by JL Madore
“Spying, little girl?”
I jumped. “Simply ensuring all is well with a few friends.”
“Realm friends? Really?”
Where Castian’s brown hair hung in long, soft waves to his shoulders, my father’s military short shear made his features look severe. The two were visually identifiable as brothers, but my father’s handsome rang sharply where Castian’s was more of a “sweep you off your feet” suave.
I dried my hand against my dress for the second time and strode to my station. My sisters determined the outcome of lives. I recorded the events. Busying myself, I sorted through the first half-dozen realm births and called the tapestries forward. “What brings you to my doorstep, Dane?”
“Do I need a reason to visit my daughter?”
“History would dictate, yes.” I set the first tapestry in the frame of the loom and verified the details of the birth. After selecting the correct colors for the weft threads, I stepped on the pedal and shot the shuttle through the shed to the end. Gripping the beater, I tightened the thread into place and adjusted it to detail the unexpected struggles of the mother. I stepped on the next pedal and shot the shuttle back.
“Why won’t you call me Dad or Father, like your sisters?”
After releasing the tapestry, I sent it back to its place with more force than I meant. Calling the next one into place, I repeated the process. “A father is someone who does more than sleep with women and impregnate them. It’s an earned title in my mind. So, what can I do for you?”
“You’ve been to see your mother, haven’t you?” He strode to the side of my loom and leaned, so I had no choice but to look at him. “You get this way when you spend time with Shalana.”
I finished recording the birth of a Centaur child, released the tapestry, and called the next into place. The breeze brushed my face, and I flipped my braid behind my shoulder. “Yes, I spent time with her. Yes, it still makes me mad. And yes, I understand there wasn’t any lifetime commitment, but you discarded her. Have you ever thought you might have some responsibility in her mental state now? Actions have consequences.”
“I’m no more responsible for your mother than you are.”
“And the fact that you believe that is why you remain Dane, sperm donor extraordinaire.”
I sent off the third tapestry and called the next. When I looked up to grab the shuttle, I had the room to myself.
The day passed with little incident. Ironic, my sisters thought that refusing to speak to me was a fitting punishment for stepping outside their box of approved behavior. To me, them doling out the silent treatment made for a great day.
To say their concern stemmed from a place of affection would be a gross overstatement. I was their half-sister and only a fraction of what they thought a sister should be. Their mother, Allysa, oversaw those who passed to the After and had very different views on life than my mother. Likely, the only thing they had in common was sleeping with my father.
But then, hadn’t everyone?
With the major and minor events of the day recorded, I tried for a second time to call the tapestry for Savage’s life. The frames, once again, remained as quiet as the Hall of Destiny.
Savage was a moniker taken on by the adult, but he remained the child born and the boy who grew up to become that man. There should be something of him recorded.
Very strange.
Unsure of what to make of it, I called Abaddon’s frame. I’d studied the man’s tapestry so many times over the past weeks it must be close to threadbare. What transformed man into monster? Nature? Nurture? I had expected a dark and twisted past filled with damaging events and, at first blush, dark fibers seemed to dominate. But upon closer scrutiny, light tones and the colors of innocence had woven throughout his beginnings.
Abaddon’s tapestry told the tale of childhood much like any other. Son of a single mother. A twin brother to play with. The three living and growing as well as any other. At the point where his mother died, muddy browns and violet gained strength. Then, in his early twenties, a new strand emerged. Whether it represented a person or a new course chosen remained uncertain but, from that moment, black threads strangled out any sign of lightness.
More recently, the addition of silver and champagne strands spoke of innocents added into his life. Lia was one. He’d targeted her as the vessel to host Rheagan. Hours on end, I poured over the threads, searching for a way to help her reject his claim of mating. Not that I could help. Pantheon laws forbade anyone except the Fates of Past, Present, and Future from influencing the lives of the realms.
Why they held the reins, I never understood.
