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NATALIE
Icouldn’t look away from what I assumed was my lifeline. Half of it was completely black. What the hell?
Fate's words rang through my mind, but no matter how many times they replayed, they still made no sense.
I’d changed my future the night I’d had to kill that she-wolf? How could I have done that? And now Fate claimed that not only had I changed my destiny that night, but I’d also somehow blocked it from her view.
I looked behind me at Lucian and Rumir. Both of them were as white as a sheet of paper.
I looked up at Fate, my chest tightening painfully. She was watching me closely, but she didn't look angry, as I'd have expected her to be. After all, I was nothing but an Enchanted. How could I have possibly done something like this? But she looked more concerned than angry.
“Did this happen because I killed one of my own?” I asked her. “Was it because I committed such a grievous crime?”
“No.” Her voice trembled a little as she turned into her elderly version, and my lifeline vanished. “Something else did this. That could only mean that you didn’t tell the Imperium everything that happened that night. Whatever allowed you to do this must have been significant. If you'd told the gods, they would have picked up on it.”
She raised her hands, and four more thin strings appeared the way mine had. They floated in the air, their colors vibrant. "I see a being’s life and different versions of their future at various time periods." She began to combine three of the strings. "From there, I shape their future, combining it with others. Right now, I'm seeing the lives of these three souls from various species and trying to understand how they'll impact each other."
"This is my purpose as Fate. And this is also how I create mate bonds." Her right hand fell to her side after she’d added the fourth string to the first three, knotting them. Then they vanished, just as my lifeline had done before. “Gods who want to influence a soul’s future come to me, although some of them can affect a soul's future themselves. The Imperium can do that, though they do so with my approval.”
“Those four souls I just joined will go on to impact others, and I’ll have to make adjustments. No one’s future can be altered without changing the destinies of the people in their lives.”
With her left hand still raised, two more strings appeared, both glowing white. I watched as half of them started to turn black, just like mine, and Fate looked at Lucian and Rumir.
"Because I can't see your future, Natalie, whatever it is that’s happening to you will impact the future of those already closest to you. Now I can’t see Lucian’s or Rumir’s future, either. And this will keep happening until we find out what went wrong. So, speak. What haven’t you told the gods?”
I instantly thought of the red substance that had attacked me. But Hekate had tested me and confirmed I wasn’t infected.
“If a soul becomes infected, does it block their future?” I asked, and Fate shook her head.
“The virus cannot alter a soul’s future until it has fully taken root,” she answered, becoming a child once again. "Only then does a soul's future change, but even then, I can see the outcome of their rage. But why do you ask? I was told that you were tested by Hekate and she confirmed that you were not infected.”
“This is ridiculous,” Rumir grumbled. "Natalie couldn't have done this."
Fate's brows furrowed, and she stared at Rumir, suddenly looking upset. She waved her hand aggressively, and the lifelines disappeared.
“Were you not instructed not to speak unless spoken to?" Fate growled at him.
Fate in any form should be respected, but watching a child speak that way to Rumir was odd.
“Where is she?” Fate asked both of us.
"She's still asleep, but I have no doubt she'll wake soon. She’s been informed of what’s happening,” he answered, and I assumed they were talking about his mother, the Werewolf Goddess.
“You have her defiant stare,” Fate grumbled while walking around me towards Rumir. “It’s not an attractive quality of hers.”
“Join the crowd. I think many feel that way about my mother and about me,” Rumir said.
For a time, silence filled the room as she morphed back into adulthood and walked away, her back to all three of us.
I glanced at Lucian.
He was the only one I’d told about the substance that had attacked me. Should I mention it now? Could that be what had caused my lifeline to go black? And if so, what was it? What was wrong with me?
“Although your mother and I are forced to work together, we've rarely seen eye-to-eye.” Fate continued speaking to Rumir, though her back was still turned. "I see the beginning, middle, and ending of all life. That's all I see. I'm the weaver of life. I guide every life to their destiny, whether good or bad, and your mother tampered with that."
Rumir frowned, as did I and Lucian.
“What are you talking about?” Rumir took a step forward. “What did my mother tamper with?”
