Chapter Fifty-Four
I couldn't go back to Pride Palace right away. Instead, I went to my house in Hawaii. I reformed inside my living room and instantly crumpled onto the couch to cry my eyes out. I hadn't mourned Toby because I had been so certain that I would get him back. There was no way that he'd leave me after everything we'd been through. But people surprise you. Those who you think you know best can turn around and do something that you would have thought was impossible for them to do.
Well, if there's one thing I've learned in my life it's that nothing is impossible. Toby leaving me had just confirmed it.
Oh, Vervain, I tried to warn you that you weren't meant to be with Toby, Al's voice slipped into my mind. It will be okay, sweetheart. You will get past this.
“Hey, Al,” I sobbed the words.
Hello, Vervain.
“I thought I could make my own destiny,” I kept crying as I spoke, blathering pathetically. “I thought if I loved him enough, it wouldn't matter. I thought him returning to me was a sign.”
Your destiny was lost and you may have been right. You might have had a chance with Toby, he admitted. But having no fate doesn't change who you are; who either of you are. I knew that Toby wasn't meant to be with you. He just isn't cut out for that kind of life. He's not strong enough for you, Vervain.
“And I wouldn't listen to you,” I muttered. “I just had to have him.”
You listened to your heart and that is never a bad thing, Al said gently. I would have spared you this pain but perhaps you needed to feel it. Your heart has grown complacent. Lazy. It needed to be broken so that it could rebuild itself and get strong again.
“That's a bunch of bullshit,” I growled. “Breaking a heart doesn't make it stronger, it makes it cynical. It bruises it and scars it and rots it. My heart is all banged up, Al.”
Your heart may be bruised for now but it will heal, and you will never be cynical. You're a mother now; you can't afford cynicism.
I made a huffing sound and smiled through my tears. “How great are my kids, Al?”
Pretty damn great, but then, I foretold that too.
“Yeah, yeah; go ahead and gloat.”
I was scared, Vervain.
I went sober. “Me too, Al. When I was me, I was terrified.”
We need to make sure that never happens again.
“Agreed.”
But the good news is; your fate is repairing itself.
“What?” I sat up straight.
Even while you were beyond its reach, it was still reaching for you.
“Can you please stop speaking like an oracle and just give it to me straight.”
Viper.
“That wasn't straight! What about Viper?” My stomach clenched. “Are you saying that he isn't meant for me either?”
No, Vervain, I'm saying the opposite. Viper has always been meant for you. He waited in the Void for so long because he was supposed to be... well, never mind that. His destiny changed when you went dark. You found him, Vervain. Cut off from fate and full of evil, you found the man who you were destined to love. You gravitated toward him instinctively, knowing that he would help you through the darkness. And you brought him to life years before he was meant to be with you.
“What are you saying, Al?” I whispered.
I'm saying that love found a way. Real love—the stuff that outlasts death—always finds a way. You broke the threads of Fate and love melded them back together for you. You formed a new destiny for yourself, Godhunter, and Viper forged it with you. He is absolutely meant to be with you. I give you my approval and blessing.
I sobbed and bent over, covering my face with my hands.
Vervain? Al's voice went worried. This is a good thing. I just told you that you were destined to be with Viper.
“I know,” I said brokenly. “I'm happy. I am. I'm really happy.”
You were scared, he whispered in shock.
“Why does that surprise you?” I looked up as if he were sitting across from me. “I get scared. I get scared all the time.”
Not like this, Al said gently. Not so scared that relief from it brings tears. You really love him.
“Of course, I love him.” I sniffed.“I thought we already established that?”
No, I mean; you love him as you love your husbands. You love Viper with a depth of emotion that shouldn't be in place yet. Regardless of destiny, love like that needs time to mature.
“I touched his soul, Al,” I whispered. “I touched Viper's soul with mine.”
Ah, he said gently. Of course. That explains it. There is no bond like that between touched souls.
“It's... wondrous.”
Viper is going to be wondrous too.
“He already is,” I said firmly.
Al laughed inside my head. Yes, but just you wait and see, Vervain.The Viper has forged a destiny for himself as well; a magnificent one. You chose well this time.
“Thanks, Al. I needed to hear that.”
Anytime, sweetheart. Now, go home and hug your family before you head to the Faerie Realm. You know Faerie's going to have a lot to say to you.
“I can't wait.” I rolled my eyes.
Chapter Fifty-Five
It was hard to say goodbye to Viper after Al's revelation. It was even harder not to blurt it out to everyone. But telling my husbands that Toby wasn't coming back was the hardest of all. They all nodded as if they'd been prepared for it, and I wondered if I had been the only one who hadn't known that Toby was unhappy.
“Shall we, A Thaisce?” Arach asked after we'd made our goodbyes.
We each held one of our boys; I had Rian and he had Brevyn. Arach lifted his free hand for mine. I took it, and we went into the tracing room together.
“Bye, Lesya!” Rian called over my shoulder.
“I love you, Sister!”
