Thayla #2
“Yes. A bitter tea I’ve always had to drink in my position as the God of Scripture—one you’ll learn, boy—is I’ve never been given a choice on what I wish to write. Only what is told to me. If those boys have an opportunity to rewrite a fate that’s already been written for them, I’ll aid them.”
Yemi passes him the parchment without a second thought, and my breath catches as he lifts his hand and flicks his wrist. A long, black silk quill appears in his fingers and my lips part.
“Ah, beautiful, isn’t it?” he asks. “Came off my companion, Perchen. Oh, he was furious when I plucked it from his wing. Granted, I only did that after he dropped me out of the sky. Menacing Veilatara.”
“You have a Veilatara companion? Is he strapped?”
The questions tumble out of me quicker than I can tell myself to hush.
“Of course he is.”
He dramatically winks at me, and I hide my smile behind my fingers as Ellian pretends he didn’t hear anything.
“Thank you for this,” I say and stand as he does.
“You’re most welcome, Ms. Thayla. I do hope we get to do this again one day. Lambrit, my boy, come see me when you have time.”
“Yes, sir.”
Rose and I share a look, and I shove the worry creeping up my spine back down. I plop into my seat and sigh as Ellian and Lambrit escort the God of Scripture out.
“Knock, knock.”
I sit back straight, grinning at the head that pokes into the door.
“Annalise, what are you doing here? Ellian just stepped out,” I say.
“I ran into him. He’s keeping a quick eye on the children so they don’t burn the Sanctum down.”
I snort a laugh. “Well, thank you for dropping by. Seeing your face has definitely brightened my mood.”
“Oh, I’m not just dropping by. I’m escorting your next Domain God.” Her attention jerks from me back to the hallway. “Oh, come, come now. Let’s get this over with. I need to go feed the kids.”
Rose’s gasp immediately lets me know who the goddess that steps into the room is.
“I take it you’re Esmerie, the Goddess of Affection?” I ask.
“That would be me.” She smiles, then rolls her eyes at Annalise. “I’m being blackmailed.”
Annalise huffs, then places her hands on her hips.
“I’m not blackmailing you.”
The two of them argue among themselves for a moment, then whip their attention to me as I clear my throat.
“I greatly appreciate this, Annalise. More than you know. But the signatures can’t be coerced. Didn’t Ellian tell you that?”
“Well, of course he did. They can’t be coerced by the boys. It’s important to pay attention to the finer details, my girl.”
Nero lets out a small chuckle and my eyes widen.
“Seriously?”
He shrugs.
“Where’s this parchment?” Esmerie asks in a bored tone. “I have things to attend, and one of Anna’s little…precious angels spat up on my shoe.”
Yemi doesn’t hesitate to take it from me and pass it over. She gives me a wink when I scowl at her.
Although they seem to have a decent, mutually teasing kind of relationship, the differences between them are glaringly obvious.
Annalise is most certainly more powerful from what I sense, but she’s also way more…
well, affectionate. I don’t get bad vibes from Esmerie, but I definitely don’t get the warmth and fuzzies.
“There. Is that all?” she asks Annalise, not me.
“Yes, darling. Thank you. You can return to your large mansion and all its luxuries now.”
Esmerie scoffs with a smirk, then pulls Annalise in for a hug.
She’s gone in a flash and I arch a brow.
“You two have a very strange dynamic,” I say.
“I suppose we do, but it’s more of a mutual agreement. Like I told you, we’re both where we want to be. She just has to be reminded from time to time that that could change the moment I wanted it to.”
I cross the room toward her, and she opens her arms for me before I even reach her. My body melts in her embrace.
“Thank you for doing that for them.”
“Oh, not just them, Thayla. You as well. I can’t imagine what you’re going through right now, but I have complete faith in you.” She pulls back and cups my cheeks. “You give Valveilious hell, my girl.”
I match her mischievous smile.
“I will.”
With quick goodbyes to everyone, she leaves and a few moments later, Ellian and Lambrit return, both wearing comforting smiles. Pretty sure Ellian’s is thanks to his wife, while Lambrit is over the moon he met and spoke with the God of Scripture.
“One to go, Thay,” he says, but before I can respond, Ellian cuts in.
“Yes, and she will be here momentarily. I believe it’s best if Thayla and I speak to her alone. If you all would like, you can wait in my old office. Lambrit can show you the way.”
He gestures toward the door, not really giving anyone the opportunity to argue, and a frown tugs at my lips.
Yemi and Rose give my hands reassuring squeezes as they leave, while Lambrit grips my shoulder. Ellian refuses to look at me.
“Who is this goddess?” I ask once the door shuts behind everyone.
