Se connecterKaelumThalia crossed the entrance of my estate with the easy confidence of someone convinced she had found refuge beneath a god.If only that were still true.She climbed the staircase without hesitation, one hand wrapped around the strap of her bag, her heartbeat slow, steady... peaceful.I listened to every heartbeat, every quiet assurance she felt that she was safe with me.The irony almost amused me.She trusted the one god who had spent the last hour wondering whether she should exist.“What exactly are you?”The question no longer carried curiosity. It carried consequences.The Divine Authority had answered every question except the one that mattered. They had hidden behind riddles and half-truths, and somehow expected me to continue pretending this girl was merely another stray.She wasn't. She had never been.She had been born beyond my authority.For two thousand years, every law of existence had bent beneath my command, I always find a way around everything except this one.
ThaliaIt had been barely seven hours since Master had barked an order into thin air.Now the estate was overflowing.People poured through the front doors one after another, more faces than I had seen since arriving here. I stood in the middle of the living room, my fingers hooked tightly around the strap of my bag as I watched them move through the house as though they had always belonged here.Maybe they did.I had thought only the four of us lived in the annex.Apparently, I had been spectacularly wrong.Doors I had never paid attention to swung open one after another. Corridors I barely noticed suddenly filled with people carrying bags, stacks of papers, boxes, everyone moving with the quiet confidence of people returning home.Emily was already arguing with someone over food supplies.Aen was casually directing people toward different rooms while proudly explaining every decoration and renovation she had made to the house.They had history here.All eight of them.I blinked as t
"Gather everything you own." She frowned. "You'll be staying here from now on.""That would only make the rumors—" The words died the instant our eyes met. Whatever she saw on my face erased the protest before it could finish forming. "I'll... go get my things."She hurried out.The moment the door closed behind her, I turned toward the corridor."Aelar." The name echoed through the house, I know he heard me wherever he is, so I dropped my command"Recall everyone immediately. We have a betrayal among us."Without waiting for a response, I opened the front door and Light.Blinding, endless light formed meThe doorway no longer led to my room, it has followed my thought and intention and brought me to the Divine Authority's domain.The realm of the godsA familiar sigh drifted towards me.The Authority already understood why I had come but still wanted me to speak"Malia convinced one of my own strays to betray me," I said. "She believed I had found a way to produce an heir.""I wouldn
KaelumI stood where I was long after Thalia had emptied her panicked mind. For the first time in centuries, I had underestimated something.And it’s not another planet, kingdom or even another god.A stray,a werewolf stray that I saved myself.The realization settled over me with an unfamiliar weight. I had been so occupied with what I couldn't do that I had failed to ask the more dangerous question or even see the whole picture.It all came to me, I couldn't see Thalia unless she allowed it. I couldn't hear her thoughts. Even when she prayed, I was already certain the prayer would never reach me.Even if she did that straight to my face right now, and I granted one of those prayers...Would she even receive it? No.And the most terrifying one is if she wished for it, she could simply reject my power.Every piece of it.When Malia arrived, I had deliberately severed Thalia's ability to hear me. I had done it instinctively, the way I had done countless times before yet she had heard e
ThaliaThe gods really did have a sense of humor."When am I getting out?" I asked.No answer came.Only a faint sound.Not words. Movement.A rustle somewhere beyond the walls of this strange prison.The sound shouldn't have interested me, but it did. It felt wrong somehow, as though I had stumbled into a moment never meant for mortal ears. A fragment of a god's private existence.Then another voice spoke.A woman.The sound hit me so suddenly that I froze.For one impossible moment, I forgot where I was.Forgot myself.Her voice didn't sound beautiful.Beautiful wasn't enough.It flowed through the air like something alive, like music stripped of melody and reduced to perfection itself. Every syllable carried a rhythm that made my chest tighten.I thought I could listen to her speak forever.Then I heard what she said."That's your follower, and you, as a god, are sleeping with her?"The spell shattered.My brows drew together.Who was she?More importantly—Who talked to him like t
Kaelum“Why!”Thalia's shout echoed through the house, louder than any sound that had filled it since the day I bought the place.“You can't just lock the door on me. I'm claustrophobic!”“You'll be fine,” I said, finally turning the lock and taking a breath.That was an entirely new experience. A completely different kind of mistake than any I had imagined myself capable of making.Even if I was going to disappear, I didn't want to make an escapade out of it with one of the beings I had created. If I was truly that desperate, I could have chosen the goddess, Malia, or any of the handful who still pretended to be my enemies.Not Thalia.I didn't want to dwell on it, but I couldn't erase what I had seen—or what I had been involved in.I rubbed my eyes and headed toward the study, only for Thalia's voice to ring through my head again.“You used me!”“Keep it down. You used me for your pleasure first,” I said as I stepped into the study.“Then did you use me for your pleasure back?”I cl
KaelumIt had been two days.Two entire days, and Aelar still wasn't back.At this point, I was no longer merely annoyed, I wanted answers. I wanted to know why Thalia existed and yet somehow remained invisible to me. How many of my people existed beyond my sight? How many worshippers lived beneath
Kaelum“Sir, I made the appointment with the stock manager, and basically everything he mentioned checks out. We’re up to date with our taxes too. The tax manager confirmed it.”Han, the accountant, walked beside me as we made our way back toward my living room. I had considered stopping him from d
Kaelum“Did you take the sacrifice?” Aurora asked over the phone.I paused before answering, my eyes settling on the book barely hanging off the shelf across the room. It tilted dangerously, one more inch away from falling.I stared at it for a moment like my powers would suddenly return out of spi
ThaliaI gasped awake, breathing hard.Instinctively, I tried to touch myself, but my arms wouldn’t move. Panic hit me instantly.That was when I realized I hadn’t even opened my eyes yet.The moment I did, I was met with the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen.Gold colour, not bright gold. Not wa







