Page 35 of Redemption (Deliverance Duet #2)

Chapter Thirty-Four

Iris

P erched on the end of Ciaran’s bed, I watch as Alaric storms through the small space, pacing back and forth in an effort to control himself. He didn’t take the news of involving the Fates well. Thankfully, he managed to hold himself together until we got back to Ciaran’s home, but he seems to be unravelling now that we’re here.

“This is a terrible idea!” he seethes for what must be the tenth time, not even looking at me as he passes. He may seem angry, but none of it is aimed at me. I can sense that this all stems from his feelings of helplessness and fear. He wants to make sure we’re not kept apart again, but this part of the plan involves me going alone.

Ciaran makes a noise of frustration, and I glance over to where he’s leaning against the wall, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I hate to agree with a Seelie, but he’s right.”

That hits me like a punch in the gut. He’s been quiet until now, and I was counting on his backing. Neither of my mates support the idea, and while I don’t need them for this, their rejection is shaking the stability of my confidence. On top of all of this, I’ve clearly upset Alaric. He has been doing so well with his control, and I’ve thrown that out of the window. I fight the feeling of guilt and shame, like I’ve done something bad and I’m being scolded for it. I know what I need to do, and I’m not a child. I can stand up for myself.

Huffing out a long breath, I attempt to release the tension in my shoulders, but I’m not convinced it works as I look between my two mates. “Nyx is with the Fates. I can feel it,” I insist, needing them to understand why I’m doing this.

“He will come back when he’s ready,” Alaric comments with a shake of his head, frustration lacing his tone. “He’s a god, Iris.”

Blaise, who has stayed silent until now, clears his throat as he steps forward. “Upsetting the Fates seems like a bad idea.”

Gaping, I shoot him a look of betrayal. “I thought you were on my side!”

Outrage courses through me. After everything we’ve been through and what we learned from the goddess, I thought we shared the same mindset on this.

His eyebrows shoot up in surprise at the force of my accusation. “I didn’t say not to do it, just that you need to be careful.”

As much as I want to claim that I wasn’t going to storm into their lair and demand my mate back, that would be a lie. If they are truly keeping Nyx from me, then I’m taking him back, and if they have dared to hurt him, then they will regret the day they ever wove my thread on their loom.

Even the gods bow to the will of the Fates, so I should treat them with reverence. The three of them weave our life stories and choices, past, present, and future. They have the ability to change these or to simply cut a life’s thread if someone threatens the stability of their gruesome tapestry. If I cause them problems, they could easily cut me from their loom and end my life in a second, but the moment they involved my mate, my respect for them ended.

Nyx is with them, and I don’t care that he’s a god—they have power over him. He can’t respond to me, and I know he would if he were able to. He would have come to me, damn the consequences, which means there’s something stopping him.

My anger surges through me, and I jump to my feet. “They have him!” I shout, my hands balled into fists and shaking with the force of my feelings. Alaric stops pacing, his gaze finally landing on me. I walk towards him. “You know what it’s like to be separated. He is being held against his will. I rescued you, and now I’m going to do the same for him.” Coming to a stop in front of him, I place my hand over his chest so I can feel his heartbeat, looking at him intently. “We also need him to break this curse. Mother Nature was very clear that we must be together for this.”

The bond in my chest aches, and I feel Ciaran getting closer, the warmth of his body pressing against my back. His hands land on my waist, and he lowers his head to press a kiss against the side of my neck. “If you do this, then there is no way we can go with you.”

“You’ll be alone, Iris,” Alaric chimes in before I can respond, placing his hand over the top of mine so I can feel how fast his heart is beating. “I promised myself I’d never let us be separated again, and here we are in the same damn position.”

His lips pull back in a snarl, his irritation and sense of defeat weighing heavily on him. I hate having to leave them, especially Alaric after everything he’s been through, but it’s unrealistic to believe we would never be apart again, and he knows this. It may be buried deep down beneath his fear, but he knows.

I don’t say anything, simply allowing him to vent and for the two of them to enjoy this moment of physical contact. Touch helps all of us relax and feel more grounded, so even if my words aren’t a comfort, then hopefully my touch is. Standing here, with Ciaran pressed up behind me and Alaric in front, holding me gently, it’s almost a perfect moment. Without Nyx, I will always be incomplete, not to mention the tension floating around us

The plan isn’t the best, as there are some major holes in it, but it’s all we have, and I’m the one who has to do this.

I grip Alaric’s face between my palms. “I am coming back, mate,” I assure him, knowing he needs to hear it. “I don’t plan on being gone long. I just need to rescue our god, and then the five of us will figure out how to break the curse.”

