Maybe Fate: A Novel (New Adult Paranormal Romance)

by Brint, Cynthia

  In a thoughtless rush, ignoring the anxiety that lived so firmly in me now, I wrapped my arms around his shoulders. I felt him tense, surprised; that grew when I crushed my lips to his.

  It was brief, too brief, but I needed to breathe. Leaning away, I looked up into his wide, confused eyes. “Nethiun, whatever happens, nothing is going to change between us. I promise that. Alright?”

  That expression smoothed, becoming blank. His laugh was humorless, full of harsh cynicism. “I wish that were true. You think you want to know, while I've been trying to forget it.”

  “Forget... what?”

  His hands curled around my wrists, keeping me hugging him. “Gale, my Mistress knows what you can do. I didn't want to tell her, but it wasn't something I had a choice in.”

  “I know, I suspected you would do that. But it's okay, I'm not mad—”

  “No,” he hushed me. “No, let me finish. It isn't that I told her, that's not the worse part. It's what she told me.”

  Standing there, I waited for him to finish. When he didn't, I forced myself to whisper. “Go on. What was it?”

  Those lips, lips that had kissed me to the point of delusion, that had coiled into smiles and brought me joy. They parted before me, inches away, and told me what I had been afraid of for so long. Afraid of, yet too much of a coward to ask directly.

  “Gale, I was instructed to kill you.”

  Everything around me felt tense, the air smothering. He was holding on so firmly, I expected him to not let me go when I pulled away,

  Miraculously, he let his hands drift uselessly to his sides. Standing there on the quiet, empty beach, we watched each other with such similar distress it was heart breaking.

  “You wouldn't.” It was as bold a claim as I could make. If he had hesitated, said nothing, my entire confidence would have shattered.

  He lifted his chin. “I won't, you're right.”

  Relief sank into my bones. So sudden, that pressure releasing, that I crumbled onto the sand.

  Nethiun was at my side, helping me sit down. “Gale, what is it? Are you alright?”

  Grinning so my teeth shone, I nodded. “I'm just exhausted. And relieved, to hear you say that. Before, you told me you couldn't promise me you could keep me safe from her.”

  His frown was small, but obvious. “I still can't promise that. Gale, my Mistress... if she wants me gone, she has to merely decide it. I'm pretty certain once she realizes you aren't dead that she'll remove me, and then no doubt come after you.”

  I went limp, hands digging into the grainy ground around me. “Just like that, then. So what do we do?”

  “I wish I had an answer.” He pulled my jacket around me firmly, then squinted at my face. “You're white as a ghost. What is it?”

  Thinking about it, I found myself chuckling in embarrassment. “Nothing big. I haven't eaten since those oranges last night. All the stress, everything, I haven't been hungry.”

  “That's not like you,” he teased.

  Huffing, I stuck out my tongue. “Too bad I can't eat sand.”

  Straightening up, Nethiun glanced out over the water. “Stay here and enjoy the tranquility. I'll get you something.”

  Arguing was useless, I was too drained. “Alright, but don't take too long.”

  “Of course not.” Flashing me one more grin, a look that made me swell with delight, the twaelin vanished into the void.

  Unhooking my backpack, I used it as a cushion. Enjoy the tranquility, he says. Shoving my boots off and socks off, I wiggled my toes in the sand.

  Maybe I'm in shock, maybe things are so nuts that I don't know how to react anymore. But if what he said was true, and he's decided to stand up against his Mistress to keep me safe...

  It may end up a useless gesture.

  The moon was winking in the sky, casting a ghostly glow over everything. Closing my eyes, I pressed my fingers to my belly and tried again to feel for the power that rested in me.

  I didn't get much time to explore. The electric tingle in the air was an announcement. “Geez, Nethiun,” I laughed, glancing up and expecting his familiar form, “you really are fast—”

  Those gold eyes, tired, twitchy, watched me from a few feet away. It wasn't Nethiun who'd appeared, but Ethlyn.

