by Ford, Lizzy
He glanced from her to the hallway and back. “And you?”
“It’s none of your business what I do with my life.”
“Wynn won’t let you go. He’s planning something, so I assume he manipulated you into staying.”
“He didn’t manipulate me. I volunteered.”
“The best manipulators know how to make it seem like it was your idea when they’re pulling the strings.”
Some of her anger faded. Wynn had been too calm upon seeing her enter the study. “You’d know, wouldn’t you?”
“Absolutely,” Fate said without hesitation. “Just like I know you don’t have the depravity for the type of manipulation men like us conduct on a daily basis.”
She’d seen evidence of this already in what the Oracle showed her.
“He will do what it takes to get what he wants from you, too.” Fate stepped towards the door. He pushed it closed. “Which is why I won’t be leaving.”
Her heart skipped a beat. Of all the reactions she expected from him, remaining here wasn’t among them. “Don’t stay for my sake,” she said.
“There’s no other reason to stay,” he countered quietly. Standing too close again, he gazed down at her, his warmth and strength agitating her as much as it comforted her. “You won’t face him alone.”
“I don’t need your help.”
“You will not face him alone,” he repeated more slowly. “You have no idea what you’re up against. This is not your game and even if it were, you’d never survive facing someone with skills similar to mine.”
Her breath caught at the open admittance of what he was. He held her gaze, and she glimpsed the type of steely determination she knew had to be present. The sense there was more to him, that she was only scratching the surface, returned, along with a flicker of fear. Compelled to him, scared of what he was, she stood her ground beneath his penetrating look.
“Got it?” he asked, a flicker of his playfulness back.
Stephanie found herself nodding.
“Good. We need to get a few more things straight.” He motioned towards the sitting area before the hearth, simultaneously resting a hand on her.
The warm tingle of energy flashed through her once more. She shivered, moving away and hoping he didn’t notice that she noticed.
“I kinda like it,” Fate said and touched her arm.
She twisted away. He did it again, this time laughing huskily, as if he hadn’t just threatened her.
“Are you, like, five?” she asked, bewildered by his ability to go from serious to fun.
“You’re very grave. About everything,” he replied. He zapped her again, and she swiped his hand away. “Things aren’t that bad.”
“You just got tortured and Wynn wants to blow up the world,” she reminded him. “How is this – stop!”
The warm energy sizzled along her nerves and pooled in the base of her belly, making her too sensitive to her world again, enough so to notice his scent.
“You’re okay with the world ending and saving a man from torture but not …” He zapped her once more, and she pushed him away. Tripping over the rug at her feet, she careened dangerously, only for Fate to catch her.
His arm snaked around her midsection, and he pulled her against him.
She shuddered once more at the energy as it seemed to flow between them, lighting her blood on fire as it did so. She marveled at the sensations of his hard, warm body, their weird energy exchange, his scent and the way he gazed at her.
The moment grew long and awkward. She didn’t want to leave his touch but was too aware of how little she could trust him. He’d admitted to being the lying, manipulative god everyone thought he was. Then why was her heart racing in the arms of such a person? Why did she melt from a single searing look and yearn for him to do more than tease her? His eyes went to her lips.
“I like this even more,” he admitted and met her gaze again. “What you did, making a deal with Wynn, was very brave. And insanely foolish.” His arm tightened around her. “Don’t ever do it again.”
She saw more than determination on his features. For the first time since meeting him, she saw the threat others claimed he posed in the hardness of his eyes and face. Stephanie pressed her hands to his chest, confused by the combination of lust and fear.
“Please,” he added, as if to soften the words. “My power is a very dangerous one in the hands of the wrong person. A favor does just that – puts my power at the mercy of another.”
“I know,” she said quietly. “I wanted to help you.”
“Talk to me before you consider making another deal.”
At his softer tone, she stopped pushing at him and rested against his frame, once more certain this was where she had always belonged without knowing it. She chewed her lower lip, debating for a moment. “The Oracle showed me a lot, including how my brother Andre got exiled to Hell when Wynn cashed in the favor he granted him. But after everything I saw …” She trailed off, a little embarrassed by her rationale or perhaps, by her lack thereof.
Fate tilted her chin up. “What?”
“I had the Oracle show me what it was like to be you.” Stephanie shivered, this time recalling the emotions of others. “I don’t know how you do what you do. I don’t know how you manage knowing the fates of everyone, experience all that emotion, all at once, alone. I saw you won’t let anyone else help you, either. Ever. For any reason. I wasn’t about to ask you if I could save your life after seeing that, even if it was your power. You needed help, and I was the only person who could help you. I’m not sorry for what I did, and I don’t care how upset you are.”
“You shouldn’t have looked at my Past.” His hand fell away from her face, and he considered her for a moment. His expression was unreadable, but if she had to guess, he wasn’t happy with her declaration. “I can’t involve anyone else in what I am and what I do.” He released her.
Stephanie watched him turn and walk away. Her body mourned him while her mind was even more perplexed than before. One minute he wanted her to talk to him, the next he teased her and the next, he walked away. Was it possible for a deity to be confused?
