Page 10 of The Gods Veiling (The Valorian Veil #1)

Thayla

I want to destroy everything I see.

“You’re handling this better than I thought you would. I assumed we’d be dragging you down here,” Mellcom murmurs close to my ear as if I’d take his soft tone with less offense.

He decided the best place for him to be standing is right up my ass while we wait for the carriage. My avoidance of him from the moment I packed, stormed out of the house, and went next door has him hovering over me like an unwanted black cloud. Or he also has a fear I might run.

My glare did nothing to deter him. So now I sit and fume while he breathes down my neck.

“Lay a hand on me again and I’ll dismember you.”

“Come on, Thayla. We can’t go into Godsden at each other’s throats. We need one another.”

My muscles lock to stone and I grip the handles of my bag even tighter. Men and the way their minds work are a mystery I don’t believe will ever be solved. Am I just supposed to forgive his betrayal because I walked my happy ass out here willingly rather than put up a pointless fight?

“I needed you not to somehow steal my blood then use it to betray me by entering me into a one-way trip to the one place my parents told me to never go.”

He grunts as if the accusation pains him. It’s the gods’ honest truth, and he needs to acknowledge that .

“When you were cutting vegetables for dinner…”

“Excuse me?”

“The other night when Jeremiah bumped into you, and you almost sliced your finger off.”

My thumb instinctively runs across the almost healed groove. It’ll be another lovely little scar, but the salve I made stitched it back up quickly and it’ll be good as new soon enough.

Wait a damn minute…

My bag drops out of my hand as I whip around. As though Mellcom spoke him into existence, Jeremiah steps beside him, drapes his arm over his shoulder, and winks at me.

The events of a few nights ago play across my mind at the speed of light. At the time, I was hurting and cussing too much to pay close enough attention, but the way they seemed to have everything at the ready…

“You conniving assholes. You had him run into me on purpose, then swooped in as the savior. You took the bloody cloth with you and put it in the Volreen, didn’t you?”

His mouth opens and closes like a fish begging for water.

“You’ve always been smarter than the average, sweet T.”

“I’m not your sweet anything, Jeremiah. Gods, I’m going to kill both of you.”

I force my burning eyes to tear from them and face back forward. The cheering coming from the gathered crowd continues to grow louder, which means only one thing.

Our carriage is arriving.

It’s a battle to silence my violent thoughts. I mentally make up scenarios and conversations they had together behind my back while planning this out. All while I got my ass handed to me daily in training thinking it was all because of my mouth.

Naturally, I look at the path a couple hundred feet away. If I ran that way, past the arenas, through the wild grass, and a few fields, I’d hit the tree line. The thicket wouldn’t slow my pounding feet. The hot spring wouldn’t make me stop and reconsider.

I’d make it to the Unclaimed region.

I understand more now that I’m older, the magic, the barrier that feels like it’s more than this realm’s power, picks and chooses who can cross. I’ve read how beings have been rejected, catapulted actually, when they attempted to enter .

If it does accept you, you never get to come back out—at least it’s never been recorded that you can—but surely with something that powerful, it’d recognize I was in search of refuge.

A small hand wraps around my fingers, and I take a calming breath. “I’ll go with you.”

I crouch in front of Laney as I gather both her hands in mine.

Thankfully, Mellcom still has a small sense of respect and backs himself and Jeremiah away from us.

“I know you would, Laney girl, and I wish you could, but you can’t come with us to Godsden.

You have to stay here with your mommy and daddy, okay? ”

“I’m not talking about Godsden,” she sniffles and her watery gaze peers behind me.

I follow her line of sight, then bow my head. “We can’t go there either. I promise I’m not going there. Just…daydreaming.”

“Do you like to daydream?” Her innocent question pulls the first genuine smile to my face that I’ve had all day.

“I do, probably more than I should.”

“What do you daydream about?”

I let a soft sigh pass my lips as I tuck a piece of her hair behind her ear. “Dancing in the clouds. Or playing that leaping game you like so much in the stars.”

Her sweet laugh lightens my heart as I tickle her sides, then pull her in for a hug. Her head lies against my shoulder and my eyes fall shut.

When’s the next time I’ll get a hug this comforting, this innocent?

“That’s what I’ll daydream about from now on. Me and you in the clouds.”

