“Wynn, I’d like to visit my family,” Stephanie said. She’d played the good girl and shadowed him for her second day of court, meetings, and going over administrative shit. “I may not have the chance once we transition.”
Their family dinner was calmer than the recent dinner party and soiree. Rhyn and Kiki were present, quiet and brooding. Wynn appeared distracted.
“Just for fifteen minutes,” Stephanie added at Wynn’s silence. “I’ll go there and come straight back. No deviations.”
Wynn’s look was penetrating, and she suspected he had already figured out that the reason behind her request to return to the Sanctuary wasn’t entirely to visit her sister. Stephanie prepared herself to be disappointed.
“Maybe it’s for the best,” he answered.
She returned her gaze to her food and cleared her throat. She didn’t dare ask what was for the best, because she doubted it had anything to do with her visiting Sammy.
“You can go now.” Wynn motioned to Trayern. “Portal.”
She stood without hesitation and glanced towards her demon guardian. Mithra hadn’t yet found his way to the dining room. Trayern pushed himself away from the wall he leaned against.
Stephanie joined the surly demon, who opened a portal. “What was that you said about not being my bitch?” she whispered.
He gnashed his teeth at her and strode into the place-between-places. Stephanie followed. The demon stepped aside and she went to the yellow portal beckoning her.
It was afternoon in the Caribbean Sanctuary, a place where demons, deities and Immortals alike were forbidden to use magic. Most of them were forbidden to enter the fortress, and the Sanctuary often acted as neutral ground for tense negotiations among the major races.
Trayern observed the stone walls of the fortress in front of them.
“You can’t enter, can you?” she asked hopefully.
“I’m not supposed to enter,” he replied, striking eyes shifting to her. “But something tells me we’re not here to visit your sister.”
“It’s none of your business what I do behind those walls.” She started away.
Trayern snatched her arm. “Fifteen minutes. I will find you if you’re a second late.”
Stephanie wrenched away and ran to the wooden door leading into the fortress. As if expecting her, one of the nuns who managed the sacred sanctuary opened it before she reached it.
Stephanie waited until the door closed behind her. “I need to see the Oracle,” she said.
The nun nodded and led her through the breezy corridors lined with wooden doors to the single tower facing east. They climbed the winding stairs to the single room at the top. The nun left Stephanie at the door.
Heart pounding, Stephanie entered the plain room where the Oracle existed.
A massive book sat on a pedestal near the window in the small room. Words scrolled across the pages, written by an unseen hand belonging to the Oracle who possessed the book. She recorded the Present as it happened, safeguarded the Past, and often predicted events in the near-Future.
Stephanie went to the book. “Hello, again,” she said awkwardly. The idea someone was trapped in the book for all eternity had never sat well with her. “I don’t know what you can show me, but I need to see something about Wynn.”
The Oracle flipped back the pages to a point in the Past. Images sprang up from the pages. Stephanie braced herself, recalling the first time she’d visited, when she’d been reduced to tears witnessing a fraction of the responsibility Fate possessed.
Fortunately, a single image appeared.
Wynn. The happenings and people around him were fuzzy, as if the Oracle didn’t want to give her the entire picture. But he wasn’t alone, and he wasn’t an Immortal.
The air around Wynn shimmered with the ethereal glow that separated deities from Immortals.
“What the hell?” Stephanie murmured, squinting at what happened around him to try to make sense of it.
Three forms emerged from the fog, none of whom she recognized.
Fate. Death. Mercy.
How the Oracle conveyed their identities, she didn’t know. Or perhaps, it was the dormant power of a goddess in her blood she’d inherited from her mother.
They appeared to be confronting Wynn, whose godly identity didn’t whisper to her like the others did.
Unseen. This, too, was knowledge Stephanie had no way of knowing.
Wynn was one of the Unseen. There was no sound to the images, and Stephanie struggled to understand what happened.
The three confronted Wynn. More shapes appeared out of the fog, hundreds of gods and goddesses who shimmered, but whose faces were hidden. They surrounded Wynn, moving towards him steadily. He disappeared into their midst. The deities dematerialized like fog and drifted away, leaving Wynn’s body alone in a location she couldn’t see clearly enough to identify.
Fate, Death, and Mercy remained. One by one, they knelt and touched him. Death took his soul and turned it from the purple soul of a deity into the green belonging to Immortals and humans. He replaced the soul, and the three of them stepped away.
