Page 155 of The Gods Order

It doesn’t. It pisses me off. I don’t want him to go at all.

We could figure out the starshooting to the same place safely on our own.

“Obviously, we’ll be responsible for our own Valtrues, and V will be with me the very short amount of time he’s with us, but that leaves us splitting Mara’s. So who’s with who?” I ask.

“You take Mara and Gladian. I’ll take Vullie, Barir, and Prath,” Yemi says.

“You better take care of my bestie, bestie,” Riven says, giving her a teasing—I think it’s teasing—frown.

“Don’t worry about your friend. I’ve got him.”

“Please do,” Vullie mumbles nervously, and a couple of us chuckle at that.

Poor thing.

“Good. Now that that’s decided, let’s begin,” Val says, lacing his fingers behind his back. “You’ve all been filled in on what Thayla and Yemi are doing, but you each have to keep in mind, the sixteen of you will basically be in your own little bubble. You’ll have no clue whether the realm senses you or not because nothing will feel different for you. Don’t separate the connections from Meridamus and me. These three will be the ones to tell us if it’s working for sure.”

He gestures behind him to Lambrit, Rose, and Havar.

“You three, if you will, pay attention to the sounds they’re making,” he adds.

“They aren’t making any sounds,” Lambrit says, tilting his head, and I chuckle.

“I’ve got you, Lam-the-man,” Riven says, then proceeds to start humming. Loudly.

“That’ll work. Someone on this side, join him, please,” Val says, waving his hand over to the others. Doren volunteers himself. “Good. Now, Thayla, Yemi, concentrate on those you’re responsible for and start with separating sound.”

The two of us nod at one another, then our eyes drift shut.

My mind focuses on my men, Mara, and Gladian. I attempt not to think about their powers or anything like that, but it’s pretty much impossible. I don’t allow it to be the center of my focus, though.

I also don’t solely focus on Riven’s humming, but I imagine what it would sound like if everyone, including myself, were humming. How would that sound to Lambrit, Rose, and Havar? Could they pick out which voice belonged to who?

That’s the connection.

My power of Boundaries answers my call, and not a millisecond later, Yemi’s skirts across my senses as well.

We release it at the same time.

I know just by the way Lambrit’s eyebrows jump up that we’ve accomplished what we were supposed to do.

“Who did you forget, Thayla?” Val asks and my power crashes down as I whip my attention to him.

“No one,” I say, then sigh as V smacks me in the face with his feathers.

“Fuck, my bad. I did forget V.”

“Rude.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Again,” Val commands.

This time I one hundred percent don’t forget V.

Over and over, we repeat this exercise as Val commands different people to make different noises. For a fleeting moment, I get nervous because I can easily see how a distraction could cause me to lose the concentration I have spread across everyone.

One obscene comment from Riven is going to have me losing myself.