Now, don’t take my tone the wrong way. Part of me was happy to see Zoe Helios, the new Fate on our plane. She’d saved my coven from the Brotherhood with her fiery warning back before my life went to hell. And I liked her, I really did. More so when she was just an Oracle, mind you. This new Zoe was a pain in my ass, to be honest. But the fact she was here, in the Gate cavern, could mean answers I was dying for.
Or more riddles from Creator via the Helios girl’s mouth. We’d see which I was about to endure.
Angry and suspicious? Who, me?
“It’s good to see you here, Syd,” Zoe said, as if she’d been here all along and hadn’t just met me eight months ago. It was weird to remember she’d been watching me her whole life, had once been convinced by her grandmother and Liander Belaisle I was the bad guy. How much of my life did she really know about? I’d never had the chance to ask. And, frankly, I didn’t care at the moment.
I turned slowly, looked up at her. It was easy to forget she was barely twenty, that her fresh face and dark brown eyes, olive skin and flowing brown hair meant one so young in physical form. She radiated power, especially now, Creator’s Fate her master. Even when we’d met, the night she’d become the Phoenix—I still had to find out what that meant, added it to my tiresome list of After The Disaster stuff to remember to ask—she’d been a force to reckon with. One I was grateful to have on my side.
And had been all along. Until she and Trill Zornov paired up to betray me and hand over the foot of Creator’s statue to my mortal enemy.
Friends like that, who needed a nemesis?
She must have known where my head was, because she sighed and shrugged, apologetic without being soft. “There is so much beyond your knowledge,” she said, Creator’s multilayered voice whispering out over Zoe’s words. “Things you can’t know yet, Syd. I beg you, do what you do best and trust I have the rest well in hand.”
Couldn’t argue with the maker of everything. Then again… when had I ever taken anything on face value, even from the Creator of the Universe?
“Whatever,” I said, turning away again, irritation piqued, fully aware it was probably a terrible idea to treat Creator and her Fate like they were pissing me off but far too broken and world weary to give a crap. “What do you want, Zoe?”
Her soft footfalls announced her motion, the sigh of her clothing and movement from the corner of my eye telling me she wasn’t going anywhere any time soon. She folded her legs beneath her, sitting beside me, hands in her lap. At least she didn’t try to touch me. I don’t think I could have handled any kind of offer of kindness or familiarity from her at the moment.
“While there are details of which you must remain ignorant,” she said, voice soft and quavering slightly, as though Zoe disagreed with Creator’s decision, “there are others you must now be aware of.”
“Should I thank you for the dribs and drabs?” Okay, I was being unfair. And an idiot and all the terrible names I’d called myself over the years. But, damn it.
Just, damn it all.
“It’s time for him to come to you.” Zoe’s hands twitched on her legs as my heart leaped from my chest and lay pounding on the ground at my feet. At least, that’s what it felt like. Shocking to find it still inside me, beating away.
Liam. She had to mean Liam. I could have hugged her in that instant, forgiven her anything, but Zoe wasn’t done.
“When you meet him,” she said, the reality of what she told me sinking in and killing off the joy in my soul, destroying yet again any hope I might have Liam was returning to me with those near incomprehensible words, “you will know him.” Zoe’s brown eyes glistened with tears. I barely heard her through the shattered shock of loss yet again. Wait, him? Who him? “You must trust him.” Her arms rose, hands fluttering ineffectually a moment before she seemed to collapse inward, shoulders sagging. “He’s not only vital to your fate but is exactly who you have been looking for.”
That made zero sense and I was fully prepared to throttle her for more information. But before I could reach out and smack her a good one, she leaped to her feet and backed away.
I glared up at her through slitted eyes, hating her all over again. Yes, hate. Strong word, that. But with the residue of Liam’s hope still clinging to me hate had a place to settle and grow.
“You suck,” I snarled. “You just suck, Zoe. Creator. All of you, all of it.” I drew a breath to pull in my rage, feeding on my anger, eating me up inside until I found myself on my feet, too, fists clenched at my side. “Unless you have specific, important and helpful things to tell me, you can get your scrawny Oracle ass out of my Gate cavern and keep your Fate freak show to yourself.”
