Page 41 of The Gods Order

His eyes—well, his blue one—flare.

“Just kidding, that wasn’t what I assumed.”

I chuckle at his shock. “What did you assume?”

“I figured you all were about to pepper me with questions. I had a whole I’m sorry I can’t tell you everything speech prepared in my head.”

Thayla smiles faintly at him. “We understand there’s a lot you can’t and shouldn’t tell us. We also need to hear most of it, I’m sure, from Val and Meridamus.”

“Val?” He arches his brow. Her face stays calm, cool, and collected. Pointedly ignoring answering that question. “Very well then. Color me surprised and delighted. I’m thrilled not to be the bad guy tonight.”

Not going to lie, that kind of hurts my heart. I hate that everyone, including us, has made him feel like a bad guy just because he’s always the bearer of bad news.

I do solemnly vow, from this moment forward, not to do that.

Maybe.

Depending on what information he may surprise us with later on.

“So a meeting? What for exactly?” he asks, breaking our weird silence. “You ready to hash it all out?”

“No,” Thayla huffs. “I’m not meeting with them to reconcile our relationships. If that ever becomes what I want, I’ll say so. Right now, my focus is on finishing what we’ve started. Fixing the realm.”

He stares at her with a mixture of pride and heartbreak. I’ve seen that look plenty of times in my life. It’s the same one he gives me when I talk shit about my birth giver. It’s like he mixes his understanding with sadness.

He knows I’m right, maybe even agrees with me to an extent, but wishes things were different.

“Okay, little troublling. Are you sure you don’t want to be the one to initiate contact?”

“I’m sure. I don’t want to contact either of them and give them the impression I’m opening a line of communication between us.”

“So,” he says, tapping his chin. “I am your middleman.”

“Yes,” she answers simply.

He nods, attempting to hide the smirk on his lips behind his fingers. We all see it clearly.

“And I assume you want me to also be the one to express your interest, well, lack thereof, in a relationship?”

“You don’t have to go into any detail. I can do that when I see them, but yes, I need you to express that they can’t just contact me however they damn well please. No popping into my head and talking to me. Or showing up at my house.”

They better keep their voices out of her mind and their asses away from my home.

I won’t take kindly to that sort of surprise.

“We want a controlled conversation. No surprise variables. No emotional ambush setup. We will all meet knowing and understanding that,” Amick says.

“What exactly do you all hope to come out of this conversation?” he asks.

“Agreement and understanding on our roles and where the realm is heading.”

Derivius shifts his attention from Amick and studies each of us for a long moment, then lets out a small, amused breath.

“You all have put far more thought into this than I figured you would have at this stage.”

“Unfortunately, we no longer have the luxury of flipping our shit and raging out at every inconvenience,” Thayla says.

He laughs much louder about that. “Your father’s return is an inconvenience, is it?”