Strength (Curse of the Gods #4)(38)

She lifted one eyebrow, giving me her are you serious look. “Everyone is talking about the dweller who has the power of a sol. The dweller who has somehow leeched power off the five gods she attached herself to. All of the sols are trying to figure out how you did it so that they can do the same. By their calculations, if a dweller can be as powerful as you, then a sol can be as powerful as a god.”

Naturally, that’s how the arrogant sols assumed I’d managed to draw my power. It couldn’t possibly have been mine by nature … and well, they were probably right about that, but they could have believed in me anyway.

“It’s probably better that they think I’m leeching from the Abcurses rather than I was stabbed to de—” My words were cut off by Cyrus as he moved at super-speed, coming around from behind his desk and wrapping his hand around my mouth.

“Staviti and Rau have ears everywhere,” he warned me quietly.

Wrenching my face out of his grip, I took a step back, before pointing a finger at him. “Didn’t you just order me to hop, skip, and sneak my way into Topia for you? If there are ears everywhere, shouldn’t you have … written the order down or something?” His face was turning an interesting shade of red. “Look, Emmy,” I pointed at the rising colour, “he does the same thing you do when you’re mad.”

“Just get out,” Cyrus ordered for the third time.

I decided we’d pushed him enough for one sun-cycle and hightailed it out of there, Emmy following closely behind me.

“You can’t go to Topia for him, Willa,” she murmured as soon as we were clear of his little den. “You shouldn’t be drawing any attention to yourself. Don’t give Staviti any reason to send you to the imprisonment realm …”

I smiled. She was bringing up the imprisonment realm in the hopes that I would explain it to her—I knew her well enough to recognise the way her statement trailed off, waiting for something from me. If there was one thing Emmy hated, it was not knowing things. Usually she had all the knowledge.

“It’s getting really hard to navigate the politics of this world,” I admitted to her as we walked back toward the level housing the god-residences. “I’m not good at walking a fine line.”

“Your guys aren’t going to let him do this. All you have to do is tell them.”

I hesitated, slowing my steps. “I’m not sure if that’s the right thing to do. Telling them feels like it might just create a huge drama.”

“How do you think they’ll react if you get yourself thrown into this imprisonment realm!” she whisper-yelled the last part.

I waved a hand at her. “I’ll explain the imprisonment realm later. Suffice to say, it’s not a place you want to go. It’s worse than death—pretty much the god alternative to death.”

That explanation did not satisfy her at all, but it was too late for further protesting, as we had reached the room we had left the Abcurses in. Sure enough, we were greeted by five, pissed-off looking gods waiting in the entrance.

“Um, hi,” I squeaked, stepping closer to them. They closed around me in a circle, their shoulders blocking Emmy from view, making it feel like it was only the six of us.

“You went to Cyrus without us?” Yael sounded somewhat calm, but his eyes were telling a different story.

“Do you know how dangerous he is, Willa?” This was from Rome, who reached out for me like he was going to shake me. Only his hands stopped just before touching me.

“He could have snatched you up for Staviti this time,” Siret added, his features pulled into hard, angry lines. “We’re a team, Willa. Don’t leave us behind.”

“You were all mostly here when I walked out,” I hedged. “You knew I was leaving, and in case you forgot, Cyrus’s condition was that I turn up without you all.”

Rome grunted, reaching out and hauling me up and into his chest, holding me tightly against him. “We almost lost you to Cyrus once before,” he muttered against my cheek. “We know you had to go alone, it was just hard to wait behind.”

I snuggled closer to him. “I don’t trust him either, but I also don’t think he’s going to try to kill me again. Whatever his motivation is, it seems to line up with ours for the moment. I’m more useful to him in my current state … whatever that is. He was the one who put me in this state, after all.”

Rome set me back on my feet, and Yael quickly snatched me up. I settled myself against him, letting him take my weight as I faced the others.

“So, what did he say?” Siret asked. “What’s your punishment?”

“I have to run a few errands,” I blurted, without really thinking. Damn. I should have taken more time to formulate a plan.

“What kind of plan could you possibly think through?” Aros rolled his golden eyes. “We would have heard you trying to think about what to tell us and what to not tell us, and then we’d know everything anyway.”

“Out with the truth, Rocks.” This came from Siret.

I sighed, pulling away from Yael to cross my arms over my chest. I wanted to appear tough, just in case one of them flipped out.

“I have to go back to Topia to do some possibly bad things that will possibly also be dangerous because they involve Cyrus, who has issues with rage and drinking.”