Chapter 30
Hayden
City hall never felt welcoming, but today every step lands like a hollow thud in my bones. Beside me, Zane radiates tension, jaw clenched tight enough to snap, while Porter simmers, fury hidden behind dark eyes.
I don’t know if it’s the weight of why we’re here or the fact that my patience is thinner than ever, but the moment we enter the main office, my shadows hang tight around my shoulders, pressing into my skin as if they’re bracing for a fight.
The Fates are waiting.
Constance, Lorraine, and Agnes sit behind the front desk, their expressions unreadable. They don’t look surprised to see us.
Because, of course, they’re not.
“Well, well. The prodigal sons.” Constance leans forward, voice sweet as poisoned honey. “You sure took your time.”
Zane huffs. “Cut the cryptic bullshit.”
We’ve all dealt with the Fates in our own way. They were cryptic when we were gods, and even more so now as…this. But I’m the one who kept showing up to hear their riddles.
Lorraine lifts a brow. “Such hostility.”
My patience is raw. “You told them,” I hiss, shadows thickening at my feet, “that I found a loophole. That we could sign and get it all back. That was a lie.”
Agnes sighs, feigning regret. “Now, now. ‘Loophole’ was never a word we chose. You heard what you all needed.”
The air in the room shifts.
Lorraine taps a manicured nail against the desk. “You came for answers. But answers aren’t what we deal in.”
Porter’s fingers twitch at his sides. “Then what do you deal in?”
“Threads,” Constance answers simply, voice full of secrets and implications. “Possibility. The way things could go. The way they should.” Her eyes slide to me, pointed. “The choice you’ve been avoiding.”
Ice floods my veins, every nerve on high alert, a silent warning prickling sharply.
“Choice?” I repeat.
Agnes sighs. “You’ve always thought this was about power. About reclaiming what you lost.” She tilts her head. “But that was never the point, Hayden. Power is only a means to an end. What matters is what you hold on to…and who stands beside you when you do.”
“Precisely. What is it that you actually want?” Lorraine asks.
The question hits hard, carving through every defense I’ve built, leaving me raw and exposed. I don’t have time to answer because my phone vibrates in my pocket. Again.
Levi.
I glance down, my stomach twisting at the two missed calls. And then a text: Call me when you can.
The text blurs and I barely process it before Constance sighs dramatically.
“We have been exceedingly patient,” she says, placing a hand over her chest. “That isn’t generosity.”
Porter scoffs. “You lied.”
Lorraine only shrugs. “We waited.”
Zane steps forward, his entire body buzzing like a live wire ready to burn. “For what?” he snaps.
But their gazes shift.
Not to Porter. Or Zane.
Not even to me.
No, the women all turn toward the door that swings open, my stomach dropping as a chill fills the air, freezing the room.
Levi pushes through the door, damp hair plastered to his forehead, determination blazing despite the exhaustion in his posture. His shoulders are set, expression firm, like he’s ready to fight. Who and why, I don’t know.
But then…he sees us.
Confusion disrupts the determined set of his jaw, his brows knitting tightly as he takes in our tense formation. “Hayden? What…are you guys doing here?”
I’m at his side instantly, hand half raised…
aching to touch or steady him. But I hesitate, caught between instinct and uncertainty.
“We’re just addressing a family matter.” The words tumble out of my mouth before I can really stop myself.
“Why don’t we go outside and let Zane and Porter handle this. ”
My attempt collapses as Levi steps defiantly past me, hugging a folder to his chest. “No, Hayden, I…I can’t leave.”
He puts himself right in the Fates’ line of fire and I fight every urge to yank him away, wrapping him in my shadows, dragging him away from this mess.
Not because they’ll hurt him, but because the moment he stands here, my two worlds collide.
Mortal and immortal. Past and present. And the Fates?
They never miss a chance to twist the threads of anyone who crosses their path.
“Excuse me,” he says, voice drained. “I need to speak to whoever pulled Stonevale’s garden funding.”
Zane, who’s never met a moment he couldn’t make worse, smirks. “Yeah…good luck with that.”
If I could banish my brother directly to the darkest depths of the underworld at this exact moment, I wouldn’t hesitate. Levi looks in his direction, momentarily distracted, but continues.
“My name is Levi Wilder. I got a call earlier about my funding…” But his voice trails off. He takes a deep breath, shoulders high. “…being abruptly revoked,” Levi finishes quietly, visibly struggling beneath his composure.
