17. Fates
seventeen
Fates
*FLINN*
M y brothers and I combed the whole area, for further signs of the werebears that attacked Azadeh when she arrived here. But there are no signs whatsoever.
Endellion dismounts his horse, his brows furrowed as he stares into the thick forest. “There isn’t a werebear sleuth in this area.”
“Maybe someone tipped them off,” I say.
“But this doesn’t make sense.” Caelan tilts his head and glares at the forest like he can magically make the werebears appear and talk to us.
“Goddess, Caelan,” I groan. “Use your brain cells for once!”
Endellion tosses me a glare and I feel a wave of hurt washing over me from my bond to Caelan.
“I know I’m not the brightest,” he says. “If you want me to understand, then explain it to me.”
“Sorry,” I wince, feeling guilt overwhelming me. “I didn’t mean to lash out at you, and I don’t think you are in any way stupid. It’s just… all of this sucks, and you are right, it doesn’t make sense, which makes it so frustrating!”
“The woman in white,” Endellion says. “Azadeh saw her.”
“Do you believe her?” I ask.
“Why would she lie?” he asks, and there is a hint of hostility in his tone.
“That’s not what I wanted to imply,” I soothe him. “But, do you truly think it’s been her? It could have been a person in the distance. A blizzard was surrounding them, after all.”
“If she says she saw the woman in white, then I believe her,” Endellion says with finality in his voice.
Well, then… Caelan and I exchange a glance, then Caelan just shrugs. “Alright.”
“Alright?” I blink. Trust one of my brothers to just turn possessive over a woman and the other to just accept it. “Don’t hate me for playing the devil’s advocate.”
“Aza stepped onto our lands, and the first thing that happens is that an unnatural snowstorm almost kills her, then a day later she gets chased by werebears,” Endellion looks at me. “If we go by your usual rational approach, I’d say that’s still a bit too much of a coincidence, especially knowing that she is known to be born with a gift.”
“Do we know what that gift is?” I ask and turn towards Ita. She listened to our entire exchange in silence. Now, however, she steps forward.
“I told you what happened when the blizzard hit us. It was like a bubble was all around us and kept us safe.” She shrugs. “I assume her gift is protection.”
“There has to be more to it,” Endellion says quietly.
“Why do you think that?” I want to know.
He shrugs. “It’s a feeling, an instinct. I can’t explain it.”
“She awakens weird feelings,” Caelan says, much to my surprise. “It’s like I feel this overbearing need to protect her and shield her from any harm,” he says. “I’ve only ever felt that with our younger siblings. It’s extremely strong, almost like a bond is forming to her… just not like a mate bond.”
Endellion stares at him. “And for me, it’s an overbearing possessiveness,” he says. “I want to hurt whoever hurt her and hunt the fucking woman in white for having almost killed her.”
“And I feel the urge to make her smile and laugh constantly and to see her happy,” I say quietly. “Caelan is right. It’s like a bond on its own.”
“But, how can it be that we are forming three different bonds with her?” Endellion asks.
“To add to the whole confusion, it started last night,” I frown. Ever since we spent the evening with Azadeh at the frozen lake, I can feel this change inside me. I first thought I was going crazy, but with my brothers encountering the same, it looks more and more like a new reality for me.
“I have felt it since yesterday too,” Caelan says.
“Me too,” Endellion agrees. “Why last night? Why not the day she arrived? What was different last night?”
“She was different,” I point out. When my brothers look at me, I shrug. “Something about her was different. She was vulnerable and open, and let her walls down.” I pause as a new realization settles in. “Was this what Dad meant?” I slap my forehead with my hand. “She was herself last night for the first time, and it immediately affected us. For sure, this is what he was talking about. The whole ‘melt her heart’ was just a metaphor.”
“It’s all because of her,” Endellion agrees, stepping towards us. He reaches out his hand, and Caelan and I follow, resting our hands above his. Closing our eyes, we focus on the bond between us, on the strong, unwavering stream that connects our destinies to each other. The rest of our family is involved in this stream, but the three of us remain the steady constants. For the first time, however, there are minor changes in it, little sub-streams parting from the main. The middle part still remains strong, safely flowing back and forth between the three of us, but there are new parts opening.
“What does this mean?” Caelan asks.
“Dad isn’t the one plotting everything,” Endellion says quietly. “He just set things into motion by inviting Azadeh to us.”
“What makes you so certain?” Caelan asks worriedly.
“Because, these sub-streams,” he says, “aren’t… they’re fates… new bonds if you like.”
I blink at him before turning to Ita. She has been listening quietly, her eyes wide in shock, though. “Ita,” I say. “You have a fate, don’t you?”
“Of course, everyone has several of them,” she says, before blushing. “I didn’t mean-”
“Forget it, I’m not insulted,” I say, harsher than I intended to. My patience is getting thinner, it seems. “We know we have no fate. But how does the mate bond feel to you?”
