Page 234 of The Gods Order

Another one.

Yemi.

My heart cracks. My best friend. The girl who walked into my life and somehow felt like she had always belonged there.

“Meet some of your soul family. The beings who decided they and their Starwoven wanted to be close to you for all eternity.”

A shaky laugh leaves me as tears gather. I raise my hand and trace their stars. Rose’s and Lambrit’s stars are impossibly close, confirming what I already thought. Yem has four surrounding her.

Her men. Her Starwoven.

“She knew,” I whisper.

My mom tilts her head.

“Who?”

“Yemi.” I wipe my cheeks, but more tears replace the ones I catch. “She knew her men from the moment she laid eyes on them. Lambrit as well. The second he saw Rose, he was in love.”

She chuckles low.

“Souls are not bound by what minds don’t understand.”

“Must be.” I laugh. “I can’t really understand why Mara and her Valtrue would be a part of my soul family. Well, I suppose her I can understand, but Gladian? He…”

“I know what he did,” she mumbles. “A soul family is just like one you share blood with. You won’t always see eye to eye. You can fight, disagree, go without speaking, and hurt one another. Sometimes those differences can be overcome, and sometimes they cannot.”

The stars shift again as she zooms into one that’s close to my Starwoven, but you can tell it’s isolated from us.

“That’s…Mellcom,” I whisper.

“Yes. That draw you mentioned about Yemi, there’s always a draw between both Starwoven and their soul family. Starwovens are much more pronounced, but there’s also a certain level of recognition in a soul family as well.”

A small smile tugs at my lips as I think about the day I met her. Even before her, Havar. Then…it fades. My throat tightens as memories rearrange themselves in my mind.

“If we—the guys and me—are Starwoven, why didn’t we feel that instant draw?”

She goes quiet and still beside me. That alone tells me the answer is not simple. It’s also probably not a truth I want to hear.

“Because your bond was not allowed to form naturally.”

My brows draw together.

“What do you mean?”

She peers back toward the stars before facing me fully.

“Your souls chose each other. That part has always been true. But your men’s souls…”

She squeezes her eyes shut for a moment.

“They were changed before they ever reached this life.”

A chill slithers down my spine.

“Their creations?” I ask.

She nods.