Chapter 3 Thayla #2
Part of me wants to throw my head back into his nose. To hear his bones shatter would please me to no end. The part of me that’s too petrified to move begs the guys with my eyes to get me the fuck off his lap.
“I mean her no harm, truly, and these little marks were purely accidental. My power was delighted with the strange but addictive way she tastes. Which is honestly surprising. I figured she’d be crawling in Sabelline’s essence.”
Sabelline…
“The Goddess of Seduction?” The words tumble out before I can stop myself.
“What a smart girl you are.” I bite my tongue to keep from popping off at his condescending words, but that fire inside of me is doused once again the second his hand squeezes my thigh to hold me in place.
“We have ourselves a dilemma.”
“Release her and there won’t be a dilemma.” Kirabaddon scoffs at Amick, then stands so quickly I don’t have time to catch myself.
Before my face can become one with the stairs, Kyzen’s power wraps around me. In incredibly slow motion, he catches, straightens, and moves both of us back to the others all in a matter of a second.
“Very impressive, son.”
“I have no desire for your approval. We’ll be going now.”
Kirabaddon chuckles as he waves his index finger back and forth. “That’s not how it works. Really, Derivius, I’m shocked you’ve followed the rules and haven’t explained the agreement to them. Go on, tell them why you can’t leave yet.”
We all look at the God of Chaos. He’s staring Kirabaddon down with a level of disdain that has me nervously preparing my body for a fight.
“What is he talking about?” Amick asks.
Derivius flexes his fingers. “The original agreement was drawn up with a condition that states he has to verbally express to me his reasoning for meeting with you. He’s yet to tell us why we are here.
Therefore, we can’t leave until he does.
The condition was put in place so when you were younger, he couldn’t persuade or manipulate you all into returning to the Abandon with him.
There’s no expiration date on that clause.
Just as there’s no expiration that he was granted the right to see you once yearly without your refusal. He’s chosen not to until now.”
My nostrils flare. “Who the hell came up with this agreement? Obviously not them.”
I zip my mouth shut when all heads turn toward me.
“Almost all the Beginning Gods had a say in the agreement, and no, the boys didn’t get to have any input.”
The disgusted glares being shot at both Beginning Gods before us tell me the guys were as unaware of that fact as I was. There’s a lot to that agreement they obviously don’t know.
“State why we’re here. I’m fucking over this,” Riven declares and the room drops a few degrees.
Kirabaddon has given off a nasty energy this entire time, but the disgust and hatred he has aimed at Riven is deadlier than any other look that’s crossed his face.
Riven doesn’t bristle or budge.
His smile grows the longer their stare off continues.
“Disgrace,” Kirabaddon huffs, then narrows his glare on Derivius.
“Sabelline sensed her Binding. It was a faint sensation, but she felt it nonetheless. I assumed I’d come here and find that my sons had somehow gained possession of it.
Imagine my surprise when I arrived and the High Chancellor informed me they have a completed Valtrue.
“Seeing as I didn’t grant my sons a Binder, but it was no doubt you, I then assumed I’d find the girl crawling in that sweet, seductive essence you released for her. It was shocking just now to find something far more interesting bubbling inside her. Care to explain that?”
Derivius stays silent. That both pisses me off and pleases me. I desperately want to know what the hell is bubbling inside of me, but I one hundred percent don’t want this god to know.
“Fine then, have it your way. Due to your disregard for the rules of those tied to the Messenger and your meddling, here’s what’s going to happen.
I give them two months to locate and return Sabelline’s Binding to me, or I claim Ms. Godrun for myself.
She’ll return to the Abandon with me and the only way my sons will see her is if they come there for a visit. ”
The who?
“Excuse me?” I ask while the others shout, “What?”
My eyebrows scrunch together as I glance at each of them for an explanation. Creed, Kyzen, and Riven share my confusion. Derivius’s face is full of fury. He seems seconds away from exploding, but it’s Amick who steals my attention.
He may appear bored and uninterested, but I’ve seen that look of utter concentration plenty of times.
He knows something.
“You’re playing a very dangerous game, Kirabaddon.”
“You should’ve thought about that before you once again interfered with my sons’ lives. They’re not yours. Never have been and never will be. This time, you will learn your place.”