Sadly, Lia’s recent escape from Abaddon’s control meant only that he would target another. He would never give up on his plan to reinstate Rheagan. He would find another vessel suitable to house Fae royalty and try again.
Staring at the still empty docking station, I called forth the tapestry with a stronger force. When it too refused to come, the hair on my nape rose.
Impossible. The tapestry loom was my domain. My lot in life. Was the tapestry not responding or physically not there?
I extended my call one last time. Try as I might, nothing came to me. What was going on? I needed to figure that out. If someone was tampering with my station . . . I couldn’t even begin to imagine the damage they could cause.
CHAPTER TWO
I materialized before the cluttered desk and empty leather chair of Julian, adopted son of Reign. Brought to the mountain as a teen, he became the last added and second oldest child in Jade’s family. Everyone spoke of his gifted intellect, yet the security of Lia’s hearing had been left to him, and people had been hurt.
“Fuck you, brother,” a man said, rounding the corner from the corridor. “Rude. You kiss your mate with that—Ahhh.”
Julian almost collided with me and stopped short. A tidal wave of mocha liquid splashed off the side of his oversized mug and down the front of my dress.
“Shit.” Julian set down his coffee and grabbed paper towels. “Bruin, I gotta bounce, I just spilled hot java all over a Fate.”
The coffee burned my waist and scalded my right leg.
After tossing his phone to his desk chair, he ripped a wad of white squares off a roll and handed them to me. “The door sensor notifies me when people come into my space. If you’d used the door like everyone else, you wouldn’t be wearing my mid-morning fix.”
I dabbed the towelettes at the caramel mark and tented the fabric away from my skin. “When I venture to Haven, I come with a purpose. Delaying to use a door, as if I were a mortal of the realm, serves no one.”
Julian shook his head, jogged out of the control room, and returned a moment later with a wet hand towel. He scrubbed at the coffee, and I noticed that the stain mirrored the same rich mocha color of his skin. By the time he drew back, the fabric was not only stained but now drenched.
“Fuck. I’m making things worse.”
I let the fabric fall back into place and ignored how it suctioned to my skin, cold and wet. “Forget the dress. It’s only an heirloom my mother made with her own hands, but I—”
“You’re kidding, right?”
I exhaled and forced a smile. “Of course I am. It is a dress like any other. It was an attempt to lighten the mood.”
He frowned. “After the clusterfuck at the hearing, no chance of that. Besides, you can poof the stain away, right?”
I glanced at the wall of monitors above his desk. Images of Haven grounds flashed up in timed circuits. “I didn’t inherit Fae ‘poofing’ powers, but the Brownie who tends to Palace laundry is quite talented.”
His frown grew more pronounced, his mint green eyes accented by his dark brow. “Sorry. I’m known to make an ass of myself when I’m focused on a problem. Can we start again?”
I set the towel and balled-up paper wad on one of the guest chairs and tossed my braid behind my shoulder. Stepping toward him, I held out my hand. “Hello, Julian. I apologize that I interrupted yo
ur morning unannounced. Do you have a moment to speak with me?”
He squeezed my fingers in gentle greeting. “You are a welcome distraction from brooding. Though, I guess I don’t have to warn you, I’m not fit company at the moment.” He gestured to a small seating area at the back of the room. “Let’s sit.”
I propped myself on the edge of a wide club chair, and he sat deep in the leather sofa set perpendicular to it. My knees almost brushed his slacks, so I eased back a few inches. “This morning, I noticed something in the tapestries of my station. I wondered if you might be able to help me sort it out.”
“What did you find?”
“I cannot say, precisely. Instead, I would like to ask you a few questions without you asking any yourself.”
He wetted his lips and chuckled. “I’m more of a quid pro quo kinda guy.”
“This is not a point of negotiation. I seek answers and am unable to provide private insights to members of the realm.”
He laughed again, but his tone held no amusement. “Doesn’t that get old?”
