The Three Fates of Ryan Love (26 page)

Roxanne's brow puckered in a frown. She shook her head, but she couldn't argue with a truth so blatant.

Ryan looked at the reaper. “I'm all in. What do we do next?”

A
s Sabelle had imagined, in the Beyond, the chain around her neck looked nothing like a necklace. Now the copper links were thick and forged like steel. They rested heavily against her collarbone, cold and burning at the same time. The crystal dangled like a dog tag. The drop of blood winked at her when she moved.

When she'd escaped to save Ryan, she arrived in the human world naked. Coming back was no different and every bit as painful. Aisa didn't give her or Joel clothes as Ryan had. Instead she locked them in a storage room off the kitchen. It was the closest to a cell they had in the palace. The doors here didn't even have locks. Such a thing had never been needed. Fear kept them caged well enough.

Sabelle and Joel huddled against the walls, not looking at each other.

“Ryan thought she wanted me all along,” Joel said. “I didn't believe him.”

“I was too arrogant to think she wanted anything but me.”

“Don't beat yourself up. You couldn't have known.”

Sabelle almost smiled. “We're seers, Joel. Of course we could have.”

He snorted. “It's our own fate, remember?”

She had her knees pulled up, ankles crossed, using her limbs to cover as much of her naked body as she could. They were quiet for a little while, then Sabelle asked, “What did you think I would be able to do?”

It took Joel a minute to follow. “You mean, when we called you?”

Sabelle nodded.

“I didn't have a clue. But Elijah, he was sure you had some mojo.”

“And he thought I'd be able to destroy her?”

Joel leaned his head against the wall. “He never came right out and said it, but he worried about Aisa tracking me down and squashing me like a bug so goddamn much that I just wanted to get you there and get it over with. One way or another, he needed to know if you could.”

“You didn't worry?”

Joel shrugged. “I was against calling you. I sure as hell didn't think we should leave invitations. Elijah wouldn't have it any other way. He'd seen some of it in his dreams. Not all, but enough to convince him he was
interpreting
things right. He may not look like such a badass, but when he gets something in his head, he's a force to reckon with.”

Joel's voice broke. He cleared his throat, looked away. “If she thinks I'm going to be seeing the future for her, she's going to be disappointed,” he said after a moment.

Sabelle fingered the chain at her neck. “Ryan was right. Aisa was pretending to be Nadia all along. She made me think I had a friend, someone to trust. Nadia told me to escape. She did that so I would lead her to you. She wouldn't have risked it if she wasn't sure what she'd find.”

Joel let out a deep breath. “I wish I knew how Elijah is doing.”

“He's strong. He'll make it.”

Sabelle hoped it was true. She wished she knew how Ryan was holding up. He'd feel responsible. She could still hear his voice, the agony as he shouted “
No! Stay
.” Finally, when it was too late, he'd asked her to stay.

The door opened and Aisa strode in. She wore a big tank top with a sports bra beneath, tight shorts, and athletic shoes. Her curly mass of hair had been pulled up in a clip on top of her head. When Aisa had appeared in the ravine, Sabelle had been stunned by the haggard face and graying hair. She'd assumed it was part of Aisa's illusion, displayed for reasons Sabelle couldn't know. She'd expected the return to the Beyond to bring back the beautiful, perfect woman Aisa had always been.

The exercise clothes accented the slack skin at her arms, her knees, her neck. The hair still had a dull gray sheen and a map of decades covered her face.

Aisa tossed a robe at each of them. Gratefully, Sabelle covered her nudity and stood. Joel shrugged into the other one and did the same.

“Come with me.”

Aisa led them through a door into a great dining hall. A long table was set with platters of meat, bowls of fruit, crystal dishes of breads and pastries. Sabelle had been hungry the whole time she'd been in the human world. Now her stomach soured at the thought of eating.

“Nourish yourselves. Eat,” Aisa ordered.

“Nah,” Joel said. “I'd just as soon get this over fast.”

“Fast?” Aisa strode closer. She put her hand against the side of Joel's throat and brushed her thumb against his jaw. “This will never be over.”

The words almost made Sabelle cry. Only knowing that Ryan would want her to be strong helped her keep the tears at bay. She let her eyes close for a moment and thought about him. What would he do? What would he say? Ryan wouldn't waste time on sorrow or fear. He'd start poking the dragon.

“Why are we here, Aisa?” she demanded. In her effort to sound assertive she came across downright aggressive. Aisa looked up in outrage.

“Did you just address me by name? Do you know what that is around your neck, seer?”

“Chains,” Sabelle answered insolently. “I'm no stranger to them. You've had me chained my entire life.”

“You lived in luxury.”

“I lived in slavery.”

Aisa shrugged. “Same thing.”

“You may have forced my hand to get me here,” Sabelle said coolly. “But some things you can't force. You can't see what I see. You can't make me share what I see.”

“I can. I will. I always have.”

Joel came to stand beside Sabelle, his presence fortifying. “You got us here, we're all dressed up in your fancy robes. What do you want now?”

Aisa gifted them with her terrible smile. The one that quelled gods and demons alike. It usually made one seer tremble. Sabelle lifted her chin and stared Aisa down.

Amused, Aisa said, “Around your neck is a chain of copper. Egyptians were the first to use it. Did you know that? It's a blood metal.”

“Whoopee,” Joel said.

“Inside that crystal is a drop of my blood. Put the two together and you are bound to me for as long as I keep you alive.”

She turned and Sabelle noticed that her hair looked darker, more lustrous. The change had occurred in a matter of minutes. Ryan had been right.

“I don't care about your visions, Sabelle. I wouldn't care if you were both blind.” She gave Sabelle a dismissive glance. “You were never that good anyway.”

