Thayla #2
“Some more mentions of the Binding, but I also came for you. Will you come help me with something for a moment?”
She hums, making her way to him as I bend down and snatch up one of the texts I knocked to the ground. I noticed both Amick and Lambrit flinch out of the corner of my eye.
Neither dares to say anything.
“So what’s the plan?” Riven asks, leaning across the table and staring at me. “We’re going to go confront our trifling Veilatara and ask them why the hell they didn’t share this with us before now, right?”
A chuckle escapes me despite my pissy mood.
“We’re sure as shit going to say something to them. Once we’re done here.”
He huffs.
“Verlet is getting no hugs from me for a whole week.”
I shake my head at him and continue cleaning up my mess. Part of me does feel bad for taking my anger out on these books that did nothing wrong. I should focus my anger on the assholes who wrote and kept all these secrets to themselves.
“Thayla. I need you to come take a look at this.”
I whirl around toward Yemi’s voice, although she’s nowhere in sight.
Amick steps up beside me, holding out his hand for me to take while giving me a tight, apologetic smile. He has nothing to be sorry for, though. He was just the bearer of bad news.
“I’m sorry for losing my cool and slinging the text around.”
“That did hurt my heart quite a bit.”
I’d smirk or snort if I thought he was being funny.
He’s not.
“I’m really sorry, Amick.”
He brings my knuckles to his lips and smiles behind them.
“It’s okay. Everything’s going to be okay.”
I let his words comfort me as he guides us through rows of books until we spot Yemi and Doren standing shoulder to shoulder, staring at the back wall.
“Is there something special about the painting you’re both staring at?” I ask, and they spin around.
“Yeah, actually there is. Come feel this,” Yemi says as she reaches out and grips my forearm.
She tugs me forward and holds her other palm up, hovering it an inch or so from the painting. My eyes damn near bug out of my head when I mimic her and an intense tingle runs down the entire length of my spine.
“Yeah, you feel that, right? That’s original power.”
“What are you talking about?” Amick asks from behind us.
“There’s a barrier blocking this picture,” I mutter and suck down a sharp breath once I lay my hand completely against it. “This is the God of Boundaries’ power.”
“What?” he asks, but Yemi and I don’t let him bombard us.
“You thinking what I’m thinking?” she asks me.
“That we’re going to push our asses right through this? Absolutely.”
“I don’t believe that’s a—”
“One, two, three.” We count down, ignoring Doren completely.
Our powers alight beside one another, and our hands glow against the invisible barrier blocking us. Both of our foreheads wrinkle in concentration.
There is no empty space to fill like there was when she blocked out the Goddess of Seduction’s power or when I did it to the Goddess of Creation. This boundary is as solid as a wall. Pure, unfillable power.
“It isn’t spreading,” I grit out.
“We’re just going to have to go straight through,” she murmurs.
“Maybe this isn’t the best—”
We both grunt as we push harder, and the pressure building in my chest refuses to let air in or out of my lungs.
I can’t even sigh in relief when the tips of our fingers slip past the first layer. Something behind this damn fortress brushes against my fingernail, but it’s still too far for me to grip.
“I’m tapped. I don’t have anything else left to push,” Yemi chokes out as her arm begins to shake.
“Fuck,” I rumble as I call every drop of my power of Boundaries forward.
A scream works its way up my throat as tremors rip through my body. My hand slides through deep enough that my knuckles pass the first layer of protection, and I curve my fingers around the object. As soon as I have the little shit in my clutches, the barrier slams back down.
The room around me slows as my ass goes flying backward, grasping the item to my chest. My silent scream seems to last a lifetime until I hit a solid chest.
We both hit the ground.
“Fuck.” Kyzen coughs. “You okay, little goddess?”
“Motherfucker.” I gasp, rolling off of him and onto the…you’re freaking kidding me. “A book. Are you serious? I can’t stand the God of Boundaries.”
I slide the stupid-ass text from underneath me and rest my forehead on the cool floor as I catch my breath. Faster than I’m prepared for, four sets of hands snatch me up to my feet.
“What the hell was that?” Creed asks as he jerks my damn jaw from side to side.
“Stop that. I’m fine.”
He narrows those gorgeous, glowing white eyes at me.
He’s probably ready to kill that wall for hurting me.
I snort at the thought even though I shouldn’t.
“Are you okay?” Amick asks.
“A little out of breath, but I’ll survive.”
“Good.” He nods, then pointedly picks up the book off the ground and marches away from us.
I grin at his back.
At least one of us thought that was worth it.
My fucking body hurts.
“Yemi?” I ask, peering over my shoulder.
She gives me a thumbs-up as she leans her head back against the wall and takes a few deep breaths. Poor Doren looks far more concerned than she does.
My eyes drift shut as Kyzen lays his lips to my cheek.
“Perfect timing,” I whisper.
“I’d say. I was just coming to find you when you weren’t at the table anymore.”
“As happy as I am that you’re fine, this was truly a missed opportunity. Can you imagine how panicked Amick and Lam-the-man would’ve been if you crashed into a bookshelf and knocked them all down?”
I glare at his ass as he busts out laughing. I’m sure he’s imagining the scenario in his mind right now.
Psycho.
Does he realize how much work cleaning that up would be for all of us?
“Come on. I want to go see what we risked our asses for,” Yemi says as she gives my arm a squeeze when she walks past me.
We make it back to where the others are, and I observe how Amick and Lambrit are racing around the small space, hunting down something.
“What are you two doing?” I ask.
“I need a blank book,” Amick says without ever glancing at me.
“For?”
“He’s about to copy that text you just got.”
“Yes, yes, I am. It’s fascinating,” he says, finally stopping. His gaze bounces between Yemi and me. “The entire thing is about the God of Boundaries. I’m also confident he himself wrote it. I’ve never seen that penmanship before.”
“What?” we all mutter.
He hums but continues to ignore us.
“Why don’t you just starshoot one to you?” I ask.
“It’s one thing we’re using our power within this room, but using it to bring something in here could trigger some sort of alert or someone may notice.”
“Then go in the hall.”
He freezes, staring at me.