The images faded.
“Wynn was a god. All the deities came together and killed him? Stripped him of his godhood?” She puzzled over the images. “Then they brought him back as an Immortal. That’s a hell of a lot of trouble for one god. I thought Unseen deities were useless or retired.”
A soft whisper emerged in her mind.
Wisdom.
Stephanie’s eyebrows shot up. “That makes too much sense.” What would it mean if Wynn knew everything? Not just secrets and fears, which he did now, but everything? With his ambition, he’d become omniscient and omnipotent.
It was a damned good reason for the deities to strip him of his power. Was Mercy the reason he was brought back as an Immortal? Or did Wynn serve a greater purpose?
Balance.
Stephanie drew the same conclusion the moment the Oracle spoke to her. Wynn was all that stood between demons and humans, and his maneuvering protected Immortals and humans alike from power hungry, manipulative deities, like he used to be. His gift of healing meant the breaches between the planes remained sealed. Likewise, he could mend – or sever – the good will and balance that existed among the different races of all the worlds.
“He was meant to serve the greater good,” she murmured. “No wonder he’s so damned obsessed. Did he tell you to show me all this?”
The Oracle’s pages flipped forward in time and stopped once again on another image of Wynn.
She recognized Past-Death and her Fate confronting Wynn. A dozen other deities hovered in the fog of the background.
Wynn was starting to shimmer, pulling power from the deities in the distance.
Past-Death and Fate came between him and the power he collected.
“He wanted his power back. They killed him again and brought him back even weaker.” Stephanie shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “If you’re showing me this, you need me to know. Because I’m connected to Fate?”
No answer came, but she didn’t need one. With Fate out of the picture, there was no one to alter the course of whatever Wynn was planning, no one to ensure one of the sacred bonds of the deities remained in play. Stephanie didn’t have to witness the images to understand what Wynn’s goal probably was.
How helpless did her mate feel, knowing he couldn’t interfere with the chains-of-events required to stop Wynn?
Can I? She asked herself.
The Oracle didn’t respond.
“He’s never stopped plotting to return to who he was,” she whispered. “Why would he want me to know this?”
The Oracle whisked the images away and returned to the Present, where she recorded events as they occurred.
Stephanie stepped away. She’d come for the single purpose of learning more about Wynn. He hadn’t tried to stop her. Was it because he knew no one could interfere in his plan this time? Had he known the full extent of what the Oracle would show her?
If Wynn could manipulate deities, demons and Immortals using their secrets, what could he do if he knew everything?
Stephanie didn’t want to imagine any world where he had absolute power.
“Immortal!” Trayern’s shout came from the courtyard.
Stephanie went to the window and peered out.
The nuns were gathering near the demon, who was tense and didn’t appear ready to leave any time soon.
“I’m coming!” Stephanie shouted.
She ran out of the room and down the stairs, not wanting Trayern to hurt anyone.
The demon was growling at the nuns.
“Stop scaring them!” Stephanie snapped. She faced the nun who had escorted her. “Daniela, I think? Thank you for your help.”
“My pleasure. When you see your mate again, let him know I’ve missed his visits.” She signaled for the other nuns to leave. They filed out of the courtyard quietly.
I have, too, Stephanie thought with no small amount of sorrow. She shook her head, temporarily stuck in her emotions.
“I will,” she promised. “Is my sister – “
The sound of a bat smashing into something hard came from a short distance away. Stephanie and Daniela both whirled.
Eyes blazing, Sammy stood ready to hit Trayern again. He had staggered back from her first blow, stunned, and held a bloody hand to the side of his head.
“Are you okay, Stephie?” Sammy called. “That thing is a demon!”
Stephanie stared, too surprised to react.
“Daniela says you have to kill or run from a demon, and I’m not about to run!” Sammy said.
Fear flooded through Stephanie at thought of Trayern slaughtering her sister, and an image of what had happened to Olivia flashed through her mind. She was safe from Trayern because of a deal her mate had made, and because Mithra assured it.
But Sammy?
Her sister raised the bat to hit Trayern again.
“Sammy, don’t –” Stephanie shouted.
Sammy took a second swing at the demon.
Trayern snatched the bat before it reached him, glaring at the blond kickboxer who was preparing to pummel him. Trayern yanked the bat away from Sammy.
