I watched as we moved to Ryder’s engagement party, and his actions as he mirrored mine, itching for me to move so he could touch me. He hadn’t even planned on hurting me; he had just wanted to touch me right up until Zahruk had stabbed me.
I felt his pain as he looked to where the dagger had protruded from my chest, the hopelessness he’d felt as he sifted me to Eliran. His anger as the Guild took me from him and left him helpless but to wait until I could heal so he could claim me again.
And then I watched as Joseph waited for me and everything he’d done to Larissa during that time. This part I could have lived without, but I understood it was a piece of who I was, and the person I was now becoming. I watched as he cut her open again, and then Ristan was there, pulling me into his arms and sifting me to safety. I’d begged him to save her, but I could see what he could see now, her soul wasn’t there. She’d already left her body and departed the living world for the other.
Then I was inside my head, and Ryder was there again. He’d brought me back when no one else could have. Danu might have had a plan, but she couldn’t have seen us as this, as a unity of one who worked well together. She’d had no guarantee that we would end up together, since all she could was push us in the right way without interfering directly.
I was shown my entire life up until the moment I died. It had been a turbulent ride, but I was still here. I heard the Fates as they whispered behind me, and I as I turned toward them, they spoke.
“For one so young, you’ve seen a lot,” they whispered, and one narrowed her eyes on me.
“She’s pure of heart and her soul is perfect for the change. What is done is done, and so you shall stay as you are. You have been blessed, and we will take your story to those who shall seek to argue against you becoming a Goddess. One pure of deed, whose heart is true normally cannot be challenged; however there are those that may try. Blessed be, Synthia.”
They talked through each other. As if together, they were one. Three pairs of hands grasped me at the same time and then my vision was blinded with light, and I was pushed into the water.
When I popped back up, it was to them scrubbing me like a naughty child who’d played in the mud. One used a sponge, which washed over my skin like sandpaper; another washed my hair until it slid over my flesh as the softest silk. The third snapped her fingers and the most beautiful dress appeared in her arms.
Danu watched it silently, her hands filled with golden jewels as pride filled her pose. “It’s not every day a Goddess is born, Synthia; enjoy it now, for you will not remember meeting them, once they’ve gone.”
“Is that true?” I asked the Fates, who nodded as one with an impish look in their eyes.
“We will remember you, and you will be watched closely for the first century of your new life, but no; you won’t remember us, for we must know if you are truly worthy of this gift Danu has bestowed upon you.”
I was helped to stand, naked, in front of an oval shaped, full-length mirror. I looked at my naked form, noting my body was slim, and showed no signs of having carried the triplets. My eyes were once again the azure blue they’d been before I’d become Fae. My hair was longer, but not by much. “May I ask you a question?” I looked at the tallest, and watched her as she looked right through me.
“You may, but you will not like our answer.”
I had to try. “If you can see, and know everyone’s fates, can you—”
I was silenced, unable to get the next word out.