“I am the best,” Sabelle said.

“Because Nadia told you so?”

Realization brought an instant flush of shame. She'd been so gullible, so foolish.

“And you,” Aisa said to Joel. “Men can't see what's right in front of them. Why would I trust your visions of the future?”

“So why the fuck are we here wearing your copper blood shackles?”

“In the olden days—”

“I don't give a shit about the olden days, you bitch.”

Aisa turned on him, her hand at his throat again, pressing him into the wall as if he were a child. “Do not defy me, little man, or I will reach out and snuff the one you love like a candle
.”

“I wish to hear,” Sabelle interrupted before Aisa felt compelled to prove it. “What about the olden days?”

Aisa shifted her narrowed eyes between the two of them. Deciding Sabelle's request was sincere, she stepped away from Joel.

“Goddesses were worshipped in that time. Sacrifices were made to them, power was given through their love. Now humans think they're better than that. They think they control their own destiny.”

Sabelle reached for Joel's hand when he made a sound of disgust. She squeezed it.
Let her finish.
They would never know how to escape if they didn't understand why they'd been captured. She was sure of it.

“Bringing the children here was brilliant. Moira's idea. Nona was against it until we saw how wonderfully it worked. The children worshipped us. You used to squeal with excitement when you saw me.”

“Why don't I remember that?”

“Memory can be an unreliable thing.”

“Yours or mine?” Sabelle said coolly. “My money would be on yours being the faulty part of the equation.”

Aisa's eyes narrowed. “Careful, little snowflake. I can melt you into nothing.”

“I don't think that would be as much a problem for me as it would be for you, seeing how you went to so much trouble to bring me back.”

“Such a sharp tongue. Perhaps you're safe for now. But not for always.”

Joel harrumphed. “Safe. Like all the other little kiddies.”

Aisa's scowled at him. “It was a great tragedy when the filthy human disease went through them.”

Her eyes looked solemn and for once there was no mockery in her tone. “I'm not surprised those memories are gone. You know the power of denial.”

Her voice had dipped and her eyes had a bright shine. She turned her face and took a breath. “It killed my sisters, too. I don't know why it never touched me. Or you, Sabelle. All I know is that when it was over, all that was left was the two of us.”

“Why did you hide their deaths from me?” Sabelle asked. “Why did you make me think they were all still alive?”

“At first, you were quarantined. After that . . . well, you were also so emotional. When your feelings were hurt, you wouldn't see. I needed you to see more than I cared for your feelings. It wouldn't have benefited either one of us for you to know.”

The eyes were hard and cold again. No pain. No feeling at all.

“I thought I sucked as a seer.”

“Desperate means.”

Sabelle hadn't thought it possible to hurt more, to feel more betrayed. Now she saw how wrong she'd been.

Joel fairly vibrated with anger. Sabelle had grown numb from it.

“None of this matters now,” Aisa said. “It's over. Had we known, we might have done things differently.”

Might
. A critical word choice.

“Like not being so bloodthirsty with your male spawn?” Joel said with a dry laugh.

“Yes. Like that.”

Sabelle found her voice and her courage in the same instant. “So what was the point of all this? Do you want to punish us?”

Aisa laughed again. “That would be counterproductive. I've learned from my mistakes.”

“I doubt it.” Joel, ever defiant.

“You, too, would do well to learn, spawn. Elijah isn't the only human who can be hurt.”

“You've made that clear, but you made a deal. Our consent for their lives.”

“At that moment,” Aisa qualified. “Not forever.”

Sabelle shut her eyes. Ryan had known—he'd begged Sabelle to take it back. To stay, because he'd known that going with Aisa would only give her all the power. As long as Aisa lived, Sabelle's and Joel's loved ones would be threatened.

“We need to bring life back into the palace,” Aisa said, suddenly smiling again. “New life.
Rejuvenating
life.”

“How are you going to manage that?” Joel said.

She beamed at him. “You are going to help us.”

Joel looked Aisa, then at Sabelle, and back again. Aisa raised her brows expectantly, letting him work out the logistics without her prompting. Sadly, Sabelle had connected the twisted dots already. Either Joel refused to see or he refused to admit it. Either way, Joel remained stubbornly silent.

“Do the math, Joel. There are two lovely females here, both capable of breeding. And you, our handsome stud, will reap the benefits. My mistake the first time was mating with humans, but both of you are half-breeds. You have my blood in your veins already. Our offspring will be strong enough to endure.”

“Are you out of your mind?” Sabelle exclaimed at the same time Joel let loose a hoot of laughter, exclaiming, “You're a fucking lunatic.”

“He's your son. My brother,” Sabelle said.

“Yes,” Aisa said enthusiastically. “It's perfect.”

“It's incest,” Joel said.

“Gods and goddesses have been mating within their family for millennia.”

“Well, that explains why everything they do is so fucked-up.”

“I'm not asking for your permission,” Aisa said. “You will do as I say.”

“You seem to have missed one big detail in your little plan, Mommy,” Joel said. “I'm not wired that way.”

“Oh,” she said, “I'm sure you can find a way to rise to the occasion. If you don't, Sabelle will be punished. I can be very creative, as you might imagine. If that doesn't work, there's always Elijah. Hospitals can be very dangerous places.”

She turned and glided to the door, light in her sneakers. “Eat. Talk amongst yourselves. I'll be back soon. No need to put things off. Best to rip the bandage off the wound all at once.”

With that, she left the room, leaving the door open. No need to lock when her seers wore collars. Her shoes squeaked against the marble and echoed in the quiet. Sabelle spun around and marched to the table. Aisa was too smart to have left knives. She hadn't even left forks. A spoon would have to do.