“I don’t think you have a choice.” And I shouldn’t have said that. “Anyway, I don’t want to keep a secret about something else I did involving you. I’m not the kind of person to hold back information like hiding someone’s soul from them.”
Fate glanced at her, a glimmer of his calm amusement returning. He sat down in the chair near the hearth, eyes on her.
“I made a deal with Deidre for my soul,” she said.
He leaned forward with interest. “What were your exact words?”
She told him, and he nodded. “She went easy on you.”
“Would you?” she asked before she could stop herself, leery of the man no one trusted.
“Go easy on you?” he asked. A smile tugged up the corner of his full lips. “You tell me. Would I?”
“No.” She had the sense of being on the wrong side of a science experiment, as if he were evaluating her from the inside out.
He didn’t reply.
Jittery and fed up with the man she didn’t want to leave and didn’t remotely trust, she started towards the door.
“For the record, I wanted to save the world, and nothing you can say will make me think I made the wrong decision,” she said with a flash of fire.
“Before you go.”
She paused with her hand on the doorknob and turned to face him.
“When I hid your soul, I was relieved I wouldn’t be stuck with a mate yet. I wanted nothing to do with one,” he began. “After six weeks with nothing to do but think, stuck as a human no less, I think that was wrong of me to do.”
“You should never hide anyone’s soul,” she snapped.
“Not the hiding part,” he clarified with a chuckle. “The part about not wanting a mate. I’ve decided … you’re mine. And I want you. That’s why I’m staying.”
Stephanie wrenched open the door a
nd stormed out, slamming it behind her. The simple words sent her emotions into a frenzy, one she wasn’t able to make sense of. Was she scared? Turned on? Ecstatic? All of the above? Her thoughts were torn between confusion after all the Oracle had shown her and the memory of the knee melting, heart stopping kiss she’d shared with Fate.
She was starting to feel eager about the idea of at least seeing what was possible between them. Unless … he was doing what he claimed Wynn had and purposely manipulating her.
She had no way of knowing for certain, not just about Fate, but about anyone she had met since the night Olivia died.
This reality depressed her.
Chapter Thirteen
Until they’d met again, Fate wasn’t entirely certain he planned on pursuing a relationship with someone he hadn’t wanted in his life at all. The latest interaction settled some of the uncertainty he experienced whenever he dwelt too long on his latest challenge. He wasn’t able to pinpoint why, except the bond between them was stronger and ... he wanted something more than a mandatory companion.
As much as he despised people doing things for him, because they ultimately wanted something from him, he had a feeling she’d acted without malice or self-interest when she bargained away a precious favor to Wynn.
With no ability to seek insight from the Future, he was puzzled by Stephanie, by her intentions and her actions, and off balance by the idea of sharing power with anyone.
But he did know one thing with certainty. He wasn’t going to be content until he’d claimed his mate completely. Their physical bond was too strong for him to turn away. Her beauty and spirit had ensnared him from their first meeting. The odd possessiveness he’d never before experienced no longer surprised him with its insistence, not when their every touch fed it, made it stronger.
Weakened from Wynn’s torture, despite the healing favor he’d called in, Fate released a breath once Stephanie was gone. He hadn’t wanted her to see he was in worse shape than he seemed. He needed rest and dropped onto his bed, eager to sleep the day away so he was ready for Wynn and his mate tomorrow.
The next morning, he sat in a chair along the wall in the small chamber where the Council met. The Council was woefully understaffed, with only three of Wynn’s eight children present. Tamer appeared anxious to leave while Kiki’s nose was in his iPad. Stephanie’s discomfort reached him from across the room. She was fidgeting beneath the table. Wynn alone seemed pleased to be there.
Fate, the great observer, witnessed every glance, tell, and nervous tick in dispassion. His eyes fell to Stephanie more often than anyone. She was adjusting well to the role, feeding the instinct that there was more to her than he was able to make out. She wasn’t happy but she was holding her own, which wouldn’t be possible if she were half-human. He began to run the list of other options, including deities, through his head, trying to find clues in her personality as to who her mother was.
He sensed she was silently panicking at Wynn’s latest task.
“You want me to pass judgment on petitioners?” she repeated.
“It’s a duty of the Council – to hear the claims, disputes and other issues causing friction among Immortals,” Wynn explained. “You’ll listen to each circumstance and decide if recompense or another form of action is required. Many Immortals are submitting claims to the treasury for the stipends and wages of their recently deceased family members.”
“A lot of them are lying bastards,” Tamer added.
“And others want to curry favors in place of money. You’re authorized to negotiate to an extent,” Wynn seconded. “Kiki is on security detail this week. You’ll swap duties next week.”
“Wynn likes you to keep a list of people you think are trying to cheat us,” Kiki said quietly.
“Those who try to take advantage receive my personal attention,” Wynn said.
No one spoke, and Fate felt the tension among his three children grow thicker. Stephanie had gone rigid. Tamer rested a hand on the hilt of a knife and Kiki pushed aside his iPad.
