Chapter 32 Thayla #2
There isn’t a vibration or tingle to be found in my body aside from the chill. I try to sense something, call it forth, but absolutely nothing responds. I shake my head and his brows furrow for a moment, then he snaps his fingers and disappears once again.
He comes back just as fast with a bronze box tucked under his arm. He kneels and sets it in my lap, completely ignoring the glare I’m shooting him.
I think he’s been away from people for far too long.
I don’t voice my concerns, though, as he lowers the Binding first into the box, then the key.
“Your hand, please.” He holds his out expectantly, and mine shakes uncontrollably. “Oh my, that’s really not good.”
I tighten my lips as he places my hand on the lid.
“This nifty thing is an illusion cube. You can change its size to whatever you please, depending on your need. If it’s empty, anyone can use it, but if it’s not, only the being who closed it can open it again.
The creation wraps around your essence. I’d recommend you close it to something small enough that will fit in your pocket for now. ”
“And I do that how?”
“Oh, right, sorry. You just think about it.”
I release a slow, shaky breath and hold the lid with literally every last drop of strength I possess in my body. My hand falls rapidly against my lap as the cube shrinks down and tumbles to the ground.
“Ah, very good. This will do,” he says as he picks it up and examines it, then attempts to pass it to me.
I literally just stare at him.
He gives me a tense smile. “I’ll just help.”
Everything hurts as I move my hips and allow him to reach the pocket of my pants. My glare is unkind when he makes a comment about how cold my clothes are.
His eyes grow wide as he falls still for just a moment. “Starza is on her way back to retrieve you. Your Valtrue is most unhappy right now.”
That brings a small smirk to my lips.
“I can imagine. May I ask you something?”
“Of course.”
“How long have you been here? Like, away from people.”
“Well, I still see certain individuals from time to time. Do you mean how long has it been since I’ve lived in the Lost Sea?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, I don’t know, I’d say at least thirty-five years now.”
My jaw falls open. He doesn’t look a day past thirty.
It’s probably rude to ask how old he really is.
“One more question, if that’s okay.”
“It is.”
I swallow roughly. “You said you can discover people?”
His smile grows warmer as he bends down and picks me up with no fucking warning. He hisses at the cry that tears through my lips.
“I’m terribly sorry. I didn’t think about it hurting to pick you up. As for your question, yes.”
“Can…can you find my parents?”
He stops walking and sighs. “I already know where they are.”
“Will you tell me?” I grit my teeth when he shakes his head. “Why? Are they okay? Safe and well?”
“Well isn’t exactly the word I’d use, but yes, they are alive and safe. I’m not allowed to tell you. You will know when the time comes.”
“When will that be?”
He laughs lightly as we cross back through the threshold he originally walked me through, and my body locks up even tighter when my eyes fall on the water.
Why the hell are we back in here?
He lowers me down to the ground and crouches beside me.
“When the time is right. You knowing, finding your parents right now, wouldn’t help you in the way you believe it would. I know that’s not what you want to hear but trust me. I’ve learned a thing or two about waiting in my time out here.
“I never swore that I wouldn’t return to Godsden someday.
When I first left, then again when I came to the Lost Sea, the thought of going back, reconnecting with the realm, overwhelmed me.
It was my loneliness. When the Binding showed up, I asked the Messenger to give me a sign when it was my time to return so I could stop worrying about it. That sign finally came.”
He pulls his shirt sleeve up and stares down at his wrist lovingly. I nearly faint.
“There’s a group of people somewhere, waiting for me to find them. I can reenter the realm, join my Valtrue, confidently and happily knowing I helped play a role in giving us a safer realm.”
“Oh, Doren…you don’t have to look very far.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your Binder is my best friend. She’s on my ship with one other of your Valtrue members.”
His mouth falls open as he sinks to the stone. “Where are the other two?”
I shake my head. “We don’t know yet. We haven’t really had time to look or even discuss this.”
“What are their names? My Binder and my Valtrue member?”
“Yemi and Sevryn.”
He repeats their names like he’s been waiting his whole life to speak them. A pit of worry forms in my stomach. I’ve only known him for five seconds, but he seems like a sweet soul and what he’s about to enter is putting him smack-dab in the middle of what he ran from.
His face grows serious once he meets my gaze again. “Will you do me a favor, Thayla Godrun?”
“Sure.”
“When you return to your ship, tell them I’m going to find our two missing members, then the three of us will join them.”
Oh my…
“Yeah, I can do that for you.”
He bows his head and places his hand to his heart. “I’m forever in your debt.”