  He was hunched over, holding himself like he was still in pain. One hand covered his shoulder, the other hung at his side limply.

  “Ethlyn!” I gasped, struggling to my feet. I was hit by a wave of lightheadedness from my hunger, but stumbled over to him anyway. “Ethlyn, I—are you alright? I talked to Valenforth earlier, he said you weren't doing well, but...”

  But here he is. Why is he here?

  He didn't say anything, only hung his head. Chestnut hair, more frazzled than I'd seen before, dangled into his eyes.

  Bending low, I hesitated to touch him. My hands paused just over his arms, twitching in the air. “Ethlyn, hey, Ethlyn! Talk to me, are you okay?”

  He lifted his head, showing me the empty, insane glint in his bloodshot eyes. “No, I'm not.”

  Oh God, he looks awful!

  Wincing, I pulled my hands back to me. “What's wrong? Tell me, just talk to me. I'm so sorry about everything, Ethlyn. I didn't mean for any of it to happen, I swear.”

  “I know.” He didn't even smile. “I know you didn't.”

  “Does it hurt still?” I asked, eyeing his shoulder, the spot he had hidden.

  Licking his lips, Ethlyn stared lower. I didn't know what he was looking at, but it wasn't my face. “It... it itches, Gale. It's pulling at me, screaming to get it back. To take it.”

  The back of my neck prickled. “What?”

  “Here,” he said, so quiet the waves almost took the word away on the wind. “There. I need it. Gale, I need it back. I—I'm sorry.”

  Bristling with a rush of fear, I inched my foot back. “What are you sorry for?”

  “It itches, it just... it's too much. I'm going to go insane, if I don't—I need...”

  What the hell is he saying?

  “Ethlyn, what? What do you need? You're scaring me now.”

  Gold as the sun, yet colder than shadow, the twaelin lifted his eyes back up to me.

  It was too fast, I hardly saw him moving. That was when I knew what he had been so fixated on. Wicked fingers glowed blue, ripping into my belly. It didn't even hurt.

  No, not at first.

  Stunned by the impossibility of it all, I felt his hand digging deep into my gut. No, this can't be happening. Gaping down at the limb protruding from me, I noticed I had fallen to my knees.

  Ethlyn bent over me, blocking out the moon, his face dark as pitch. Even so, I could see his tears. “I'm sorry, I'm sorry,” he sobbed. “I need it back, I need myself back, I...”

  I tried to speak, but only a bubbling hiss came. My mouth was full of the taste of pennies.

  Blood, that's blood. I'm dying.

  Around my vision, blackness crawled in like eager ants. Sharp, the pain in my belly became worse.

  Closing my eyes, I felt numbness kicking in. My brain was drowning, lost as darkness took over.

  Even so, I heard him. His voice was louder than anything, louder than my thoughts.

  “Gale! Gale, no!”

  Nethiun, that's him calling my name.

  Screaming as he was, it wasn't possible to pull me back from the brink of death.

  My last thought, as I felt the sand brush my cheek, was that I'd at least managed to tell my mother I had loved her that day.

  It was a small thing, but in our last moments, those always bring the most comfort.

  Chapter 21.

  Nethiun

  In one moment, I'd been holding a brownie in my hand. Som
ething sweet for Gale, something I knew she would like. My biggest worry, when I had appeared back on the beach, was that she might question my morals in stealing the bit of food for her.

  How small it seemed, in hindsight.

  Standing there on the beach, I watched the woman I longed for, the woman I had minutes ago sworn once more to protect...

  I watched her fall to the ground, an arm buried deep in her belly.

  Ethlyn didn't see me, not until I roared out her name. “Gale! Gale, no!”

  Then he looked, his eyes reminding me of a rabid animal. Something was wrong with him, and any other time, I would have wondered what.

  I didn't care about anything but her.

