Page 27 of The Gods Veiling (The Valorian Veil #1)

Between this entire awful day, the two parchments, and his way too calm and chipper approach to all of this, my body is beginning to heat in pissed off confusion. I want answers, but I also just want to find myself a bedroom to lock away in until the end of time.

“Patience, little goddess. You’re not going to learn the Godsdawn in a day.”

“So I’ve been told and as cute as your pet names for me are, you can call me Thayla.”

“So you think I’m cute?”

My face flames. The white rings around his pupils shine brighter now than they were when I first spotted them and the longer I stare, that strange tugging in my chest returns. Only this time, I notice it’s stretching toward him.

What is—

That’s my damn soul, isn’t it?

You’ve got to be kidding me.

That glaring reminder that they’re more than my Valtrue, they have a fucking piece of me inside of them, smashes through that tinge of bashfulness and sets me all the way off. I try my hardest to pinpoint the spot connecting us, then snatch it toward me.

I gasp so hard, I almost get sick. The pain from my knees slamming into the floor mingles with the agony tearing through me. My fingers curl against the smooth surface, looking for something to clench.

My breath shoves its way out of my mouth as a gut-wrenching scream. It’s ear-splintering.

The sound tapers off as shaky groans fall from my lips while I try to breathe and not cry through the lingering pain.

“What happened?” Yemi’s voice trembles as she kneels in front of me. Her hands rise and lower repeatedly like she wants to help me but isn’t sure.

“I have no clue. Thayla?” His tone is laced with worry.

His hand lands on my shoulder, and I flinch away.

“Don’t touch me.” The bite in my words has Yemi shifting away and him releasing me. I slam my eyes shut to stop the spinning and curse Derivius for everything he’s worth.

Why the hell would trying to take my soul back hurt me and not him?

“Do you need me to call a Healer?”

I sit on my heels and tip my head to the ceiling. “I just want out of this room.”

Out of this damn region.

“Are you sure you can walk? I can carry you,” he offers .

“Yes,” I grit out.

“Yes to carrying you or?”

“Yes to I’m okay. Fuck,” I groan and glare at his gorgeous , concerned face.

“Okay then. We can go home. Any other conversations can be had there.”

I’m not talking for the rest of this damned day. I’m done.

All I can muster up is a single nod, but it turns right into a shake of my head when they both attempt to help me up. I don’t want anyone to touch me right now. My skin is crawling with pins and needles. I’m burning up from both embarrassment and fear.

The reality of the control they may have over me is slapping me in the face. The last thing I want anyone to know is they have power over me through my soul. Well, Yemi doesn’t, but she doesn’t care for me, so I have no clue if she’d tell them.

What if they decide to tug on it and it brings me to my knees? Or worse, what if they can do more damage than that?

What if they use this against me anytime I say or do anything they don’t like?

Fuck no. This will be staying with me.

The three of us are awkwardly silent as we make our way out the door when I get to my unsteady feet. They keep glancing at me like I’m about to fall over and I heat with humiliation.

A small sense of relief washes through me as I spot my bag sitting on the floor. Someone must have delivered it here and the reminder of home brings me a tiny amount of joy.

“I can carry that,” I say as Yemi beats me to picking it up.

“It’s my job,” she states flatly. I go to tell her no, but her stare stops me. “When we get out of here, we have to walk through the Assembly. There are a lot of people still hanging around, so allow me to fulfill my role . ”

I arch a questioning brow, but she gives me nothing else.

She pulls her shoulders back and takes a step behind me.

Kyzen doesn’t comment, but he’s observing the interaction closely enough that I decide not to say anything else.

I have to force myself not to rub my chest like I really want to so I don’t draw his attention to it.

At the end of the hall, we approach a marbled wall and my footsteps fall still. In both directions, there’s nothing and I’m utterly confused about what’s going on.

“Just keep going,” Yemi mutters behind me.

“Keep going where? There’s no door.”

Kyzen smirks down at me. “It’s an illusion. ”

With that, he keeps going straight through the wall and I stagger back, bumping into Yemi, who lets out an oomph.

“Shit, sorry…I’m not walking through a wall.”

“You are if you want to get out of here. It doesn’t feel like a real wall.

It feels like you’re walking through the wind.

Instead of a building with too many stairs, the Goddess of Illusion put these walls in place.

It creates privacy while also making getting around simpler. You’ll walk right outside.”