“It’s like you explained it. When I meditate, I can see a stream, and one powerful stream leads me towards the unknown,” she explains.
I nod. So far, nothing new. We learn how to meditate and how to read our bonds early on. It’s the reason we soon found out how different we are. Instead of a stream leading us to an unknown mate, we are connected to a stream leading us to each other.
“However-” She looks at us. “The stream has sub-streams, some stronger, some weaker. To my friends, family, to my princes, my king. While I can always detect one stream as the one leading me to my mate, it’s not necessarily the thickest. There are lots of sub-streams leading to unknown people.”
“The stream of fate within us is changing?” Caelan asks carefully. He looks at us nervously. “Does this mean that we are developing new and unknown bonds?”
I close my eyes again, feeling my side of the bond now, and like Ita said, while the stream is strong and steady, I can also feel a sub-stream now. It’s small and almost translucent, but it’s there… and leads me to a person I haven’t met yet.
I swallow thickly. “Guys, am I crazy, or are we slowly developing a fate? And I mean an individual one?”
“If you are crazy, I’m crazy, too,” Endellion says. “Because I think the same.”
“Me too,” Caelen concurs.
We let go of our hands and look at each other. “We need to go home and talk to Dad,” Endellion says calmly. As usual, he is the one staying the calmest in an unknown situation. “I doubt he has anything to do with this situation, but I think he knows more.”
There is no reason to oppose his words, so I nod.
Caelan agrees too, though he frowns at the forest. “There goes my wish to slay something,” he grumbles. He is moody, as is often the case when we can’t solve an issue with his fists. He truly is one for the direct approach, making him a tough and strong warrior.
When we mount our horses, and we have a moment for us, I turn to him. “You aren’t stupid, Caelan. If I say something that makes you feel that way, it’s on me. It makes me the dumb one.”
“I know,” he grumbles, the tips of his ears turning red though. “You don’t need to apologize.”
“Of course I need to,” I say. “You are my brother and the last person I want to hurt.”
“My feelings aren’t that delicate,” he retorts.
I don’t tell him that Ende and I both are well aware of how there is a little delicate flower hidden beneath the scruffy, wild Neanderthal image he portrays to the outside. Recently, an ink and tattoo artist opened in town, and he made sure to get his arms tattooed. Together with his wild hair and his edgy face, he looks dangerous, but inside, he is as soft as a sponge cake.
*AZADEH*
The trio joins us while Gillean and I are still having tea. “Oh, you linked them already?” I ask him.
“No,” he says, surprised. “In fact, I planned to do so later, but it seems they have urgent business with us.”
Indeed, the triplets look tense and worried, but the moment they see me, a smile lights up their faces.
“I didn’t expect you so early,” their father says.
“There was nothing to find about the bears in the forests,” Endellion explains shortly. “But, we found something else.”
“And, what’s that?” he asks curiously.
“We think we are developing a fate,” Flinn comes straight to the point.
I’m not sure if I truly understand the meaning of this, but with the way Gillean jumps up all of a sudden, I’m beginning to understand the severity of what he and I talked about, and also what was said about his boys. His dark eyes are piercing his sons. “If this is a joke,” he says darkly, looking nothing like the fun and kind fatherly person now. “Not even you will escape my anger.”
Flinn looks uncomfortable, while Caelan looks slightly at a loss. I noticed he doesn’t talk much in general. Endellion, however, doesn’t falter at all. He takes a step forward, his eyes narrowed. “Do you think we would be joking about something so serious, Father? About something that has been eating and gnawing at us ever since we were little children?”
For a moment, he and Gillean keep staring at each other, the tension growing.
I don’t know what possesses me to get up and step in between. I just… it’s like a force keeps pushing me up, like an instinct. “But that’s good, isn’t it?” I ask Endellion. Endellion tears his gaze from his father and looks at me now, his gaze softening instantly. “Yes, it is, but we don’t understand it.”
Gillean sighs. “No,” he says. “I did not believe you would be joking about such a serious matter,” he concedes. “But I needed to make sure. Especially, since Flinn is involved.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Flinn exclaims, looking scandalized.
“You are a prankster,” Caelan points out. “Everyone knows it.”
“But there are boundaries,” he says. “Not many, but they exist.”
“We have been feeling a change since yesterday,” Endellion explains. “We don’t understand it, though.”
“We also seem to be forming a bond to Azadeh,” Flinn says. His words should surprise me, but I’ve felt a strong connection building with them myself. “A different one for each of us.”
“We have checked our bond, our stream of fate,” Caelan adds. “It’s still there and connects us to each other, but there are new bonds forming from it.”
“It’s leading us into the unknown,” Endellion says. He looks at his father and Beta Quinn. “Don’t you think it’s about time to share what you know?”
King Gillean remains quiet. Then, however, he nods. “Yes,” he says. “It’s time. Grab your jackets; we are heading out.”
“Where to?” Flinn asks curiously.
“To meet our witch.”