Page 72 of Jacinth

“Bullshit! What does that even mean? These poor men have been tortured for most of their goddamn lives. Now, for some reason, they seem to think I can make them happy, so you know what I’m going to do? My best to make them goddamn happy! Then you come in and throw them into turmoil again?! It’s not fair! Just leave us be!”

Harley listened quietly and seemed about to answer when there came a clap of thunder.

On a clear blue-sky day.

That wasn’t ominous at all.

I was getting really tired of surprises and wasn’t sure how many more I had in me before I lost my mind all over the place.

“They’re here,” she whispered and strode to the front door, opening the way for a bent and gnarled older woman and a harried-looking middle-aged woman.

Orion’s shout of surprise led me to believe I was not the only one who could see them.

“Harley, what the fuck are you up to now?” Niko growled, moving into an aggressive stance by my side.

“Niko.” Orion was white-faced and sweating. With a shaking hand, he took hold of his middle sibling, as though to restrain him. Niko shrugged him off with a look close to betrayal.

“Get off me, Orion. Well? What do you have to say for yourself?”

Orion was making frantic cutting motions and now looked a little sick.

Skyler was barely paying attention to the proceedings, bent as he was over my unoccupied form.

“We have come to address the ones who thought to disrupt our weave,” the elderly woman said.

Orion’s mouth was running with a low volume stream of every curse word ever created in the English language. There may also have been some Spanish and French in there too. I definitely heard at least onemerde.

“We have come to right the wrongs that would knot the pattern of existence,” the middle-aged woman said. She was beautiful, if tired-looking. She would have been kickass in her younger days, I was sure of it.

“We have come for you,” Harley intoned, much the same as the other two.

I didn’t like this version of Harley. I wanted the popcorn-eating, shit-stirring psycho that I had begun to think of as my friend.

“These are the Fates,” Orion finally spat out. “The Crone, The Mother, and... The Maiden.”

Harley shrugged in an ‘aw shucks’ kind of way that I really didn’t appreciate.

“Surprise.”

CHAPTER 48

Niko

The maiden.

Harley was resolutely avoiding eye contact with me throughout the big reveal. I fumed while everyone stood around making nice with those who wanted to take our girl away. Again.

I wrapped a protective arm around her waist and immediately felt better when she clung to me for support while she worked through this latest turn in the road.

“I can see you have made some attempt to remedy the situation, so we are not as displeased as is warranted,” the Crone said with a nod toward Jacinth’s body.

“Saved your life, at any rate,” the Mother added, glancing at Orion.

I shuddered as I realized how close a call it may have been. Would they really have taken Orion out for the swap he had pulled? The lack of blood in his face said pretty clearly he expected that kind of repercussion.

I flicked my eyes over to Harley quickly. As though she had been expecting the contact, she winked. Holy shit, Harley had just saved Orion’s life. But at the expense of Jace? I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.

“Ah, but this situation is much improved. There is breakfast. You, put the kettle on.”

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