need to check out, Yemi, and this is the book I need if you don’t mind retrieving it for me, Thayla.”
“Of course I don’t, Candyman.”
“Thank you. If you both aren’t back in twenty minutes, I’m coming to look for you.”
I snort at his warning, then clear my throat. The look on his face tells me he isn’t kidding one little bit.
“Yes, sir. Twenty minutes.”
I smile smugly when his eyes brighten, but I lace my arm through Yemi’s and giggle my way out of his office.
“I’m shocked he’s sending us on a scavenger hunt on your first day back and within the first few minutes,” Yemi says as we turn down our first row.
She’s steering our way, so I assume she knows where we’re going.
“I’m not at all. He’s doing it on purpose to give me a sense of independence and us an opportunity to be alone for a little while.”
“Really? You think so?”
“Oh, I know. The second he said he needed me to get a book for him, I knew he just gave me some random-ass assignment, so I felt like I was helping. He could’ve starshot to this book and back to his office before I could blink. Plus, he’s giving us some alone time.”
She laughs as she tilts her head back and plucks book number one on her list off a shelf.
So she definitely knows where we’re going.
“Does he know that you know he’s doing this to appease you?”
“No, and I’d never tell him. I think it’s incredibly sweet how he considers things like this before making plans for me.”
“It is. It’s very considerate, actually. Doren does little things like that.” She groans as soon as I wiggle my eyebrows at her. “I knew I should’ve kept my damn mouth shut.”
“Well, you’ve already opened it now, so spill.”
“Gods, you’re as bad as they are. Well, as bad as Sevryn and Doren.” We both laugh as she grabs book number two, and I offer to hold that one for her. “Honestly, it’s confusing and we’re just taking it day by day.”
I’m desperate for more than that, but I hear the undertones of what she isn’t saying. She’s not ready to talk. So, sadly, I don’t push.
“Well, just so you know, I’m an expert at juggling four boyfriends. If you ever need advice, I got you.”
She laughs and hip bumps me as we round the corner.
“When we get longer than twenty minutes alone time, I’ll definitely—”
“Thayla.”
My realm spins as I’m snatched around by my arm. Everything within me reacts.
A heat flash spears from my scalp to my toes, and Yemi’s shriek echoes in my ears. That noise immediately morphs into a manly grunt, and a muttered “You stupid motherfucker” falls from her. Books crash around us, but my mind can’t focus on that.
“Lower the dagger, Thay. It’s just me.”
My eyes blink and my hand twitches as an uncomfortable sensation drags over my skin.
“Thayla, are you okay?”
My chest rises and falls. It takes considerable effort to force my sight to work for me. Yemi repeatedly saying my name has the black fading from my eyes.
Not seeing may have been better.
My gaze locks onto green brighter than meadow grass.
Mellcom holds his hands up, pressed against a barrier between us. My glare drops to my dagger pressed to his throat, then moves back up to his face.
“Thayla?”
“I’m okay. Are you?” I ask Yemi.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Got the other asshole pressed against the bookshelf.”
“Come on, Thay,” Mellcom says once again as his eyes flare. “I need to talk to you.”
“You’ve got some fucking nerve.”
My soul thrashes and I do nothing to stop it. I let it spread wherever and to whoever it wants to go to.
“You’ve all but disappeared and haven’t given me another option but to resort to this so I can talk to you.”
“Did you follow us here?”
“No. Creed told me you were here.”
My mind hums in absolute rebellion. He would never.
“You’re a fucking liar, Mellcom Bellame. You’re going to walk away now, you and that piece of shit back there, or you won’t like what happens next.”
“No,” he shouts and I force my body not to flinch.
“You’re going to listen to me and listen good. I’m fucking done, Thayla. After everything, everything!”
His bellow rattles the books behind him and for a fleeting second, the separation between us ripples.
“I’m done with you ignoring me, with your hate, and this distance it’s put between us. It ends today, do you understand me? You won’t survive the Power Worthiness Test coming up without me. You need me. Me and Jeremiah.”
The glow in his eyes grows more intense and the grip on my dagger at his throat grows tighter. A shiver skirts down my spine and the tremors ravaging my body are hard to control.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
My eyes narrow on the sick smile he gives me. His familiar flip from rage to eerie calm has bile climbing up my throat.
“Don’t play dumb with me. Your act of innocence gets old, Thay. We both know why you won’t survive.”
I try to hide the surprise on my face. I don’t know if I accomplish that or not.
“Who the fuck have you been talking to, Mellcom?”
He smiles as the barrier between us fades.
What the hell, Yemi?
“Yemi?”
“I’m okay.”
“There’s so much you don’t know. So much is still being kept from you. I won’t, though. I’ll tell you everything. Let’s go talk. You, me, and Jeremiah. Just like old times.”
Old times…
Do it, Thayla.
One good flick of your wrist.
That’s all it’ll take.
The barrier between us crashes down in a wave of power. It slashes through my very being and a surprised scream rips from my throat as I pull the dagger back and plunge it forward.