Page 92 of Killian
“The man thought we would suddenly learn to toil in a field,” Brogan exclaimed.
“We would have starved to death,” Marcus predicted. “None of us have Dravyn’s gift.”
Leaving his family to talk, Aleksander escaped the room quietly and nearly ran to his bedchamber. Closing the door behind him, he slid to the floor and wrapped his arms around his knees. The future was terrifying. His dragon—strangely silent up to this point of the morning—finally roared in his head.
It was a mixture of fear and impatience with Aleksander’s inability to handle his emotions. This was a change neither of them wanted. As soon as night fell, Aleksander needed to shift to realign his soul.
If only his heart were so easily mended.
Chapter 36
Death chuckled as Fate dramatically slid off a black chaise onto the stone floor of her castle.
“For a moment I wondered if I was going to be forced to spend the next few hours recreating our experiment,” Life said, rubbing her palms on the layers of gossamer ivory that made up her gown. “If the D’Vaires did not follow The Council, they could have easily died once the dragons found them.”
“To say nothing of this being a D’Vaire universe with no D’Vaires,” Justice pointed out. “Dravyn would have never used the name to protect his family.”
“Noirin would have followed her brother but not used it either,” Eternity added. “It would have been a sad D’Vaire household of men and women who ventured nowhere. I never imagined this path for any of them.”
“Right?” Fate asked, her red hair spread out like a fiery halo around her as she remained lounging on the floor. “At least Killian and Dravyn are happy. But what will happen next? It is what, still only 1523 or 1524?”
“I did not know they would wind up moving from Europe so early,” Justice said. “It took several hundred more years on our real Earth.”
“Yes, but Egidius’s path veered rather dramatically,” Life replied.
“Everyone’s damn path had deviated strongly,” Fate exclaimed. “A twist here and there, and nothing is at all the same.”
“Yes, but we must be careful,” Death told her sisters as she stood up to pace. “We are spending so much time here in front of the mirrors that the other goddesses are bound to notice if they have not already.”
“Come now, Death, you cannot deprive us of your home,” Fate remarked, peeling herself up and nearly floating back to her seat on the chaise.
“Of course I am not disallowing you to visit; I am trying to warn you that if we do not want interference from others, we must act cautiously,” Death said. “I’m as excited as the rest of you to watch the future unfold, but we must remember that we have other D’Vaires to attend to along with other realms beyond Earth that you cannot ignore.”
“I hate when duty calls,” Eternity lamented.
“Is a goddess not allowed to relax?” Life asked.
“Populations will literally die off if you relax,” Death reminded her. “Then again, imagine how powerful I will grow while you wither away.”
“Sometimes I love you, Death. Yet there are other moments I wish to strangle you,” Life retorted without any heat in her voice.
If someone had told Death in the not-so-distant past that any of her sisters would state their love for her—let alone in such a casual fashion—she would have scoffed and called them a liar. But here she sat in her beloved castle with genuine friends and comrades among her sisters. It was nearly as odd as the many twists in their reimagined realm.
“Do any of us have the power to create a doppelganger of ourselves to float through the main palace so we can stay here and watch the ongoings of this world?” Fate asked.
Life shuddered. “If we do, I would rather not know.”
“But think of how many couples Fate could pair if there were two of her working instead of one,” Death said, lifting a red brow at Fate, who predictably rolled her eyes.
“Fine, I will trot myself off to match up some people and maybe even toss out a few titles,” Fate remarked, rising. “But I will be back soon.”
“Combine our powers,” Justice instructed. “Stop time or allow it to move incrementally slow. Things are too riotous in this realm to allow them to go unchecked for long.”
With no argument, Death threw out a bolt of power toward Justice, who easily caught it along with the other sorcery provided by their sisters. The twisted world they’d created froze, and Death smiled. She had not wanted to miss a moment either.
Thanks to where they viewed the realm, Death easily kept watch on herebirllobaand the rich population of spirits, but the other goddesses had been absent. People depended on them, and though they were not bound to them, their mother had taught each sister that it was an honor to perform her duties.
“Wait, before we return, can we at least discuss which couple we wish to meet next?” Eternity pleaded. “It will be fun to anticipate what type of future will unfold if we at least have an idea of where we plan to focus.”
