Thayla #2
Some random office.
The Goddess of Creation’s gardens.
The Neutral.
My men.
A shuddering breath erupts out of me and the Amethyst tumbles to the floor as I clutch my racing heart. Countless seconds and deep breaths pass while I blink my eyes.
“I was right. I was on the right track.”
A surprised laugh bursts out of me as I crane my head back and peer out the moon window.
“Hell yeah, Messenger. Feels good to do the right thing, doesn’t it?”
I don’t wait for a response. They might smite my ass for my taunting.
My power wraps around me and the Amethyst. I command it to send the stones home while I land outside the Athenaeum doors. I don’t let the unwelcoming dead of night deter me from slinging the double doors open and rushing inside.
My steps slow as I take in the haunting silence and the incredibly low lights. I turn in my place, scouring the shadows that dance throughout the rows of shelves. After more time than I’d like to admit passes, I finally convince myself they aren’t real. Just tricks of the flickering lights.
“Hey! You can’t be—”
My shriek blares through the ginormous empty space. It’s echoed by the sound of a body hitting the ground.
“Shit, shit, shit,” I mutter, leaning over the god who’s out cold on the floor. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to knock you out. I don’t like being snuck up on, though.”
He doesn’t budge. Even as I pat his cheek and try to rouse him.
Damn it. Ellian isn’t going to be too happy with me.
I step over him, still apologizing as I race toward Amick’s office. My body slips through his door and my feet slam to a halt.
The air is both knocked out of me, and my lungs fill to the brim with his scent. My lids drift shut as I inhale sharply and release a shaky exhale.
Then the sensation…disappears.
Fuck. I don’t like that at all.
My fingers glide over his pristine desk. I believe this is the first time I’ve ever seen it completely clear. There are no books, parchments, nothing over its surface. Something about that sits like lead in my gut.
It was like he knew he wouldn’t be returning to it for a while.
Confusion and worry attempt to war throughout my chest as I open his drawers and find them empty.
“No. This can’t be right. Did someone…”
My thoughts trail off when I notice my chair is gone.
Where the fuck is my chair?
My gaze scans the entire office, and small, insignificant changes add up in my mind. Realization dawns on me.
“Oh, Candyman. You’re in so much fucking trouble when I save you. You thought you were going to be locked away after your trial and didn’t say the first thing to me.”
My power wraps around me and I starshoot into our living room. A snore and a hoot greet me, but I don’t linger for long.
A smile splits across my lips as I gaze at his desk in his bedroom.
That’s more like it.
“Okay, my genius. Guide me. What am I looking for?” I mutter as I rummage through all the parchments he has spread out.
My fingers tremble as I pick up the first one that I know is important.
The Law of Doppia Disaccord.
Yep, pretty sure I need that.
I riffle through everything on the surface, then move to the drawer on my right when nothing else sticks out to me. A snort escapes me as my fingers flick through the files and read the names labeled on the folders.
He’s got a file on everyone who interacts with us.
I’m sure our friends would love to know that, Amick.
You got this. You know he’s already paved a way. Just find it.
Warmth mixes with the pressure in my chest, and I nod to myself, then move my attention to the drawer on the left. A hiss whistles through my teeth as my nail catches on the handle when I try to yank it open, but it refuses to budge.
Damn it, Amick. Why did you lock it?
Dumb question.
Premature defeat attempts to root itself in my mind, but I fight it off.
“Come on. Tell me you gave me permission.”
I lay my palm against the front of the drawer gently and breathe a slow breath as I will my essence to work. The sound of the lock clicking out of place pulls a laugh from my lips. It swiftly morphs into a groan.
“Seriously?”
His illusion cube—well, mine. Doren gave it to me, but I don’t need this thing—sits there, I swear, fucking mocking me.
I slide it out of the drawer and place it on his desk, then stare at it. What the hell do I do now? This requires his essence. Not mine.
My throat tightens as my gaze roams across his room. Water threatens to slip down my cheeks as I lock onto his torch lamps.
“Amick’s essence was woven through it.”
“How did you get into his locked illusion cube without his essence?”
“I had his essence.”
Riven’s voice, followed by his egg donor’s question, then Amick’s response, repeats in my mind. Some sort of mix between a laugh and a sob escapes me as I race to his shelves. As carefully as I can, I pull a torch lamp down and move back to his desk.
