Fate Demands It
1648 Words
(Raiden POV)
Movana stared at me, her sorceress eyes flashing with irritation.
“You look like hell.”
“I feel like hell.” I dragged a hand through my hair, feeling my very bones ache.
She leaned against the table and folded her arms in front of her chest. Her black silk robe seemed to absorb all the light, and her ebony bouffant looked like she hadn’t just been asleep.
“Hellish enough that it was worth waking me up at this godawful hour?”
“I thought you’d be awake.”
It was midnight, and she was generally a night owl. I also hadn't cared.
“I was desperate. Am desperate.”
“Does it have anything to do with the weird black eyes thing you’ve got going on?” I raised a hand to the corner of my right eye.
“It’s back?” “It’s not permanent?”
“Oh, it’s permanent. But I’m doing what I can to fight it off.”
“You’re losing the fight.” She looked me up and down. “I always knew you’d fall to the curse one day. A shame.”
“Always knew?”
“Come on, Raiden. A guy like you was eventually bound to chase after her, you found someone and now your love is cursed and it'staking over your soul.
” She's not just someone. It had always been her, from the moment I’d seen her. We were but chdren but I knew even then. It was why I hadn’t been with anyone until her. Fat lot of good that restraint had done me. I’d still succumbed to this damn curse.
“Well? Can you make anything to hold it off?” I asked.
“Can’t your mother in law do that?”
“Of course. But I can’t be near her right now.”
“I suppose that makes sense.” She turned to the shelf behind her and studied the vials of ingredients.
The glass bottles glittered under the light, their rainbow contents gleaming.
“I can’t make anything to prevent the curse, but I can make something that buys you a bit of time. A bit of sanity.”
Thank fates.
I had too much to do before I succumbed. Once the Blood Moon curse stole my loyalty and my soul, it’d be necessary for my mate to kill me. I didn’t want to curse her with that burden.
Once I’d stopped the one who was after Jordan, as well as Kyran who wod kill her as well if I didnt stop him, Then I could disappear. Put myself out of my misery. Save her from that, at least.
I pulled the flask from my pocket and raised it. “Any chance you could increase the strength of this?”
She looked over her shoulder and raised a brow.
“It’s completely stopped working?”
“How do you think I got the eyes?” My feelings for Jordan had overcome the potion that repressed them, igniting the Blood Moon curse to its full potential.
I was lucky to have made it as long as I had. If she hadn’t been staying away from Lyran and I, I’d have lost control much sooner.
“Good point.” She looked me up and down.
“Do you love her?” The question hit me like a freight train.
Did I? Yes. Yes I loved her. There was so much love between us that I couldn’t fight it. It felt inevitable.
“My beast senses its mate,” I said, knowing that was the bulk of it. “It was enough to ignite the curse.”
“Lie.”
My brow creased. “It is not.”
“Lie by omission, then. I believe that your beast senses her. But I know think you love her. And that is why my potion has stopped working for you.”
She was right. There was no point in fighting it.
“Which means you can’t increase the strength of it.”
“Correct. I can give you something to hold off the madness from the curse. Probably the same thing Gabriella would make, a little extra powerful due to my blood. But you’re going to keep feeling those pesky feelings of yours.”
Pesky feelings. An understatement in the extreme. I nodded to her.
“Thank you. I’ll take whatever you can give me.”
“And pay nicely for it as well.”
“Of course.” I leaned against the shelf behind me and watched her work, my mind spinning over the problem of Jordan.
We’d avoided each other since the fight in the tunnels, but I’d had eyes on her every second of the day. Well-hidden guards, but she’d likely seen them at some point. Their reports had been both a torture and a pleasure to hear. Though I knew it was bad for me, I was ravenous for details of her. I couldn’t help myself.
I tilted my head back against the shelf, memories of our last kiss flashing through my mind. No matter what I did, it was imperative that I resist more of that. But how?
I shook my head, driving away the thoughts. If there was one thing I couldn’t afford to think of, it was the sweetness of her lips.
“All done.” Morgana held up several small vials. “Use them whenever you feel the need, but use them wisely. If you can space them out, you’ll have longer.”
I nodded, walking over to take the vials and hand her the substantial payment. She stared hard into my eyes, searching.
“Be careful, Raiden.”
“Always.”
She huffed out a small breath.
“Somehow, I don’t believe you.”
Without another word, I turned and departed her workshop, striding down the dark hall to the exit.
As I stepped out onto the quiet street that ran through the center of London, I searched the pavement all around me, looking for Kyran. He wouldn’t be here, of course, but I’d found it impossible not to look for him everywhere I went.
My mate's other mate, was out there somewhere, cursed by the same thing that was about to take me.
I’d failed him. Failed them both. And now I would have to kill him, and take my own life after I finished off the watcher. It was the only ly way to save Jordan.
I tucked the vials of potion into my pocket. I could spare a few more hours before I was forced to take one, and I should.
As I stepped onto the pavement, the air around me vibrated with magic. I stiffened, my senses going alert.
The beast inside readied for battle. In front of me, the air shimmered, and a figure appeared.
The Moon Goddess, Selene.
Her white hair was pulled back in a long braid, and her floral dress swept the grimy street. I blinked, shocked. I’d never seen her before, but I knew Jordan and her mother had, though she had spoke to me as a child.
“Don’t look so surprised,” she said. I felt my eyebrows rise.
“Really? You’ve never visited me, not once—we practically need to make a blood sacrifice to even try to see you—and I shouldn’t be surprised when you appear in front of me?”
“It was important. Vitally so.”
“Is Jordan all right?” She frowned.
“Define all right.”
Fear chilled my skin.
“Just tell me, damn it.”
“She’s alive. Mobile. Mostly healthy—physically, at least. Though she feels like hell, I imagine.” I hated the idea of it.
“What’s wrong with her?”
“That, you’ll have to ask her. I am not here to discuss Jordan, but rather Kyran.”
“What about Kyran? Is he safe?”
“As safe as you are.”
“Not good, then.” She shrugged.
“That is for time to determine. But I am here to tell you that you must pursue Kyran. The vision was very clear. What he seeks—what they seek—is still bound to Jordan.”
“What do you mean?”
“I cannot see the details, but I know that they are twisted together like a rope. What they seek is part of her past. Part of her. and oart of her mother.”
“Why didn’t you tell her this?”
“She is protected from the outside world.”
The sorcerer's protections, of course. They had increased their security after they took Jordan in. They were known as the shadow guild.
“What else can you tell me?”
“Just that they are not done with her yet. You must stop them if you hope to save her.”
“I can’t be near her.”
“The curse.” Her eyes swept me up and down.
“I can see it starting to take hold. You love her.” I stared at the seer, not needing to confirm it.
“Well, get it under control. You can’t afford weakness.”
Story of my life.
“Go now,” she said. “You must work together. Only with both of your skills will you be able to save her. Fate demands it.”
Damn it, that would be difficult.
“Do as I say.” She stared hard at me, her glare even flintier than mine. “This is the only time I will visit you, but I will be watching.” With that, she disappeared.
Damned Goddess. I turned back to Morgana's house to find her peering out the window, her pale face alight with curiosity. She raised her hand and waggled her fingertips, her black, pointed nails gleaming.
- Writer