“What?”
He sat forward, elbows on knees, and laced his fingers. “I watched the footage of the attack a hundred times and you Fates knew exactly what was about to happen. Does it ever get old watching us mere mortals twisting in the wind while you four laugh from your perches on high?”
I shifted, sitting fully on the chair. “I assure you, I did not know of Abaddon’s plans.”
“Bullshit. The split-second things went south, your sisters up and vanished. No look of surprise. No moment to gather their thoughts before scurrying away. Just poof. Gone.”
“Yet I remained. Surely, I wore a look of surprise.”
“Honestly, no. You seemed fascinated.”
“And you stand as judge to how I should have responded to the situation? Tell me, how did I look after my ribs were crushed beneath Savage as explosions detonated all around us?”
Julian pursed his lips into a hard line.
“Believe it or not, I worry about my family here in the Realm of the Fair. I care what happens to them. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have asked for your help.”
Julian sat back and rubbed a hand over his mouth. “Fine. Ask your question.”
“The warrior, Savage, what do you know of him?”
He locked gazes, his eyes focused and piercing. “I’m sure there’s nothing I could tell you that you don’t already know from reading people’s minds and accessing his life details through your position as a Fate.”
“I called his tapestry forth, yet nothing came to me. That has never happened. I am at a loss. I thought you might help.”
He laughed and got to his feet. “You thought wrong.”
The edge in his tone surprised me. This was more than him having a bad day after the infiltration of Haven. “Have I done something to offend you?”
“How would I know? You Fates rummage through the details of people’s lives, pulling your strings and playing your games. Should I feel bad when your ability to spy on one of us doesn’t work? If Savage’s life remains private, I won’t be the one to air his personal history.”
I clasped my fingers together in my lap. “As Jade’s brother, I expected more from you. Are we two so different, Julian? You and I both oversee the lives of those in our care. We both hold secrets to a great many dangers which our charges need never know about. Where I hear thoughts, you use listening devices. Where I read tapestries, you research backgrounds and watch with cameras.”
I gestured behind him to the wall of monitors.
His gaze narrowed. “But when I see a disaster about to unfold, I act to stop it. You sit safely Behind the Veil with your meddlesome sisters, passing the popcorn and recording the damage done. Doesn’t that bother you?”
Deeply. Being weighed and measured on the same scale as my sisters was something I’d grown weary of centuries ago. I rose to take my leave. “I apologize for wasting your time, Julian. I shall leave you to your brooding.”
“Why come to me at all?” Julian strode forward, his aftershave subtle but notably musky. “Jade would have been your first choice to get information; Lexi, your second. Yet you skipped over them and came to me.”
I shrugged. “I imagined a professional kinship between us which does not exist. That was my mistake.”
He canted his head, his mouth curving up into a sly smile. “You want Savage’s military, not his personal info, why?”
His insight was sharp. “I was reminded last night that a fine line separates interaction and interference. For Jade and her family, I seem to test that boundary. Forget that I came. I wish you all well with what comes.”
“Wait. What’s coming? Did you see something?”
And with that, I dematerialized out of the Gatehouse.
Over the next days, I busied myself Behind the Veil. I tended to my station, focused on my mother, and worked on convincing myself that my sisters were right. As bizarre as that concept sounded maybe, on this point alone, their view held merit. There was a tangible divide between them and us. I confused things by blurring that line.
I paused to turn the page of the novel I was reading aloud. “Setting my glass down, I dried my palms along my thighs. Nate was the only man I’d ever slept with. What if I froze or didn’t remember how—”
“Hey there,” Jade said from a few feet away. “Sorry to interrupt you two.”
I glanced over Abbey’s platform to where Jade stood. The tassel of the bookmark tickled my hand as I closed the novel and rose. “That’s all right. I’m sure she’d much rather hear about your day than listen to me read. I’ll let you visit.”
