Page 101 of Mystique of the Fallen
“Only if you agree to cast a vote for a couple,” Justice stated. “You can skip picking one, but there are five of us. We need a tiebreaker.”
“Agreed,” Fate added while Life and Eternity nodded.
“Very well, I’ll vote. Now, can we please watch the parade without any damn bickering?” Death asked, desperate for a subject change. She was sick of listening to her sisters argue, and it unnerved her every time they insisted she be further involved in anything. Her little friend group was still new and fresh enough—after she’d spent so many millennia stuck in solitude and misunderstood—that it overwhelmed her in a beautiful way. But she damn well refused to cry in front of anyone, even if her tears were ones of happiness.
“Yes, let’s,” Life replied. “They have worked so hard for today, and I’m excited to watch the performers.”
“The magical floats are my favorite thing,” Eternity said, anticipation making her silver eyes glow. “They are going to wow the onlookers.”
“And my gorgeous Grant has planned security so well,” Death boasted.
“Yes, but the poor man is sweating through his uniform with nerves,” Fate commented.
“It is his first large-scale project; his stress is understandable,” Justice remarked. “Speaking of Grant, are we going to push him closer to learning about his death?”
“No,” Death said. “Fallen knights are not supposed to know about their previous lives. It shocked me that his former beau agreed to meet with him, but that toad Reginald isn’t going to tell anyone about how he murdered Grant.”
“Even if some poor soul stumbles upon Grant’s buried skeletal remains, Reginald’s father has too much power. I fear it will get swept under the rug and the murder will never be publicly solved anyway,” Eternity lamented.
“There were no fractures to Grant’s bones when Reginald strangled him,” Death stated, her mouth pinched. “At this point, it would be difficult to prove he was murdered. The only clue is that someone buried him. Without proof, there will be no charges pressed. It would be an impossible case to prosecute.”
“I really wish I’d created humans,” Fate said. “I’d smite that horrid man. Then again, the creator of humans was Folly, and the last thing I want to be isher.”
“You didn’t notice Roman’s wizard mate had died, and you allowed him to be re-birthed as a human. Fallen knights are not supposed to be paired with humans. You should pay more attention to your matches and worry less about things beyond your powers,” Justice remarked, narrowing her eyes at her sister. “And the last thing you should do is find additional trouble.”
“I already told you I assumed Grente the Green was still living in his stupid, cold, lonely home while Roman pined for him,” Fate said. “It’s Life’s fault Grente was turned into a human.”
“Because I didn’t know his soul belonged to Roman,” Life exclaimed.
“We cannot argue that it hasn’t worked out admirably,” Death remarked, searching for common ground between her sisters.
“Thank you for recognizing my genius,” Fate said.
“But you must be mindful, Fate, otherwise rules get bent unintentionally. Life had no clue she was inadvertently pairing Roman with a human,” Death warned. “Our rules exist for varied reasons. Do not convince yourself that it is fine for them to be bent at will. Goddesses willing to thwart the rules stray from what they were created for and turn into menaces like Folly.”
Fate’s mouth flattened into a thin line, and she fixed her enraged blue stare at Death. “It wasn’t my fault some goddess killed Grente. I put couples together so they can love and support one another. My job isn’t to seed chaos by convincing people to use poor judgment or act absurdly. That was Folly’s mission. She ran with the chaos thing and decided she loved danger. This bent rule gave a couple love, Death. It hurt no one.”
“Not that I want to toss aside rules myself, but Fate has a point,” Eternity remarked.
“Please don’t encourage her,” Justice said.
“Yes, or our dear sister will produce a sword and run her through,” Death drawled.
“Hush,” Life ordered, lifting her arms to signal them to stop talking.
Fate rolled her eyes. “Sorry, we’re ruining the parade for you.”
“No, no,” Eternity remarked, closing her eyes. “Something is wrong.”
The words were barely out of Eternity’s mouth when a massive plume of smoke in several colors of the rainbow filled the entire viewing mirror, obscuring the parade.
Death clenched her fists as her senses told her the impossible was happening. A scream resonated from her very soul as resurrected spirits lifted from the bodies of sentinels, fallen knights, and reapers. Her people were dying, and no wizard potion that existed was capable of hurting them thanks to Chander’s resurrection spells.
Her shrieking was so loud, the stones of her castle rattled. Panic set in for the souls that usually rested comfortably within her largeebirlloba. Death wished she could comfort them. But she could not. Fury as she had never known filled her. While no wizard potion could harm her people, every goddess was capable of killing whenever they wanted. And she recognized the woman wreaking havoc on the streets below.
Death rose to her feet and snapped her mouth shut. Without a word, she teleported to earth. It unsettled her immediately. Death had never visited before, and the lack of magic was strange. But Death had no time to worry about her frivolous personal concerns.
A goddess laughed, her dark hair swirling amid the charged air of the wizard potions.