Zoe flinched from me, hands rising to form a barrier between us. Was I that scary, even to her? I couldn’t hurt her. I knew that. She was Fate, for the element’s sake. And Creator sometimes. But no, it wasn’t physical harm she feared, was it? I could see it in her face at last, registered her despair, her hurt.
It was her heart I stabbed over and over with my words.
Well. So be it.
“There is an order,” she whispered. “And you, despite your power, remain inside it with the rest of us.”
More riddles, though oddly her words helped calm me. No help from her, not really. Okay then. Business as usual.
Zoe shook her head, hair swinging, face scrunched as if she wanted to say more. But even as her mouth opened to speak, a tear trickling down her cheek, she vanished. Creator’s doing? Or her own? Didn’t know. Tried not to care. Failed.
Yeah. I didn’t do hate very well.
Unless your name was Liander Belaisle.
I sank back down to the cool stone floor, feeling it warm beneath me. Reflexively, needing to wipe away the memory of the last few minutes, I ran my palms briskly up and down my thighs, skin whispering over denim.
I needed a clear head and Zoe’s visit wasn’t exactly conducive. Sure, I’d take the time to ponder what she said when I was more settled, less pissed off. Maybe I’d talk to Sass about it, or Gram. Max, even. The drach leader’s calm would help me sort out my feelings. I missed being drach at times like this, missed the absolute level and cool emotionless state I’d lived for six months while my drach heritage allowed me the rest I needed.
Thanks for the reminder. My demon’s snarky prod was fed with fire of her own.
You know better than to take it personally, Shaylee snapped at her, the Sidhe princess inside me shouldering aside my demon’s flames with a burst of green earth energy.
Syd, my vampire sent. We need to talk about what Zoe just said.
In a bit. I shrugged both shoulders, shaking off the anger, their internal dialogue, as much of my own stress as possible. I’d had an idea with Shaylee’s defense, her earth power quivering through me and into the stone under me, travelling toward the Gate where it zinged in tiny sparks at the base of the carved, wooden structure between planes. I want to try something first.
The fate of the Universe is more important. My vampire sounded contrite even as she spoke and, instead of being angry, I found sadness replacing my rage.
I know, I sent in return, feeling the three souls inside me hug me as I sagged into sorrow. But I need to know.
They continued to support me when I tapped into the power of the Gate and called out to Cian. Funny it had never occurred to me before, not once, to try to talk to the Gate maker. I knew about him, had known for years, since meeting Liam and discovering the reason for the Gate. The fact the Seelie lord had divided his soul into pieces to create the Gates from this plane to the Sidhe realm meant his consciousness had to be in there somewhere. My son confirmed it when he left his own body and entered the veil through the Gate not so long ago.
And, if anyone could tell me where Liam was, if he still remained here, it would be the soul tied to the Gate, right?
Worth a shot.
The Gate flashed green as I called out to Cian, both in mental voice and with Shaylee’s earth magic tied to my own. The family power had bonded with me despite my attempt to keep it free, and though I wasn’t coven leader any longer it held on tight and did my bidding as though begging me to pay it attention. Guilt, my old friend, washed softly at the edges of my sadness while I reached for the soul inside the Gate.
Honestly, part of me thought it was a lost cause, that surely after all this time—all the passed centuries—the soul of Cian was too fractured to talk to me. Sure, I could see Gabriel reaching him, at least enough to sense him. But for Cian to speak? To appear and have a discussion? A long shot at best.
I scrambled to my feet in shock and new hope as a tall, golden haired Sidhe appeared before me, a mild look of surprise on his face. He wavered as if unstable before solidifying, looking down to examine his long fingered hands, arching eyebrows climbing to his sharp widow’s peak as his clear, yellow eyes settled on me.
“Daughter of the Light,” he said. “Doombringer.” Cian’s flowing gold robe quivered at the hem as he dropped his arms to his sides and smiled. “Love of the Gatekeeper. Well met.”
***