Page 158 of Winterfall Destiny

I stumble backwards as the First appears on the stage in front of me but at a distance I never expected, the killing blow not happening. My mouth parts at her appearance. The First’s dressed as if for a visit to the original theatre in one of my dresses. The one I wore when I visited the dragons with Ash.

Ash. I choke another sob and glance back. No movement.

“Why isn’t Gabriella dead?” the First snarls.

“She isn’t?”

“Not properly! She’s a hemia vamp. Her heart needs removing.” The creature glares. “You stopped Andrei, but why didn’t you kill her, Maeve? Didn’t you see the hybrids? What she’s planning?”

“Why didn’t you?” I shout. “Why are we even here?”

“Because you all have to die otherwise everything goes wrong!”

“If they’re dead, you kill Gabriella now,” I scream.

The First never once intended to kill Gabriella herself. Gifting Andrei her power, knowing how much it would take to kill the Dominion leader and take us down too, guaranteed something the creature threatened us with.

Collateral damage.

Andrei’s First-fuelled magnitude drew too much from the world. He swatted the new recruits like flies, but Gabriella drank from the First’s pure blood. Not as much as Andrei because she’d other plans for its use, but enough to set her apart from the rest of us. Only Andrei held the power to end her life.

The First knew we’d never face Gabriella alone. That every one of her enemies would gather together in support and die if Andrei killed her. I picture the First’s smugness the day in the kitchen: ensuring the threads of connections and that the future plays out as planned takes hard work.

“Was this the plan all along?” I shout at her. “Why not just kill us weeks ago rather than play your stupid fucking game?”

The First sneers. “Haven’t you figured that out? Andrei needs to kill Gabriella. Today. I can’t change that without changing the future.”

“And what if we’d decided not to kill Gabriella because we wanted to change our lives?”

“As if you’d allow hybrids to exist and humans to die?” The First smiles. “There was never any risk once you discovered that part of the present and future.”

“But Andrei stopped so your future’s now changed. You ‘gifted’ him power and intensified everything within him. That included his need to keep me safe, and prompt fury against anybody who hurt me.” I tip my chin. “And the shadows stopped him. You never saw that in your future, did you? Maeve Winterfall and the shadows.”

The First snarls. “I’ll deal with the obstacles.”

“Then why aren’t you?” I ask. As I move closer, the First steps back. The creature is worried about shadows. “Why don’t you kill me?” I ask, and the creature bares its teeth. “Because you can’t, can you? Not now the shadows are with me. You lost.”

I steel myself as the fury ignites behind the First’s eyes, holding my ground as her power magnifies but doesn’t touch me.

Slowly, the First claps its hands. “Bravo, witch, you won and changed the future but what will this cost you?”

“Not my life.”

“You think the shadows would bend to your will? That you’ll survive them when they turn on you?” The creature’s disdain grows at the doubt in my eyes, and it points at Andrei. “And do you believe that he won’t turn you one day before your mind is gone? You do know that future sighted witches who interfere too much in that future lose touch with their new reality?” The First taps her lips. “Oh, wait. You do. Your aunt.”

“Not everybody,” I snap back. “I’m different. Stronger. I changed the future once.”

Nothing I say fazes the First or changes the smugness. “This has nothing to do with strength, Maeve. Do you know how your aunt predicted him massacring your family?” The First jerks its head at Tobias.

“A vision.”

“And where did that vision come from? The woman’s too confused to remember but I’ll tell you. The day your aunt had the vision of the Winterfall deaths is the day she’d visited the shadow realm in your father’s stupid attempts to push the boundaries of life and death.” The First bites away a smile. “The shadows gave her the vision that changed a future and killed a part of her mind. Like your aunt’s, this shadow-altered future will splinter your mind.”

“More lies.”

“Ask your father. He’ll tell you it’s the truth.”

I clench my teeth, refusing to show a reaction.

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