“I refuse to raise a child of his. Take him and raise him as yours.” Fate’s voice softened as she turned to leave. “He won’t replace the one you left behind on Earth, but maybe your heart will ache less when you hold him.”
Tears fell from Joro’s eyes as she clutched the child to her breasts. “Why would you care about any pain I feel? I was responsible for your marriage ending and the destruction of the child in your womb. You even saved me when Mother would have sent me to Hades. I deserved the punishment I received.”
Her puzzled words had Fate clenching her hands. She was shaking; the delivery had not been an easy one, and she didn’t need to be reminded of the treachery Joro had committed. However, Joro’s words brought back the memories of the day that her marriage to Valentine had been broken irrevocably, resulting in the death of her unborn child. Recollections that still brought tremendous sorrow to her heart, which left her vulnerable. Fate stifled the emotion just like she had always done.
The day Joro had been responsible for changing Fate’s life had begun with morning sickness and a sense of dread lying heavy in the air. Unable to see her own future, Fate had only been able to sense the danger that was coming closer to revealing itself. It was to be Fate and Valentine’s fourth child, and Fate had sensed the sweet girl’s timid movements within her womb.
She had been nervous as soon as the child had been conceived; her powers enabled her to see the child’s fate. Fate saw the darkness. She knew that the child would never be born, yet Fate prayed to Mother and took all precautions, staying home and resting, doing everything possible to ensure the health of her unborn child. She had even summoned Merlin to her home to bind her power of travel. An unborn child could not transport, and Fate did not want to take a chance on utilizing a power that was employed several times a day without thought. Merlin would bind that power until after the child’s birth.
Merlin did not respond to her request immediately; it was only after her third summons—when she had threatened him with Mother’s involvement—that he had finally come to her castle.
Valentine had been by her side as Merlin entered, both men remaining silent as he readied his potion. It was only when Fate noticed his shaking hands and pale features that enlightenment finally dawned.
“You have already placed a bind on one of my powers, haven’t you?” A God or Goddess could have no more than one bind on their powers. Mother had placed the safeguard for their protection. Merlin had never been known for his courage; he was aware that he would face not only Fate’s anger but also Mother’s when his duplicity was discovered.
“She begged me to. I did not want to, but she wouldn’t stop until I agreed.” Merlin’s pale face was a testament to the severity of his actions.
“Who?” Fate had questioned. She had many enemies, but what Merlin had done was a punishable offense by Mother.
“Joro.”
Fate nodded. He had always been a sucker for a pretty face. He was a wimp, and a horny one at that. It wouldn’t be the first time Merlin had been seduced to gain access of his tremendous skills.
“What power did she want bound and why?”
“Your ability to see Joro and her lover during their encounters.”
“There would be only one reason that would be important to Joro.” Fate turned to her husband, the guilt evident on his face.
“You knew?” Her husband flinched at her question.
He nodded, his hand reaching out to touch her.
“Don’t you dare touch me.” Valentine withdrew his hand.
“Send for her,” Fate ordered her unfaithful husband.
“Fate, wait until you’re not so upset. Remember our child.” Fate’s brow rose at her husband’s words of caution.
“Send for her.” Fate spoke softly. Pain that she never believed a Goddess was capable of feeling was tearing her apart. She had sought to prevent this agony by choosing Valentine as her husband, yet even he had been unable to prevent the lure of other women.
Seconds later, Joro appeared next to Valentine. The defiance in her face spoke volumes. “You sent for me?”
Fate had believed Joro a friend; her attitude of contempt proved Fate wrong.
“I did. You dared to have Merlin bind my powers. I thought it only fair you were here when he removed the spell.”
Joro did not speak, however she watched arrogantly as Merlin worked his magic and removed the spell. Images flashed before her quicker than light. Fate saw each and every time they’d had their sexual encounters. The passion between them was evident and forced an unconscious whimper from her lips. Valentine stood quietly as every deception was revealed.
Fate looked at the beautiful woman with her black hair to her waist and the figure of a siren. Joro’s beauty had always drawn the Gods and Immortals. Fate’s was not the first heart she had broken by taking what belonged to another.
While all three waited for her reaction, Fate ruthlessly battled and suppressed the hurt and jealously that had her wanting to rip them apart. Other than the small whimper Fate had stifled and the trembling hand she placed on the small mound of her stomach, she made no further movement or sound until she had herself under iron control.
Staring into Valentine’s pained gaze, she spoke with finality. “I cast you out of my home and heart. Never will you be granted entry again. Leave and never return.” Ice dripped from her voice.
Valentine took a step toward her, but at her step backwards, he stopped. “I am sorry, Fate.” He had been married to Fate for centuries; he knew her well enough to know the finality of her words. No begging or pleading would sway her decision. For the health of his unborn child, not wanting to further upset her, Valentine disappeared, leaving Merlin and Joro to face Fate on their own.
Fate pinned Merlin with her cold stare. “I will not tell Mother of your actions.” Relief and fear warred on his tired, lined face. Fate would not let him off that easily. Her next words proved that. “In return, one day you will repay this debt upon my demand. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Fate.” Merlin wrung his trembling hands.
