Page 92 of The Gods Veiling (The Valorian Veil #1)

I don’t know what to say.

She observes us as we sit silently, confused. “Are you mad?”

“No, not mad at all. Concerned is the better word.”

She looks at me for a long, tense second. “Yeah, same.”

With that, she does leave the two of us sitting in her room without her. I’m still trying to process exactly what happened when the bed moves as Amick stands and I follow suit.

“This is about to be a very serious conversation.”

“Yes, I did pick up on that. She’s never so fidgety. She almost seemed fearful of our reaction to her reaction. Did I read that correctly?”

“Yeah, you read it right.”

His brows scrunch together as he strides to her door with me hot on his heels. As we enter the kitchen, we come face-to-face with a standoff. Except it isn’t a normal standoff.

There’s a look of desperation in Thayla’s eyes as she peers up at Creed and he stares down at her without a hint of challenge. He glances at us and his shoulders slump.

“I’ll get Riven. Coffee’s already on the ottoman.”

I take a step forward and the scents in the kitchen hit me at once.

It smells like the Akovas’ house.

Cooking is something Creed is naturally better at than all of us, but that’s also because it’s become his nervous habit. He cooks when he’s stressed, angry, nervous, you name it.

He can go one or two ways when he reaches a certain point. Healing life back into the body through food is the healthier version of his coping mechanisms.

Thayla doesn’t take a seat. Instead, she paces in front of the bookshelves. Everything about Creed’s and her behaviors right now has my mind going crazy.

Did something happen between the two of them last night?

“This better be good since my beauty rest is getting interrupted. I had an eventful day yesterday and I’m exhausted. ”

Riven plops down on the opposite couch and slings his arm over his eyes. Thanks to that, he misses the daggers Thayla’s shooting him.

“Not the time, Riven,” I grunt.

“Yeah, yeah.” He waves me off.

“Could you two carry on? Whatever’s happening has my chest experiencing a very uncomfortable sensation again.”

Thayla’s head swings to Amick and her bottom lip trembles.

I lean forward in my seat. “Thayla…”

“You each hold a piece of my soul.”

Amick and I tilt our heads to the side as we look at her. Creed presses his lips together and crosses his arms over his chest.

Still not picking up the seriousness in the room, Riven laughs and sits up. “You have the strangest ways of professing your love for me.”

“Riven, please. This isn’t a what the fuck moment.”

The smile on his face instantly dies at the despair in her tone and he turns his glare to Creed. “What the hell is she talking about?”

Creed glances down at her and all our heads follow.

“In the Gods Veil, Derivius didn’t just pair us as a Valtrue. He split my soul and put a piece of it in each of you. We’re literally tied together by my soul.”

My chest constricts so tight I could swear to you I was kicked in it. My power leaks out of me and everything speeds up to match the tempo of my heartbeat.

Minutes fly by in seconds as we all stand and shout. What we say, I don’t know, but whatever it is, it isn’t good.

I watch with no way to stop it as Riven steps up to Thayla and throws his hands in the air. I don’t witness him physically do anything, but she caves in on herself and Creed lays a fist across his jaw.

Chaos breaks loose across the house.

Shit…

Time rewinds back to normal.

“Thayla, come sit down.”

“I need to tell you everything.”

“And you can do it from this seat between Amick and me. Come sit.”

She goes to shake her head, but Creed nudges her with his elbow. “Go. If he’s telling you to do that, then it’s for the best.”

I sneer at him. What would’ve been for the best is if his ass was fucking honest with us. With me. I distinctly remember asking him her very first night here, right when he got back from going to see Derivius, if something else happened .

We felt it.

We fucking felt her soul latching onto us at the Veiling Ceremony. The sensation will be seared into my brain for eternity.

“Start from the beginning, and no one, I mean no one,”—I eye Riven the hardest—“interrupt her.”

I lace my fingers with hers and squeeze. Her breath fans across our hands and she lets it all pour out.

Riven slowly stands from his seat and I hold on to her a little tighter. “This is why you asked what you did last night? You have a way to untie us.”

“This is why I asked, yes, but I don’t have a concrete way. I believe it’d be possible if Creed removes my soul. I just don’t know how us untying ourselves will affect everything else.”

“If Creed does what?” Riven and I ask together.

