“It would be quite the serendipitous meeting,” Iapetus replied, setting his amused gaze on Nerebis.
“Someone once told me affecting fate was a lot like sailing,” Never said. “The bigger the ship, the more time and space you need to change course. And who controls the flow of time?”
Every eye in the room turned to the fates.
“We only helped to move things along. Your transformation into this...” Nerebis motioned toward Never. “It was inevitable.”
“It was deliberate,” she snapped. “You put Thrain and Lapalme on a collision course. You fucked with the flow of time so you could put all the pieces in place in the human realmwhile I was scrambling to learn how to control my powers in the Nassa. And you manipulated me into going to the Alius, probably knowing full fucking well I didn’t plan on staying there.”
She paused, and I was sure a rebuttal was imminent, but the fates continued to say nothing.
“It wasn’t inevitable,” she said, disgust dripping from the accusation. “It was a test, because you have no fucking clue what I am or what I’m capable of.”
Tenebris turned his attention to my father. “Given what we’ve seen with how rapidly her power has increased and her inability to control it, she must be destroyed.”
“No!” I yelled, lunging forward only to have Never catch me by the wrist.
“Aw, Ten, you hate me that much, huh?” She asked, feigning like she was wounded. Except, deep down, his words struck a nerve. She was terrified that someday she would lose control and hurt someone who didn’t deserve it.
Nerebis held up his hand. “I agree with Tenebris. She bears the mark of defiance. That alone should be enough to end this. Allowing her continued existence presents a risk to us all.”
She ran the tip of her tongue along the edge of her teeth. “Why is that? Because I haven’t found the limits of my power yet or because you’re afraid when I do, I’ll be gunning for you?”
That was my Never, rebellious to the end. An end I was now almost certain would be swift and immediate.
There was no way out of the Hall of Othrys without the council’s permission. We could try to fight it, but for all our combined strength, we weren’t a match for the council. Factor in that two of the three fates had put the motion to destroy her on the table, and the fact that Never had nearly succeeded in killing a god? That act was enough to have her sentenced to death on its own merit.
Our futures, and our likely deaths, were in the hands of the council.
When my father looked to me, a question swimming in his green eyes, I took Never’s hand and laced our fingers together in a silent declaration. Whatever punishment they deemed fit for her, we would suffer it together.
His gaze narrowed, and with a snap of his fingers, they all disappeared. It was just Never and me in the center of that ridiculous room.
I wrapped an arm around her shoulders, expecting her to stiffen at my touch. Instead, she curled into me, holding me tight with her head resting on my chest.
I kissed the top of her head. “How are you feeling, love?”
“Like I’m about to face a firing squad and there’s fuck all I can do about it.”
She wasn’t far off. “Did you find your family before Thrain dragged you up here?”
She nodded weakly. “Lily, Matt, and Angie made it through the fight.”
“Well, that’s something.”
The council would likely punish Thrain for his actions, but that still left the problem of Lapalme. Silence ticked by for minutes, or maybe it was hours. It was difficult to gauge with the way my mind was whirring and my heart was slowly breaking, but neither of us made a move to separate. We just stood as we were in the middle of the room, holding each other up.
“I summoned the Brethren,” she finally said.
My brow lifted. “Really? And did Emerson come to your aid?”
“Yep, him and a bunch of other big, muscled guys.”
“You summoned them all?”
“I don’t know. Six or seven of them showed up.”
So, not all, but it was hardly worth quibbling about. “Summoning so many powerful demons at once is an impressive feat, Never.”
