Chapter 24 Amick
Amick
My head hangs as I close the back cover of the Book of the Gods Binding for the twelfth time.
Pieces are scattered.
Events misplaced in time.
Half information.
Key elements not erased but never written.
Everything I’ve run across that hasn’t made sense, I’ve gone to V about. I’m fortunate in all aspects that he doesn’t grow tired of me and allows me to question him.
Yet, he is of minimal help.
He repeats himself constantly.
“You read. I will guide when it’s time.”
I have read. It is time.
We leave in ten short hours.
Everyone is packed and in bed. Except for me.
I tried to get ready for bed. I’m already in my pajama pants and shirt, but my mind continues to sift through the choppy answers that are turning my thoughts into mutilated sentences.
One incomplete thought rolls into another.
I grip the edge of my desk and stare at the array of information spread out. It’s all useless, yet somewhere within the pages, our answers lie.
My peripheral catches on the silk baggies sitting in the chair across from me, where Riven left them.
Ten perfect pocket-sized Angel Aura Amethyst.
He and Thayla retrieving the crystal was a major success and help. It’s been repeated several times in the book. Although it doesn’t explicitly say what the two creations have in common, my promising assumption is, they’re both created with divine connection and will activate around one another.
I strongly believe by carrying an Amethyst with us, if we come close to the replicated Binding, then the energy that will pour between the two will be unignorable. We’ll have no choice but to follow the pull of power.
I wouldn’t have been upset with Riven if he couldn’t find them. It was a highly difficult and last-minute task that I placed on him, but I would’ve been disappointed that we didn’t have that advantage.
He was frustrated with me that I wouldn’t explain why I wanted him to get two no matter what, but I couldn’t tell him the truth when I haven’t even explained it to Thayla yet.
I wanted one for myself because I have no doubt in my abilities to sense great power. I’m confident I’ll be able to feel the pull of the Binding once we’re in its range.
If it was in my possession, I also wouldn’t have to worry about one of them carelessly losing such a precious material.
Thayla needed one because well…
She has a divine connection. She just doesn’t know that.
What I’ve learned about the tie in her is staggering and petrifying.
I know I’ve upset her by avoiding speaking about or working with her on her power, but that’s because what I have to tell her is going to scare her.
It’s going to make her angry.
It will disappoint her.
She’ll have so many questions, and I want to be able to minimize those by explaining as much as I can at once.
The knock at the door has me tearing my gaze from the baggies hiding the Angel Aura Amethyst and my brows crease as Kyzen’s repetition continues.
He’s supposed to be asleep in bed with Thayla. He refused to help me read faster and told me to give it a break and go to bed.
I cross the room and pull my door wide, prepared to ask him what he wants, but my words fall short. He’s standing behind Thayla with his hands on her shoulders and a smug smirk on his lips.
“Night, little goddess. If you need me, I’m right next door.”
He gives her a kiss on her cheek and leaves her standing here before me, nervously twisting her fingers.
“Thayla.”
“Candyman.”
Her lips twitch and my heart swells with her infuriating but affectionate nickname for me.
“You’re supposed to be sleeping. We leave soon.”
“So are you, but you’re awake, obsessing over that book.”
“I am. I need to be as prepared as possible.”
“You’re prepared enough for all of us.”
The confidence in her tone has my shoulders dropping a fraction and warmth spreads throughout my body.
“I can never be too prepared when it comes to protecting you.”
My mind quiets as I observe the subtle blush blooming on her cheeks as she looks away from me. I have a desperate desire to turn her face back to me so I can map the patterns in her stained-glass eyes.
She’s the distraction I didn’t know I needed.
“May I come in?”
I nod and turn in with my door so she can walk past me. The small brush of her body against mine has the breath stalling in my chest.
She walks to the center of my room, a few feet from my bed, and looks around the room that hasn’t changed since the first time she saw it. Still, she observes everything with a fascination much like my own.
She wants to see everything.
Her eyes linger on my bag packed by my desk and the second one that’s empty but open beside it. With a quick glance at the books still piled around, she works out on her own, I still have to gather those.
“I’ve noticed since you starshot earlier, something has changed.
Your power is different, as is the energy you’re giving off.
Yet, you’re very nervous. At dinner, you talked, laughed, but you pushed your food around your plate, making it seem like you were eating.