“I had the intention of removing the pieces of her soul from each of you and putting them with the piece in me. I’d heal it, then put it back together with what she has left.”

I glare at him. “How could you plan this without us? Have you even explained anything to her about souls?”

“Minimally.”

His one-word response has my skin throbbing with anger. How the fuck could he keep something so monumental from us? Not only us, her.

Riven’s eyes narrow dangerously as he casts them between Thayla and Creed. “You’ve both been lying to us. This entire time.”

I sense the fury growing in him. He can’t stand to be lied to. None of us can, but he takes it more personal.

“No. Creed lied. He was the only one asked flat out if something else was going on and said he didn’t know. Thayla made it clear she was keeping secrets and would tell us when she’s ready.”

He throws his hands up. “What’s the fucking difference? It’s a damn lie by omission.”

“Really?” I arch a brow at him. “You need the fucking difference explained. Think about that long and hard for a minute, brother.”

We’re still holding secrets close to our heart. He knows that. If he’ll put his blinding rage to the side for a second, he’ll see that.

He grits his teeth and turns back to Creed. “What’s her soul doing to mine right now?”

“It’s weaving together, trying to stay alive. ”

“So she’s sucking the life out of me?”

“No, that’s not—”

“Let him take it out of you, Riven.” Thayla’s quietly murmured words send chills through the living room.

Riven’s chest heaves. “You want him to remove it from me? Just me?”

“You don’t want it inside of you. I don’t want you to punish me, harm me, or hold something I had no choice in over my head.”

“Harm you?” His face clouds in disgust.

“That’s the part we haven’t got to yet. You can pull on my soul, just as I did yesterday to you all when I needed you. It can hurt me, if that’s what you want it to do.”

“The healing villas…” I breathe.

“Yeah, I tried to pull my soul out of you. It hurt even though it wasn’t you pulling.”

“So she can hurt us the same way?” Riven asks.

“Yes,” Thayla says immediately, but Creed shakes his head.

“No.”

Her entire body startles. “What? You warned me not to use this as a weapon against them.”

“I know. I didn’t clarify, purposefully. We feel it if you pull, but it causes us no pain, just awareness. Sometimes it’s greater than others, like yesterday. I wanted to see if you’d do it or not. I’d know if you tried.”

Her face fills with fury and she releases my hand to link her fingers together. “But you all have the power to use this against me. Why does it work that way?”

“It hurts because it’s the last sliver of your soul attached to your bodily vessel.

It hurt you when you tried to pull it out of Kyzen because the strength of yours and his soul together in his body are more powerful.

It pulled back, bringing you to your knees.

All our souls and the pieces of yours inside of us are stronger than the piece left inside of you. ”

Her eyes shut as she exhales harshly and lays her head in her hands. If looks could kill, Creed would be dead where he stands from the lethal glares Riven, Amick, and I are giving him.

“What are the ins and outs of this, Creed? Is she or her soul dying? Would removing her pieces remove our tie or do damage to her? What are the side effects of harboring a soul?” Amick asks.

“I don’t have all those answers. I’ve been searching, but we’re once again test subjects for a Beginning God.

I’ve tried to pay attention to any and every shift in her.

Her soul’s weaved most tightly with yours, followed by Kyzen, Riven, then me.

I’ve kept it as far away from mine as possible so I could preserve space for the rest of it so I can heal it.

It’s going to take damage if I remove it now.

It’s firmly attached to the three of yours.

She nor her soul have grown weaker. If anything, she and it are stronger. ”

None of us respond until Riven takes a step closer to where we’re sitting. Amick and I stand instinctively and shift in front of her.

His nostrils flare as he scoffs, then bends down in front of her and she lifts her head.

“Despite my brothers’ lack of faith in me, I have no intentions of harming you. If my soul’s allowed yours to make itself comfortable, then that’s where it’ll stay. It’s mine now.”

She watches every step he takes, and her eyes continue to widen when he shoves Creed in the chest. “Don’t touch my fucking soul and don’t ever lie to me again.”

We all watch him as he passes through his door normally, just so he can slam it with enough force to vibrate the floors.

Thayla exhales, then covers her mouth with her fingers. “Do the rest of you want to keep my soul as well?”

“It’s not their—”