“No, no, you’re not. We’re not the kind of people to give a favor, then expect something in return. You’re going to have to learn that once you join our odd little group we’ve got formed up there.”
His smile returns, and it’s the biggest I’ve seen so far.
“A group of gods who don’t demand repayment. Who would’ve thought I’d see the day?” His eyes cast behind me and at the same moment the water ripples. “Time to go. I’m happy to say this isn’t goodbye.”
“I’m sorry, you expect me to get back in there?”
“Oh no. I didn’t really think that through, did I? I’m so sorry. We’re in an underground cavern that the Valmareri have warded, Thayla. The only way back up is through the water or if they allow you to starshoot out. Seeing as you couldn’t starshoot the items…”
“Can my companion starshoot in and get me?”
His worried eyes flash behind me once again and I swear tears fill mine. The last thing I want to do is get into that water.
“I am sorry, Thayla Godrun. Your Vedarya will not be able to pass through our ward. We as a familia group placed these barriers long ago in a time when creatures did not see eye to eye and our numbers began to dwindle. It has the power of a hundred Valmareri behind it. It is not that we do not trust your connection, but to bring the ward down for him leaves us at risk of others in the sea getting to us. Especially now that our numbers are not what they once were.”
Fuck me.
I completely understand her reasoning for wanting to protect her family, but gods, I’m so cold.
“I-I understand.” I tremble and sniffle as true fear grips me.
“I’m sorry. I really didn’t think about this or how being pulled into the Lost Sea was going to affect you.”
“It’s okay.”
“Come, young Thayla. Your starwoven is waiting for you.”
“My what?”
Her freezing tentacle wraps around my waist, and I sob as she lifts me off the stone.
“I’ll see you soon,” Doren calls in a mournful tone that I can’t quite care about at the moment.
My cry breaks free when ice that honestly feels like fire shoots through my legs. I slam my mouth shut as Starza drags me under.
It wouldn’t matter that I couldn’t breathe. My lungs and every muscle in my body lock up the second she starts soaring back through the water.
I try to count the seconds but lose track of time as my mind grows fuzzy. My chest pulls tight as my soul stretches out and receives four caresses in return.
Please. Just get me back to them.
Air rushes across my skin again and water drips from me as I breach the surface. My lids crack open, although their weight continues to force them back down, but they’re peeled enough to see the black deck grow closer.
With ease that you wouldn’t expect from a creature of her size, she lays me on the wooden floor and gently uncoils her tentacle from around my body.
“Good luck to you and your Valtrue, Thayla.”
“Thank you.”
My name echoes around me less than a second before I’m lifted. I can’t bring myself to wrap my arms around Riven’s neck, but I tuck my face into the corner of his neck as someone else rearranges me.
“Y-you’re so cold,” I stutter.
“No shit, little burden. The sea is fucking freezing.”
He starts speed walking the second my limbs are laid limply around him.
“Why were you in the sea?”
“That’s a stupid-ass question. We jumped in after you, of course, and those slimy, one-hundred-arm fucking creatures kept putting us back on the ship. You’re in so much trouble.”
He bursts through the carriage doors and practically runs to our room.
“Riven, you can’t—”
Amick’s shout is cut off as a scream belts out of me the moment Riven steps us into the hot spring in our bathroom.
His hand grips the back of my neck and his harmony floods me, soothing away the pain shooting through every cell in my body.
“You can’t heat her back up that fast.”
“Just shut the fuck up, Amick, and let me do what I’m doing.”
Tremors still wreck me, and small whimpers continue to slip past my lips as I let his power and the hot water settle over me.
“Lean up,” he commands, but he’s already snatching my shirt off me before I can do anything myself.
A body behind me wraps their arm around my waist as Riven peels his off as well, then he immediately pulls me back to him. Creed doesn’t remove his hand from me, though. He just slides it around to my back.
Both their fingers trace up and down my spine, and I burrow myself deeper as I chase the warmth and comfort.
“Are you okay?” Kyzen asks as he comes to the side I’m facing and sinks in beside us.
I shake my head.
“Did you all really jump in after me?”
His gaze turns furious. “Multiple times. It didn’t matter how much I slowed down time or sped it up, they’d catch us and put us back on the boat.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You have nothing to be sorry for.”
“Oh yes, the fuck you do. Don’t listen to Kyzen. Well, actually, you don’t have anything to be sorry for, but you’re sure as shit in trouble.”
“That harmony forcing you to see reason, huh?” I snort and he grumbles into my hair.
“Taurnshit.”
“You can yell at me all you want after I can feel my lips so I can yell back.”
His chest expands, lifting me up and settling me back down as he exhales.
“It’s a date, angel.”