“Leave my home. I will find another to bind my power.” Merlin jerked at the insult, disappearing before she could change her mind.
Fate turned her attention to Joro, who stood unafraid before the powerful Moirai.
Laughing softly, Joro walked casually around Fate’s bedroom, touching her personal items; a perfume bottle, a diamond necklace, even picking up her nightgown lying on her bed, letting the cool silk run through her fingers before tossing it back on the bed.
“You should see your face.” Joro mocked her stern countenance. Disrespectfully, she sat down on Fate’s bed. “How the mighty have fallen.”
“You do not fear my anger or Mother’s?” Fate was surprised at her brazen attitude.
“Why should I feel afraid? I have never feared what you have in store for my future. You have said often enough we are mistresses of our own fate. I agree with you. As for Mother, she has never interfered with my affairs before. If you plan to keep your deal with Merlin, then I cannot be punished for binding your powers.”
Fate studied the slut lying on her bed. “May I ask why you decided to sleep with my husband?”
“My dear Fate, we did very little sleeping as I am sure you are well aware. I do not think that you were keeping Valentine very satisfied, which I rectified immediately.”
“I am sure you did.” Fate did not let the woman see she had struck a nerve.
“Don’t be bitchy, Fate. It is very unbecoming of a woman of your stature. Be thankful I’m letting him go. After your anger has time to mellow, your marriage will be better than before he fucked me.” Joro fell back on the covers, smiling smugly. Turning her head to the side so she could get a better view of Fate’s stiff figure standing by the enormous bed, she sighed and raised herself up until she was leaning on her elbows.
“It was never about you or Valentine; merely a fringe benefit. Valentine was a means to satisfy my needs. My goals
have been accomplished. Now I merely have to wait until the one I do want comes to me. Valentine will see to that for me. I needed his powers more than his cock, but as always, I must give to one before I can achieve the other.”
Understanding her machinations—Valentine had been a pawn just as Merlin had been to achieve the goal that Joro needed their combined power—Fate’s mind began to search the fabric of time for a change that, with her amateur skills, Joro had wrought in order to manipulate the one she truly desired. It took mere moments before the power Fate had wielded since time had begun found the small shift. Fear clenched in Fate’s stomach.
Turning abruptly, she ran out onto her balcony, frantically searching the star studded sky… There it was, hidden within the outer reaches of time. Joro was about to achieve her goal at another’s destruction.
Fate had only a fraction of a second to come to a decision. “I am truly sorry, little one.” Tears were choked back, and without hesitation, Fate disappeared.
Joro stood up at Fate’s disappearance. A strong wind blew in from the open balcony, wind throwing and pinning her to the floor while leaving Fate’s possessions alone. Joro lay helplessly on the floor as Mother in all her glory then walked regally into the room. Her fury was evident in the wind tearing and slapping at Joro’s skin.
“Your actions have cost the life of an unborn child that I had gifted upon my dearest friend. You fool, even in Fate’s anger she sought to protect you and earned your mockery.”
Mother’s head tilted as if listening to an invisible voice. “Fate knows the punishment I have planned for you and has asked for mercy for your actions. I will grant Fate’s plea. Instead of sending you to Hades, which you deserve, I will be lenient. Stand.” The wind died, leaving the room eerily still as Joro rose shakily to her feet.
“You shall walk the earth as a human. If you die in human form before I call you home, forever will your black soul be lost.”
“Mother, please, do not do this,” Joro begged.
“I will not call you home until I know that you understand the pain Fate is now feeling at the loss of her husband and child.”
The verdict made, Joro disappeared as Mother’s punishment became final.
Chapter 3
Fate brought herself back to the present, the fresh air and the crying child a stark reminder of the path that had led her to this moment. She had recognized that Joro was not the same woman on her return home. She had always fought for what she wanted, either by outright confrontation or stealth; but as a human on Earth, she had at last learned compassion, loyalty, and above all else, love.
“I told you on your return that I forgave you, and I regret the child you left behind. Take and raise Odin’s son as your own, and in repayment, I will see that one day a part of your child will come home,” Fate promised.
Joro nodded while the child crying quieted as she soothed him. Fate forced back the sob in her throat and the desire to tear the child out of her arms.
“What shall we call him?” Joro’s question brought tears she refused to shed to her eyes.
“Thor.” As Fate disappeared, Joro barely heard her last whispered words. “Make him into the warrior he is destined to become.”
Destiny was waiting for Fate, catching her in her arms and helping her into the bed that had been cleaned to remove all traces of the recent childbirth. They could not die, but their bodies functioned as humans, feeling pain and agony just as those they watched over.
“You should have waited. It was too soon to leave your bed. Now it will take you much longer to heal,” Destiny fussed.
Fate buried her face in the pillow to keep Destiny from seeing her ravaged face. “I had to. If I had waited a moment longer, I would never have let him leave my arms.”
“You cannot unseal his future or Odin’s,” Destiny said. Fate felt her sit down on the bed next to her.
Fate said nothing as she turned on her side, away from her sister. She would not spill any tears over her decision, however the sacrifice was another in a long line that she had made to keep those she loved safe, each one tearing another piece of her heart away.