Simple. No problem at all. I need to focus on one thing at a time. We can worry about the rest of the plan once I have Nyx back.

Alaric nods and kisses me deeply, silently giving me his approval. He glances over my shoulder and pulls back, making space for my other mate. Ciaran swoops into the space faster than I can blink. Resting his hand on the side of my neck, he slowly slides it up along my jaw and into my hair, directing my gaze to his.

“Do you have to do this?” His stare is intense, and I realise there’s so much more to such a simple question. He’s not just asking, he’s silently begging me to change my mind. I know he wouldn’t ask me not to go or try to stop me, but he needs to try something. My heart swells with gratitude. He could make this difficult for me, allowing his emotions to rule his actions, yet he’s holding himself back as he knows it would only make this harder for all of us.

I slowly nod my head and reply with a single word. “Yes.”

Defeat flashes across his expression, but it’s gone in an instant. “Well then, go get him back,” he says with a flourish, a grin stretching his lips. “If those Fates lay one hand on you, I will find them and make them pay.”

My gaze flits around the room as though I expect to see them sitting in a corner, then I chuckle awkwardly. “You probably shouldn’t say that, they will be listening.”

He smiles deviously and leans forward, pressing his lips to mine. “Good.”

The world shifts around me in a dizzying whirl of disequilibrium, as though I’m falling through space and time, yet I can feel the ground beneath my feet. This feels so at odds from when Nyx and I travelled to see the Fates before. While I felt dizzy then and the sense of movement, he was in control the entire time, and I felt safe at his side. This is something entirely different. I struggle to stay standing, windmilling my arms in a pointless effort to balance. Disorientation throws off my perception of up and down. It’s both confusing and terrifying. I’m stuck and can’t get out of this void I seem to have become trapped in. I feel as though I’m being dragged, my last words echoing in the empty space around me.

“I demand an audience with the Fates!”

On and on this goes, my voice impossibly loud, and I get the impression they are trying to teach me a lesson. They could keep me here in limbo forever if they chose to. No one demands anything of the Fates.

As soon as the decision was made with my mates, I called out to the Fates, knowing they wouldn’t be able to ignore a slight against them. I was right, and I was pulled into this void almost as soon as the words left my mouth. There was always a risk this would backfire on me, and from the fear and pain I’m experiencing in this limbo, it seems they are choosing to punish me for my brazen order.

A bright, blinding light pins me in place, the spotlight making me throw my hands over my face to protect my eyes. At this exact moment, gravity returns to my body, and I slam into hard ground, my knees smashing against rock. A hiss of pain works its way through my clenched teeth.

The sudden stimuli of light, sound, and touch is overwhelming, and it takes a while for my brain to sort through the chaos in my mind. My senses are in overdrive, everything demanding my attention. I press my hands against the cool, rough rock, attempting to ground myself, as a chilly breeze blows against my hot, sweaty skin as I pant, attempting to catch my breath.

The loud ringing in my ears slowly fades, only to be replaced by a cacophony of sounds. They bombard me, but one of these is louder than the others.

“Iris!” Nyx’s voice is full of rage and torment, pulling at my soul.

I try to get to my feet, needing to get to him, but pain in my knees stops me—not to mention the fact that all of my energy seems to have been drained. I still can’t see, and my sense of direction is skewed. He’s here, and he’s alive, and now that I know he’s not in immediate danger, I can focus on pulling myself together.

“Release me, you foul bitches!” he bellows with the full wrath of a god. All he can see is my kneeling figure as I tried to stumble to my feet and failed, so he’s reacting as I would expect my mate to. As soon as some of my energy returns, I’ll reassure him, but for now, he’ll have to accept the warmth I send to him through our bond.

“Calm yourself, Death,” an ageless voice intones, completely devoid of emotion.

A snort of derision from the other side of the room catches my attention. “She is still living, which is more than can be said for the last humans who demanded an audience with us.”

A cold chill passes through me that has nothing to do with the mysterious breeze. They just confirmed that they have killed humans for exactly what I just did. As they said, though, I’m still alive.

Nyx growls, their threat enraging him. I hear a thrashing noise and his grunts of exertions and know without needing to see that he’s trying to get to me. “If you touch a fucking hair on her head—”

His torment through the bond is like a physical pain, demanding my attention and overwhelming any pain I felt in my knees. He needs me, and I need to do something before he gets himself into more trouble than he already is.

