Page 5 of Tangled Fates

It had been a whole year since I had seen her. Her sister was trapped inside of a castle with three shifters who were only human for one hour of the day and vicious beasts the rest of the day. It was the curse of the Belladonna’s against the pack of shifters that had started over two hundred years ago. The entire situation was confusing but the only way she could leave was to break the spell. Katarina needed a variety of items to do it and this is where we came in.

When Serena called, I almost didn’t answer, but I stupidly thought this might be our chance. Maybe she was willing to go against her family for me because even after a year, I still had hope. Little did I know this was my chance to break open a wound that had slowly started to heal.

Serena begged us to help her sister and even thought we were no longer together, I had to help her. While Serena and I dated we would all hang out together. The five of us grew close, so there was no way I could say no and neither would the twins.

“I’m sorry,” she said, breaking my thoughts. “I know this has been rough, but you were my only hope.”

“I know,” I said, clenching my fist from the need to touch her. “It was only a matter of time before we crossed paths.”

She took a step towards me as I took a step back. I had seen her a few days ago when we had spoken to her sister. We touched, we cuddled. It was like old times, but the moment we left her at her home, the cold reality of what I had let myself feel hit me.

We were never going to be together, but my heart didn’t care.

“I… I can’t Serena,” I said, my voice cracking with emotion.

“Fuck. I know, I just wanted to tell you that… actually, I need to tell you everything,” she said, looking angry. “Katarina’s life depends on us, and our future is in a delicate balance. Everything I do or anyone else does can push our future into the unknown. This spell needs to be broken, not just for her sake, but for the sake of my family and the future of supernaturals.”

Serena looked terrified as she continued to speak. Her confession of everything left me even more worried as understanding dawned on me. Serena was carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders, and I had promised I would share the burden with her. I just didn’t realize how heavy it would be.

3

ORIA

Aloud snap woke me from my dream. My heart was pounding as I groggily looked around the room. Loki was asleep at my feet, but we were the only ones in the room. My door was slightly ajar, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

Slowly sitting up, something felt off as I took in the semi-dark room barely lit from the open window. That's when I heard the sound of talking, it was faint, like multiple people talking. Mother’s voice was the loudest, sparking my curiosity as I got out of bed quietly stepping towards the door.

The voices grew louder as I stood near my door, but I still couldn’t hear what they were saying. Opening the door as quietly as I could, I poked my head out to see if it made a difference.

“I’ve kept my end of the deal!” Mother whispered. “We must stay the course. This is not the time to change our plans.”

The other voice said something quickly, but it wasn't clear what they said. Mother never let anyone up into the tower unless they were picking up a shipment. It was way too late for them to be here, and I hadn’t finished packing it up. There were still a few days till they were supposed to get here, so who was she talking to?

Mother always left the tower, making me wonder where she went off to. I made the mistake of asking her once and she got so mad that I would never make that mistake again. My theory was she had a lover, who she met up with. Living in solitude could make a woman go crazy. Now I wondered if she was doing something else.

Did she bring her lover here? Was I about to hear something that would scar me for the rest of my existence? She wouldn’t bring him here, would she?

My stomach churned at the thought of catching Mother in a compromising position, making me rethink if this was a good idea. The person raised their voice and I realized it sounded like they were far away. Was she calling someone?

Tay’s phone was the only one I had ever seen, but did Mother have one too? She loathed technology, saying it was ruining both supernaturals and humans. She hated the iPod Tay had given me, but I told her it gave me something to listen to. She made it a big ordeal until she finally relented. I don’t know why it had upset me; her actions were starting to feel like she was purposely trying to make me miserable.

My anger fueled my need for answers, giving me the confidence to leave my room, slowly creeping down the stairs to hear a bit better. She sounded like she was in the main area.

“You don’t think I have things to do here?” Mother’s irritation was making her voice louder.

“Well, I need help. Things are not going as we planned. She’s getting closer to breaking the spell,” the voice said, and I could now distinguish that it was a man. “She cannot undo what we worked so hard to put in place. Our plans cannot be derailed by a stupid magic-less whore.”

The man sounded furious, but the underlying fear was there.

“What do you expect me to do?” Mother snapped. “There is a reason I said we had to play this right.”

A soft meow shifted my attention to Loki in between my legs. He pushed up against them as if he was trying to push me up the stairs.

I glared at him, trying to tell him to get away with my expression. He didn’t even look up at me, meowing softly again. It was like he was trying to get me caught.

The little fucker.

“If I do this, then we are going to renegotiate my terms here,” Mother growled.

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