Page 52 of Fool's Bargain

“We know,” Theo said, grinning back at me.

I turned to Ione, who looked abashed. “Can you really do that?” I asked.

“I’ve never tried it, but now I really fucking want to.” She bent down and pressed her lips to mine with a determined and hungry hum. I gripped her arms and held her back.

“Probably now isn’t the best time. Let’s celebrate after we handle any blowback, all right? Besides, we have family out there who I’d really love to spend time with.”

“Merry Christmas,” Theo said in a low voice close to my ear as we turned back toward the door.

I bit my lip to hold back tears of joy and reached up to wrap my arms around his neck. “Thank you.”

24

Zarya

We cleaned up the traces of blood and filed back out of the wood shop to the interested glances of Susannah Dylan and an older, petite, dark-haired woman who commanded the other end of the large kitchen.

Susannah smiled warmly, a knowing glint in her eyes, but the other woman narrowed her sharp gaze, let out an amused snort, and said, “Fate’s gone soft. Which is an improvement if you ask me.”

All it took was the hint of curiosity and her identity was at the forefront of my thoughts. She was Sophia North, Ozzie’s grandmother, who had once been a slave to Fate. Yet somehow she’d survived and now had no issue preparing a holiday meal to share with the creature. I relaxed a little more at that thought before turning toward the big room and bracing myself for the confrontation we all knew needed to happen next.

The hounds were still visible and perked up immediately, then in a blink that startled a gasp out of me, all four of them teleported to my feet, bounding around the five of us in an excited, happy parade. Sure it was somehow a dead giveaway to what we’d done, I cast a sheepish look at Fate, who now stood by the fireplace, every bit the Yuletide sentinel in its green and white robes.

My internal link buzzed with the reminder to stand strong and I corrected my posture, kicking myself for ever considering an apology for taking what I knew I deserved.

“It’s too late. We’re blood melded now. You can’t have them,” I said, facing the creature and staring it down. The hounds continued to bounce around us in glee, so at leastsomeonewas happy about the occasion.

Fate pressed its lips together, its constant pale-purple shine growing dull for a second. “I am aware. The hounds are the perfect barometers for happiness and true love. They don’t play favorites, they merely gravitate to where the soul bonds are strongest and soak up the residual energy given off from every new bond.”

They knew? I glanced down at the strange beasts, who were the size of Saint Bernards. One of them dropped down and rolled over as if it wanted me to rub its belly. I did, laughing at the pleasant fuzzy sensation more like static electricity than fur.

“So are they proof enough that we belong together?” I asked. “Did they convince you?”

“In a way,” Fate said, then sighed, its shoulders sagging. “The hounds were involved but not in the way I’d worried. They followed their instincts, and for that I cannot fault them. They were not manipulated out of ill will or malice. In fact, they weren’t directly manipulated at all. It was the souls of those three satyrs that resonated with yours. The hounds merely picked up on that resonance. The fact that they brought you together is enough proof for me to allow the bond to remain intact regardless of how some of you were manipulated.” It narrowed its eyes and I had a feeling from the way the three men fidgeted that it knew their secret. But Fate only sighed and shook its head. “Please tell me, how do you feel now that you’ve bound yourself to the souls of four nymphaea? The River’s power must run deep within you all now.”

“I feel amazing,” I said, uncertain what it meant. I simply wanted to go back to the party and enjoy the company of family now that I had a family to enjoy.

“It’s not talking about our physical state,” Kyril said. “The vision we shared. That’s an event yet to come, isn’t it? We saw our own future.”

“Yes,” Fate said. “Which is what I wanted to prevent. My hope was to find you each separate soul mates. Merging so much nymphaea power into a single soul bond upsets the balance, pushing us closer to chaos. I cannot break that bond, nor would I, knowing that it was initiated according to my own rules. But I must warn you that I will rectify the imbalance. Will you tell me how you began your journey to find this bloodline woman?”

The three satyrs shared a worried look, their apprehension a deep thrum inside me. They feared the creature they knew as the Diviner, as well as her mate—a man I still couldn’t fathom actually existing. But now that the risk of losing my mates was gone, now that our power had shown us a vision of a happy future, I didn’t want ill will between us and Fate.

“It was the Diviner,” I said, flinching at the hiss of disapproval from behind me followed by resignation echoing through my bonds with the others.

Fate barked out a laugh that made all of us jerk back in surprise. It kept laughing until tears streamed from its eyes and it doubled over, bracing its hands on its knees. The holly wreath around its head shook and it stood up after a moment, wiping its eyes. “I should have guessed, but then I have always had a blind spot for her. And now I understand she and Chaos have joined forces. Well then I will definitely have to direct my retaliation well. They will know I’ve discovered their meddling before the next equinox, I promise you.”

It wandered off then, shaking its head and chuckling to itself every few seconds.

We all stood there stunned for a second, absorbing what had happened. Finally, I turned to face the others. “We’re really off the hook, aren’t we?” I asked.

“Seems that way,” Kyril said. He sank down into a cushy sofa with a groan as tension fled his big body.

“I have a question.” I propped my hand on my hip and looked between him and Dorian. “That kiss... was that something you guys regularly enjoy?”

The two of them shared a look and smiled. “Zar, there are hundreds of things we enjoy that you haven’t seen yet,” Dorian said. “And I’d offer to start showing them to you now, but I have a feeling you would just put me off.”

“You’d be right.” I grinned. “But we have more than enough time now to explore them all.”

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