“Take her home, Pete.”
CHAPTERNINETEEN
“It’s me,Pete. I’m the sacrifice.” Destiny sat in her clawfoot tub, leaning back to look up at him. He’d drawn her a bath and settled her into the tub before showering and changing into the clothes he’d brought from his realm.
His dark hair, still damp, curled onto his forehead, and the intensity in his jewel-green eyes demanded her attention. She wanted to look away, to curl into a ball and drown herself in her own sorrowful humiliation, but he held her gaze, looking, not at her, butintoher.
His lips moved, beginning to part before he pressed them into a thin line. He took three breaths before he finally spoke. “No one is going to end your life.”
Something between a laugh and a sob rolled up from her belly, catching in her throat before coming out on a hard exhale. “It’s in the prophecy. Fate has willed it. The angels will turn me over to the fae to stop them from attacking. I might have saved Easter, but I wrote my own death sentence in the process.”
Pete stood and grabbed a towel from the rack. “If that’s the case, they’ll have to get through me first. Come on.” He opened the towel, and she stood, stepping out of the tub and letting him wrap her in the soft cotton fabric.
Holding her from behind, he turned her toward the mirror and pressed a kiss to her temple. “You saved us. Eostre will make sure they understand that.” He patted her dry before offering the set of clothes she’d gotten from her closet before her bath.
“I suppose it doesn’t matter.” She dressed in a pair of sunny yellow pants and a white shirt. “You got to the fae realm without a miracle, so my request will be voided. My immortality is already toast, so the best-case scenario would be Eostre convincing your people to let me live out my days as a human. I’ll grow old and die, and you’ll stay young forever.”
She felt like she needed to drink a glass of water, to vomit, and to hibernate for six centuries, but she finished dressing and ran a brush through her hair to make herself presentable. Gabriela would be summoning her any minute now, and she needed to hold her head high no matter what the outcome. She refused to give her boss the satisfaction of seeing her cry.
“You should head back to your realm and help theelfenwith the eggs. You don’t need to witness this.”
“Hey, don’t say that.” He gripped her shoulders before sliding his hands up her neck to hold her face. “We belong together. You are my fated mate, and I will stand by your side until the end of you or the end of days. I love you, and I always will. No matter what.”
Her throat thickened, and tears gathered in her eyes. “I love you too, Pete, but… What about when I’m eighty and you still look like you’re thirty-five?”
He chuckled and wiped a tear from her cheek. “Then you’ll look like the hottest cougar in New Orleans.”
She couldn’t help but laugh. “You always say the right things, don’t you?”
“I try.” He pressed his lips to hers, and she closed her eyes, allowing herself a moment to get lost in his embrace.
Everything about this man felt right. The softness of his kisses, the gentle yet purposeful way he touched her, caressing not just her skin, but her soul with each brush of his fingers. His smile made her heart sing, and for the first time in as long as she could remember, she felt like a whole being.
She leaned against him, fitting into his arms as if she were made to be there, and as he deepened the kiss, she knew there was no place in all the realms she’d rather be.
“Gabriela was right.” She wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head on his shoulder. “Any angel who can follow a recipe can do what I do. Crimson’s parents proved New Orleans will get along just fine without me.”
“It’s just a job.” He stroked her hair.
“I know that now.” She leaned back to look at him. “Maybe in the time I have left, I can learn to just…be.”
“Destiny Monroe, you have been summoned.” The voice calling from her living room was unmistakable.
“Gabriela.” She closed her eyes for a long blink, preparing herself for whatever news her boss would be all too happy to deliver.
“Are you ready?” Pete offered his hand, and she placed her palm in his.
“Let’s get it over with.”
They walked hand-in-hand through the bedroom and down the hall toward the living room, both of them stopping short as they took in the crowd standing before them. On one side, Eostre stood, her regal glory fully restored after a few hours outside the iron mine. Next to her stood another goddess with strawberry-blonde hair and a sprinkling of freckles across her nose. With her uncanny resemblance, it could only be Frigg.
A crow perched atop her television, his intelligent eyes taking in the scene. Odin had sent a representative rather than appearing himself. Was that a good thing, or was it a very, very bad sign?
Across from the fae deities stood Gabriela, her chin tipped upward so she could literally look down her nose at Destiny. Michelle stood next to Gabriela, her hands folded at her waist, her expression stoic, and next to her…
“Dad?” Destiny tightened her grip on Pete’s hand. “What are you doing here?”
He glanced at the goddesses, his brows knitting as he returned his gaze to hers. “I wanted to be here for moral support when they…” He clamped his mouth shut and lowered his gaze.