“Stop!” Stephanie managed.
But Trayern had already retreated and taken two steps away.
Stephanie was too upset to bother asking why her guard demon didn’t attack when he had no reason to spare her sister. Instead, she darted between them.
“Back off!” she warned Trayern.
The demon flung the bat away.
“Holy shit you almost gave me a heart attack! Sammy, you can’t just …” Stephanie sighed and faced her sister. “There are too many dangers for you to go around smashing things.”
“I’ve been worried sick about you!” Sammy exclaimed.
Stephanie hugged her hard. “I know. I promise, when I can, I’ll explain everything.”
Sammy hugged her back. “Mom came to visit.” A note of disbelief was in her voice. “What the hell is going on, Steph? I thought I was starting to understand things, but after her visit … is any of this real?”
Stephanie laughed. “Yeah. It is. I’ll tell you everything.” She pulled away from the sister who shared Stephanie’s almost six-foot height. “Promise me you won’t go around trying to smash anyone else’s head in!”
“I can take care of myself.”
“I know you can. Just … wait for me to fill you in before you do anything else crazy, okay?” Stephanie asked, smiling at her fiery sister.
“For now,” Sammy allowed.
“I have to go. But I’ll explain everything when I can.” Stephanie stepped away from her. “Be good, Sammy.”
Her sister lifted an eyebrow and planted her hands on her hips.
Praying her sister listened for once, Stephanie shook her head and turned to Trayern.
“I’m ready,” she said.
His gaze was past her, on Sammy. Blood streamed from his temple down his face and dripped off his jaw.
“How is it my family members always catch you off guard?” Stephanie asked, unable to help her satisfaction at the idea her sister had beaten up the demon driving her crazy.
Trayern’s focus shifted to her. “Want me to make a snack out of your sister, Immortal?” he returned.
“If you go near her, I’ll kill you, assuming she doesn’t do it first!”
“I prefer my food to fight me.”
“Just call a portal!”
Trayern complied, and they stepped through into the place-between-places.
The moment they were out of the Sanctuary, and away from her sister, Stephanie released her breath. Her mind returned to the much bigger issue of Wynn. Now that she knew the truth, what did she do about it? Wynn did nothing accidentally. The more she thought about why he wanted her to know, the darker her thoughts became.
He’d reveal his plan only if it was too late to stop him.
She was always too late.
Trayern opened a portal. They left the Sanctuary and returned to her chamber in the castle.
Stephanie stood in the middle of her chamber, pensive. Her grim train of thought made it impossible to sleep. After a moment where dread and panic dueled within her, she summoned the only person who could fill her in on the details the Oracle hadn’t revealed.
“I’m inviting a visitor,” she said, glancing at Trayern. “Don’t murder her.”
The demon rolled his eyes.
“Deidre,” she murmured, picturing Past-Death rather than her twin, who was Darkyn’s mate.
Seconds later, a woman spoke from behind her. “I’m not supposed to leave the Underworld,” the small, former-deity said. “But you can come here.”
Stephanie faced her. This marked only their second interaction in their history. Past-Death remained in the place-between-places.
Trailed by Trayern, Stephanie joined her.
“It’s important. I know,” Past-Death said with the uncanny insight of a deity.
Stephanie joined her and leaned against the railing. “How bad is it?” she asked.
“Bad.” With the regal carriage of a goddess, and the warmth of a human, Deidre smiled.
“You knew.”
“We were sworn to secrecy. Everyone involved had hoped Wynn wouldn’t recall who he was this life,” she explained. “And … no deity will ever turn down leverage, which secrets give.”
“I’m figuring that out,” Stephanie responded. “The Oracle showed me pieces, enough for me to realize we’re in trouble.”
“I inherited my position from my father. He was Death long before I existed. He would barely speak of Wynn and what they’d done, except to say it required every deity in existence to stop him,” Deidre said. “Trust me when I say, if every deity in existence agreed on something, it meant all their lives were at stake. Deities by their very natures are distrusting, solitary and manipulative.”
“Wynn tried to recover his power, and you and Fate put him down,” Stephanie murmured.
