I know that we're so close to the end of the fighting and our time away from each other, but I can't help the ache in my chest that comes with being away from them. I also don't envy them for the conversations they're now being forced to have with Vivian about their god-bonds.
I was expecting them to be more upset at how we had been pushed to deal with things, but the moment that his void eyes had cleared, North had immediately begun a debrief with the older man. He accepts that this is the way that things are now, and there is no use in hiding this fact from him.
I doubt we're going to be burned at the stake in this lifetime.
I’m stupid enough to say this out loud to Gabe and Atlas and both of them scowl at me.
“Do you remember that? Do you actually have memories of it, or are you talking more in a hypothetical sense right now?” Gabe asks, and I shrug.
“I remember it, just sort of in a way that I also know it's not really my memories. It's something that my bond has brought with it that I am now the holder of. Does that make sense?”
“Does any of this make sense?” Atlas says with a groan, threading his fingers through mine as he directs me back through the Sanctuary towards our house.
We had left Sage’s house this morning on foot, and I can tell that Atlas is frustrated at how slow we’re moving, especially when a group of people spill out of the dining hall and change the direction they're walking the moment they spot us coming.
I'm not expecting much out of my own bond, so when it picks up in my chest to get my attention, I almost stumble over my own feet.
We need to go hunting,it says. I let my eyes slip shut for a moment, trusting Atlas to keep me on my feet while I speak with it.
Where and what sort of hunting? You give me a time and a place, and I'll make it happen.
My bond purrs happily in my chest at my easy acceptance of what it wants to do. I think it was expecting me to put up a fight, but we're beyond that now. The memory of what had happened in the past, of the atrocities that we had been doomed to endure time and time again, has been more than enough to convince me to switch to the offensive.
The Sanctuary is here to keep everyone safe and has done an amazing job of that so far, but the only true way to keep us and our god-bonds safe is to get rid of the threats altogether.
Our Bonded are finding out where they're hiding. We must go to them as soon as we know and take care of the situation.
I nod my head, which makes me feel kind of dumb, but Atlas and Gabe both meet my eyes when I open them back up.
“Hunting. All of us together, or are we going to let the gods take over for this?” Atlas asks, and Gabe groans as he rubs a hand over his face.
“I would like to keep the dragon under wraps for as long as I can. There's no way I want to deal with the indigestion and naps so soon after the last bout.”
I wince a little, shooting him a sheepish look. “I think we should go there ourselves and be prepared for the god-bonds to take over if they need to. There’s every chance that whoever we're facing might be too much for us to handle.”
Atlas nods and scratches at the back of his head, glaring around at the Sanctuary as though he’s expecting someone to come bursting out of the bushes towards us. He shouldn't worry so much about it. People are still running in the opposite direction at the mere sight of us, especially when we're grouped together like this.
“The problem here is that they've all been awake longer than us, right? Everyone except you and the Dravens, at least. That’s why they're stronger than us. Shouldn't we be laying low until we have a better rapport with them all?”
I shake my head at him. “No, because they've Bonded. Our Bond is complete. I think that cancels that power growth out.”
I shut my eyes again and check that with my bond.
It agrees wholeheartedly.
No one is stronger than us now. We can wipe them off the face of the earth and live out our lives at the pinnacle of power like the gods that we are.
Okay, that sounds alittlebit more villainous than I would like to be dealing with this morning… When I open my eyes back up, both of my Bonded are grinning at me.
Gabe says, chuckling under his breath, “Do you think we'll ever get used to the way they speak? What are we going to do once we’ve gotten rid of all the threats and we just have these angry, murderous god-bonds living inside us? What are we going to use to distract them?”
We turn down the small path towards our house, which is further away from the rest of the Sanctuary and its inhabitants, and Atlas slides his palm down my back until he gets a handful of my ass. “I think we can distract them in other ways.”
I scoff back at him. “So a giant orgy, twenty-four-seven, to stop them from ending the world? That doesn't sound exhausting at all.”
Gabe’s chuckles turn into full-blown belly laughs. “I’m willing to give it a go if you are, Bonded. I think that sort of makes us superheroes in this situation.”
“Right.Soselfless,” I throw back at him, shaking my head at both of them.
