Chapter 14 Amick #2
We don’t comment, but I tuck it into the back of my mind to figure out what it was he was going to say later.
“We’ll still visit Oddian. I’ll think on it and consider if it should be our first or last destination, seeing as it has the fewest spots to investigate. Thank you, Lambrit, for compiling this so timely. It’s very helpful.”
“I enjoyed it. I’m still working on the list of repeat gods who were spotted, but I’ll have it finished up in the next two days or so.”
“Good. Riven, how’s the construction going?”
“Same. It looks pretty sweet. We’re going to be flying in style.”
I pivot toward him. “Style really isn’t what we’re going for. Comfort and accessibility. Did you change the design?”
“Of course I didn’t. It’s exactly as you drew it out.”
I don’t believe him for a second.
I grit my teeth and move on. “If two days is the completion timeline, we’ll use that as our distraction for us to break into the High Chancellor’s office.”
“To do what?” Lambrit wheezes and I peer at Thayla.
“I thought you told me you didn’t leave out any details when you talked to them last night?”
She bats her not-so-innocent lashes at me. “Well, I didn’t leave out major things. I guess I forgot a few minor details.”
“Minor, Mysenta?” I tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear as her face flames and she bites her bottom lip.
I have a foreign desire to pry it from between her teeth with my own. That baser drive has me shaking my head and moving on to fill in the blanks for Lambrit, Rose, and Yemi.
“Riven and Creed, on completion day, we’ll use that as the distraction.
I’ll request that the High Chancellor accompany the two of you for the final inspection of the carriage.
Without telling Ellian our intentions, inform him to keep the High Chancellor busy.
Lambrit, you and Rose will be in charge of keeping an eye out from here if anyone comes looking for me.
Thayla, you and Yemi will come with Kyzen and me to be our lookouts from outside the office. ”
Everyone—although half of them are shocked—murmurs their agreement and voices that they have no questions.
“Very well. Everyone off to what they’re supposed to be doing.”
Lambrit and Rose say quick goodbyes, while everyone else, as in my Valtrue and Yemi, stares at me.
“Do you three have nothing to do?”
“Nope. My schedule’s clear, so I’m staying right here and helping,” Kyzen says gleefully.
“I have a few more minutes till I need to go to the healing villas.”
“Why do you have to go to the healing villas?”
Worry and curiosity mingle in Thayla’s tone. Her eyes trace Creed as though she’s searching for an injury, but that only lasts momentarily. He silently stares at her until a sigh she tries to mask as annoyance flows through her lips and she turns back to face my desk.
Kyzen and I glare at him while Riven chuckles.
Disappointment is a natural emotion for anyone. I even experience it. Probably more potently than any other feeling. I don’t like being let down. Especially if I’ve given clear instructions or have gone out of my way to seek help. I’ve come to find, though, I despise seeing her disappointed.
She hasn’t verbally expressed it, but I’ve picked up on enough cues that disappointment doesn’t surprise my Binder. She expects it. That’s why she doesn’t outwardly react to it other than the little slip of sound she made.
Mentally, she’s always ready to be let down.
I don’t want her to be prepared for us to disappoint her. As her Valtrue, and after everything we’ve already faced and will continue to, she needs to know and believe we aren’t going to disappoint her.
Creed’s unwavering stare moves to me, and I allow mine to go cold. He can read it through my eyes I don’t approve of his continued silent treatment when it comes to himself.
His lips tighten into flat lines, then his gaze moves to her. She ignores us all and continues to pretend to look over the map as the awkwardness grows. The monstrous scowl that unfortunately resembles our sperm donor’s gradually fades from his face as he takes a minute to observe her.
“A group of Plentifuls who were doing some land maintenance accidentally uprooted a fire-ivy plant. It’s poisonous and shouldn’t have been touched with their bare hands.
Some healers are working on the burns it left on their skin.
I have to go over there in a moment and take care of the remaining poison flowing through their blood. ”
Her finger flinches and she turns her head toward him. “You can do that?”
“I can.”
“Like Jay can or?”
“No. My power most certainly doesn’t almost give people orgasms. It’s not comforting at all, which is why the healers are doing what they can first to get those injured comfortable.”
She wants to ask more questions. The desire to do that is obvious in her now brighter eyes, but she holds herself back.
