Page 2 of Killian
Ever the pragmatic one, Justice stared at Death with a flat penetrating stare that would weaken anyone—even the goddess of the afterlife.
“Fine,” Death relented, ridiculously eager to share the visions dancing through her head. “What if we could recreate the lives of some of our favorite people we’ve created and see how differently things would play out?”
“We would require a blank realm for that,” Justice responded. “Mother hasn’t returned in many millennia, and we cannot create them on our own.”
“Drat,” Fate replied. “It sounded like a fun project.”
“What if we had a realm?” Death asked. “The necromancers created one. While the Lich Sentinel believes it is destroyed, we know it still exists; it is just beyond their touch.”
“You mean the realm where the sentinels were once forced to live in that dreadful gray compound?” Life asked. “But we have a larger one created by Mother that the Imperian believes he destroyed. Death, we can use your former demon realm. It is bereft of magic. A perfect blank slate for us.”
“And we will require the sentinel compound,” Justice commented. “If we are to recreate our favored interconnected families, then the sentinels will undoubtedly need to be returned to that vile place.”
“Where will we put the demons, imps, and goblins?” Eternity asked.
“Good question, perhaps we hide them on a private island somewhere on our new fake planet?” Fate asked.
Death was too busy thinking of the mistakes she’d made in the demonic realm to worry about the conversation flowing around her. Enough words penetrated her self-imposed haze to tell Death they were arguing about the necessity of returning the sentinels to the prison the necromancers had created for them over two thousand years ago, and about how to keep the demonic entities separated until it was time to introduce them to the D’Vaire clan.
As a young and foolish goddess, Death had created the demons in the realm gifted to her by their mother. Since Death controlled theebirlloba—which had started as a vast expanse of nothingness—she had misunderstood the requirements necessary to help a population thrive. Instead, Death had offered the demons little in the way of resources beyond magic. As they’d spiraled into disarray and grown preoccupied with hoarding the few things available in the realm, she’d sought to inject the morose people with two new populations—imps and goblins.
In imps and goblins, Death had created races with kindness and exuberance. They had all but sparkled withvitality. Instead of embracing the energy and liveliness of their new neighbors, the demons had turned on them. The horrible demonic leader had murdered nearly everyone in a public spectacle Death could still recall in perfect detail. It was an outcome Death could never forgive herself for, and those lost lives were the ones she paid the most attention to now that they languished in theebirlloba.
“Death,” Justice called out loudly enough that it shook Death out of her maudlin thoughts. “What ails you?”
“It is a question I am getting far too often today,” Death grumbled under her breath. “I apologize, my mind wandered. What did I miss?”
“Stop tormenting yourself over the demise of the demonic realm,” Eternity said.
“My mistakes led to their downfall,” Death quietly stated.
“That is not the way of things,” Fate replied. “You cannot take credit for the way their lives ended up. You tried your best. It is all we can do. If I sat down and thought of every couple I put together that failed to find love or focused on the leaders I gave power to who ended up corrupted, I would have no confidence in my abilities. I can offer no one happiness if I lack the ability to believe in myself. The demons left are still broken, but they are improving.”
“Your imps thrive,” Life said with a grin. “Look at the way your Imperian leads. I was not wrong about infusing his soul with so much and ensuring he was a stalwart one. He and his mate are so happy.”
“I would remind everyone that you thought me out of my mind for putting the Imperian with a demon. Yet here we sit, and if we summoned them up in our viewing mirror, we would see nothing but love and devotion,” Fate insisted.
“If we can discover a way to infuse the former demonic realm with great magic, I will be happy to grant life to newversions of our favorites,” Life volunteered. “I am assuming we want the D’Vaires and every family connected to them in some way.”
Fate laughed. “I may melt from all the handsomeness. Another Aleksander and Rafe? How delicious.”
“I feel the need to lay out ground rules,” Justice said.
“Of course you do,” Death replied. “What do you propose?”
“I have a rule that must be obeyed,” Fate interjected. “My matebonds remain the same.”
“No,” Eternity retorted. “Not all of them. The ones that failed…those will be fixed.”
“Oh, I like that very much,” Fate replied. “Yes, I agree. Imagine how different that makes things right from the start.”
“Do the leaders stay the same?” Justice asked. “The ones you have assigned to lead their races.”
“Mostly, yes, I believe they should,” Fate replied. “Although I will reserve the right to switch a few. I have an idea of changing a ruler, but not because the current one is lacking. I am just curious.”
“You granted them, of course you would have no argument,” Death said. “But I agree.”
Eternity raised a finger. “A twist, perhaps, on titles? If a couple rules together, maybe the other gets the title first this time around or something like that. Do we have to hand out the titles in the same moments of their lives as before?”
