Page 17 of The Gods Order

No.

“He…” Riven pauses, swallowing hard. “He’s safe from that fate now, right?”

“No one is safe from that fate until the realm is made right.”

I cover my mouth with my hand and slam my eyes shut. That can’t become a possibility. Not for Derivius, my friends, my men, myself. No one I care about.

“Thayla, I’m sorry that sometimes the choices I make hurt you one way or another. That is never my intention.”

Another voice blares in my mind right after his. Not actually, but my mind conjures up the words as though it knew I needed to be reminded of them at this exact moment.

“Be careful where you place your anger. It is not V’s, Seismet’s, or the God of Chaos’s fault. Some knowledge should never come from them, and it isn’t fair to demand it.”

Gods damn it, Willow.

I swallow hard and peel my eyes open.

“I know it isn’t.” I sigh in my mind, knowing he sent that apology only to me. “Like you said before, sometimes the best choices we make hurt the most. That doesn’t mean I’m okay with the fact you keep secrets from me, but…I do understand. Unfortunately.”

He hoots, then glides up to my shoulder. I lean into him as he nuzzles into my cheek.

“I want to know something, though, V.”

Want…need…I’m not sure which is the truth.

Nor do I know if I can actually handle the truth.

“What’s that?”

“Will—” I clear the rasp from my throat and squeeze my eyes shut. “Will their explanations be the same as yours?”

He hums, waddling down my arm. “I cannot speak for them. But I can tell you this—truth does not behave the same way in every hand.”

My brows scrunch slightly.

“The same knowledge can be harmless in one moment and catastrophic in another,” he continues. “It depends on timing, intent, and who delivers it. When I withheld what I knew, it was because the consequences were not emotional alone—they were structural. Realm-wide. Interwoven with your lineage, your father, and the balance of forces around you. What would have happened to you, to him, and to the realm would not have been the same simply because someone else spoke it sooner.”

“It’s a dangerous and delicate balance,” Amick mutters, more to himself than anyone else.

The look on his face, though, says he has a deeper understanding of what V said than I do.

“So it wasn’t just about me learning the truth?”

“No,” V says. “It was about when, how, and through whom it enters the realm.”

I don’t know how to feel about that answer. Deep within my chest, something tells me this is his cryptic way of telling me their answers aren’t going to be as realm-altering.

More like, just life-altering for me…

I don’t know if that disappoints me or doesn’t surprise me.

Maybe a little of both if I’m being honest.

“Well, as wise and understanding as I am in my young age, I’m still a little disgruntled about this truth,” Seismet says with a loud huff and a stomp of his hoof.

Eavesdropping Veilatara.

“That’s too bad, hypocrites,” Riven says, glaring at Seismet and Verlet.