I want to tell her to push him.
Don’t allow him to continue hiding who he is.
She doesn’t, though.
“A little pain won’t kill them if it means saving their lives.”
He grunts and without another word, leaves my office. Kyzen’s sigh draws her attention, but he covers it with a smile.
“Well, you all have certainly sucked the fun out of this morning, so I’m going to head to the meadows and check on Verlet and Seismet. Find myself something to get into. Be bad, little burden.” He tips my stack of books over toward her, laughing as he starshoots away.
“Motherfucker,” she shrieks as she uses her whole body as a block to keep my books from hitting the ground. “I’m going to castrate him.”
I internally cringe as I wrap my arms around her and the books. His antics are a nuisance, but castration may be a little too harsh of a punishment.
“I’m not sure the positive personality changes castration would bring would outweigh the negative. Some increased agreeableness in him would be nice, but the dramatic shift in his levels of aggression, further mental issues, and reduced libido may—”
“Amick, I’d never really castrate him. I was exaggerating.”
She’s shaking her head slightly as though I was supposed to know that wasn’t a real consideration.
“It’s good you clarified that then. I’m sure that would be the last way in which he wanted you to touch him.”
“I’m not touching—you know what, never mind. What do you have planned for Yemi and me today?”
“Plenty.”
I place my hands on her hips to move her over a step so I can get to my list I’ve made for them. Her body relaxes into mine and I find I can’t move her. I can’t let her go.
Not just in a physical sense but also a mental one.
Her shirt has slid up enough that the pads of two of my fingers touch her bare skin. It’s warm. Soft. Like every other part of her body I’ve had the pleasure of caressing, but there’s something about this intimate position.
The more than comfortable way she’s molding into me has a protectiveness I’ve never experienced in my life surging through me. The woman I’m tenderly holding could make men weep with a glare, yet she’s softening under my touch.
As though I make her feel safe enough to lower her walls of armor.
I’ve never experienced that level of comfort, yet I’m providing it for someone else. For her.
“Amick.” Kyzen clears his throat, and I blink repeatedly.
I glance down to find Thayla already looking at me. How it’s possible, I’m not sure, but there’s a smile in her eyes.
“You okay there, Candyman?”
“Perfectly fine.”
I shake off the strange sensation that has taken ahold of my clarity and finally move her over. The slip of parchment with the list of six texts is still lying where I left it.
“These are for the two of you to gather. I’m confident you know where to locate these within the Athenaeum, correct?”
She scans my list skeptically. “Absolutely confident. We’ll be back in no time at all.”
The pinched smile she gives Kyzen and me as she steps over to Yemi is as unconvincing as the words that left her lips.
Their hushed whispers follow them out my door, but Kyzen’s chuckle fills the space, and he perches himself on the side of my desk.. “How long are you giving them to find those books before you go find them?”
“An hour max.”
“Why didn’t you gather them for her if you knew she wouldn’t know where to find them?”
“Two reasons. First, she grows tired of being in here all day. Making her go find her own material gets her out of the confines of these walls and challenges her to learn her way around. Two, something shifted between her and Yemi last night. I’m trying to give her time to explore that a little more.
Soon, they’ll have no alone time together. ”
“Uh, I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately. I’m kicking myself for not figuring out a way to have separate rooms.”
“What does that matter?”
“What do you mean? We’re all going to be in a room together, so neither you nor me are going to have any alone time with her. Creed and Riven will be there the whole time.”
“I still don’t see the issue. That’ll be good for them.”
“What—okay, you know what, we’ve got to have a talk about this.”
His words are making no sense. It’s as though he’s forgotten how to put whole sentences together.
“I’m finding it difficult to understand your choppy thoughts. Can you say what it is you want to say all at once?”
“We, Amick, as in you and me, are in a relationship with Thayla. Her and my relationship has moved into both emotional and physical. Now that the five of us are going to be sharing a room for weeks, we won’t be able to be physical because there will be two additional men, who are not in our relationship, in the same room as us.
“I’m not understanding what you’re not understanding. Ever since she told us she had feelings for them, and all the little comments you’ve made, it feels like you’re trying to pull the two of them into our relationship.”
He jerks himself off my desk and spins back around to face me with his hands on his hips.