Page 346 of The Gods Order

“Muscle?” Lambrit asks.

“You and Yemi are the brains,” I say.

“No more dillydallying. You’re going to be late,” Amick says without a hint of patience.

“Okay, okay.” I hold my hands up and blow him a kiss. “Deep breaths, everyone. Showtime.”

My power wraps around us and carries us away. When our eyes open, we’re greeted by silence and a sea of people.

Then…the roaring starts.

My ears ring as my gaze roams over the faces. Some familiar, some not. My heart thuds so fast against my ribcage I’m surprised it doesn’t crack one.

Two gentle hands land against my back. Rose’s to calm me, Yemi’s to push me forward.

I step up and raise my hands in the air. The cheering slowly settles.

“Oddian. Thank you for joining us on this historic day.”

Just as fast as the silence came, it vanishes.

The overwhelming roar has my hands trembling as I reach into my pocket. For a long moment, I stare down at my speech.

Then I fold it back up.

“Oh no,” Yemi murmurs, and I smile to myself.

“Some of you may remember me, and some of you may not, but my name is Thayla Godrun. I promise I’m not going to stand up here and give you a long-winded speech about how much you should love the Valories and the gods. I’m really uncomfortable up here giving a speech to begin with and I’m just as excited as you all are. So I’m going to try to get straight to what you’ve all been waiting for since we sent out the decree to you over a month ago about this very day.”

More cheers and claps blare around me, and I laugh at their enthusiasm.

“Over two years ago, I stood on this platform before you as a Chosen in the last Veiling. Scared, confused, and angrier than a pissed off taurn.”

Laughs ripple throughout the crowd and I smile at them sincerely as the rolling in my belly slows.

“I remember looking out at all of you, wondering how a single day could change my entire life.”

I shake my head.

“I didn’t know I’d leave this region and find a family. I didn’t know I’d lose people I thought I loved. I didn’t know I’d discover truths that would shake the foundations of our realm. And I certainly didn’t know I’d one day be standing back on this very platform before you.”

I glance behind me at the Grand Oddian Library, then around the familiar streets surrounding the center.

“This region raised me. It taught me so much. From kindness to betrayal, survival, and resilience. It also taught me that speaking out and asking questions wasn’t always welcomed.”

A few knowing smiles appear throughout the crowd.

“So today, before we actually begin, I want to answer the biggest question I’ve heard over the last eighteen months. Why change the Veiling Day? Why break tradition? And the answer is simple…”

I pause, scanning the crowd from one side to the other. The answer isn’t entirely simple, and I could spend ages sitting up here talking shit about the Valories and the Beginning Gods. Everything they fucked up to lead us to this moment.

I’d love to do that, but I’m not going to.

“Despite everything that’s happened over the last twelve-hundred-plus years, not every part of the old system was wrong. The problem lay in the fact that the preservation of power was put before the preservation of the people. The Beginning Gods understood that power is dangerous. It can protect and create, but it also can control and destroy. To give it all out at once could be catastrophic. They decided to be very selective in who they blessed and how much of a blessing they’d receive. We kept part of that system.”

A touch of unease rolls through the crowd, but I hold my hands up again, asking them to hold on for a moment.

“What we changed…was everything surrounding the process. We learned from the mistakes they made in their methods and we modified them. For the last sixteen or so months, every region has received lessons explaining how power works, how Domains and abilities develop, what responsibilities accompany them, and what to expect when this day arrived. Knowledge should never begin after receiving power. It should begin long before it.”