Page 69 of The Gods Veiling (The Valorian Veil #1)

My chest rises and falls rapidly as both adrenaline and exhaustion pound my body. My hand trembles slightly as I reach it toward Mara where she’s pushing herself up to her feet.

She pauses as she stares at it.

Then she slaps it away.

“What the fuck are you playing at?”

I flinch like she just hit me. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me. What the hell was that? Why did you help me?”

“I’m sorry, did you fucking want to be dragged into the darkness by these…things?”

She scoffs as she sways to reach for a discarded sword. Her eyes are full of a mixture of hatred and despair that I don’t understand when they meet mine.

“You have no idea what you just did, but I’m telling you now, don’t ever fucking do it again.”

With that, she charges back into the fray behind us while I stand confused, pissed, and still on high alert.

What could I have possibly done to her?

I shake my head, convincing myself now really isn’t the time to give a fuck about Mara’s reaction to being saved. I turn to rejoin the fight, but a cold chill sweeps through me and causes my feet to halt.

“Miss, w-will you help me?”

Icy dread seeps into the very little strand of soul I have. Slowly, my body pivots toward the sound of that small voice. My knees try to buckle beneath me when I lay my eyes on the little girl.

She can’t be any older than little Laney.

Her shoulder-length hair is caked in blood, mud, and gods only know what else. Her face is petrified and her black lip trembles.

She’s one of them, but innocence surrounds her. She looks terrified for her life.

Why is she here? Why is there a child entering a battlefield?

I lower my sword and press the tip into the dirt. I force the shakiness out of my voice and speak as gently as I can. “Sweetheart, where are your parents? You shouldn’t be here.”

“They…they’re in there. They left me. Will you find them, please? I don’t want to be alone.”

My heart shatters in my chest. That chill sinks deep below my skin and my nose starts to burn from the tears I fight as the girl sniffles and wipes the black drip that pours from hers. Emotions clog my throat to the point it’s suffocating.

The likelihood her parents are somewhere alive behind me is slim to none. If they are, they very well won’t be for long. I don’t see our forces capturing creatures or letting any of these beings free .

She takes a step closer to me, and I step back, pleading with my eyes. “Don’t come out here, sweetie. You need to get somewhere safe. I don’t…I don’t know where your parents might be, but you need to go back where they left you and find a safe adult. Please.”

“I don’t have anyone else.”

Valories…please no.

I want more than anything to wrap my arms around her and tell her she’ll be okay.

I want to wipe her tears away and move her dirty hair from around her face.

I want to tell her to run. Run far and fast. Find someone.

There will be people out there who help and accept her.

She doesn’t have to be alone. I can’t be here for her, but I can get her out of here.

Out of nowhere, a body appears behind her with their sword at her throat and a scream tears out of me.

“Creed, stop! That’s a child. She’s just a child.”

His blazing white eyes collide with mine and I want to throw up. The mournful look on his face tears me to pieces.

“Listen to me and look closely.”

“Please, Creed, let go of the little girl. She won’t hurt us. Just turn her around and let her run. Please.”

“Look at her,” he bellows, and my body shakes from the force of him tugging on my soul. Fury and hurt slice through me as my tears become heavy enough to fall. “Thayla, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, but I can’t hold my power off much longer. Please look and see the truth.”

Although my head shakes, I look. I stare into the eyes of that little girl whimpering for her life. My sadness and anger grow the more she cries.

Until…

Her cry turns into a laugh.

A mocking one.

Creed makes a noise more akin to a growl and the child thrashes in his hands until she’s no longer a child.

A full-grown adult creature throws her head back, laughing as black saliva drips down her chin. I startle and stumble back. My hand flies to my mouth as bile races up my throat.

Creed must see on my face what he’s looking for because he finally drags the sword across her neck. That daunting laugh stops and I stumble back again as he lets her body go.

“That…she…she was a child. ”

“That was what we call a Taunter Oblirian. They tease you with many things. Your dreams, desires, secrets, fears. That’s how they drag up your emotions and draw you in.

Don’t believe anything you see, Thayla. If they’re an Oblirian, of any kind, you kill.

There won’t be any real children here. I promise. ”

Embarrassment and fear pound through me in equal parts. My heart feels like it just got trampled on by a herd of Veilatara. I don’t even want to stand anymore.

I don’t want to be here any longer.