“Nyx, I’m okay.” There’s a croak in my voice that I’m unable to hide, and it makes it clear I’m lying. All of my energy is going into getting up and comforting my mate. Lifting my head, I blink slowly, my vision fuzzy, so I listen to the bond, trusting it to lead me to my mate. I turn my head in the direction of the ever-present pull in my chest. His figure comes into focus, everything else falling away as I take in my mate. His shadows wrap around him as he thrashes angrily. His struggle is useless against the three golden bands that are wrapped around his middle, pinning him in place. His almost black eyes are hooded, and his expression is sharp enough to cut. Despite being restrained, his dark clothing looks impeccable, only his mussed hair giving away his fight.

I want to run to him, to tear at those golden bands with my bare hands and take him away from here, but I know it’s not going to be that easy. Anger swells in my chest. They took him from me and kept him hostage. I turn to face the Fates. They have all the power here. They can even make gods bow to them. I have to convince them that they should listen to my demands without offending them to the point where they simply erase me from the equation.

The cave looks almost identical to the last time I was here, with a bubbling cauldron near one of the robed Fates, who is humming quietly to herself as she stirs the contents. Another fate is at the loom, weaving threads with deft fingers at an impossible speed. Her sister is at her back, stroking the threads with reverence and sorting them into colours.

“I have come to retrieve my mate.”

All three of them stop at my declaration, and as one, they turn to look at me. Their synchronised, wooden movements remind me of puppets, their unblinking eyes staring into my soul.

My announcement is clear and precise, walking the edge of an order, but I don’t make the mistake of demanding anything again. Have I made a mistake? Did I misjudge the situation and set us all back in my urgency to bring Nyx home? My gut is telling me that I made the right decision, and that they need to know I can’t be turned away from this.

“He has been meddling with fate,” the figure holding the threads comments. Her face is that of a middle-aged human, yet her voice is that of an old crone. “That could not be allowed.”

It takes me a moment, but I realise she’s the one who made the comment about me still being alive. They continue to stare at me, not moving a muscle. It’s disturbing and sends a shiver through me.

“I need Nyx to break the curse,” I remind them, spreading my arms wide. “That is part of my fate. If you keep him here, then you are changing the course of fate.”

I won’t pretend to understand how fate works or how free will comes into play when our future has already been seen. My accusation is bluster, reaching for scraps of the truth in the hopes that I’m right and will make them release Nyx. Breaking the curse is my purpose, I’ve known that for a while now, but the rest? I don’t have a clue. Does my presence here change things, or was this always meant to happen? The prospect of it all sends my head into a spin, my temples pounding. This is why we can’t see our futures. It’s confounding and too much for us to handle.

The Fates look at one another in a single, eerie movement. They seem to know what the other is thinking, their actions totally in sync as though they share one mind. What are they thinking? Clearly, I’ve taken them by surprise, otherwise they would have already known how to deal with me. This only confirms what I suspected—we are changing fate with our decisions.

At some unspoken signal, the three Fates return to their previous jobs—all except for the female sitting at the loom. Her eyes lock on me, her expression intense but unreadable. Lifting a pale hand, she crooks a finger, gesturing for me to step forward.

There isn’t time for me to question whether I should do as instructed, and insulting them further seems like a bad idea, so I walk forward, stopping several steps away from her. She makes me feel edgy, her appearance not making that any easier. Her long, thin fingers are almost bone white, and I don’t let myself think about the fact that they look skeletal. Although her face is ageless thanks to her gifts, when I look into her eyes, I get a sense of just how old she is, as well as the horrific creature she truly is beneath her magic.

“Look, girl,” she coos in a smooth voice, pointing her emaciated hand at her loom. There is no pattern to the threads she weaves, but I look at where she is currently working. A bright, shining white thread rests in her other hand, and twisted around it are three other coloured strings. She weaves, the twisted white thread mingled amongst a whole array of other colours. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to be looking at, as I know next to nothing about weaving, especially when it comes to life threads. Without patterns or even a particular colour scheme, it’s impossible for me to see…

Suddenly, I see it.

“A bump.” I don’t mean to speak aloud, but the whispered words escape me nonetheless. Amongst the white thread, there is what looks like a small knot. It’s so small that I wouldn’t have noticed unless it was pointed out, so I am not sure why she feels the need to show me.

“Yes,” she coos once more, like she’s speaking to a child. “This is what happens when fate is meddled with.”

A knot forms in the tapestry? I don’t understand why this is a problem. If it were larger, it could be an issue, but this is miniscule in the grand scheme of things.

“A small bump is formed. It doesn’t seem to be causing much trouble. It’s so tiny you can barely see it.”

“You’re focusing on only your part in this. Look at the bigger picture.” The light, childlike voice comes from the fate who currently holds all the threads in her hand, passing them to her sister on the loom. “All the threads around you get disturbed by this knot, which only then goes on to affect everything around them.”

