Page 45 of Evermore (The Never Sky #3)

She circled him to lean on the desk between us, her back to me as she crossed her arms over her chest. “They’ve said you can’t go.

You won’t go to see the king.” He opened his mouth to speak and she threw up a hand to stop him.

“I’m not telling you to. Live your life.

Do whatever you want. But these are the facts.

You can’t follow them to Etherium. Come home with me.

Help me pass the time with Quill until they figure out how to free Paesha and then we all get what we want. ”

“And what do you get out of this?” Tuck asked. “What do you want, Forger?”

Thea whipped her head toward Tuck. “What did you just call me?”

The corner of his mouth lifted. “You’re a Forger, aren’t you?”

She pulled a handful of tiny metal pellets from her pocket and dropped them from her left to right palm, letting them meld to beautifully crafted chains as they dropped. “Like my grandfather.”

Archer swiped the chains from her, letting them dangle between his fingers. “Imagine creating without effort. Needing something specific and giving it to yourself in the next second.”

“First of all, there’s great effort in everything I do.

You cannot create a design on a wish. Mechanically, I need to know the exact size and structure.

Also, there’s not a thing I can build with my magic that I can’t also make with enough time in my forge.

I won’t deplete my power if I don’t need to.

That was the only lesson I learned from the Maestro, thank you very much. ”

“You were bound to him also?” I asked as Tuck pulled the chain away from Archer to study the design.

“I was bound to him longer than any of the other Syndicate members. Those are the people that formed a family outside of him. Maybe in spite of him. We helped people where we could. But now, with the Maestro gone, most have gone their own ways.”

“Let me ask you a question,” Archer said, pulling a coin from his pocket to roll over the top of his knuckles. “Where are the people in Silbath? I’ve never seen another person out on the streets.”

She lifted a shoulder, eyes slightly narrowing as she answered. “You have to know where to look.”

“If I were king, would you tell me?” he asked casually, eyes locked on his coin as if he didn’t have a care in the world.

The energy changed in the room, all three gods carefully keeping our eyes away as he casually threw out the question.

He’d done it to bait us. Archer had always been smart, even if he was irrational and occasionally reckless.

He wouldn’t have been such a talented gambler if he was anything else.

He could read a face and a room as well as anyone.

Thea matched his energy, letting her words drag out. “You wouldn’t be my king, so I couldn’t say. Ask me when you are and we’ll talk.”

“Requiem has no king at all,” he countered. “So who’s in charge?”

Minerva rose from her seat and moved toward the door.

She clearly wanted Archer to sit with the idea of being king.

“The gods,” she answered tightly. “Until a mortal requests the role and devises a strong plan the other mortals will agree to, the golden streets belong to whichever god is holding the most power.”

“That’s me,” I said, rising from my seat to follow her lead.

“Or Ezra, if there’s true balance again,” Tuck said.

“Or Alastor,” Thea said casually. “Since he seems to be holding Paesha and so far, correct me if I’m wrong, the mortals’ power isn’t being affected like the gods.”

“I’m sure you’d like to think so,” Minerva bit back.

Thea shrugged. “Are we dismissed now? Is that what we’re doing?”

“You were never held against your will,” Tuck said. “You followed us here, remember?”

“Well, I assumed… I thought we’d regroup and go back in with a better plan.”

I shook my head. “Never assume anything when it comes to gods, Forger. They will count on it and use it against you every time.”

Red flashed across her cheeks. “Are you warning me against you right now?”

“Of course I am. There are few things I won’t do to get what I want. Almost none at all.”

“Butt stuff?” Archer asked. “Yeah, you’re right, I wouldn’t do that either.”

I shoved him as he walked toward the door. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“Probably more things than we have time to list.”

“Do us all a favor and try not to get any reckless ideas while I’m gone.”

“Me?” He smirked. “I was only going to check on the kid. Make sure that Aeris hasn’t corrupted her too much.”

“Finally, sense prevails,” Minerva said, swinging the door open.

I shared another look with her, this one lasting longer than the others. She gave an imperceptible nod before turning to face Tuck. “We’re going to see the Fates.”

The silence that followed was thick enough to choke on. Tuck’s shoulders tensed, his jaw working as he processed what she’d said.

“We?” he finally managed.