“Please, for the love of the stars, work.”
I hold my breath as I set the lamp on top of the illusion cube, then remove my hands. Seconds pass by and my lungs beg me for air.
A shrill bursts from me when the illusion cube pops open and I damn near send it tumbling to the ground as I jump forward to catch Amick’s torch lamp.
For a brief moment, I hold it against my racing heart. I want to sob. Rage. Bleed my frustrations and worry out all over his floor. The adrenaline coursing through me has my muscles tensing.
None of it actually bursts out of me, though.
It fades away.
I catch my breath as I return his torch lamp where it goes, then head back to his desk.
Tears of relief beg to be set free as I open the illusion cube completely and find everything and more that I was looking for.
The agreement made on their behalf.
The parchment that needs to be signed is already written out with all the godly taurnshit verbiage.
A list—a small one, but a list nonetheless—of possible Domain Gods who would be willing to sign in support of them.
My head bows as I smile down at everything I need to go through.
“Oh, Amick. I’m so, so, fucking proud of you. And holy shit, am I grateful.”
I don’t know the time that passes me by as I pour myself into research.
Every so often, Kyzen pops into my mind. If he were here, he’d speed this process along for me. When my thoughts and plans muddle, he’d whisper for me to take a deep breath and keep going.
Creed would grumble and force me to eat something or he’d bring me a cup of coffee. He’d then grunt as I called him my sweetling and thanked him.
Riven, by this point, would be fed up with me not paying him any attention. He’d do some stupid-ass shit like sling everything off the desk to distract me.
Numerous times I have to force my thoughts and motivations back to my task.
Every word written in their agreement, I pick apart. So many times, my eyes go crossed.
I flip through text after text, searching for the definition of words and sayings I don’t understand. When I grow impatient, I ask V. He answers, then goes back to letting me be.
I write a Domain God’s name down. Then I scratch through it when I think of someone better.
Plan after plan. Step after step.
Information after information on my…powers.
My fingers tremble for a second as I trace not only the notes he’s written for me but notes he made for himself.
I fear I’ve guided her wrong regarding the power of Accord.
I’ve established in her mind that this power is complicated, which it is, but not so much so that she won’t figure it out.
She will. Where she struggles is this power is the quietest she possesses.
There are no obvious signs that it’s being used.
There’s no destruction or creation, and no one around her will outwardly react.
I need to explain to her that that’s what makes it so powerful.
Only she will know. Therefore, no one can prepare for her.
Riven explained to her that the power is like a built-in lie finder. The more I’ve considered and thought about what I’ve seen from her, I know she will, if she doesn’t already, have that ability. She needs to stop believing she’s paranoid and start leaning into that inkling.
He also informed her that Accord is all about agreement, alignment, and clarity. I believe I can make that even simpler for her. For anyone to understand, truly.
Accord doesn’t force, command, or judge. It is simply about agreement.
When all, or the vast majority, genuinely understand and accept the same truth, that truth then locks into place. That’s why my Designation belongs to the power of Accord. Guiders don’t rule, defend, or punish. They ensure everyone is operating from the same truth.
For example, I know and understand that my father wants to take over the Valorian Veil.
The Goddess of Seduction also knows and understands he wants to take over the realm.
We agree on that point. We are in alignment on the matter.
We want different outcomes, but that doesn’t matter to Accord.
Our decisions will operate from our shared truth.
Accord doesn’t make people agree. It reveals when they already do and makes that agreement impossible to pretend it never happened.
My mind weeds through everything he’s written for himself and me. He has no clue what he’s done for me. I refuse to give in to the call of confusion and information overload after all the time he’s spent putting this together for me.
I will figure this out for them.
Nothing…not even myself is going to stop me.
“Thayla.”
My head jerks up and I startle as V waddles across Amick’s desk and cocks his head at me. His comforting hoot has the tension in my shoulders draining.
“I’m sorry, V. Did you say something before you said my name?” I ask.
“I did, but you were a touch…focused. Yemi is in the living room. She knocked on Amick’s door, but you didn’t hear her.”
“Shit, what is she still doing up this late?”
“It’s an hour until sunrise, my Vedae.”
“What?” I shriek, jumping up from the desk and grabbing all the parchments and notes I took throughout the night. “Why are you just now getting me? We’ve got to go.”