Page 107 of Unraveling Fate

“Would it be so horrible to be ‘stuck with me’?” She stepped back, folding her arms across her middle.

“No, of course not, it’s not that. But I can’t marry you with that risk. It isn’t fair.”

“Taran, this is the only thing that fits the oracle’s answer.”

“The oracles have been wrong before?—”

“This could break your curse, with no killing involved. You didn’t want to have to hurt anyone.” She talked over him.

“No, I know. I won’t kill Thomas to free myself.” Shocks of adrenaline buzzed his limbs. His legs twitched, and he fought to keep the ground steady.

“Then what is it? I mean, I know the timing is weird. Technically we just met a few weeks ago, and yeah, from the outside that sounds insane, but my whole world is different than a few weeks ago, and I can’t go back to you not being in it.”

Her hands flew while she talked. He reached for them, trying to explain. “It’s not the timing?—”

“Then what?” Cadenza’s question echoed off the cement walls.

Taran snarled at himself and slammed one fist into the wall. Cracks spidered out through the cement. The blade of hope twisted in his veins, and he bled fear. He slid down the wall to the floor, head in his hands.

Hope. Fear. He wasn’t sure he could tell the difference anymore. They were both agony.

Cadenza knelt beside him and touched his arm. He didn’t lift his head.

“What if—” his voice broke. “What if it doesn’t work? I haven’t believed in choices—in the power of my actions to change anything—in so long. Then you burst into this so-calledlife of mine, so sure you’re making your own path.” He finally looked up. He cupped her cheek in one hand and tucked her hair behind her ear with the other. “Cadenza, if Ichoosethis, and it doesn’t work, it will confirm that I don’t have any choices left to me. That this is what the Fates have decreed for me, and I can’t change it.” He released her face to stare at the unfeeling slab of cement where the Ferrari, no, wherehe, sat hidden from the sun, day after day. “I don’t know that I could handle that.”

“Taran.” She took hold of his chin and pulled his eyes back to her. “What if itdoeswork?”

He said nothing.

“Some part of you must have hoped. Some part of you must have still believed, or I couldn’t have woken you. No matter what I sang. I don’t care what the Fates wove for you. We don’t need them. We can do this without them. I know how to Spin now, to take the pressure off. When we break this curse, we can go anywhere. We’ll find someplace safe to hide from the Silence. If you want this, make it happen.” She laid the scrap of cloth in his hand. “Marry me?”

Taran held her gaze, tremors spasming through his muscles.Make it happen.The idea went against everything he thought he understood about the Fates. “In this so-called fairytale, I’m the one trapped in a tower. And you’re asking me to risk you being trapped too.”

“No.” Cadenza shook her head. “I’m asking you to choose hope.”

The sliver stabbed at him once more.Damn me for a selfish bastard.“Aye.” He gathered her close, tangling his fingers in her hair. “Aye, I’ll marry you.”

Twenty-Six

20 Sep 2019

9 hours till my WEDDING.

Ablizzard of lace and tulle puffed from every corner of the bridal store in downtown Sonora. Satin ran from the racks in a blinding waterfall of fabric.

“Wow.” Reyna pretended to shade her eyes. “Should’ve brought my sunglasses.”

Next to her, Cadenza ran her fingers down a length of silk. “Yeah, it’s a little intense. Speaking of intense, the last few days have been…” She lifted a hand.

Reyna snorted. “Yeah. They have been.”

“We haven’t really talked about Ca—” Cadenza stopped herself, and Reyna saw her own denial of her grief reflected in her friend’s face. “We haven’t talked about everything that happened.”

Metal hangers clanked as Reyna rifled through the bridesmaid dresses. She didn’t look up as she answered. “Which ‘everything’ are you referring to?”If we’re gonna dive into this stupid detachment thing of mine, we might as well be specific.

“I know you had a little crush on Canon.” She pressed her lips together. “How are you doing with it?”

Reyna brandished a prom queen nightmare of salmon-colored ruffles, deliberately stalling. “Just so we’re clear, you pick me anything like this and I’m out.”