Page 117 of Unraveling Fate

Wide-eyed, Reyna’s hand trembled around the tuning fork. “I just killed someone. I murdered a person.”

Cadenza ran to her, but Cyrus got there first and tucked her face into his shoulder, holding her close. “No. You did your job.” He pulled back and gave her a half smile. “At least, part of your job.”

“And Vasilios Pearce will return. Not with that name, or that face, but his master will send him into the world again. Of that you may be sure.”

Cadenza spun. Two beings stood where the wedding arch—flattened by the fight and the wind—had been. A woman with a crown of red blossoms. And a man with antlers.

The memories she’d shoved away driving on the racetrack with the Ferrari came crashing back. These two beings watching her in her backyard the first time the earthsong had tried to escape through her. She had fought it then, not wanting to make Ilaria angrier with her, and refused to let the music out. The man and the woman had vanished.

“I know you,” she whispered.

Drostan spoke at the same time. “Oh, look who finally deigned to grace us with their presence.”

The woman shot him a fierce look. “You will watch your tone, Guardian.”

“Or you’ll what?” he challenged. “Leave us on our own for hundreds of years again?”

The antlered man motioned for quiet. “Peace, Guardian.”

Cadenza looked to Taran for answers. “Who are they?”

“The Messengers,” he explained. “Rowan and Acantha.” He pointed to the man and then the woman.

“They’re the Messengers?” She turned back to the two. “Why were they in my backyard as a kid?”

The flower-crowned woman looked Cadenza up and down, as if measuring. As a child, Cadenza had wondered if the woman had been some kind of judge. It didn’t look like she’d changed.

The antlered man, Rowan, raised an eyebrow at his companion. She sniffed and looked away. Apparently, Cadenza didn’t rank any more approval from the woman now than when she was five.

“Children of Fate,” Rowan’s voice carried across the churned field. “Listen well. Time grows short. The Fates have no more Thread with which to weave, and the music wanes—too long has the earth been cut off from the light. You must end this feud and return to your duties.”

“End?” Thomas choked on the word. “Will the death of my wifeend? Will the Fates bring her back? I demand restitution. This boy,” he pointed a finger at Taran, “must pay!”

“He has paid,” Rowan said. “You have all paid. Put it behind you.”

“I will not!”

Acantha fixed Thomas with a glare like ice. “You will do the job you have been tasked, Thomas Learmonth of Ercildoun, or you will be removed from your place and another appointed in your stead.” Her voice fell like a thorned whip. Thomas quailed and fell to his knees.

“The Crown must be found. We will need all of you in order to do this.” Rowan stepped forward. “We do not pretendhealing the wounds between you will be easy or quick. But it must be done. To begin the process, all of you must renew your dedications. Or, in the case of some of you, make them for the first time.” He glanced at Cadenza and Reyna with the barest hint of a smile.

“Thomas Learmonth,” Rowan continued. “Will you use your sight in service to the Fates and as custodian of the Cave of Decision?”

The seer tried to stagger to his feet, blood staining the ground from his gunshot wound. Cadenza caught his arm, helping him up, and Thomas limped a few steps forward. Tears carved channels of grief into his cheeks, but he answered with a steady voice. “Aye.”

Rowan nodded. Acantha approached Drostan and his sons. “Drostan Norroway, will you use your gifts in service to the Fates and to defend your fellow Children of Fate?”

Drostan’s chest heaved, and he glared at Thomas, anger sizzling off him, twisting his features. Cadenza held her breath, afraid he would refuse, but Reyna laid a hand on his arm.

“Drostan,” she said, voice quiet. “We have a job to do.”

He wrenched his gaze back to Acantha. “Aye.”

She repeated the question and answer with Ruairi and Cyrus. Rowan came to Taran.

“Taran Norroway?—”

“Let me guess. Same question?” Taran’s eyes sparkled as he bounced on the balls of his feet.