Page 4 of The Gods Veiling (The Valorian Veil #1)

“Thayla, Thayla!” Laney jumps up and down beside her brother, Lambrit. He swipes the pan out of her hand before she drops it with all her bouncing.

“No hey for me, little Laney,” Jeremiah teases, messing up her hair as he walks past her. Her sneer is the cutest thing, and I know it’s completely for my benefit .

I laugh at her scrunched-up face, then hold her at arm’s length when she tries to wrap herself around me. Her mother will kill me if I get her messy. “No hugs right now, sweet girl. You look absolutely beautiful, and I’m covered in dirt.”

“You like my dress? It’s the finest one I’ve ever gotten. Momma says she’s been praying real hard this year, and this will be the year Lambrit gets chosen.”

I force a smile I don’t feel as I glance over at him. He gives me the same one in return.

“Mom’s feeling optimistic this morning. She and Laney made you three an egg casserole. She said doing a selfless deed will be viewed as a favor in the eyes of the gods today.”

Right.

“Your dress is stunning, Laney. And you helped make us breakfast? You’re the sweetest thing in all the Valorian Veil, you know that?”

Her giggle eases the tension in my heart at the mention of her brother entering the Veiling. He’s the only person who hasn’t completely turned his back on me. Well, and aside from her, but she’s too young to truly know what’s going on.

“Laney, come on. I need to finish up your hair. Oh…good morning.”

I stand straight and drop my hands from Laney’s shoulders. I give her a little boop on the nose before she runs off. “Good morning, Mrs. Armend. Thank you for the casserole. It smells delicious.”

“Thayla, yes, well, the gods appreciate our good deeds to others. Come on, sweetheart.”

I drop my fake smile when she turns her back to us and takes Laney in. My eyes cut over to Lambrit’s snickering. “It’s not funny. She despises me.”

“She despises most people. You’re just at the top of the list.”

I playfully smack him on his arm before taking the pan he passes me. “So this is your year, huh?”

He blows out a harsh breath and runs his hand down the back of his neck. “I doubt it, Thay. I’m not like Mellcom and Jeremiah…you know.”

“No, you’re better. You don’t have to pound your fist into shit to be strong. You’re the smartest person in all of Oddian. If the gods don’t see that as a strength, then they’re fools.”

His face fills with panic as he looks up, down, and around. I smirk at the worry written across every feature. “Damn it, Thayla, you can’t say that today of all days. ”

I can’t help my chuckle. “They aren’t listening to what little ol’ me has to say. Everything’s going to be fine. One way or another, I’ll see you after the ceremony, okay?”

Either to kidnap him or just hang out.

“Yeah, you’re right.” He sighs, and his shoulders deflate as doubt creeps across him. “I’ll see you soon.”

I smile to myself as we go our separate ways to the few feet distance between his front door and mine. This same time last year, we had a very different conversation.

He broke the news to me right after my outburst in the arena that his parents had made him enter the Veiling. I attempted to cut our friendship off. The thought of him being chosen and leaving gutted me.

He didn’t allow that, though.

He’s the one who found me where they left me unconscious in the arena the next morning. When I gained consciousness, he was hovering over me, spouting off every fact he could think of that pertained to my injuries.

I croaked at him to go away.

He glared at me and said, “You gave me no choice but to be your friend, so now you’re going to do the same, like it or not. I’ve always known you didn’t like the gods. Everyone else is just stupid or blind.”

I laughed pitifully, then groaned, “Okay.”

I swore then I’d support him no matter what just as he was doing for me. If he ever got chosen, I’d just kidnap him and run away.

That’s still the plan. He just doesn’t know it.

I kick my door the rest of the way open from where the guys left it cracked. Only a few paces in, I find the two savages already sitting at the table, waiting to be fed.

Helpless men.

“Mrs. Armend was kind enough to make us breakfast today.”

“Thank fuck. Now I don’t have to choke down whatever nonmagical slop you whipped up.”

The pan clatters on the table as I glare at Jeremiah. If it weren’t wasteful and I weren’t so hungry, I’d throw it in the trash just to piss him off. I make sure to only grab a plate and fork for Mellcom and me, then load food on my plate with a spiteful grin on my face .

Mellcom silently shakes his head while Jeremiah bangs around the kitchen, getting what he needs. All the while he calls me every colorful thing he can think up.

I think my favorite slur of his is just the good old-fashioned bitch.

A ‘mortal’ term, mind you, but that doesn’t matter because it’s coming from his lips not mine.

I shove a forkful of food in my mouth and sigh happily as I lean back in my chair. These are no crepes, but the flaky eggs, meat crumbles, and cheeses baked to perfection are just as good, if not better.

After the grueling hours of exercise, this hits the spot.

“How much are you going to miss me when I get chosen today?” Jeremiah’s question has my fork pausing millimeters from my mouth. It’s the seriousness behind it that catches my attention.

My eyebrow arches as I lay my food down. “You really think you’re getting chosen today?”

“I do. This is my Veiling. I know it.”

Better him than Lambrit.

Out of my peripheral, I catch the smallest of flinches pass through Mellcom. He continues to eat as though he didn’t hear the question.

“The house would be quieter without you.”

“That’s not a good enough answer.”

“It’s the only one you’re getting.”

He goes to smart off, but Mellcom bangs his fists on the table so hard our dishes rattle. “Could the two of you get along for the morning? Just one fucking morning.”