Frowning, I take a step back and focus on the bump in question. The threads above and below it bow out, causing the others to grow as well, until the whole section has a bump going through it. It’s tiny, yet by the time the shift in threads reaches either end of the tapestry, it has become far larger. It’s still not something I would have noticed without it being pointed out, but I’m able to see the effect they are warning about.

“Then what am I supposed to do?” I feel hopeless and guilty. I didn’t go out of my way to change fate, yet my decisions seem to be doing exactly that. “If we are messing this up and changing fate, then tell me what to do.” My chest is tight with anxiety as I demand answers, my pitch rising. “Do we lose? Is that it? Should I even bother if we are destined to die?” My thoughts build into nightmares, each one worse than the last as I catastrophise. In reality, I have no idea what will happen, yet it’s so much easier to focus on the bad possibilities than the good.

The fate stirring the cauldron shakes her head and sighs loudly. “This is why we do not share Fates with mortals.”

“She is not a normal mortal, and you know it,” Nyx bites out, rolling his eyes in exasperation.

The fate sitting at the loom sighs and lowers the threads, standing in one smooth movement before she walks over to the cauldron, her dark robes fluttering around her. “Come, sisters.”

She takes her position beside the fate already there, waiting for the third sister to join them. I’m not sure what’s happening, but a huge swell of magic takes my breath away, and all the hair on my arms stands on end. The three of them stare down into the cauldron, an eerie glow lighting their faces. The child, the mother, and the crone, representing past, present, and future. Seeing them like this is both breathtaking and disturbing. I’m witnessing something that’s not been seen by any living mortal. They are trying to decide whether to allow Nyx to return to me or not, and they are looking into my future.

My gut clenches with unease. Do I really want to know what’s going to happen in the future? They said it themselves, telling us our future only messes with our minds. I experienced it firsthand.

A darkness settles over me, wrapping around my tense body in a comforting blanket. I’m not afraid of the dark, not when my mate can control it. My nerves settle, and I know we will be okay no matter what happens next.

The fate in the middle makes a disgruntled noise and looks up, her sisters still staring into the bubbling cauldron. “Your destiny is clouded, and we cannot see the outcome. Two paths await you.”

Two paths, which means my future is not set. I have the chance to make my own fate with my mates at my side. Taking a deep breath, I step towards them, pulling their gazes to me. “Then let me write my own fate.”

My declaration is met by silence. The Fates stand as still as statues as they stare me down. It’s intimidating, but this is something I won’t back down on.

“It seems like whatever we do, fate is going to be rewritten, so please, return Nyx to me and let us try to make this right.” The urge to hide my desperation is strong, but I need to convince them to let whatever happens, happen. “I think we have a right to try.”

Nyx says nothing, but I feel his pride glowing through the bond, and that makes me want to stand my ground for him, my mates, and Blaise—for us. We are rewriting our future, and it is one we shall be in together, for better or worse.

The fate in the centre, the mother, watches me with a neutral expression. She may seem placid and uncaring, but I can tell that her mind is a shrewd and cunning place. “The goddess is right. So much has changed, this is out of our hands now, sisters.”

I startle a little at her calling me a goddess, the label taking a moment for me to realise she’s talking about me. The goddess is right . They agree with me. Does this mean they will let us go?

The crone tilts her head to one side, continuing to stare at me as the other two sisters return to their previous positions. She stirs the cauldron again, never once looking down. “There was always a question hanging over your fate,” she announces gruffly. “This is an important moment, and it affects your entire realm going forward. These events are difficult for the Fates to see. For a long time, we have been able to gently steer people in the right direction, but eventually, it reaches the point where there is nothing more we can do.” She looks over at Nyx, the golden bands around him disappearing with a swift nod of her head. “We have now reached this place and can no longer see your future.”

Nyx is beside me in a moment, wrapping his arms around me as he calls his dark magic to him, preparing to whisk me away. I don’t blame him. I wouldn’t put it past the Fates to change their minds, and I want to put as much distance between us and them as soon as possible.

Before the darkness can swallow us and take us away, the child raises her hand, turning her beautiful, youthful face towards us.

“Take him, goddess, and do what you have to. Once this is all over, know that we shall cut your life threads if you threaten to mess with fate again.” Her lush lips turn up into a smile, her words so at odds with the almost playful way she speaks about killing us.

Threat delivered, she lowers her hand, and whatever was holding us back releases us. Shadows snap around us and whisk us away, yet I can’t shake the idea that we just made an enemy.

Can anyone survive a feud with the Fates?