Chapter 74
Blade
“Your grandmother is well?” Blade asked Roland, walking him and Marv at a rapid clip out to the courtyard, where Lyssa stood with the guvres.
“Sicker by the day, but always in good spirits,” Roland replied. “Where’s my sister?”
“She’s on her way down.” Blade paused, observing the other Fortis brothers who had unexpectedly tagged along. “You all know she’s going to be very angry that you are here, correct?”
Reid Fortis gave his winning smile. “Even me? I’m her favorite.”
Roland snorted. “Whatever you need to tell yourself.”
“I said one of you bring it back!” Rebecka’s voice was that of a woman who had been defied outright. It was scary.
He was really enjoying it.
“We thought it was safer for us all to come together,” Reid offered jovially, slapping his hands on Roland’s and Raphael’s shoulders.
“For whom?” she inquired, walking up to them with crossed arms and a lifted brow.
Reid laughed, shoving Raphael forward. “Rafe, tell her how much you wanted to see her.”
“I wanted to see you,” Raphael grumbled. Rebecka rolled her eyes, but Blade could see the tiniest hint of a smile.
She was happy they’d come.
And now Blade was, too.
“Marv, almost didn’t see you there, buddy. How’re you feeling?” Blade patted his shoulder, and Marv winced.
Roland put an arm around him, holding the guard up. “The flowers I was treating him with stopped helping. The poison is no closer to his heart, but he’s getting weaker.”
“Bring him to the courtyard,” Keeley ordered, bounding down the steps. “There may be a solution.”
In the sunlight, Fate stood with her two large creations, the female guvre leaning her head down for a bump of her snout. “Lulu won’t produce any more venom until she sees her babies,” she said as they approached. “And Fergus is at risk of melting whatever his breath will touch.”
“There was a boy in my class who had that problem,” Lyssa said with a serious expression.
Becky’s brows went up. “I’m assuming Lulu and Fergus are the adult guvres?”
Fate tsked. “Numerous meetings with them and you all never asked their names? Poor manners indeed.”
“Wasn’t one attempt at killing me enough?” Rebecka replied dryly and sniffed. Her manners were impeccable.
“Can you guarantee they won’t fly away the moment we bring them out here?
” Blade asked, wringing his hands. He felt terrible keeping the babies separated, but they couldn’t lock them all away again.
Not without consequences from the elderly woman staring at them from behind the lenses of her large glasses.
“No.” Fate shrugged. “I am against interfering with my creations. That’s Destiny’s territory.”
“Might you make an exception?” Rebecka asked. “You said yourself you didn’t approve of the Mystic Illness. This could stop it.”
Fate sighed, giving Lulu another pat before addressing them. “Do you not think there have been many instances in which I wanted to step in? But to go against my own principles in such a way would threaten the very fabric of my existence. I would disappear.”
“If we lose the guvres, we will lose my grandmother. Countless citizens in Rennedawn will continue to suffer because you won’t do anything,” Rebecka accused, her face twisting.
“My dear, my life is as long as an endless thread.” Fate appeared sympathetic but unmoved. “This is not the first tragedy I’ve witnessed. I suffer through each one.”
“You won’t do anything to ensure they stay?” Keeley asked, frowning.
Fate winked at her. “I won’t do anything to ensure they leave, either.”
Rebecka stared at Lulu, who stepped forward, her head dipping, rubbing against her hand. A thank-you. For loving her babies, too.
“Lyssa, bring them out.” Rebecka’s voice cracked, and they all shifted to watch Lyssa open the door with a creak. Clarke and Cassandra toddled out clumsily, stumbling over each other, chirping happily.
Lulu let out a small sound, lowering her head until it was flat against the ground, waiting. Clarke and Cassandra flew over, nuzzling into their mother’s cheek. They cuddled against each other. But they did not take flight.
And the world suddenly felt right again.
Fate clapped. “If I interfered, you would never have everyday wonders.”
Lulu rolled to her back, allowing the babies to flop atop her stomach, playing like a couple of puppies. And Fergus let out a happy screech, shooting for the skies in swooping, swirling patterns. A celebration flight.
Blade whistled, clapping along with Fate. Soon Rebecka joined, and her brothers, too.
They celebrated the new lives and the old, the good and the bad.
Until a whoosh through the air rang in Blade’s ears, and when he followed it, he wasn’t celebrating anymore. Instead, he watched in horror as a large spear sank into Fergus’s side.
And alongside the cries of his mate, the male guvre, in all of his colorful splendor, fell from the skies.