“I’ll dream the same thing, Laney girl.”

“Come on, sweetheart. Let’s tell your brother bye, then Mrs. Sasha is going to walk you home for us. Their carriage is coming in,” Mrs. Armend says as she walks up behind her.

I give her one more tight squeeze before standing and placing my hand on her back and guiding her to her mom. We said our big goodbye at her house. I force myself to stay strong, but any more of this is going to have me cracking open.

A loud, majestic noise behind me covers the harsh exhale I release. It’s like a breeze whipping through the trees and our crowd falls silent as we stare at the carriage that just pulled up.

The black square contraption that’s lined in gold with a large G straight in the center doesn’t look like it’ll be able to fit Mellcom and myself. There’s no way all five of us will fit comfortably in there for hours.

I’ll really kill someone .

Another purr-like sound permeates the air and I lock onto the beast latched to the front that’s producing it.

Gods. You’re kidding me.

My mouth gapes as I gawk in both horror and fascination at the creature that will be steering our trip.

They’ve chained and strapped a Veilatara.

“Chosen five of Oddian. Congratulations. I am Havar. I’ll be your Escort back to Godsden. The gods have deemed you worthy and now it’s time to prove them right.”

The clapping is muffled echoes as I tone them all out. My eyes beg me to blink, but the glowing contraptions strapped to the Veilatara’s wings, keeping him or her from flying like they’re meant to, won’t allow me to look away.

“Thayla,” Mellcom whispers harshly.

“What?”

He doesn’t respond with words. He nudges my back and steps so close to me, the rise and fall of his chest presses against my shoulder. I sneer behind me, but his face is forward, and his jaw is locked tight.

I follow his line of sight and my lips part.

Oh.

Irises that are as gold as the metal surrounding the carriage bore into me. There’s no heat or anger reflected at me, but genuine curiosity. I’m trapped in the undivided attention he’s showing me.

After a moment of a stare off that I know everyone notices, he grins like he’s pleased I’m listening now. “This is your final moment of goodbyes. Then you’ll enter the carriage in the order in which your name was called today.”

I suck in a breath as he finally looks somewhere other than at me. “Shit. That’s the sort of command behind the power of a god, huh?”

“Obviously. Maybe next time don’t do anything to draw that much attention to yourself.”

I scoff and take a hearty step away from him.

My arms cross over my chest, but all my attention goes right back to the Veilatara a few feet away.

The creature’s bright white eyes lock onto mine like it knew I was staring.

Before I know it, in a few short steps, I stand feet away from the powerful beast.

Their head inclines instantly to examine me and it makes its imposing height even larger. From hoof to shoulder, it stands inches taller than me, but with its neck stretched up, it adds another foot. I’m cautious with my steps as I walk around them .

Their silk black coat glistens from the sun beating down on it. The gold hair growing from its tail and neck is beautifully braided.

Supposedly, no one braids the strands for them. It’s their power that does that. If they allowed you to touch them, the count of the braids would tell you their age. This one in front of me has an abundance of small micro-braids.

Hundreds. Probably more.

At the end of their four legs are two-toed hooves that are so sharp they’d slice me in half before I could blink.

If they weren’t confined, its wings would easily stretch sixteen feet.

I remember Lambrit and I discussing them once upon a time in the library. I argued that it’d be impossible that they could take flight with someone on their back. Between their size, weight, and wingspan, it’d never happen.

He told me not to doubt the power that runs in their blood. Their wings, although not anatomically large enough, hold a hundred times the strength within them than any other muscle in their body.

I believe that now.

There are many creatures in the Valorian Veil that are revered for their intelligence and power that comes directly from the Valories. They were never affected when our power was stripped.

That’s made them deities in their own right.

Now look at how far we’ve fallen on the respect aspect of creatures as old as our realm.

“This is shameful what they’ve done to you and I’m sure others of your kind,” I whisper. My fingers twitch with the desire to touch the feathered wings as I trace their shape through the air. “Do they not understand how important you are to our realm?”

“Do you wish for death rather than immortality?”

Again, I was so enthralled with the Veilatara, the little god boy— man…

he’s all man —barely registered on my radar.

His voice is smooth, as is his tanned, shining skin.

With his head cocked to the side and his long black hair fanning around him, he looks innocent.

The power floating between us tells me otherwise.