Page 85 of Raven's Dawn

“It is,” Iliantha said. “I remember them, Caeda. I knew them then, just as I know them now. They are the reason we have food again. They are the reason the compound at the highest point of the country is no longer home to the Angels. They are trying to fix our broken world.”

Jeremy avoided looking her in the eye. Not surprising. He never liked attention on him. Even when he was Nix.

Laila held her gaze, but her irises weren’t glowing anymore. Her expression was soft. Not emotionless, but blank. Waiting. Waiting for Caeda to say more before she did.

Slowly stepping back from the table, Caeda grabbed her skirt and pulled it out at her sides. With furrowed brows, she curtsied. “Why thank you, my gods. Perhaps I should drop to my knees. Maybe I should collect some offerings to set before you.”

“Please don’t,” Laila said.

“And don’t curtsy either,” Jeremy said under his breath.

“That’s what gods expect, do they not?” Crossing her arms, Caeda’s eyes glowed once more. “You want our praise for all the things you do. Even if it’s only cleaning up the mess you yourselves made.”

“If we wanted praise, don’t you think we would stand at a podium during a solstice festival and demand it?” Laila asked. “Don’t you think we would have already announced our presence to the world?”

“I think you’re lying,” she snapped. “I think this is all a great big joke?—”

“You have always been the fan of play, Caeda.” Hands folded before her hips, Iliantha shook her head. “I wouldn’t have brought them here if I didn’t know with absolute certainty that they are who they say they are.”

“Prove it then,” Caeda said, looking between them. “If you are who you say you are, prove it.”

“How do you expect us to do that? Like this?” Whisps of violet, speckled with gold floated from Laila’s skin, like on the day she and Jeremy created our soulmate bond. Simultaneously, blue speckled with gray and black emitted out of Jeremy. “You’ll just say it’s a trick of the eyes. A spell, or some kind of magic. Do you want us to put our barriers down? The ones that disguise how powerful we are? We can, but it won’t prove anything either. Only that we’re more powerful than you. More powerful than anything you’ve ever seen before. But that’s not proof. We could’ve collected that power the same way you’ve been collecting yours, right? I can show you my memories, but you won’t believe them. And I don’t blame you. Before I knew what I was, I was an atheist.”

“Do it then.” Caeda crossed her arms against her chest. “Let your guard down. Let me see just how strong you are.”

“Rain?” Laila said.

“All of us?” Rain asked.

“All of us,” Luci confirmed.

Shutting her eyes, Rain lifted her arms at her sides. The room grew quiet while she chanted, the song’s hypnotic rhythm reverberating in the silence, lulling us to something.

Until Caeda’s gasp. She pressed a hand over her heart, breathing slow, staring at Laila and Jeremy in shock.

Ailas didn’t move a muscle, aside from a few in his face. His jaw hardened. His eyes darkened. But he didn’t move. His mouth didn’t drop in disbelief. He didn’t clasp a hand over his heart. Just the smallest twitch of his jaw as he worked to stay so rigidly composed.

“But this isn’t about who we are,” Jeremy said. “It never has been, not even when we created this place.”

“That was more of a fun project for me than anything else,” Luci said.

Doubted that was what any of these world leaders wanted to hear.

“This is about, as you said, cleaning up our mess,” Laila continued. “We want to end the war with the Angels. We want to dismantle and destroy the air an tagadh. We want to bring peace back to the world we created.”

Still clasping her hand over her heart, Caeda stared at her for a moment. She breathed in.

Then her eyes lit aflame at the same time as her hand.

She thrust her open palm at Laila, singing her clothes before the goddess took control of the fire.

“Where were you?!” Caeda slammed her fists on the table, wide eyes glowing like their own suns. Tears flowed from them. “Where the fuck were you?!”

Jeremy stepped in front of Laila.

Gently, Laila edged him away. She took a step forward, so the table was the only thing that separated her and Caeda. She could’ve responded with the same fury, but her eyes were soft. “That’s not what you really want to ask me, is it?”

“Fuck you,” Caeda said, shaking her head at a rapid pace. “That’s what I want to say to you. Fuck you, you selfish bitch.”