Nanshe was quiet once more.
“Goddess be damned, I’m tired of your silence,Norn,” Silva forced through gritted teeth.
“I can only warn you she will try everything to ensure the future she deems best to happen. Her way of doing it is to wipe out—”
She fell silent again, but this time her eyes watered and the quiet seemed forced. Without a second thought, Carlo moved to her side and knelt to the ground, framing her face with his hands. The smoothness of her skin and the power pulsing from her still amazed him.
“Breathe,tesoro. Just breathe. It will pass. You tried too hard, didn’t you?”
“I want to help. I need to—”
“No, let it go. Just look at me.”
Nanshe’s ruby gaze locked on to his, and Carlo inhaled a deep breath through his nose before slowly releasing it through his mouth. “Smell the flowers, blow out the candles,” he whispered, looking into the depths of her eyes.
She followed his instructions, exhaling with a pain-filled moan.
“That’s it. Do it again. I got you,tesoro.” He continued to hold her, walking her through it.
“She isn’t who she once was. No longer.”
The agony in her words swelled within him, and his wolf whimpered. “Focus on that, who she was. Can you talk about that? Something to take away this pain.”
“But—”
“I said no, Nanshe. Leave it!”
She gasped, her body going slack as she released whatever she’d been trying to say. A watery smile danced over her lips as she nodded. “Okay,shin’ar.”
Torin started, his eyes growing uncharacteristically wide with shock. “Shin’ar?”
Nanshe blinked, and Carlo released her, realizing how intimate the moment had become. He stepped back but didn’t move far from her chair.
“It’s a word from my time,” Nanshe explained.
Torin nodded at Carlo. “Indeed. So what can you tell us?”
Nanshe looked to Carlo before glancing back at the table. “Skuld is my sister, and we look alike.”
Eiravel snorted. “Yeah, we nearly attacked you. The difference is in the hair, horns, and eyes. Skuld has black hair and eyes and white horns, but they look just alike otherwise.”
“And the skin. Yours looks different from hers. Not as shiny,” Cynes added.
Nanshe nodded. “It is because we were sisters in our lives before—” She gasped, her body tense and her face distorting with pain.
“Okay, let’s go to something else,” Carlo suggested. “We know Skuld was holding Asherah to weaken us because she wants to attack. The why is still hidden, but it won’t matter if we’re dead.”
“Good point.” Dominic nodded. Zoey, wide-eyed at his side, said nothing although her jaw nearly dropped to the floor in shock. “I’m sure losing Asherah was not something she wanted,” he added.
“Well, no. Then she wouldn’t have her Fury,” Asherah huffed.
“She wanted aFuryto attack Encantado?!” Torin roared, jumping to his feet. Everyone jerked back from him as his runes glowed red and swam over his skin. It was dizzying. He slid his now white gaze to Asherah. “You were to be her Fury?”
Asherah winced. “My sister and I had bad blood.”
“Understatement of the year. I was a bitch,” Silva added with a grimace.
Asherah put a hand on Silva’s. “Our parents had died, and you were young. There was so much on your plate and Joran was determined to use you.”
