They seriously needed to get over this shit.
“They’re angry because we all watched over you while you slept. We took turns,” Coen told me.
Something about that statement warmed my heart. No one had ever done that for me before, except Emmy.
I rose up onto my tiptoes to kiss Rome on the cheek. He still had to bend down for me to reach. “Go to your sol,” I murmured to him. “Before she knocks this entire building down.”
He let out an exaggerated grumble, his chest shaking. “Don’t stay away too long,” he finally said to us. “I have this feeling we should stick together as much as possible, just in case.”
He didn’t say in case of what, but we all knew there were more than a couple of situations which could spring up and would require the full might of the Abcurse brothers.
“Willa Knight!” The shout had me spinning around, my hands slamming against my chest as my heart pounded hard. “You broke the rules again! Seriously.”
Emmy stormed into the room, her long hair flowing behind her, her eyes shooting daggers. Apparently, this was the section of the marble forest designated to people who wanted to kill me with their eyes. As she got closer, I braced myself to receive the full force of her wrath. She had made me promise I wouldn’t disappear without her, and then I’d gone and done just that.
“It’s not my fault,” I protested when she was a few feet away. “Cyrus made me go and collect something for him—that was my punishment.”
At that thought, I remembered Crowe’s chain, and my hands flew to my shoulders.
“They’re in a safe place,” Coen told me, leaning down so that no one else could hear.
I narrowed my eyes on him. “You took them the moment I fell asleep, didn’t you?”
He just grinned, and I couldn’t find any energy to be mad at him.
“Are you even listening to me, Willa?”
Emmy had still been talking. I had not been listening. I was the worst kind of friend and sister.
“I’m sorry,” I said, interrupting her next tirade. “I know I’m being a terrible sister to you right now … I mean, even worse than usual, and there was nothing to brag about before. But so much is going on—I can’t keep up, Emmy. I … I just need you to stick with me. Please. I’m going to try harder.”
Rome chuckled. It burst from him, and I reached out to slap his chest.
“I am going to try harder,” I said.
His expression softened. “You care too much. Emmy-dweller might be your family, but she needs to try and understand as well. You’re different now. You don’t always have time to pander to her emotions and feelings.”
Emmy gasped loudly. Everything stilled. I tried desperately to think of something to fix this moment, all the while waiting for her to rip us all a new one. Her eyes were the only part of her that was moving; she looked at me first, and then at Rome and Coen.
“He’s right,” she finally murmured, shocking the hell out of me. “Never thought I’d say that about a god, but he is right.”
She reached out and grabbed my hands. “I’m sorry, Will. I’ve been struggling to accept the changes in your life. Struggling to let you go after all the life-cycles of being the most important person in your life. But … I realise now that I’m being unfair.” She swallowed roughly, and I felt a lump form in my own throat. “You’re the happiest I’ve ever seen you,” she continued. “As much as ALL gods are pissing me off these sun-cycles, the Abcurses are fulfilling you. Completing you. I have to start accepting this reality.”
I shook my head fiercely, tears springing to my eyes. She always did this: forgave me for my flaws, while beating herself up for hers. She had lost her person. She had been left to fend for herself in a world where everyone had been taken away from her. She should not have been apologising to me—I should have been the one empathising with her.
“Emmy, you’re the most important person in my life, too. I can’t live without you. You’re as essential to me as the Abcurses, just in a different way. And I am so sorry that I haven’t been there for you lately. There is no excuse for that. It kills me that my life has been taking me on a path that is no longer parallel to yours. But our paths will come back together again. I feel that with every part of my being.”
Emmy and I were the forever kind of friends. We were family. It was difficult right now with me being undead and tied to five gods, but that didn’t lessen the truth of what I knew.
We were forever.
She hugged me so tightly that all breath rushed out of me. “I love you, Willa. I should say that more often.”
I went so many life-cycles never hearing those words. Now, I was overwhelmed by all of the love in my life. I didn’t even know how to handle it.
“I love you, too,” I murmured back, before we pulled apart.
I realised, then, that she was wearing a dress. Not just any old dress either, but a very nice, well-fitted, dark purple number that swished around her ankles and gave her impressive cleavage. I tried to remember the last time she’d been out of her sensible ‘work’ clothes. The girl had actual boobs.
Rome and Coen both chuckled then, no doubt thinking about all the times I’d flashed mine to the world. This was a first for Emmy.
“Are you still … uh, unemployed?” I asked her.
Gods that sounded wrong.
She grinned, bringing a hand up to wipe a few tears away. “Cyrus and I reached an agreement. At the moment, I’m a free agent. I don’t have any duties. I don’t answer to any of the gods. He has given me a free pass.”
No one else seemed shocked by that, but I think my eyes were wide enough that there was a scary chance my eyeballs would fall out. “A free agent…?”
What the hell did that even mean? There was no such thing. Even sols weren’t free.
“Cyrus might be the boss here,” I finally said, “but what about all the other gods? What if they tell Staviti? How are you hiding this?”
Emmy shrugged. “Cyrus said he was taking care of it. It was his way of apologising after the drinking incidents.”
I felt like I’d stumbled into an alternate reality. Was this really Emmy? Or were we once again being fooled by a sol who could change her appearance?
“It’s Emmy,” Rome confirmed.
There was something different about her, though. It was more than just the dress. Emmy had always been confident, but in the live-by-the-law-of-the-land way. She knew her place, and she outshone every single one of us while sticking to her place. This was more than out-shining the others, though. This was something else.
“You seem happy, too,” I said slowly. “I never thought you could survive without all the dweller stuff.”
She shrugged. “I don’t know how to explain it, but when I quit, something released within me. Like a tether I didn’t even know was there. I was so tied to my identity as a dweller, that I’d never even stopped to think about who I was without that.”
Rome distracted me then by swinging his head toward the back of the room. “I’ll be there in a click,” he bit out in annoyance. “Just keep doing what you’re doing.”
Peering around him, I realised his sol had left her stone and was now standing near us. She was glaring, arms crossed as she replied.
“Stop wasting time with these ridiculous dwellers. Seriously. Do you realise that there’s a possibility that all of us will die? Even you, if you can’t manage to make me strong enough to ascend to godhood?”
Rome didn’t look at all concerned, but her words were enough to remind me of what Staviti had declared back on his platform. If the Betas didn’t make their sols strong enough to become third Beta Gods, he would kill the Betas as well.
At the time, I thought it was an empty threat, something to get them motivated. But … who knew with Staviti. He had crazy eyes. You can never trust someone with eyes like that.
“Go,” I said, pushing him gently. “Go teach her crushing stuff. I’ll be fine.”