Page 161 of The Gods Order

Not going to happen.

I straighten myself out, rolling my shoulders back as I force the last of the tremor out of my hands.

“We’ll make it possible for as long as we can,” I say. “We know what we’re walking into. We trekked through that shit hole for two days without using a drop of power. Regardless of that, though, we need to be ready for anything. So, let’s do it all again.”

Val doesn’t argue.

If anything, something approving flickers across his face.

“Again,” he agrees.

Yemi and I stand shoulder to shoulder, sharing determined looks with one another as everyone spreads out behind us.

We take it from the top all over again.

We’ll continue to do this until I’m beyond confident that we can walk in and out of the Abandon with everyone safely.

With or without power.

Thayla

19

Tomorrow.

For nearly a week, that single word has dictated every waking hour of my life.

Every lesson Val and Meridamus put us through. Every strategy meeting around Gladian’s table or in passing conversations about every what-if. Every bruise earned from sparring and every exhausted stumble back to bed has all been for tomorrow.

And then…today, it simply stopped.

Val looked at Yemi and me after our final exercise before lunch, nodded once, and said this ends our training. He followed that up with the words I’d been both waiting for and dreading.

You’re ready.

I almost argued.

Not because I thought he was wrong, but because I wanted one more day. One more exercise. One more opportunity to prove to myself there wasn’t some tiny detail I overlooked that would get someone I care about killed.

Unfortunately, that’s not how any of this works.

At some point, preparation has to end. You stop training and simply trust what you’ve learned.

That truth didn’t settle the knot twisting in my stomach.

I thought coming to the Akovas’ for dinner would help. I missed Laney terribly and no part of me wanted to face tomorrow without seeing her. It hasn’t helped like I thought it would.

Ellian was a little upset with us for not sharing our plan until now. Although we trust him with our lives, Amick said the fewer people who know, the less likely any word of our plan could spread.

Of course Ellian asked every question I expected him to ask once we filled him in on everything about tomorrow. Also a few I managed to avoid asking myself.

What if Val’s distraction fails?

What if Obliteration discovers our plan before we reach the Binding?

What if someone can’t Starshoot out in time?

We answered everything.