  She had been everything, I'd been willing to risk my life in order to avoid the torture of killing her at my Mistress's request.

  In a blur, I was on him, shoving him into the ground in an explosion of sand. “Why!?” I roared, not giving him a chance to answer.

  Jamming my fists into his jaw, his throat, any place I could touch, I pummeled Ethlyn without missing a beat.

  He didn't fight back, not once.

  Breathing heavy, blood dripping down my knuckles and staining the once white shirt, I gripping him by the neck. “Why?” I asked again, teeth bared. “WHY!?”

  His face was no longer human, the glowing mass of blueish light flickering through, leaking everywhere. I knew I was destroying him, no part of me considered letting him leave.

  No, he wouldn't be escaping this time.

  Gritty, like his throat was full of sand—and perhaps it was—Ethlyn began mumbling. “I couldn't... couldn't stop myself.. I...”

  Throwing him aside, I knelt beside Gale. I knew she was dead, I'd known the moment her emotional cloud had snuffed away in a burst of sad acceptance. That knowledge didn't stop me from cradling her head, from touching her cold skin.

  Pushing her red hair from her face, as wild as ever even in death, I grit my teeth.

  No, after everything, no. How could this be?

  Behind me, I heard Ethlyn muttering. It was wet, he choking on his words. “She took part of me... took it, and I just... I needed it back. You don't know that pain, you don't know that... that ache...”

  “Shut up,” I whispered, placing my lips on her cream-colored forehead. “Just stop.”

  “It itched, it itched, and... even now, I don't... I didn't get it from her... I reached into her, where I thought it was, my energy, and—”

  Unable to stand it any longer, I had stood in a whirl, crushing my heel down onto what was left of his skull.

  Watching the energy melting away in front of me, returning to the source, I knew I would see Ethlyn again.

  I didn't doubt the Corpse King would bring him back, he always had before.

  For hours, I didn't know how many, I sat beside the body of the woman I loved on the beach.

  Holding her in my lap, staring out over the waves, I thought about how wrong everything had gone.

  Hadn't it only been a few days ago that I'd taken her flying the first time? Kissed her sweet lips and hungered for more?

  Last night we'd made love.

  Today, I held her corpse.

  She called me a demon, once. Maybe she wasn't so wrong about that, in the end. The title is fitting for creatures like us.

  When the sun began to rise, I lay her head gently on the ground. I knew her body would be found eventually, but that wasn't part of my concern.

  I didn't care about any of that.

  I'd already lost what mattered most.

  ****

  The throne room was blacker than I recalled it being. Maybe it was just my mood.

  Saying nothing, I knelt by her manicured feet, hoping I could sit in silence for eternity.

  It was not to be.

  “Is she gone?” My Mistress asked, smoke wafting around in lazy billowing curls.

  My jaw hurt from being squeezed like a vice. “She is gone, Mistress.”

  “Good. Then it's done with.”

  Saying nothing, I crouched there and waited. I didn't even know what I was waiting for, anymore.

  Nothing felt like it mattered.

  “Nethiun, look at me.”

  Tilting up my head, I watched her where she lounged.

  Unfolding her legs, she set her nails on her knees. “Someday, you will understand the good that was done with this decision. The girl was able to eradicate us. Do you understand the implication of that?”

  “Yes, Mistress.” I'd comprehended from the first moment I'd seen it happening. I still hadn't cared.

  Studying me, she smoothed the front of her silken dress, like my mood had been the one to wrinkle it. “Leave me. Do as you will. This matter is done, entertain yourself.”

  Long ago, that would have excited me.

  Now, I simply bowed my head low and vanished. It didn't matter where I went, everything was bland and pointless.

  But to get away from her, that was as good as it could get for me anymore.

  ****

  Time is a funny thing when you've got no one to spend it with. It had to have been several days since Gale's death.

  I couldn't have been sure.