He sighs as he closes his eyes. “The one whose weight will be the heaviest. I…Annalise and I have a very estranged relationship with the being about to walk through the door. One that will never be mended, so I can’t promise for sure how this meeting is going to go, but I knew we had to try.”
My breathing labors as I stare at the sincerity in his eyes. He looks far more worried now than when we arrived at his office, and that makes everything within me rebel.
Unfortunately, I don’t have time to question him anymore.
“Ellian, High Chancellor of the Godsdawn. I never thought I’d see the day.”
I whirl around at the unfamiliar feminine voice. My eyes widen at her…well, indistinguishable features. Every step she takes toward us, something about her changes. Whether it’s her hair, skin tone, eyes, lips. Every move she makes, something shifts.
Valories…no.
“You’re the Goddess of Illusion,” I whisper.
The ground beneath my feet threatens to give out. One moment, I’m in Ellian’s office. The next, that stark white room. No matter how much I blink, my sight stays trapped in the illusions the imitation room brought to life.
The Goddess of Illusion doesn’t spare me a glance as she stops walking, leaving a few feet of distance between herself and Ellian.
“After centuries of silence, what could my dear son-in-law possibly want from me?”
Her what?
Some mothers don’t know how to be mothers. They can’t even create a proper illusion for the role.
Oh…gods.
She’s Annalise’s mother.
“Mayaline, this is Thayla Godrun.”
The Goddess of Illusion finally pays me attention. I bite my cheek until I taste blood.
My gaze slides to Ellian.
“No.” My harsh denial echoes through his room. “I’ll find another way. I don’t want anything from her.”
His eyes plead with me, but I think the fuck not.
She won’t be anywhere near this. Me. My men.
Fuck no.
“My, my. I’ve apparently offended you in some sort of way. I haven’t the slightest clue how, though. I don’t know—”
“And you won’t know me. You will stay the fuck away from me and my men.”
“Ellian?” she asks with an impatient tone that causes me to tighten my jaw.
“Thayla is Riven, Creed, Amick, and Kyzen’s Binder.”
That gets her attention, but my glare stays on Ellian.
“I said no. I’m leaving now.”
My march toward the door slams to a stop when the fucking exit disappears. The wall becomes whole. My hands trace the surface, but each time I find the break in the illusion, she shifts it.
“Enough!” I shout. “Let me out of this room. Now.”
My body tingles as I spin back around and stare at her. I want to knock the curious fucking look right off her face.
“Why do you detest me so?” she asks as if the answer is actually important to her. My body shakes.
“Why does it matter?”
“I’m a nonconfrontational being. I’ve prided myself my whole life on being neutral to every situation, every being. Outside of my daughter and son-in-law, I’ve never met anyone who held such disdain toward me.”
“Neutral.” A humorless laugh escapes me as I take a step toward her.
“The imitation rooms. The ones that trap people in their fears and force them to live through them over and over again. You help build those. Are they neutral? Did the beings—my men, me, Lucia Nightly, countless others—did we have a choice about going in there? Were our emotions just supposed to stay…neutral through that?”
Her gaze sharpens slightly, but she doesn’t deny it or come up with an excuse for it.
So I keep going.
“You helped put a child on a throne in Hell,” I snap. “And instead of stopping it, you made sure he had a way out if it went wrong. You’ve stood by while the Beginning Gods have done whatever they wanted. Hurt whoever they wanted. And you helped them do it.”
The space around us stills, like even the illusions she has cast around the room are listening to me now.
Good. Let every part of her listen.
“Don’t think I don’t see the good. Our homes. Our carriages. The Hailtorium, the Athenaeum, the Sanctum. The systems built within them. The way you’ve made life easier for all of us gods.” My jaw tightens. “But that doesn’t erase the rest.”
“Why?” she asks.
“Because you don’t get to hide behind the good you’ve done to excuse the damage you’ve helped cause.”
She tilts her head a fraction. With the way her face continues to morph, I can’t tell if she’s truly considering my words or just completely baffled.
“I don’t,” she says.
The answer hits me wrong. It’s too honest. Too damn simple.
My body trembles, just for a second, but I shove it down.
“Then why?” I demand. “Why help them at all?”
“Because they asked me to.”
A disbelieving sound leaves me, and I throw my hands in the air. I allow my unhinged laughter to pour out of me. It’s better than knocking her teeth down her throat like I’d like.
“That’s it? That’s your justification?” I finally ask.
“It isn’t justification. It’s the truth.”
“That makes it worse.”
“Does it?”
The space shifts again. Not disorienting in more illusions, but layered, like I’m standing in more than one version of this moment at once.
Her reality versus mine.