He takes the steps from his throne at a harrowing, leisurely pace and we shift our feet. His eyes scan over us, and his smile grows as he takes the five of us in. When he settles his gaze back on Derivius, the energy in the room grows darker.
“You haven’t claimed her yet, which tells me you have no plan or desire too.
The others obviously don’t know of her existence.
If they did, she wouldn’t be standing here before us.
That leaves me. I sense she has a good bit of me in her, and I have four very good and deadly reasons to give her more.
“If you step out of line and tell the boys or her more than they’re allowed to know, that’ll truly be the end of you.
I’ll make sure of it. Inform the High Chancellor of their permission to leave Godsden, and all questions or concerns are to go through you.
With my permission, you may oversee this quest. If they fail, so do you, Chaos.
Return the Binding, or she comes with me.
Tamper with the Binding once it’s located, and there will be consequences.
” His sneer shifts in my direction and morphs into a sickly sweet smile.
“I look forward to adding you to my collection, Thayla Godrun.”
He starshoots away faster than Derivius can charge him.
The five of us stand here in a state of confusion, anger, and really, I don’t know what else. I can’t get my thoughts straight as the yelling and curses falling from Derivius’s mouth are too loud to drown out.
My eyes widen as he marches up to me and grabs my hand. “Meet us at your house.”
Without so much as a warning, I’m sucked into a starshoot along with him and my mind tumbles. The millisecond it takes to move from the temple to our living room has my body swaying into his side.
“How the fuck did you just do that?” I grumble.
“All Beginning Gods can move other beings as we please. All Gods can move ungodly beings if need be. You okay, little troublling?”
“I’m—”
“I’m going to fucking kill you,” Riven shouts seconds before he shoves Derivius in the chest and Creed snatches me to his side. He attempts to lift my shirt, but I slap his hands away.
“Riven, calm down and let him explain.”
“Stay out of this, little burden. The two of them have been fucking with us our entire lives and I’ve had it.”
“Can you at least let him tell us what the hell Kira—” Creed covers my mouth. I have half a mind to bite him, but his words stop me.
“Don’t say his name now that he’s left the Godsdawn and we’re in our home. Lift your shirt and let me see your bruises.”
The air racing out of my nose whistles across his hand and my throat closes as everyone turns toward me. As he removes his palm from my mouth, Riven withdraws his fingers from the collar of Derivius’s shirt.
His full, frightening attention descends on me as Kyzen and Amick scoot closer to get a better view.
My lips press together. The adrenaline and anticipation swarming the temple had distracted me from the subtle throbbing in my stomach and arms.
Now that Creed’s demanded to look at the damage done, I feel it a hundred times more keenly.
My fingers tremble as I grip the hem of my shirt.
They make no noise whatsoever as I pull it up until it’s tucked under my bra. Their bodies fall unnaturally still as their eyes land on my stomach, and I tilt my chin down.
Impressions that I know circle all the way around me, line my torso down to my hips. Unlike any other bruise I’ve ever seen in my life, these look as though someone powdered crushed charcoal on my body.
I even run my thumb down my stomach to see if the coloring will wipe off.
It doesn’t.
My chest flutters as a finger strokes the tender skin on my back and a shuddering breath slips out of me.
I don’t even want to imagine what my back looks like.
“They’re like any other bruise. The appearance is different because of his power,” Creed says low as his touch lingers.
I nod as I pull my shirt back down. That seems to bring them all back to reality. “I—we need these answers, Derivius.”
Riven’s eyes swirl as they snap to mine. His lips curl into a vicious snarl as he shoves Derivius away. I attempt to soften my face for him, but I don’t really have any soft feelings at the moment.
“I can already see it on your face that you’re going to say you can’t tell us everything. So skip that taurnshit and get to explaining what’s bubbling inside of me and what it is he wants us to do.”
Derivius sighs defeatedly as he runs his hand down his face.
“This will skirt the line of telling you more than you’re allowed to know, so you’ll need to piece it together,” he says, pointedly looking at Amick.
“As you all know, on the Veilings when you enter the Gods Veil, every becoming god will be paired to a domain that will fall directly under a Beginning God or an already established Domain God. That’s the case ninety-nine point nine percent of the time.
The Gods Binding does that all on its own when it senses your essences and pairs you with the most appropriate matching god.