Destiny sat by her side long into the night, watching her fight the fever that overcame her body. It was almost dawn when Fate looked up to see Mother by her side.
Destiny lowered her head in respect as Mother knelt by Fate’s side.
“My dearest friend, it is beyond me to watch you suffer any longer.” Gently, she laid her hand on Fate’s forehead. Instantly, her body ceased moving fitfully and a sigh left her lips as she reached up to gently clasp Mother’s hand in her damp one.
“Please do not be angry with me.” Fate murmured.
“Why? Because you gave my gift to another to try to save those that cannot be saved?”
Fate’s hand tightened on Mother’s hand. “To save us all,” Fate replied, firming her weakening resolve.
“Rest Fate.” Mother sat down by Fate’s side, taking her into her loving arms. “The battle is near, but not tomorrow. For your sacrifice, I will grant you one reward when you wish. Even I do not know if the events you have set in motion will have the results you hope to achieve. We can only wait and watch over those we love and those who could destroy us all.”
Fate fell asleep as peace filled her—a parting gift from Mother. She lay in the bed that her son had been conceived in, remembering the night of passion that had led to the birth of Thor. Regret blossomed in her chest that there would never be another night in Odin’s arms to experience the feelings he could still rise in her weakened body as it suffered the aftermath of birth.
Gazing out into the star filled night, Fate sought the sight that always comforted her. Instead of seeing the millions of lives she constantly watched over, she focused on the miraculous beauty of a night darkened sky with a lone tiny star twinkling.
“Sleep little one.” Fate closed her eyes and finally slept, not seeing the curtain billowing in the wind, revealing a shadowed figure rigid with fury at being unable to enter.
His hands were clenched into fists because a God with his power was being held at bay. The desire to grab the stubborn woman and drag her back to his castle was palpable. Forcing himself to calm and take deep breaths, Odin whispered a promise on the night air over and over until the sleeping woman tensed beneath her silken covers and her dreams became nightmares at the revenge Odin would one day exact.
In her dreams, he could have her over and over again. She was at his mercy. Fate saw herself in the dream, held tightly in his embrace of iron with a brutal hand in her hair, tilting her head back and forcing her to look into his intimidating glare.
“You will be mine.”
“Never again,” Fate’s teeth gritted out her response.
“You will be mine. Know that as you run through time trying to escape me, every night you lay your head down to sleep, I will be waiting for you. I will bide my time—eternity is on my side. I will force myself to wait and watch. Until then, know I will not be denied. You will be mine.”
Centuries Later…
Fate leaned against the tree, watching her daughter with her new husband, laughing at something Valentine had said to them. Valentine beamed at the just married couple, proud as any father, both mortal and immortal. He had been asked by the couple to perform the ceremony, and it had been touching when tears had fallen from his eyes as he had announced them man and wife.
“You kept your promise.” Intent on the couple, Fate had not noticed Joro’s approach.
“I did, as did you. Your progeny has returned home.”
“I am truly honored that he is married to your daughter.” Joro reached out a shaking hand and touched Fate’s hand, clasping it within her own. “I wronged you, Fate, and deserved the punishment I received. Your forgiveness humbles me.”
Fate looked at Thor now hugging Cara and thumping Jericho on his back, nearly knocking the man over into the huge cake waiting to be cut.
“You paid your penance, Joro, and repaid your debt.
You made Thor into the warrior I needed him to become.”
“I did not do it alone; Odin trained him and gave him a place by his side. But that was your intention, wasn’t it, Fate? Which one are you protecting, Fate? Everyone within the realms is aware you deny Odin, that you mock his desire for you, so it must be Thor whom you protect.” A worried frown crossed Joro’s forehead, fear entering her eyes. Thor had become a son to her in every way but blood, and the look on Fate’s face was raising her mothering instincts of protection.
“I cannot speak of the future. Your lover and son will make their own path toward which destiny awaits them.”
Joro stared hard at Fate, seeing that she never took her eyes off Thor. Calm settled over Joro. Fate loved her children. Just looking around the gardens outside Fate’s castle gave proof to that devotion.
Cara was in her new husband’s arms, held tight and loved. The same man holding her was a descendent of Joro’s, looking just as the son she had left behind on Earth. A warrior’s heart and blood ran through that body. Yes, Fate protected her children well. If Thor was in danger, then there was no better protector than the woman who had given him life.
Joro smiled at Fate and stepped forward, hugging the woman and reverently kissing her cheek. “I guess this makes us sort of in-laws.”
Fate was caught off guard by Joro’s reaction, not sure how to react. She wasn’t given a chance since Joro quickly released her and moved toward the other guests as they gathered around the gigantic cake about to be finally cut.
“By the way, for your information, Odin is not my lover. I would never touch another male of yours. I learned my lesson. Unlike you, I can give you my premonition of the future; although I do not have your gift, I am not blind.” Joro waved her hand at a glowering Odin standing with the other married couple. “I do not believe that you will escape Odin for much longer.”
“You couldn’t have learnt your lesson too well by trying to antagonize me,” Fate shot back sarcastically.