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‘Strange, then,’ he drawled, ‘you sound so bothered.’

A tense pause fell.

Then, the goddesses burst into laughter, some tossing their heads back, their amusement like the chiming of celestial bells.

The gods’ expressions darkened.

Ki’Remi let Issa lead him to a divan, where he sat beside her in rigid silence, his eyes tracking the divine chaos around them.

The gods indulged with reckless cruelly.

One moment, mirth. The next, malice, laced with bored entitlement.

‘Watch, they’ll soon begin playing with fate and showing off,’ warned Issa as a plate of food and goblets of wine appeared before the couple. ‘Don’t take any insult to it. Don’t react either.’

A deity at the far end of the vast room lifted his hand as a cloud erupted from his palm.

A dark mist spread from it in an ominous ripple, latching onto the servers.

They cried out, their luminous bodies dimming as fever overtook them in an instant.

The god leaned back, watching in amusement.

Then, with a flick of his fingers, he rescinded it.

The servitors stumbled, gasping, eyes dilated in terror as their vitality returned in a flash.

His laughter rolled through the hall, cold and merciless.

Ki’Remi’s jaw flexed. ‘What the actualfokkwas that?’

Issa sighed. ‘That is Sal’Zet, the deity of both plague and healing.’

The Rider’s narrowed gaze locked on the immortal in question.

Issa continued, voice steady. ‘Before germ theory, disease was not understood as a biological function. Twas considered a punishment, a divine impurity of the soul, so, the god who could restore health -.’

‘Would also be the one to take it away,’ Ki’Remi finished grimly.

She nodded. ‘Balance. Duality. It’s in their nature. As is their exhibitionism.’

A bark of laughter sounded at Ki’Remi’s elbow.

Another sleek, silver-eyed divinity with a knowing smirk reached toward the Sableman’s wrist and snatched his comm-link.

The device flickered to life in the god’s palm, cycling through holo projections as he played with the security encryption like a child toying with a puzzle.

Then, bored, he tossed it back to Ki’Remi with a lazy chuckle before strolling away.

‘That,’ Issa murmured, ‘is Saziel, the deity of commerce and discourse. And also, the god of deception and theft.’

Ki’Remi exhaled through his nose. ‘Of course he is. An infant, too, I see.’

The histrionics were not over yet, for the room shook next.

Goblets toppled, and the chandeliers above them swayed precariously.

The grand doors burst open, revealing a towering deity wreathed in mist.