This place is wrong on so many levels.

“We almost have it cleared. Come back to me. Get out of your mind for another minute, then we’ll go home. We’ll leave here.”

Go home…

This isn’t my home.

Godsden, the Godsdawn, hell, even Oddian…they aren’t my homes.

I don’t even know where or what that is, what it looks like anymore.

Each adult I built a home around left me at the orders of the gods or maybe the Valories, maybe both.

The three homes, built in the shape of men, that provided me the most comfort, safety, friendship, and love, two of those betrayed me. They cut me from my core to my surface. They believe a bandage can just be slapped on the wound and it’ll heal. When really, I’m bleeding internally.

The last one…his house is expanding, and I refuse to stand in the way of his growth.

I don’t have a home.

But this place…this vile, wrong fucking place was once my Valtrue’s home. How could they have lived here and survived? I never want to return here.

I want to be anywhere but here.

Creed takes a few steps toward me, but I turn on my heel and start sprinting back through the madness. The number of deadly creatures is dwindling significantly, and the never-ending flow seems to finally be stopping.

Wordlessly, he joins my side as our swords cut through the air and in seconds, we’re surrounded by his brothers.

I shut everything within me down. I blissfully fall into ignorant silence as my body moves through the motions. Any emotion that tries to swell within me, I douse it before it can rise.

In my mind, this isn’t real.

Nothing is real .

This is a fretful dream of extreme training that I’ll learn a valuable lesson from once I wake up.

Unfortunately, that delusion doesn’t last very long.

That last Oblirian body falls at a Defender’s foot and he raises his sword. He bellows to the starless sky and nearly all the surrounding gods respond. The resounding noise creates a symphony I can’t get out of my ears. The ferocious ring makes my hands shake.

They’re celebrating a victory. I guess it was a well-deserved victory seeing as lives were on the line. But at the end of the day, this shouldn’t be happening.

This place…the Abandon shouldn’t exist.

My feet continue their forward march. The last thing I want is to have any part of this celebration. I want to get the fuck out of here.

“Thayla.”

“Thayla, wait.”

My name continues to echo behind me. I recognize each voice, but I ignore them all the same, until one far too close to me calls out.

“Thay.”

I spin around, sword at the ready.

The tip of the deadly weapon sits on the breast plate above Mellcom’s heart.

He raises his hands slowly as my chest rises rapidly.

Jeremiah slows his run to a jog as he comes to his side.

His eyes are wild, looking between the two of us, and that’s the only amount of attention I give him as the rest of his Valtrue joins them.

Mine surrounds me.

“Thayla, remember what—”

“Don’t attempt to remind me what your sword is capable of, Creed. I’m well aware. I quit counting the lives I was taking when I hit fourteen.”

There’s no emotion to my voice as it comes out. It’s as hollow as I feel right now. My face must speak a thousand words more, though, as Mellcom’s falls. It makes me sneer.

“I know you’re upset. I just wanted to check on you and make sure you’re okay. I’m trying to be here for you like I promised I would. I’m always going to be here, Thay.”

Something akin to slime slithers across my skin as his smooth words travel through his lips. The sensation makes my heart hurt and my hand twitch. The way his hunter green eyes flash for a split second makes everything freeze once again, though.

I’ve seen enough changes to gods’ eyes to know what that means .

“Your powers have settled, and you dare use them on me right now?”

He blanches. “I don’t have control of them yet. I just want you to calm down and hear me out.”

“LIES.” My shout silences the entire Abandon. My Valtrue takes a step closer, but my voice halts them. “Don’t interfere.”

“Thayla, you’re going to put the sword down. You, me, and Jeremiah are going to go get in the carriage and talk this out. Your Valtrue can starshoot back and we’ll bring you home. Tell them that’s what you want to do.”

The desire, the need to agree with him, is overwhelming. The command behind his quietly whispered words pierces me straight in the chest and I want to sob.

“You motherfucker—”

A ground-shaking neigh fills the air, cutting off whatever else Kyzen might have wanted to say.

I don’t remove the sword or my eyes from Mellcom even though he looks over my head with fear coloring his features.

He and his entire Valtrue stumble backward when the sound of hooves drops down behind me.

It’s a battle to keep my tears at bay as the level of his betrayal sinks even deeper. I don’t know what kind of abilities he has within the domain of pain, but it’s obviously not physical. It’s emotional.