Page 132 of The Gods Order

“And since you’re the only one not bound to that knowledge, that’s how you were able to write it,” Thayla says, earning a prideful smile.

“Correct.”

She hums. “It must be exhausting having plans and secrets in place for so many years.”

Val’s smile falters. His face softens under her unamused glare.

“It is, Thayla girl. It really is.”

My attention shifts from her exhale to a small flinch beside Val. Iric.

He isn’t watching Thayla like I expected. He’s staring intently at the God of Boundaries.

Interesting.

When he notices my focus, he tears his eyes away and looks at Doren.

Very interesting.

“Doren,” Yemi gasps, rushing forward when a deep grunt escapes him.

The replica Binding tumbles from his fingers as he grips his head and groans.

We reach him in seconds, but my Valtrue, Val, and I give him space while Yemi, Sevryn, Nero, and Iric crowd around him.

“Are you okay? Hurting? Do you need a healing vial?” Yemi asks rapidly.

“No, no, thank you,” he pants. “I’ll be fine in a moment.”

“Just take the damn thing. It’s not going to kill you,” Sevryn snaps.

“Sevryn, I’ll be fine.”

“What happened?” Yemi asks, waving Sevryn off. “You were confident this wouldn’t drain you.”

“It didn’t drain me. There was just…a lot of resistance getting through the barriers.”

“Barriers? Plural?” Thayla asks.

“Yeah,” he grunts, trying to stand.

Yemi shuts that down with a glare. I bite my tongue as she fusses over him. My impatience doesn’t go unnoticed. Thayla links her fingers through mine and gives me a pointed look.

I know what that means.

“I don’t mean to sound insensitive or tell you what you sensed, Doren,” Val says, “but there’s only one barrier separating us from the Abandon.”

Thank goodness he spoke.

The restraint was starting to grate on me.

“I’m aware. Once my power locked onto the Bindings, it followed the directions it was given. There’s one in the Abandon, in the house V showed me. The other is in Valveilious.”

“Rella’s. We knew hers was there,” I say.

“Yes, but…” Doren casts his gaze up at me. “It’s in the Neutral. I’ve been there many times. There’s no denying it was there.”

A slow, annoyed breath spills from me.