Jade’s long burgundy curls brushed her rounded cheeks as she strode into the sitting room. Her belly, swollen with the growing twins, consumed the space before her as she walked. It marveled me how two children could be entwined inside a pocketed section of her body and her still be able to walk around and function.
“You’re staring,” Jade said. “Am I as massive as I feel? Galan says I’m resplendent as ever, but I think that’s Elven code for You now rival the size of the manse, Blossom.”
I chuckled. “Galan’s right. The two of you are blessed.”
Jade ran a hand over her belly. “I know—and I agree—but I admit, I’ll be glad when I’m solo in my body again. Sharing my personal space with kids who think nothing of kicking my bladder and grabbing hold of my insides sucks. My organs are not toys.”
She raked her fingers through her hair and caught the silver matrimonial braid she shared with Galan. After tucking the loose strands behind her ear, she gestured to the chairs. “Let’s catch up. I haven’t seen you since you visited Samuel and Lia at the clinic after the attack.”
“No, you two visit. I should get back—”
“You’re not dodging me, are you?” She settled into a comfortable position, adjusted her blouse, and pointed to the chair opposite her. “Sit. Tell me what’s doing.”
I sighed and reclaimed the chair I’d been sitting in. “It’s easier for me to remember my place Behind the Veil if I don’t get tangled up personally with realm lives. Here, my duties are clear. There, I feel torn between wanting to help and being hated for things I can’t change.”
Jade wet her lips. “Julian mentioned he’s been practicing his apology since you left him feeling like an ass last week. He said, if you’re ever interested in hearing anything from him again, he’s waiting to fall on his sword.”
“He wasn’t altogether wrong.”
Jade frowned. “He didn’t tell me what was said but knowing his mood after the attack, I bet an apology is the least he owes you. He thought he had locked things down for Lia’s hearing, and then Abaddon’s raiders not only infiltrated but destroyed the place. He doesn’t handle failure well.”
“No. He seems to set himself above such things. In truth, he seems to set himself above a great many things.”
Jade stretched her neck. “He dug himself in deep, eh? Well, he’ll have to dig himself ou
t. Let’s talk about something else, ’kay? How are you?”
Good question. “Polite answer or truth?”
Jade laughed. “I don’t give two shits about polite. Truth with me. Always.”
I picked up my glass from the side table and sipped at the berry nectar I’d been drinking. Where to begin? “My station ties my hands, and that ties me in knots. I have no friends. Those I hoped might be friends despise my birthright as a Fate. My father is an untrustworthy cad who lies as smoothly as he speaks the truth. My sisters want nothing more than to be rid of me. My mother declines more every day. And I’m beginning to think I’ll die an angry, untrusting shrew.”
Jade sat back and blinked. “Well, I guess I asked for it, didn’t I? First off, I am more than your friend, as are Galan and Lia. We might be a new family, but we are family. After how you helped him and Lia, Samuel is another person squarely in your corner. Then there is Lexi, Reign, and a host of other people who care about you.”
She grunted as she hoisted herself to the edge of the chair. “Second, I’m an asshat. After all the time and love you’ve spent devoted to my mother, I’m horrified I never once asked you about yours. I think people hear ‘Fae goddess’ and assume your life is champagne and sunshine. That’s bullshit, and I should have known better. I’m sorry.”
“I shouldn’t have said anything.”
Jade shook her head. “You said what needed to be said. I can’t help with your job, your dad, or your sisters, but tell me about your mom. You said she’s declining. Maybe I can help. What does she suffer from?”
The thought of outing the great Shalana turned my stomach. She was one of the most loved and praised of the Fae gods and had earned every bit of respect bestowed upon her. In her glory, she ruled the natural world like no other could, a formidable goddess, revered and even feared.
I glanced at Abbey, lying in stasis beside us, and wondered how long it would be before oblivion claimed my mother. “You have enough to worry about. Visit with your mom, and we’ll catch up soon. Over lunch?”