The second Levi says “funding abruptly revoked,” my shadows react before I do. The temperature in the room drops, the air charged with something volatile. What little patience I had remaining, thin and fraying, finally snaps.
“What did you do?” I say, spinning sharply toward the three beings who’ve crossed me for the last time, my voice raw and edged with fury. My shadows ripple outward, curling like smoke, feeding on the wrath under my skin.
Constance doesn’t flinch, doesn’t even blink, but Lorraine and Agnes exchange a glance.
My chest contracts painfully, shadows surging forward with barely contained menace. Straining against every ounce of control I have left. “This has nothing to do with him.”
Agnes’s lips curve into a small, knowing smile. “Are you certain about that?”
Levi lays a hand on my back. “Hayden, what the fuck is going on?”
I don’t answer because my glare is locked on them.
“You want to toy with me for another century?” I spit through gritted teeth, rage laced within each word.
Porter is at my side, a cautionary hand on my arm, but I shrug him off.
“I don’t care. Ruin this mortal existence as you please.
But you leave him out of this,” I growl, a protective instinct crackling dangerously through my shadows.
Even Zane, reckless on his best day, issues his version of a warning. “Careful, brother.”
“We all have our roles to play, old friend,” Lorraine says. “Levi here is no exception.”
I can tell the way she says it puts Levi on edge. His eyes flick from the women sitting across from us over to Zane and Porter. Then back to me. “Wait,” he says, coming to stand between me and the counter. “You know them?”
“Oh, Levi,” Agnes says almost warmly. “We’ve known Hayden for a long time.”
He blinks, like he’s piecing together a confusing, impossible puzzle without the picture.
“I…I don’t understand. The people who pulled my funding?” His voice lifts, edging toward disbelief as he turns to me. “Hold on. Are these the people you’ve been fighting with over paperwork?”
I drag a hand down my face. “Levi—”
But I barely exhale before Constance chimes in, leaning back in her chair. “My, my. This is quite the timing, isn’t it?”
Zane scoffs. “Timing that you orchestrated.”
“Orchestrated?” Levi snaps, rubbing his temples. “Can someone…anyone…tell me what the fuck is going on?”
Porter sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose in exhaustion. “They’re the Fates, Levi. Literal destiny. The strings of life and all that.”
Levi blinks.
His lips part, then snap shut. His eyes dart back to the three smug women before us, really seeing them now.
“The Fates?” His voice is eerily level. “As in, the mythological beings who weave destiny? Who control…fucking fate?” He laughs, sharp and humorless.
“Let me just…let me wrap my head around this. The actual Fates have been here, living in my town, and you’ve just been, what, meeting week after week, having casual chats about who the fuck knows what without ever thinking to clue me in? ”
I take a step forward but he puts a cautionary hand up.
“When you told me who you were, I was there for you…no questions asked.” He shakes his head, folder clutched tight against his chest. “But this? This you kept to yourself. Why? What else are you hiding from me, Hayden? Did you know about this? About them?”
“No, of course not,” I shout, desperation seeping into my voice. “Levi, you don’t understand how complicated this really is.”
But he barks out a sharp, incredulous laugh.
“Complicated? Hayden, we passed complicated ages ago. Look who you are…who your brothers are.” He glances back at the counter, then to the papers clutched in his hands.
“So what? My project? The funding? Any of this? It…” He cuts himself off, swallowing hard.
“Which part is real, Hayden?” he whispers, voice cracking, heartbreak and doubt bleeding through each word.
“Levi, please,” I plead, my panic rising. “Let me explain. We can figure this out…”
But Levi turns back to the Fates, his frustration shifting into something sharper.
“Honestly? I don’t give a single fuck about whatever twisted game you’re all playing,” he snaps, gesturing vaguely at all of us.
“I just need to talk to someone about this project.” He holds up his folder. “There has to be something I can do.”
Constance smiles thinly, her eyes shifting from Levi to me. “Some threads must fray to pull others taut. Necessary sacrifices for what’s to come.”
“Please, there has to be something I can do…” he says, voice cracking.
Agnes sighs, waving a dismissive hand as if Levi’s desperation is merely an inconvenience. “It’s too late.”
Levi stills, exhaling slowly, the sound fragile and broken, like he’s finally absorbing the brutal reality of this moment. “So, that’s it?” His fingers tighten around his folder. “Just like that, it’s gone.” His voice emerges hollow, stripped of the warmth and brightness I’ve come to cherish.
There’s no response.