I answer quickly.
“Dante.”
“Hey, what’s up?”
I take a deep breath to calm my emotions. “Did-did you get the message about the man we ran into?” I ask, trying to think of something else, anything but what I saw, as I try to even my voice, not wanting him to hear how fucking broken I feel.
“I did, this morning. So, he’s made his appearance. I wish he had come directly to me, but I don’t think that’ll happen for a while. I’m glad you and Sienna are ok. I heard you came into your power. Congratulations, you are the third…”
Normally, hearing that and knowing that when the fourth ruler comes into power that all hell will break loose, wouldunnerve me. We know that with every ruler that comes into power, we are coming ever closer to the greatest battle mankind may ever face. But today, I have bigger issues. In front of it, nothing else matters.
“Yeah, and with that, my intuition has become stronger. Earlier, when I was with Raihana after she performed the spell to view the battle…” My throat feels like there’s a huge fucking lump in it. He’s silent, either simply waiting for me to continue, or he knows something. “And I saw something… You know what I mean, don’t you?”
It fucking hurts.
A soft sigh, one weighted with something more, comes through the phone. He doesn’t speak, and it feels like fucking forever. “Say something,” I whisper hoarsely. Even if his silence spoke louder than his unspoken words, I still need to hear him.
“Yes, I do know what you mean.” His voice is filled with regret and sorrow, and I close my eyes.
“How? How do I stop it?”
“The future isn’t set in stone, Jayce. Every single day, it shifts. Our actions, every single person’s actions, alter the ever-changing path. If you ask me if we will win this war, I can’t say because I don’t fucking know. Sometimes our odds are stronger, other times they are weaker.” I open my eyes and stare at the heavens. “But there are some things that don’t-”
“I need to prevent it,” I whisper, cutting him off.
“You can’t mess with the hands of time or the path of destiny. There is a price; I know it because I’ve paid it,” he says, his voice soft as if he’s speaking to a fucking child. Anger bubbles through me.
“You paid it! And I’m fucking willing to pay it too. Do youexpect me to just stand aside and let it happen?”
“That’s what I’m trying to say. There are some things that don’t change in every single possible future, just like Chris’ death. In every future, I saw him die.”
My vision blurs as I stare out at the training grounds of the Academy.
“So, you’re saying if I intervene, it won’t help?”
“Exactly. We carry on as we would. We protect those we love. We make sure they stay on the right path, we guide them, we protect them, but we can’t share what we saw because all it would do is hurt them.”
I’m not one to cry, but right now, even I can’t deny the tears that are silently falling down my face.
“I want to forget what I saw then,” I whisper, distraught.
Dante is quiet, and I know even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t allow anyone to wipe my memory, not when I can try my best with what I know.
I cut the call, letting my phone drop to the floor as I stare unseeing ahead.
Selene… Zeus…
I call on the gods who may favour me, and pray for their help.
Let the future be altered. I never want to lose her. I can’t lose her.
Please…
Jayce!
My eyes snap open and I realise, at some point, I must have fallen asleep. I feel feverish. I’m a werewolf, though. I’ll recover quickly. It feels like I’ve been fucking run over by a train or two.
Renji?