  Pushing through the doors of the bakery, the bell jingled over my head. Inside, I saw the face of the girl that had left such a hole in me.

  The poster was stuck up in a few spots, her smiling face and tamed hair making me positive it had been a schoolbook photo.

  She'd never looked as put together as that.

  Missing person signs. So, they still haven't found her body?

  At the front of the store, I locked eyes with the broad baker who I recognized as Josef.

  He, too, clearly remembered who I was. His eyes boggled, eyebrows flying high. “You!” He gasped, dropping the loaf of bread in his hands onto the floor. He picked it up, frowning at the dirt on it. “I—sorry, you just surprised me.”

  “Forgive me.”

  “I haven't seen you since the festival,” he murmured. A deep sadness coated his tone, made worse by how his eyes watered. “Seems like so long ago, now.”

  Turning my head, I looked pointedly at the posters. “I was hoping you'd be kind enough to hand off some old bread of yours to me.”

  “Old bread?” Josef squinted, before smoothing his thick brows. “Oh. You wanna go feed the birds, like Gale used to. That it?”

  Inclining my head, I hoped he wouldn't argue with me.

  If I had any luck, it was with me. Smiling gently, he offered up the loaf he'd dropped. “Here, just take this. No good now, anyway.”

  Smiling sideways, I cradled the bread carefully. “Thank you.” I was done, I wanted out. Turning, I began to stride for the door.

  His words made me freeze.

  “There isn't any chance you've seen her, is there? Know where she is, any clue?” He sounded desperate.

  The look I tossed him was brief, my hand already on the door. “I'm sorry.” It was all I could think to say.

  The walk to the park was an easy one. It was quiet out, the sky threatening snow as November drew near.

  Sitting on the familiar bench, I started pulling off chunks of bread. The birds arrived slowly at first, but the more I tossed, the grander the flock became.

  Watching them peck at the crumbs, I was helpless to think of anything but Gale.

  This was the place we'd first talked. That evening, how frightened she had been of me...

  I never would have guessed how things would have turned out, that I would have fallen so deeply for her.

  And to think it's over. What do I do with myself?

  If I could have broken away from my Mistress, from the twaelin, I would
have. But I knew better than ever, I wasn't human.

  Pretending to be something I wasn't, it was pointless. That hadn't stopped Gale from loving me. She had loved me, even though she'd never said it.

  Laughing, jaded by it all, it occurred to me that what I longed for was death.

  And the one person who could have given it to me, had to die for me to want it in the first place.

  What an awful world this was.

  “Nethiun?”

  The voice was feminine, one I knew. Sitting up, I looked over to find Becky standing beside me.

  Her blue eyes were gigantic, as if I was an impossible ghost. “It is you,” she whispered.

  “It is.” I threw more bread to the hungry sparrows.

  “I—it's just, I haven't seen you since... since before Gale vanished.”

  “It's been a while, yes.”

  I could feel the vibe of unease coming off of her. I wasn't sure of the reason, until she looked behind her.

  Wide shoulders and thick mustache, it took me a minute to remember his face. The night the sign fell, this man... he talked to Gale and Becky on the street.

  He gave me a grin that would have rivaled my own, if I had been inclined to smile. “Hello there,” he coughed, wandering up to stand by Becky. “I'm detective Remmy. You're Nethiun, correct?”

  Ah, a detective. Now I see.

  “Yes, that's me,” I said. More bread fell at my feet.

  “I've been told a bit about you. Would you mind if I asked you a few questions?”

  Tilting my head, my ear came close to brushing my shoulder. “What about?”

  Becky bit her lip, shooting her eyes between us. The girl was radiating with her anxiety. I'm guessing she called him when she spotted me on the campus. They moved fast, have they been looking for me, waiting?

  “It's about Gale Everette,” he mumbled, yanking out a pad of paper. “I understand you and her spent some time together. Did you know she came to me, over two weeks ago, wanting to report you as her stalker?”