A tense silence descends on the kitchen. It makes the glorious food I was indulging in settle in my stomach like a stone.

Each bite I take now tastes like nothing and eventually the awkwardness gets to me.

“I’m going to shower. Enjoy the ceremony.” I push from the table and place my plate in the sink. I stomp my way to the hallway door but pause before passing through, deciding I’ll be the bigger person today. “Good luck, Jeremiah.”

His and Mellcom’s gazes lock together, and they must believe I’m blind if they think I can’t tell they’re having one of their silent conversations. A condescending snort passes through his stuffed mouth, and I shove through the door.

Gods let him be gone .

The hot water pulls a hiss from my lips the second I step under it. It washes away the daily aggravation brought on from training and the constant bickering in my home.

Life used to be so much simpler, I swear.

It all started changing before I opened my big mouth. That was just the peak. The true descent began twelve years ago.

When Meridamus left…

Before Mellcom, his dad was the arena training leader. Meridamus made it easy for me. He really just made me run a lot. When he started making me go to the arena daily with them, I could only spar with him. I loved and respected him as my guardian, so I kept my head down and did what I was told.

Him leaving changed Mellcom. Understandably.

He went from being an irresponsible twenty-year-old to arena leader and having to take on the task his dad usually did within the community.

He’s denied it all these years, but I know he blames me. The little slip of a note his dad left us saying he had to go help my parents—for what, where, and why, he didn’t say—was the start of him growing harder on me.

It was a slow change that happened over the years until my outburst. Him pulling punches, metaphorically and literally, ended that day.

Now there’s this weird wall between us. I both crave our old relationship and grow more resentful that he sits back or participates in me getting annihilated every day for a life-changing move I’m not even interested in.

We don’t even know what takes place at Godsden. This torturous training everyone goes through is probably for nothing.

Jeremiah and I got along great. A little too great, obviously…

Our separation came from his constant obsession with getting chosen at the Veilings. It clashed with me refusing to enter and my desire not to be with someone who wanted to enter.

We actually did bounce right back into friendship after our breakup for a short time. Well, if we’re being honest, friends who kept wandering into each other’s rooms. We agreed and were mature enough to get along under the same roof and go back to the way things were.

Until my true feelings about the gods came out.

Now he views me in a different, hateful light. He’s been an infuriating mix of acting like he owns me because no one else would ever want me now, yet he hates me.

I’m so over it .

My hand slaps against the nozzle and the water swirls down the drain. It’s exhausting living every day with this much resentment.

Go be the bigger person, Thayla.

Maybe after this Veiling, some things will change.

My towel swallows me up and I rub down my new marks from today with some healing balm I’ve perfected over the years. A few nicks broke the skin, but nothing is too bad, and I sigh in relief as I massage the cream around my sore ankle.

Fucking Jeremiah.

The guys’ voices drift from the front as soon as I open the bathroom door, and my feet patter across the hall to my bedroom.

I shut the door behind me and take two steps toward my closet, but the outfit laid across my bed has me freezing in place. The sight of it instantly causes my hot skin to break out into chill bumps.

I’m not sure how long I sit here and stare at it. I don’t even realize I moved until my fingers glide down the soft golden satin.

It’s a gorgeous gown.

Fit for a ceremony.

My hair whips around my neck as I rush from my room and stomp down the hallway. The creaking on the hinges of the door that leads back to the kitchen is drowned out when it bangs against the wall.

“Which one of you put that outfit on my fucking bed?”

Both Mellcom and Jeremiah stop fiddling with the belts they’re lacing around their waists. As tradition, they dress in their armored best.

The females wear their best gowns.

“Go get dressed, Thayla. We’re going to be late.”

The detached coldness dripping from Mellcom’s tone has me taking a step back. He ignores my glare as he bends down to tie his shoe and I clutch my towel tighter.

“I’m not going to be late for anything. I’m not going to the Veiling.”

“You are.”

The finality in his words has both chills and heat flashing through my blood. There’s a lot he’s made me do that I haven’t wanted to, but going to a Veiling Ceremony has never been one of them.

“I am not—”

“You’re going to go get dressed now or I’m going to dress you myself. Then we’ll drag you kicking and screaming the whole way there. Don’t make him repeat himself.”

I scoff at Jeremiah’s words, but my scowl melts off my face when Mellcom stands back straight, runs his hands down his outfit, and just stares at me.

“Mell…”

“Go.”

That order has me stumbling back and confusion clouding my mind. I nearly fall through the open doorway when Jeremiah stalks forward. The seriousness pouring off him tells me he’s almost itching to follow up on his threat.

My chest heaves as my mind devises a plan. They’ve positioned themselves right in front of the front door, so I won’t be able to get out through there. Either of them could catch me if I made a run for the back. Maybe my window…

“Don’t try, Thay. This Veiling is important to me. I’m asking you to put your differences aside and be there for me. Us. If you and Jer could’ve acted civil for five seconds at breakfast, I would’ve talked to you about it then.”

Cold realization washes over my warm skin. “Did you enter the Veiling?”

The tremble in my voice has him bowing his head and I suck in a shocked gasp.

No. He promised. He swore he wouldn’t enter until his dad or my parents returned. Maybe even never.

You don’t return from Godsden.

“Did you—”

“Go get dressed, please.”

The soft command lands with a sword through my heart.

He broke the promise he made me. His dad. My parents.

We swore we’d never enter the Veiling.

But he did.

And he’ll be chosen. He’s the strongest of us all.