“Oh, Levi,” Agnes says almost warmly. “We’ve known Hayden for alongtime.”
He blinks, like he’s piecing together a confusing, impossible puzzle without the picture.
“I…I don’t understand. The people who pulled my funding?” His voice lifts, edging toward disbelief as he turns to me. “Hold on. Arethesethe people you’ve been fighting with over paperwork?”
I drag a hand down my face. “Levi—”
But I barely exhale before Constance chimes in, leaning back in her chair. “My, my. This isquitethe timing, isn’t it?”
Zane scoffs. “Timing thatyouorchestrated.”
“Orchestrated?” Levi snaps, rubbing his temples. “Can someone…anyone…tell me what the fuck is going on?”
Porter sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose in exhaustion. “They’re the Fates, Levi. Literal destiny. The strings of life and all that.”
Levi blinks.
His lips part, then snap shut. His eyes dart back to the three smug women before us, really seeing them now.
“The Fates?” His voice is eerily level. “As in, the mythological beings who weave destiny? Who control…fucking fate?” Helaughs, sharp and humorless. “Let me just…let me wrap my head around this. The actual Fates have been here, living inmytown, and you’ve just been, what, meeting week after week, having casual chats about who the fuck knows what without ever thinking to clue me in?”
I take a step forward but he puts a cautionary hand up.
“When you told me who you were, I was there for you…no questions asked.” He shakes his head, folder clutched tight against his chest. “But this? This you kept to yourself. Why? What else are you hiding from me, Hayden? Did you know about this? About them?”
“No, of course not,” I shout, desperation seeping into my voice. “Levi, you don’t understand how complicated this really is.”
But he barks out a sharp, incredulous laugh. “Complicated?Hayden, we passed complicated ages ago. Look who you are…whoyour brothersare.” He glances back at the counter, then to the papers clutched in his hands. “So what? My project? The funding?Anyof this? It…” He cuts himself off, swallowing hard. “Which part is real, Hayden?” he whispers, voice cracking, heartbreak and doubt bleeding through each word.
“Levi, please,” I plead, my panic rising. “Let me explain. We can figure this out…”
But Levi turns back to the Fates, his frustration shifting into something sharper. “Honestly? I don’t give a single fuck about whatever twisted game you’re all playing,” he snaps, gesturing vaguely at all of us. “I just need to talk to someone about this project.” He holds up his folder. “There has to be something I can do.”
Constance smiles thinly, her eyes shifting from Levi to me. “Some threads must fray to pull others taut. Necessary sacrifices for what’s to come.”
“Please, there has to be something I can do…” he says, voice cracking.
Agnes sighs, waving a dismissive hand as if Levi’s desperation is merely an inconvenience. “It’s too late.”
Levi stills, exhaling slowly, the sound fragile and broken, like he’s finally absorbing the brutal reality of this moment. “So, that’s it?” His fingers tighten around his folder. “Just like that, it’s gone.” His voice emerges hollow, stripped of the warmth and brightness I’ve come to cherish.
There’s no response.
And that’s when I see the exact moment realization hits him. He turns toward me sharply, brows raised in confusion and betrayal, pain etched so deeply into his beautiful face it steals the breath from my lungs.
“I lost everything I’ve been working for in that funding pull.” His voice cracks, but he pushes through. “And now I find out that I was just…justcollateral damagein whatever game they’ve been playing with you? One you didn’t even trust me enough to tell me about.”
My heart hammers painfully in my chest, panic flooding me as I feel Levi slipping away, inch by agonizing inch.
It’s in his white-knuckled grip on the folder. In his squared shoulders, bracing like he might come undone. In his breath, uneven at the edges, barely holding on.
The worst part is his eyes. Not sharp with anger or frustration. But hollow. Drained of every ounce of fight.
That’s what breaks me.
“Baby, please,” I whisper, pleading as I move toward him. But before I can reach him, my shadows stir.
They slip from me without permission, moving in a way they never have before, leaving me completely. For the first time in my existence, immortal or otherwise, I’m left standing utterly alone, watching as they drift entirely away from me and toward Levi, wrapping around him instead.