“Then you go first.”

Her jaw locks in place. “Can’t do that.”

I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Fine.”

I suck up the uncertainty and just do it.

It’s much easier than I thought and very anticlimactic. I thought maybe that same feeling of entering the carriage would wash over me, but instead, I slip right through.

My arm blocks my face from the sun, and I give myself a moment to adjust. It was bright in the healing villa but nothing like being outside.

Voices pierce my ears before my sight returns and I blink rapidly to speed up the process.

A dark shadow falls in front of me, aiding my eyes the rest of the way.

“The sun and seeing the illusions takes some getting used to, but your stronger sight will kick in here soon.”

The touch of my bag bumping the back of my leg lets me know Yemi’s through. I peer back at her, noticing she didn’t need any time to adjust.

“My stronger sight?”

He just gives me one of those breathtaking smiles again. “Come on, ladies, this way.”

Shit, this is really happening.

I try my hardest not to make eye contact with the many bodies moving around while simultaneously looking everywhere for Lambrit. Luckily, it’s only a few who stare. For the most part, everyone seems wrapped up in the conversation going on. There’s food, drinks, laughter.

A celebration is in full swing.

There’re so many gods. Which I guess, I and the other Chosen are now in that category as well, just beneath them in power.

Hell, I may be beneath all of them. I don’t have the first clue if Derivius released anything for me and I sure don’t feel any different.

Other than missing over half of my soul.

I’m sure as shit not as cheery and excited as everyone else around us .

When Yemi said the Assembly and even the mentions before then, I thought that meant like a large gathering room. I didn’t picture a massive courtyard in the middle of towering buildings. Only one of them I recognize and that’s simply because the back matches the front.

The Gods Sanctum is centered between two other buildings that stretch across this ginormous space.

I have no clue what’s in the building we just left other than healing villas and I don’t spend any time looking back to observe it.

The third building looks archaic, but that’s all I gather given how fast we’re walking.

Familiar laughter rings out from somewhere close, and my body locks up. It only takes me a second to spot Jeremiah with his head thrown back. I momentarily forgot all about him and wish it would’ve been a permanent thing.

Beside him, with his back turned to me, is Mellcom and across from them are a man and a woman I don’t recognize.

Yemi’s shoulder gently brushes mine as she steps in front of me. Her back practically touches my front, and she moves her hair to obscure her face. She doesn’t utter a word as she keeps walking, but her action catches Kyzen’s attention.

I knew she was paying close attention.

Maybe she does care.

Or maybe she’s just a girl’s girl.

I’ll take either.

“What—”

“Just keep going,” I whisper.

Thankfully, he doesn’t question me any further and soon enough, we’re breaking through the crowd. We hit a stone path that seems to be forgotten right now with the celebration, and relief whooshes out of me.

Yemi takes that as her cue to get behind me again and I don’t bother this time telling her to stand beside me. I’ve got a lot to figure out when it comes to Attendants, and it doesn’t seem like she’ll be open to that discussion at this time.

“The house is down this random path?” I ask.

He murmurs a ‘uh-huh’ before carrying on, “This path leads to a section of the gods’ housings. They’re spread out across this whole side of the Godsdawn.”

Yemi grunts at that, and I catch the longing on her face.

“Your house is over here as well?”

“No, mine was down that path we just passed.”

My feet stop and I turn back. “We can walk you home first so you don’t walk alone.”

“I don’t live there anymore,” she says flatly.

“What? Why?”

“When Attendants are chosen, they move closer to the god who chose them. I haven’t been back home since the Veiling ceremony, but I’d wager her new house is now beside ours.”

There’s a bit of disdain in Kyzen’s tone. I don’t know if it’s directed at me or what he said, but regardless, I stay focused on Yemi.

“Wait. You have to leave your house just because I chose you?”

“Yep.”

My mouth opens and closes as indecision on what to say wars within me. No wonder she comes off like she hates me. I’ve literally uprooted her whole life.

Gods damn it.

“Do you want to go pack your things? I can help you.”

“It’ll already have been done for me.”

“Rose? She’ll be the same?”

“Yeah.”

My face falls. There’s absolutely nothing I can say to make this any better. It would’ve been real nice for the High Chancellor to explain in full detail what this truly meant.

In my mind, I was accepting her because I wouldn’t treat her shitty like I know they all are. Apparently, all I’ve done is take her from a bad situation and put her in a worse one.