“What makes you think I have any clue how to do this?” Stephanie asked.
“This is the best way to learn,” Wynn replied. “I’m counting on your mate to teach you a thing or two about negotiations.”
No one looked at Fate, as if to acknowledge him would draw the ire of Wynn. He presumed he had a task of his own after receiving an order to attend the meeting. Wynn did nothing without a reason. They were similar in this – men of vision, foresight and control.
“My pleasure,” Fate said at Wynn’s penetrating look.
“Dismissed,” Wynn said and rose.
His three children reacted more slowly. Kiki slipped Stephanie a note before leaving. Tamer summoned a portal without speaking to anyone and disappeared.
Stephanie wasn’t acknowledging him. She read Kiki’s note then tucked it in her pocket and left the chamber. Fate trailed her, joining her in the hallway when she paused to check her map.
“This way,” he said and pointed.
“I don’t need your help,” she snapped.
He snatched her iPad. “What floor are we going to?” he asked pointedly.
She glared up at him, her gorgeous features already tinted pink, and teal eyes suspicious.
He grazed her forearm with a finger, and she shivered at the delicious, warm shock of lust the simple touch sent through both of them. He loved this game and her reaction more.
“Stop it! Give me my iPad!” she ordered.
“Just admit you don’t know and I will.”
She reached for it instead, and he zapped her again, holding the tablet over her head and away.
“Is everything a game to you?” she demanded. She pushed at his shoulder to turn him and reached once more for the iPad.
He zapped her again, entertained by her exasperated sigh in response. “You could use some games in your life. You’re too tense.”
“I’m tense because I’m freaked out and you’re not helping!” She tried to snatch the iPad once more.
“Then let me help.” He caught her around the waist, secretly satisfied to feel her body pressed to his once more. “I happen to know a thing or two about dealing with manipulative petitioners.”
Her breath hitched audibly at the clash of their bodies. She gazed at him for a moment. Her pupils were dilating by the extended touch. “Fine.”
He released her. “This way,” he said again and started down the corridor towards the stairs.
She followed him, drawing close enough to snatch her iPad back. Fate smiled to himself, amused by the differences in their personalities. If he knew anything about Wynn, the Ancient had likely made this first test of his daughter brutal. He had little mercy for his children and none for others.
They reached the office on the ground floor outside of which the petitioners had already formed a queue.
“Holy shit. This is worse than the DMV,” Stephanie breathed, staring at the line that ran for a hundred meters.
Fate glanced at her. She was gaping, and he sensed the silent panic once more.
“You’re not alone.” He nudged her forward. She went reluctantly, cutting through the line of people to the table where two staff members sat to record the results of the meetings. Stephanie sat in the seat marked by a high back, intricately carved. Fate took up a position within her line of sight, seated at a smaller waiting table nearby.
Her gaze lingered on him before one of the staff members waved the first petitioning Immortal forward. An older woman with a cane approached the table and began speaking to Stephanie, who was trying hard not to appear overwhelmed.
Fate listened to the sob story told by the woman.
Stephanie was buying everything, not even blinking at the price the petitioner claimed was necessary to make up for the incomes of her sons killed in battle with the demons.
Fate signaled her and shook his head once, subtly, when she looked his way.
Stephanie stared at him and shifted in her chair. He knew she was de
bating who to trust in that moment. She made a few notes on her notepad then spoke hesitantly.
“That’s too high.”
“My five sons die, and a living wage is too high?” boomed the old woman loud enough for those in line to hear.
Fate smiled faintly at Stephanie’s bewildered look, which was accompanied by a flush of red. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean …” She cleared her throat and glanced at him once more.
Stay strong, he willed her. The woman in his life had to be capable of the type of shrewd negotiations and decisions he routinely made, which included dealing with people who approached them for favors and requests to alter or access the Future.
“If you give me their names, I’ll put the request in,” she said the petitioner and lifted her pen to write.
Good girl.
“Who?” asked the petitioner.
“Your sons,” Stephanie replied and looked up from her paper.
There was a pause.
Picking up on the hesitation, Stephanie leaned back. “You know Wynn deals personally with those people who aren’t truthful to me. I don’t want to have to give him your name in the daily report.”
It was the petitioner’s turn to be caught off guard. “I had one son,” she admitted.
“Would you care to revise your settlement amount?”
The petitioner bit off her response.
Fate realized with no small amount of satisfaction Stephanie trusted him enough to take his recommendation. She was fighting the bond as much as he had, but it was only a matter of time before she folded.
Stephanie proved a quick learner, shrewd enough to see through emotions and compassionate enough not to outright challenge anyone in a way that left someone pissed or vengeful. Fate observed her as well as the petitioners as the day progressed, signaling to her whenever she looked his way. People were generally easy for him to read, more so when they paid no attention to him from his position. He could watch without them knowing. While she adapted to the duty well, Stephanie at no point appeared comfortable with passing judgment on anyone’s case.
Kiki arrived in the afternoon and paused beside Fate. “How’s she doing?”