“If they won’t listen to desperation, perhaps they’ll consider reason. And if not that, then maybe a little wrath.”

“You can’t be serious,” Tuck said, but his voice had lost its edge. He knew better than to argue when Minerva had made up her mind. And thank fuck for that because I’d never forgive myself if they targeted him for this foolish decision.

“I am,” she said, no bullshit to her tone.

Archer and Thea walked out first, letting us linger behind. Tuck’s eyes remained fixed on us. “The Fates haven’t been kind to us since the loom.”

Minnie smirked. “Then it’s fortunate that I’ve never required their kindness.”

“Keep them safe,” I followed, jutting a chin toward the mortals.

And keep him from doing anything stupid , I added silently, knowing my oldest friend would understand.

Tuck’s slight nod was all the confirmation I needed. And the scowl at the end was the perfect send off.

“Last chance to turn back,” I said, watching another crystal shatter and fall into the void beneath our feet. The sound of it breaking echoed through Etherium’s twisted architecture, a subtle reminder that even immortal realms could die.

“If I meant to turn back, I wouldn’t have come at all.” Minerva moved carefully across the suspended walkway, past buildings that defied logic, towers that grew sideways, spiraling structures that folded in on themselves, all of it carved from stone that absorbed light rather than reflected it.

Home. Or what passed for it these days. The perpetual twilight that once gave Etherium its beauty now felt oppressive, like the realm was being slowly crushed under the weight of failing power. Another crystal shattered somewhere in the distance.

We passed the Noctus Gate, its massive archway of black and gold, a monument to better days. The runes carved into its surface barely glowed now, where they once blazed with raw energy. Paths that had existed for millennia were beginning to unravel at their edges, reality fraying like worn cloth.

“Makes me sick to see the power fade so obviously,” Minerva said quietly, her eyes on the withering shadow gardens where constellation patterns once bloomed. Now they struggled to form even basic shapes before dissolving into true darkness. “But I’m glad you’re here to see it.”

“It’s been too long,” I said quietly. There were no excuses to be made for my absence.

We turned down a darker path, one most immortals never saw.

The entrance to the Fates’ domain was nothing like the Noctus Gate, but rather a tear in reality, ragged edges rippling like cloth in a wind that didn’t exist here.

My reluctance to enter had nothing to do with fear.

Fear was for a weaker soul. This felt like losing control.

“Do you know what you’ll ask?” Minerva whispered, eyes homed in on the rip.

“I’ll ask them how to free her from the madness.”

“And if they don’t answer?” she asked, rising to her full height.

“Then I’ll ask about the Forgotten.”

“Reverius—”

“I’m sitting with about a hundred problems on my hands, Minnie. I’ve got to figure out Alastor, the power, my Ever, the Fera, my brother… The list goes on and on. If they’ll guarantee my return from there, that alleviates your trepidation and solves another of my problems.”

She shook her head, wisps of silver hair that’d loosened from her bun crossing her face. “You assume they won’t lie and that’s reckless.”

“I’ll hear whatever they have to say and weigh my options after. I’m not completely fucking helpless. I’ve been around longer than you, in case you’ve forgotten.”

She smirked. “How could I? You always remind me five minutes before you do something foolish.”

I took a step back, sliding my glasses down my nose. “Do you think the Fates want an imbalance of power?”

“They can’t see every path the way your brother does and you’ll not convince me otherwise, no matter what you say. If that were true, they would have seen Ezra’s plan, fought the gods that pinned them to their loom, and I would not be holding a fraction of their power.”

I paused, letting her words melt over me.

Arguing with Minerva about the Fates was like arguing with me about the origin of a realm.

She knew them on a more intimate level than any god.

She’d also spent more time learning about them than anyone in existence.

She wanted to be free from their hateful power. And she deserved that freedom.

“I’m not sure the Fates want anything at all. They’re not selfish beings. Even you can’t argue that fact. Their loom is built from neutrality. The threads of Fate are simply meant to exist. It’s their job to create those moments in their loom.”

Stepping through the anomaly of existence felt like being torn apart and rebuilt in the same instant.

One moment we stood in the dying twilight of Etherium, the next we faced an endless void that somehow contained everything that could ever be.

Every path not yet taken, every choice not yet made.

Raw power crackled through the air like lightning without light, each spark a potential future trying to claw its way into reality.