Cris stood up. “I’ll get my phone and see if the old gal’s at work.”
“Good,” I said. “Tess, you’d better get your leathers on.”
“Yes, you both should,” said a familiar voice.
The three of us turned to face the newcomer, Verðandi.
Chapter 27
raphael
“Well, well, look who the cat dragged in,” I said.
Verðandi ignored my disrespectful comment and walked out from under the pines at the edge of the yard.
“Who is this?” Cris asked.
“Ah, that’s our boss,” Tess said.
“Fate?”
“My name is Verðandi, child. I am one of the Fates, but not the only one,” Verðandi responded as she stopped a few feet from me.
“My apologies, ma’am, Verðandi.” Cris’s voice was breaking.
“Relax, Cris,” I said. “She is just a person like the rest of us.”
Verðandi stared at me for a moment and I had to consciously avoid rolling my eyes. “Okay, she’s a god, but that doesn’t mean she’s any better than the rest of us.”
“Rafe!” Tess exclaimed.
Verðandi raised a hand toward Tess without taking her eyes off of me. “So, Raphael, what have I done to deserve this treatment?”
“I don’t know,” I began. “Maybe it’s just that you could have warned the Wanderers that Rowle was killing them before there was only me left. Maybe you could have told me that Laura would be possessed by a shade if I didn’t get back to her sooner. Or maybe it’s that you let my son be killed just so you could have another Wanderer. Take your pick, any one of those things alone is enough to draw my ire.”
I felt a hand on each of my arms and realized the women had come beside me.
“Of course,” I added. “There’s the little matter of you not telling me that I was about to lose all of my tats.”
The hand holding my right arm tightened noticeably and I felt Tess trying to mesh with me. I ignored her.
“You knew all of these things the last time we spoke, Raphael,” Verðandi said. “What has soured your attitude since then?”
“Maybe I’ve just had a little time to think of all the things that you could have changed with even a touch of your knowledge. I could have saved a lot more people. People who were dear to me.”
Verðandi stared at me for a moment and then she shook her head slowly. “You know so little of the restrictions on me or of the power you insult. I make no apologies for my actions. You may question my decisions, but all of your questions will not make me change what is fated to happen.”
I gritted my teeth and tried to get control of my emotions. Why was I so angry with her? Nothing had changed since we last saw her and yet just seeing her had me mad as hell. I raised my left hand, curling my fingers into a fist as I did. With just a little bit of energy I could trigger the tat that would bring down the lightning.
“Rafe!” Tess hissed in my ear. “What are you doing?”
I tried to trigger the tat that formed in my fist, but nothing happened.
I could feel Tess still trying to mesh with me, but I continued to ignore her. I tried shrugging off her grip, but she strengthened her muscles and easily held my arm. I thrashed and shook Cris off my left arm. I turned toward Tess, meaning to slap her until she let go of me.
“Stop,” Verðandi ordered.
I stopped. Completely. My body was frozen in the middle of my turn. I fumed helplessly as my muscles refused to follow my commands just as my tattoo had refused to trigger.
Tess released my arm and stepped back. She studied my face as though she didn’t recognize me.
From somewhere behind me I heard Cris ask, “What’s wrong with him?”
Verðandi moved into my line of sight. Tess moved back to allow her to get closer to me.
I tried to force my muscles to move, but nothing happened. I tried activating my lightning tat again, but it still refused my commands.
I screamed in frustration, but only inside my head. Other than my heart and lungs, I was frozen to the spot.
Verðandi raised a hand to my face and I tried to bite her, but I didn’t even twitch.
After a moment, she removed her hand and frowned. “It’s the night magic that erased his tats. It’s affecting his mind. It appears to intensify his hostility.”
“But he’s been acting normally since he got here,” Cris said.
“I don’t believe he has any hostility toward either of you so the magic was dormant until I arrived,” Verðandi said.
“Can you help him?” Tess asked.
“Perhaps, but he might become normal again the moment I leave.”
“Are you willing to take that chance? He can’t really hurt us without his powers, but he won’t cooperate with us if he stays like this,” Tess said.
“Yes, there may be someone who can clean this magic out of him, but if Rafe remains this hostile, how are we going to get him to go with us?” Cris asked.
Verðandi moved out of my line of sight and Cris stepped beside Tess.
I stared at the two women and felt my anger slowly seeping out of me. These women had never done anything to hurt me. I couldn’t be mad at them. Then what was I so mad about? For some reason I couldn’t remember what had angered me so. I tried to move to Cris and Tess and apologize for upsetting them, but my body refused to move.
Lightning coursed through my head and I screamed in pain, although nothing came from my
