A Heart of Ice and Shadow (Shadows Eternal #2)

Chapter 22

Eris squeaked with delight and fluffed her short purple hair. “That went well, I think.”

Nor let out a deep sigh. “What have you done, sister?”

Sága turned to face Eris, her yellow eyes glowing brightly. “You know which creature she spoke of, do you not?”

“I haven’t done anything,” Eris huffed, stretching her arms out widely.

“You said he,” Sága pointed out.

Eris wrinkled her nose. “I should call you Doom and Gloom,” she griped, pointing to each of them. “You don’t even need a reason to be suspicious.”

“You always give us a reason to be suspicious,” Nor countered.

Eris crossed her arms in dramatic offense, then gave a little shrug. “Something is always ‘coming’ or ‘stirring’ in the deep darkness of the Abyss and beyond. Xel has been trapped in that mirror for centuries. Let him continue to rot.”

“Xel’voth?” Nor clarified, glancing at Sága with unease.

“He should be dead,” Sága replied, raising a questioning brow at Eris.

“He might as well be dead,” Eris told them as she fiddled with an invisible piece of lint on her skirt.

“But he isn’t,” Sága declared.

A deep scowl spread over Eris’s face. “Semantics.”

“He’s dangerous,” Nor added nervously. “His existence threatens to throw everything off balance. If he were ever to escape?—”

“You’re just worrywarts. He can’t hurt anyone if he’s stuck in that mirror,” Eris told them.

Her sisters glanced at each other and then back to her.

“He’s beyond my sight in the Hall of Reflections,” Sága told her sternly.

“It’s not my fault the mages of the mirrors created that silly pocket dimension beyond your all-seeing eyes,” Eris grumbled.

“Could he have played a part in this?” Nor asked Sága.

Her sister sighed. “Possibly. There is a cursed creature, also beyond my vision, who has played a role throughout this debacle. If Xel’voth is trapped within the Hall of Reflections and this creature was cursed by the Pool, it’s probable they have been convening.”

Eris groaned in exasperation. “Xel is silver tongued, but he’s no great mastermind. He got himself trapped in that mirror by his own people, for Moldorn’s sake. Besides, he’s no match for me. He never was and never will be, despite his best efforts—the poor, pasty little toad.”

“He should be dead,” Sága repeated with a withering look at Eris.

“A fate he avoided only by your interference,” Nor added, mirroring her sister’s scornful expression.

Eris rolled her eyes, but there was no missing the slight flush of color on her cheeks. “If he ever finds his way out of that prison—which he never will,” she conceded with annoyance, “I’ll handle him.”

“You should pray that day never comes, sister,” Nor replied.

Eris scoffed. “It’s not as if I can go there, you know. He’s beyond my reach in that place too. Which is too bad.” She sighed longingly. “It would have been great fun to torment him while he’s been stuck in that mirror.”

Her sisters shared another worried look, which irritated Eris. She greatly disliked being irritated. She much more enjoyed being the one doing the irritating. “How is it that all you two want to talk about is pasty old Xel’voth when we just sent a Star back to the mortal realm to be turned into a vampire?” Eris squealed with delight once more and spun in a circle, a flutter of purple magick following her. “It’s all very romantic.”

“It’s all very chaotic,” Nor grumbled.

Eris smirked. “And I didn’t even have to play a part! It almost makes me want to go find a vampire lover of my own. I’m far overdue for a romantic tryst.”

“No,” Nor and Sága said in tandem. Anytime Eris set out to distract herself with love, it always ended poorly, with her sisters having to clean up the mess.

Eris scowled. “You’re a bunch of bores,” she declared, sticking out her tongue in their direction.

“Love,” Nor said, as if feeling out the word on her tongue.

“I still can’t believe it,” Eris chirped with a wide, wistful smile.

“I saw the Star and knew her path was unclear, but I didn’t see any signs of this,” Sága admitted with displeasure.

Eris shrugged. “Not even you can see everything, sister. Chaos touches every corner of the universe. Even yours.”

As Celestial Weavers, the sisters had the power to see beyond what any other magickal creature could. Sága could even see what was to come. However, she could not see everything, as Eris had said.

Sága glared at her sister, and Eris flew into a fit of giggles. “A vampire!” she boomed. “Of all things!”

Nor could interfere with the flow of Fate, but she couldn’t write it herself. At best, she could sew change into diverging streams of time and hope that her alterations would soothe catastrophe. It didn’t always work.

Chaos, as Eris had pointed out, was ever present. By her hand or otherwise, it seemed to create ripples over the spans of time. Sometimes for the better. Sometimes for the worse.

“You played no part in this?” Nor asked Eris skeptically. “In this match?”

Eris shrugged. “When it comes to love, I rarely have to. Love is perfect chaos all its own. Even for vampires and Stars, it would seem.”

Sága peered out over the Celestial Sea. “I worry over what I cannot see. Xel’voth might not be pulling strings, but someone is. I can sense it, even if I cannot see it.”

“Because it’s not enough to worry about what you can see?” Eris lamented.

Sága cut her a look.

Eris sighed and came over to weave her arms through each of her sisters’s. “Xel is trapped and rotting in limbo,” she pointed out. “The Star of Umbra is in love with a vampire—is about to become a vampire! Leave your never-ending pessimism for later and enjoy that, for once, things are not so dire. At least for a moment.”

Nor sighed, and Sága grumbled.

“How about a drink?” Eris posed.

“I do like the ones with the little umbrellas,” Nor admitted.

Eris clapped with joy and spun around to face them both. “I have the perfect place,” she chimed. “They make a daiquiri that’s to die for! You know—if we could.”

Nor looked to Sága for her opinion.

Sága glanced back over Moldorn. “It’s been an age since I’ve been to the mortal realm,” she admitted. “And I see no complications as a result. I suppose one drink couldn’t hurt.”

“A few drinks,” Eris corrected with wicked delight. “And who knows? Maybe I can scrounge up a few lovers for you too.”