Page 131 of For the Gods' Sake

Rose nodded. “I have everything I need.” I followed her gaze. Dominic had just returned from his run, coming back through the stone gates to their house. He found her eyes almost instinctively, nodding at her with a crisp dip of his chin.

She smiled softly at him, a quiet moment of intimacy.

“And Pine?” I asked, my throat tight around the words.

Rose heaved a breath, closing her eyes for a second in deep thought. “He’s at rest. Besides.” She shook her head, like she had to physically displace a thought. “The price is too high.”

Her own death was the price she’d wagered. Now she had someone—multiple people, really—who wanted her alive.

Who she wanted to stay alive for.

“Come,” she said, ushering me to follow her through a portal and into the dingy, gray walls of the Fates lair. She pushed through the knee-high, spiked gate and walked under the dome.

“Good morning,” she called in a sing-song voice to the Fates, a level of familiarity with our most powerful beings that likely hadn’t existed with any other god—ever.

Clotho—the Fate that represented the middle stage of life,with gray-brown eyes and faint lines etched into her skin—looked down at Rose from her floating throne. “You know, Rosemary, if you are going to cease your weekly visits, you cannot continue to speak to us as such.”

A chill ran down my spine, even my power wasn't enough to resist the haunting tone in her voice.

Rose, on the other hand, simply waved a hand in the air in dismissal. “Just say you miss me. It would be much nicer.”

“Excuse me?” Lachesis—the young one, representing a teenager—snapped in her spry voice.

Rose ignored her, straightening her spine. “I, Rosemary NarcissaPluto, hereby transfer all my favors to Adrian Zeus Jupiter. Unequivocally and in full health and all that.”

“What?” All three Fates asked at the same time, leaning forward in their chairs.

“They’re his,” Rose said, then turned to me and giving me the floor. But at the last second, she whipped back around. “Unless you are going to try to tell me that I can’t transfer them. In that case, I shouldn’t have to tell you that I was the one who did all your dirty work and I am the one who continued doing your bidding even when you kept saying no.”

The reminder of Rose’s years working for the Fates, how she’d accrued countless favors trying to convince them to exchange her soul for her brother’s to try to repent for his death, even if her father had been the one to trick her into it, made my stomach turn over with guilt.

“We didn’t say that,” Clotho said, eyeing me skeptically. “We’re just curious what it is we can provide that the ever-powerful Lord Jupiter cannot find for himself.”

“You created me,” I said, my voice hard. “Don’t complain of my power when it is a product of your handiwork.”

Clotho’s eyebrows raised, her mouth pursing. “Be that as it may, we remain curious what you feel we can provide that you do not already have.”

I looked down at Rose, silently asking for a moment of privacy. She nodded, walking briskly out of their lair and giving me space.

“Reyna Romulus.” The second I said her name, Clotho waved her hand and brought up her Fate line. It looked like one of the lighter strands of her hair, a soft caramel that shone brightly against the gray of the dome.

“She’s—” Words died in my throat. I needed to do this right, do this well.

I sank to my knees, humbling myself before them. “I’m asking you to protect her where I can’t. Seal her lifeline.”

They just stared at me, making my desperation rise. “Please.”

“You realize that this request would simply keep her alive, yes?” Atropos cut in, her withered voice slicingthrough the silence. “This does not mean your relationship is Fated.”

We were. I knew that we were, could feel it deep in my bones. “We are, though. Aren’t we?”

Clotho’s haughty sniffle was all the confirmation I needed.

“Protect her.” My voice was hard, unwavering. The Fates weren’t required to listen to me, but if there was any being on the planet that could sway them—without favors on my side, that was—it was me.

They stared at me, still on my knees, begging for Reyna’s life, for what felt like an hour. Before finally, Clotho spoke. “Be warned, child, if her death is instrumental to Fate, we cannot honor your request.” I opened my mouth to protest, but she cut me off. “We will think about it.”

That was nowhere near the assurance I wanted, not when Reyna’s safety was hanging in the balance, but it was clear that was the best I was going to get from them.

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