Page 111 of Broken Veil
Joshua waved a hand, and in the blink of an eye, the world around them froze.
Carys sat up straight.“What did you just do?”
“I simply gave us some privacy.” Joshua shrugged. “Let us exist on another plane for a moment. You were embarrassed to speak the truth in front of your friends because you believe they are looking to you for leadership.”
Okay, obviously he was a god, but how did he see her so clearly?
“The Morrígan sent me a dream last night,” Carys said.
“Did you tell anyone?”
“No.”
Joshua nodded. “You don’t want to appear frightened.”
“But I am.”
“Which I’m sure you must know was her intention.” He spread his hands. “You are a very intelligent woman, so I’m sure you realize that fear and discouragement was her objective.”
“Logically yes, but… right now I am doubting everything,” Carys blurted out. “I don’t think I’m a hero. I don’t even know what that looks like for me, you know?”
Joshua nodded thoughtfully.
“Like, maybe Seren was supposed to be the hero. Maybe that’s why she was killed at the beginning of all this.Shewas a hero. She was a dragon lord—a proper one! And I’m just kind of the really bad substitute teacher.” Tears began to well in her eyes. “I’m the substitute for a lot, I think.”
Joshua spoke softly. “You are not the substitute.”
“Really? Are you sure about that? Because I’m also worried that I’m going to get Laura killed while she’s here just trying tohelp me. And she is my best friend, and honestly Kiersten—our other best friend—and Laura’s family would never forgive me, and with my parents gone, they’re basically all I have left.”
Carys couldn’t seem to stop herself from baring her soul, and Joshua just nodded along as she did it. “Idon’tknow how to stop the Morrígan. I havenoideas. None. Jack said something about breaking an enchantment, and Angus said something about walking between worlds, but vague pronouncements are not a plan. And I’m just a mythology professor. I know all this stuff frombooks, and let me tell you, the reality of all the different parallel mythological worlds is not captured in books!”
“I understand,” Joshua murmured.
“And Duncan is… the best! But I might be completely messing up his life by loving him. I mean, I’m pretty sure his mother hates me already, and he may say that’s not important to him, but it is. It just is. Added to that, we live in completely different countries and cultures, and we both have lives where we live.”
Joshua nodded in understanding. “All these worries are valid.”
“But also! It feels super-selfish to even be talking about my love life right now because there is a literal war goddess loose in the world, and my romantic problems are like the least relevant thing right now.”
Joshua smiled. “Carys,loveis never irrelevant.”
Carys cried. She wasn’t proud of it, and she wasn’t going to wallow in it, but the weeks of travel, the supernatural battles, frightening dreams, and the pressure of the unknown came crashing down on her.
So with her friends frozen around her and a kind god sitting across from her, listening to her bare her soul, she just let it out.
When her shoulders had stopped shaking and her nose was running, Joshua handed her a plain cotton handkerchief withthe initials GM embroidered in the corner along with a red dragon.
Carys stopped crying. “This is my father’s handkerchief.”
“It is.” Joshua sat back on the sofa, Jibril still frozen beside him.
“I’m so sorry I just laid all that on you.” She sniffed and pressed the handkerchief to her nose. “I’m really sorry.”
Joshua shrugged. “I can take it.”
“Still.”
“You’re doubting yourself, Carys.” He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. “That’s perfectly understandable. But you can accomplish everything the old gods expect from you. Otherwise, you would not have been chosen for this task. Do you believe me?”
