Chapter 29
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
THANATOS
“What the fuck!?” The words snapped from my lips when I came to a rough stop before the fates.
I stood in the small room at the back of their home where the threads of life flowed over the ceiling toward their unfathomable loom.
A slight hum filled the air as the strings moved and their loom wove them together.
The Fate of the Past snickered at me from her spot next to the giant loom. Strands of her golden hair flowed over her face, only giving me a peek at her cloudy, sightless eyes. “Death be your shroud.”
Impatience to get back to Anastasia ate at me. “I am death, so a shroud is no surprise to me. I have seen many.”
“And yet you have learned nothing. You know nothing,” she snapped back at me, her voice heavy with agitation.
The Fate of the Present pulled a long string from the fabric the three of them wove together.
Her dark cloak hung all around her, bathing her features in shadows I could not see past. She let the string wind around them and the room.
It was longer than the others and glowed even brighter.
“They live. They die. Lessons are learned. Lessons are forgotten. Each strand woven into the tapestry. The history of the past meets the news of today and the predictions of the future. Yet you insist on interrupting what was, what is, and what will be.”
“I am owed her,” I spoke through gritted teeth. “I have served faithfully. I have never deviated from your guidance. I have not wavered in my duties. Hell, I have not even questioned my duties. Yet you would deny me the one thing, the one bloody thing I have ever desired.”
“Desire has no place in the fabric of life. Life is not about desires.” Future spoke in that hollow ghostly tone that sounded like an echo.
I held my chin up and squared my shoulders at them. “You seem to have forgotten something important.”
The Fate of the Future canted her head to the side, studying me. That curtain of inky black hair fell to the side and draped over her lap. “We forget nothing.”
“You’ve gotten that I am also a god.” My hands curled into fists and my power flowed over my body.
“Our memories extend well beyond yours.” The Fate of the Future chuckled. “I have remembered things you have yet to see. You forget yourself, Thanatos. Fate is not something to toy with.”
“I’ve always respected your role, obeyed your role. Why can you not appreciate mine?” I felt trapped within their walls and trapped within their power.
“Our appreciation will only extend so far, and yet you push the bounds of it.” Future waved her hand, and her scissors wavered a bit too close to the thread.
I stiffened. “Threats do not become you.”
“No, we are fates of action.” Future smirked.
“And yet you lack faith in us.” Present motioned to the loop and the winding thread in front of her. “Can you not see the imperfections? The cuts, the mends, the knots? They are all part of a perfectly imperfect thread.”
Future wound the lifeline around her finger while Past did the same. They began to tug and pull at the glowing thread back and forth between the two of them.
I wanted to reach out and protect the thread.
To keep it safe from them. Deep down I knew it was Anastasia’s and here they were toying with it, toying with me.
Present rose to her feet and pulled back the sleeves of her cloak.
She reached out and the threat lay across the palms of her hands as the other two continued to tug it.
“One foot in the grave, one foot in light, never to be at a time when existence is right.”
“She belongs with me.”
“Who are you to make that decision?” Present’s words were slow and hollow, as if she did not care for the answer but simply just wanted to pose the question.
“Death is her past, death is present . . . death is not her future.” Future smirked.
My heart stopped in my chest. No, I would not fall to their words. I would always search her out and always find her. Anastasia’s soul belonged with me. “I will not let her go. You cannot stop me.”
Past gave a dream sigh. “Romantic, is it not, sisters?”
“What a covetous love.” Present scoffed.
Future wrapped the thread around her whole hand. “You cannot stop what has already been put into motion.”
“You have made our job difficult.” Past gazed off dreamily toward the ceiling. “A love that is bound in the past has no place in the present—”
Present nodded. “A present love has no place in the future—”
“A future love is only to be dreamt of but never attained in the present,” Future added.
“Enough!” I threw my hands out. “I’ve had enough of this. I will find her, and I will have her.”
Present gave a ghostly chuckle. “Oh, Thanatos, we wish you luck in finding her now.”