“With a great deal of effort. For Wynn to return to what he was, he must have a favor from each deity in existence. He was close at that point, but he didn’t have the favors of the newest of the gods, whom he didn’t know existed. We managed to stop him, but it took a great deal of effort and expended much of the good will and favors your mate and I had built up with our respective networks of deity allies,” Deidre said. “Unfortunately, we couldn’t strip the favors he’d been collecting. They returned with him this round, though we managed to weaken him.”
“How close is he to having what he needs?” Stephanie asked, fear churning in her stomach.
“I’d say within one or two,” Deidre responded. “It wouldn’t surprise me to discover it was one, and Karma’s is the final favor.”
“Oh, god. Can’t he give himself his own favor, since he’s her mate?”
“No deity’s mate can give a favor to him or herself. He has to deal with Karma directly.”
Stephanie’s mind raced.
“She’s a new deity, born to Fate and Justice. Her power manifested a thousand years ago. It happens from time to time that a new duty and deity are created,” Deidre explained. “Her brother threw her in my dungeon early on in her life. There was enough of a gap between Wynn’s first and second Immortal lives for him not to know she existed before Fate and I rendered him dead-dead again.”
Wynn wouldn’t speak of his relationship with Karma, but it was clearly a sensitive topic, or he wouldn’t snarl every time Karma’s name was brought up. Wynn wasn’t the kind of person to sit back when he wanted something, and Karma was too emotional for Stephanie to guess what the goddess would do, if she fancied herself in love with anyone. All heart, without any impulse control, Karma would likely throw herself fully into whatever it was she did, including a relationship with Wynn.
“I sense there’s a great deal of irony in their pairing for more than one reason,” Stephanie said. Her thoughts were on Karma and how Fate’s sister would react once she discovered she’d been used or worse, if she granted Wynn the favor because she cared about him and discovered his real purpose. Her wrath would be as bad as Wynn’s, if he recovered his ability. “It can end only in tragedy.”
“Perhaps. Perhaps not. I don’t have the foresight, and your mate would never reveal what he knew of the Future to anyone.”
“He had to have Seen something,” Stephanie said. “He warned me about the Immortals falling into a civil war. I’m not confident that won’t still happen, given Wynn’s leadership tactics. If he became, or tried to become, a deity, I imagine the society would fall apart.”
“Unless he put you in charge first,” Deidre said.
Cold shot through Stephanie. “It has nothing to do with him believing I’ll be a good leader. He needs a puppet to fill his place.”
“If that were true, he’d choose one of your brothers. Wynn is complicated, but what I can guarantee you is that he takes his duty and devotion to the greater good seriously. I believe he and Karma are much better matched than anyone else will admit. Wynn has spent two lifetimes maintaining the scales among demons, Immortals and deities. Karma balances an individual; Wynn maintains the whole. They complement each other.”
“Assuming he doesn’t destroy everything.”
“In any case, he wouldn’t put you in charge if he didn’t believe you were the best fit.”
It was difficult for Stephanie to know what to believe anymore. “He wanted me to know. I’m assuming that means he can’t be stopped.”
“Or he wanted you to be prepared to take over sooner rather than later.”
“I’m definitely not ready for any scenario involving my father becoming the god of Wisdom.”
Deidre smiled again. “Sometimes we are asked to step up to the plate before we’re ready. You can do it. Fate believes in you, too.”
Stephanie managed to smile. “I miss him.”
“His exile will be over soon.”
They were both quiet for a long moment.
“I have to go,” Deidre said. “Gabe will freak out if he finds out I’m gone.” She grinned, leaving Stephanie with the impression the tiny former goddess liked to cause trouble for her mate.
Past-Death left through the gray doorway.
Stephanie returned to her chamber and crossed to the balcony. The sense of doom returned as she sought some solution to the issue of Wynn. She was somewhat relieved to realize she wasn’t the first person stuck with the problem, and likely wouldn’t be the last. In the end, she decided to talk to her oldest brother, whose steady wisdom and steadier presence could help her brainstorm about what exactly they were going to do.
Unable to determine any course of action except to do what Wynn wanted, Stephanie turned away from the railing and gasped.
“Jesus, Trayern! Can’t you give me any breathing room?”
He hovered two feet from her. “Can’t spy on you if I can’t hear you.”
“You overheard everything, I take it.”
He gave a chilling smile.
She was going to have to learn to deal with Darkyn soon, if she wanted to have any chance at leading without his immediate interference.