Page 7 of Distinctly Daray
“What did I do?” Death asked. “All I asked was why you have run afoul of our sisters.”
“You posed the question to Eternity instead of me,” Mayhem wailed.
“Perhaps that is because you are screaming like a child,” Justice retorted.
“They hate me,” Mayhem cried out. “I had to beg for permission to add a race to their precious planet, and the minute I created one, they judged me as unworthy, and I was forced to leave the palace to avoid their accusatory stares.”
As someone misunderstood and feared by most of her sisters, Death had been an outcast from the start. A stirring of empathy rose in her breast as she studied the misery in Mayhem’s pale blue eyes.
“Not everyone understood why she created a race without the ability to survive on their own,” Eternity told Death quietly.
“Bend the rules one time and everyone is a critic,” Mayhem muttered.
“How did you bend the rules?” Fate asked, her blue gaze disbelieving. “There was no rule against creating a race dependent on another. You wanted vampyrs. No one expected you to make humans necessary to their survival.”
“Well, excuse me for feeling sorry for Folly’s damn race,” Mayhem retorted, slapping her hands on her hips. “I created vampyrs so you had no choice but to give some of them humans mates. If I didn’t make the vampyrs dependent on humans, they would all die.”
“That’s rather brilliant,” Death remarked.
Mayhem’s gaze widened. Then she grinned. “Thank you. I’m quite fond of your undead. I’m rather angry Fate hasn’t bothered to put one of my vampyrs with a sentinel.”
“It doesn’t work like that,” Fate argued. “I don’t pick out two races and decide to match them. Each person is consideredcarefully, and I pair them with someone who complements them. No sentinel has worked out to be with a vampyr yet.”
“I do not wish to discuss sentinels at the moment,” Death growled. “Another beast was torn from theebirllobato be reunited with a sentinel who has no memory of him. Justice, can something not be done to keep the living from casting these spells?”
“Since necromancers were your idea, I will influence Chander to ensure the spell is not cast again,” Justice promised. “With this calamity happening, I was not focused on the recent resurrections and was unaware there are difficulties.”
“A sentinel with two mates was resurrected, which doubles his dragon’s ire at being combined with someone who cannot remember the way he loved these men before,” Death informed her sister. “Unlike Brynn, there are no relatives left to guide Chander to right this situation fully. Phillip’s dragon will never rest completely.”
“Keegan wasn’t a shifter,” Fate said. “Perhaps it will not be as bad as you fear.”
Courage shook her head. “It matters not. He was too late to save Keegan. Phillip and Victor died of heartbreak wrapped in each other’s arms, their eyes wet with mourning tears.”
“You allowed a dragon to be tugged from your realm of the dead with those memories, and I am the evil one for creating vampyrs,” Mayhem muttered.
Death glared. “I have no choice. The living can pluck any soul from theebirlloba.”
“Necromancers were your idea,” Mayhem argued. “You did not think to give them limits?”
Annoyed that she hadn’t thought of every scenario prior to green-lighting the creation of the race that had created more than one issue after a resurrection, Death pursed her lips. “Excuse me for not being omnipotent.”
“Phillip is a Daray now, or he will be as soon as he meets Victor,” Justice stated calmly. “They will ensure he is cared for and that his dragon is managed. Will you guide Chander if he shadow walks to find answers?”
“It sounds cruel, but no, I will not give him the answers he seeks,” Death replied. “I have no regrets for leading him to Morcant. It was for the best. Morcant was miserable and deserved to live. This way, Morcant will have a chance to find a mate. But if I aid Chander each time this happens, it will not stop. He will ignore Justice’s warning not to use the spell. It must end. Beasts cannot fight their instincts. No sorcery will ever clear their memories. Nothing will calm them fully, not even reuniting with their loved ones, because they recall the terror and finality of death. Keegan won’t die again, but Phillip’s dragon will always be overprotective of him. Victor too, but not to the same degree.”
“I fear we did not consider the ramifications of allowing Sorcery D’Vaire to craft the spell to resurrect someone with their beast,” Justice remarked sadly.
“We thought it was a kindness,” Courage said.
“How?” Death asked.
“Because we believed it was cruel to separate man from beast permanently,” Courage answered.
“You were foolish not to ask me,” Death retorted. “The beasts in theebirllobaare happier than the ones on Earth. They are not confined in the body of another. They are with their mates forever instead of being forced to visit them during a shift.”
“You are right,” Justice responded. “We were wrong.”
“How moving is this?” Mayhem drawled with a roll of her eyes. “A gaggle of goddesses finally admitting they are wrong about something. Death, I had no idea you were so popular these days.”
