Page 113 of When Wishes Bleed

Fate was antsy. I could tell, because suddenly I couldn’t stop fidgeting. He hadn’t given me the order to leave yet; he’d said it was almost time. So why was he writhing beneath my skin?

“What’s the matter?”

“Fate. He’s uncomfortable.”

“Do you trust him?” Tauren asked, watching me carefully.

“Implicitly.”

“Arron said something about your mother warning you not to give yourself over to him. That he longed to remain corporeal, and that you would be trapped within, unable to resurface.”

“My mother is burning my brothers and sisters. Forgive me for not trusting her advice.”

He steeled his shoulders. “I want to come with you.”

“No.” He tilted his head and got that look like he might order me to do it anyway. “No, Tauren. I cannot keep you safe if she is near.”

A throaty laugh came from behind me. “You’re right about that much,” a woman said, slipping out of the shadows.

I looked so much like her it was frightening. From my long, dark hair and straight nose, to the almond shape of my eyes. We even had the same build and height. But there was something deranged about her. Her appearance was harried, the glimmer in her dark eyes wild.

I put myself between her and Tauren.

Slowly, she stalked toward me. With each step, I backed Tauren away. He pulled his dagger from its sheath, ready to battle her with me. But this was a battle he shouldn’t fight, and couldn’t win.

It was mine. And Fate’s.

Cyril never let me out of her sight, approaching carefully. Was she afraid of me?

“I want you to come home, Sable. We have much to discuss.”

Fate roared inside me, gnashing to be released.

Cyril didn’t look at me as much as she looked through me, as if she could see Fate himself. She didn’t fear me. She feared him.

Brecan, Mira, and Arron appeared behind my mother. Cyril’s eyes flashed with anger. She glanced from Tauren to me. “You will hear me out before choosing sides.”

“I’ll never let you harm him,” I warned. Tauren is mine.

Fast as a viper, she spirited to Tauren and grabbed his wrist. Then she grabbed mine, and together, we vanished. I barely registered Brecan’s anguished roar as we faded away.

I stood alone in the House of Fate.

Where was Tauren?

I turned in a tight circle. My heart thundered, pounding as I searched for him in every direction. Cyril had hung an enormous mirror in front of the purple couch. The dappled, aged glass stretched from floor to ceiling, casting a hazy reflection back to me. Fate urged for me to watch.

A scene emerged, a moment I lived but was too young to recall.

I hid behind Mother’s skirts. Grandmother Ela’s face was pinched tight as a fist. “Who is responsible for this?” Ela demanded, pointing to a circle of smoking, split trees behind the House of Earth.

I looked up into Mother’s proud face. Mother smiled at me and smoothed her hand over my hair. “She was responsible.”

“You are teaching her dark magic?” Ela blustered. Her hair was the color of a fawn’s, tawny and thick. Grandmother was beautiful. Her beauty was natural, not sharp like Mother’s or mine.

“I will teach her many things, Priestess. All of which she has a right to know.”

“Fate bade you introduce her to the darkness?”

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