Mantle of the Gods

I told them as much as I could about the conversation last night.

I left out the part about me being a Godling, but they sat in silence as I told them about Trent’s connection to Tres, about Dee, and about the Primus. It wasn’t until I told them about Trent and Gesai deciding on a new member that Aelin decided to interrupt.

“I thought we were going to get to pick the new members!?” She glared at Gesai. "What if she’s not right for the harem?”

I closed my eyes. "Aelin, don’t you think you’ve taken this harem thing a little too far, I mean…”

“Mister Vowler got betrayed by someone who wasn’t bound to their circle and look what happened to him!” Aelin stood up. "I don’t think you’re taking this seriously enough! What happens if this new person decides that they can sell this information? Huh?” Her eyes stopped on Justia for a bit before going back to me. "Do you want us all to die?”

“No…” I didn’t want any of them to get killed because of me, but I was already seeing the jealousy in Gesai. I was going to have to find a way to get our small group to be more cohesive. But that was a lot to balance, especially with trying to juggle our dungeon trips in with that as well. Which meant that I didn’t have a good answer for her.

Before I had a chance to respond, an image of Trent appeared in the middle of the table.

“Good, you’re all here.” He looked around the room. "Jenne is here and your other two candidates are going to meet us at the Temple after lunch.” The white-haired man focused on Rix. "I’ll be up once I see them off to begin your training.” He turned back to the rest of us. "Hurry up! You’ve got a lot to do!” The image vanished.

We all got up and grabbed our plates.

“I need help with cleaning this up!” Fray began taking our used dishes to the sink.

Rix cut in front of her and took the plate out of her hand. The homely woman let the redhead take it from her and slowly backed away. “I’ll take care of cleanning up.” She nodded at the elevator. "Go.”

I looked at the mess we’d made. "Are you sure?’

Rix started cleaning dishes and loading them into the washer. "I’ve done this before, just go. I’ll be fine.”

I had my doubts about how ‘fine’ she was, but there wasn’t much I could do about it.

“Alright, let’s go.” I waved at Rix. "Thanks! Have a good one!”

We loaded up in the elevator, but no one pushed a button to choose a floor. We were on the fifth floor. There was one floor above us and it went all the way down to the basement.

“Which one should we press?” I looked at Gesai.

The older woman shrugged. "We came in through the first floor, what about you?”

“He brought us in through the basement, but if you all came through the first floor.” I looked at Aelin, who was the closest to the panel. "First floor. We can always get back on if it’s the wrong floor.”

“First floor it is!” The blonde giggled as she pushed the button. "I have the power, mwah, ha, ha , ha!”

I shook my head, but I had to smile. Aelin was having fun, so maybe we all could find a way to enjoy ourselves.

The doors opened as we reached the first floor and Gesai went out first. We had to walk around a security desk that was manned by a guard in full yellow armor to get onto the main floor, but once we were there, we saw our RV parked outside.

Trent was standing in front of the RV and there was a woman standing next to him putting on a green jacket.

I started walking towards the doors. “I think we’re on the right floor.”