When Kyzen declared it was time for bed, you were more gentle than usual with Creed and Riven as you told them good night.
“Now, you’re standing here, fidgeting, and mapping out my possessions as though it’s the last time you’ll see them. You’re anxious, but it’s more than that. Tell me what’s wrong.”
She smirks over her shoulder. “You know, you aren’t the only god who can read me so well, but you are the only one who does it and it doesn’t upset me. Much, anyway.”
“My intentions are never to upset you. Just explain what I see.”
“I know that. That’s why it doesn’t bother me. I actually kind of like it that you see me so well.” She breathes, looking down at her fingers before she untangles and shakes them out. “I am nervous. I have two things to ask.”
“Ask away.”
“Can we…talk about some things? The plan for tomorrow, how I feel about them, and also…” she trails off, turning to face me fully.
“Also what?”
“Can I stay in here tonight? With you?”
Shock colors my face and I’m not quick enough to hide it. It’s obvious she takes it the wrong way instantly when hers falls.
“I’d love nothing more.”
Her lips part. “Really?”
“If that’s what you want, and you’re comfortable with that, then absolutely.”
“But is it what you want? I don’t want you to agree because it’s what I want.”
I recognize the error in my answer immediately. My legs eat up the space between us in three strides. She tilts her head back and I tuck a strand of hair behind her ear.
My fingers caress down her jawline. “I’m not agreeing because it’s what you want. I only said that because you’re more comfortable in your own room. You’ve never slept anywhere but your bed or the couch since arriving here. I’d love to sleep by your side every night.”
“Why haven’t you?”
“You never invited me to or said I was allowed to.”
“I didn’t really invite Kyzen or tell him he could either. He just did. You’ve walked into my room before, so I didn’t know I had to make it clear you were welcome to stay the night. You’re always welcome.”
A shiver races through my blood, and it takes great effort to suppress it.
“Now that I know, I will.” A stunning smile crosses her face and my cheek muscles twitch. “Where would you like to talk?”
Her eyes flick to the bed first before she even considers the chair in front of my desk. I slide my hand down her arm until her fingers are laced with mine and I guide her to the side of the bed farthest from the door.
“I can sit at your desk if you’re still working.”
“My work is done for the night. All that matters is what you want to discuss.”
I pull my unwrinkled, dark blue sheets back, and she kicks her slippers off before crawling in.
The way she’s so comfortable, content, climbing right into my bed with no hesitation, sends fire through my body.
It’s an invigorating sensation.
Once she’s right where she wants to be, with a wave of my power, I command my lights off, and a single dim light flickers to life. The small lamp casts the room in a warm but faint yellow glow and I move to the other side of my bed.
I freeze. Unsure of what to do.
No one’s ever here when I get ready for bed.
“Don’t change anything about what you would do before bed because I’m here.”
The understanding on her face tells me I didn’t utter my thought. My body language made it obvious enough.
I nod and pull my shirt over my head. The deep inhale she takes obscures the sound of it hitting the ground.
I stare, mesmerized, as her pupils dilate and she maps out my body just as she did my room. No surface goes unnoticed. Every inch of my bare skin gets her attention.
It becomes clear to me now why my brothers respond the way they do when they catch her looking at them like this. I’ve noticed the glances she gives me plenty of times, but they’ve never been in a setting so personal.
So opportunistic.
What I experienced the other day, watching her fall apart for Kyzen was intense, much like this, but he was there.
Having her alone, looking at me like she wants nothing more than to run her hands all over me, is even more powerful.
I climb into bed before she realizes the effect she’s having on my body. It feels wrong to lie in my normal spot, though.
The space between her and me is too much.
My back presses against my headboard as I scoot to the middle of my bed and I open my arm for her. “Come here.”
She bites her bottom lip as she moves the comforter out of her way and eases her body against mine. The second her ear presses into my chest, right against my heart, I exhale deeply.
The blissful embrace is all-consuming. It’s so right, so perfect, I nearly forget that the whole reason she came to me was because she needs to talk.
“How are you feeling about tomorrow?”
She sighs. “I’d like to ignore that now.”
My lip twitches. “That isn’t going to do you any good.”
Her fingers draw a pattern on the other side of my chest, and I breathe through the intoxicating sensation.