Nate shakes his head. “Unfortunately, the ring alone wouldn’t do it. You’d need the ring, along with someone who has a commander’s power to wield it, a power which is only given to Karma’s top level commanders by your sister herself, and someone with my powers to anchor the spirit. That’s the only way to avoid the whole dying thing.”
“How did you have a daughter? Isn’t that an impossibility given your...situation?”
His lips tilt slightly at my question. “I always thought so, and you can imagine how fucking shocked I was when I discovered that I had a child out there. I’m not entirely sure how it happened, to be honest.”
“Who’s the mother?” Fate asks softly.
She’s tucked back into my side, my hand casually playing with her hair. We’ve barely just gotten her back, and the threat of losing her again is almost too much to bear. I want to whisk her away, somewhere far from the danger, despite knowing that’s completely illogical.
“She was once Karma’s most trusted advisor and highest in command. We fell in love, but when she attempted to leave, Karma threw one of her tantrums and convinced her to stay just a little bit longer. I was furious, but what could I do? Much like you all are tethered to Fate, Mirna was tethered to Karma until she could transfer her bond to me. After a while, she began to feel a strange power whenever she was around your sister for any length of time. We started to suspect that Karma was purposefully giving her big assignments to keep her in the Land of Torment longer, trying to force a stronger bond through some sort of transference that would be next to impossible to break. So, Mir began to amass an army using one of the anima mea rings - or soul rings. I tried to tell her how impossible a plan to overthrow Karma would be, but she wouldn’t listen. We fought, and she said that I didn’t understand what they were going through there. We were supposed to meet two days before she was going to put her plan into motion, except she never showed up. That was twenty-seven years ago now, and I never saw her again.”
There's a certain lack of emotion as he explains the story, an almost mechanical repetition to the tone, like he’s locked that part of his past, and everything associated with it, away. The years and the pain have probably worn him down until this was the only way he could cope.
“Do you trust the source that gave you this information?” Cole asks.
“I do. One of my brothers got it first hand from another defected commander.”
“Destiny mentioned that some of my sister’s commanders have gone missing. You’re telling me that they just left their posts?”
He nods grimly.
“How? You said they’re tethered to her.”
“The commanders have more freedom than most of the others. Some have found ways of going undetected in order to escape the realm. Mir used to go days, sometimes even weeks, without checking in with Karma, and that irked your sister fiercely.”
“Undetected. That can’t be a coincidence. It’s eerily similar to being able to avoid being tracked. Any idea how they’re doing it?” I ask, thinking about the night of Fate’s disappearance. What they’ve used could have been the same thing used on Fate, making it impossible to find her.
“No, unfortunately.”
Fate’s brow is furrowed. “But why would they leave?”
“You never could see your sister for who she really is,” he says, rolling his eyes.
“Trust me, from the little I remember and the single conversation I’ve had with her, I’m not a fan, okay?” she asks, tilting her head, considering him. “But why don’t you tell me why you don’t like her?”
“Do you want the sugarcoated version or the truth?”
“Always the truth.”
He eyes her cautiously, like he doesn’t quite believe her. “To put it nicely...she’s a narcissistic bitch. And that’s on a good day. On a bad day, well, let’s just say I can see where the whole Devil thing came from.”
“I’m not disagreeing with that assessment.”
He studies her for a moment, and the silence draws out.
“You’re different.”
Fate rolls her eyes. “So I’ve been told. Over, and over, and over again.”
“None of that helps us right now. How do we find your daughter?” Cole asks.
“I’ve got limited information. Her name is Asher. I’ve discovered that she’s hiding out to avoid detection...per her mother’s orders. Potentially in a small mountain town in the Pacific Northwest.”
“Where’s her mother?” I ask.
He swallows. “Trusted sources say that she’s no longer alive.”
The room is utterly silent as we all process his words. Fate pulls herself from my arms, leaning forward to grab Nate’s hand.
“I’m so sorry, Nate,” she whispers as his much larger hand grips hers tightly.
“Do you know what happened?” Cole asks without any of his usual growl despite the fact that our girl is holding hands with another man.
“I do not. All I know is that she managed to get Asher somewhere safe before she left to ‘take care of the problem,’ and no one heard from her again.”
“What problem?” I ask, the facts compiling in my mind and starting to paint a picture that I don’t like.
“I’m guessing she meant she was going back to have it out with Karma. That’s the only thing I can think of.”
“Okay. Macklin, I need you on this. It's a priority. We need some potential locations.”
“Got it! I’ll start as soon as I get back to my computer.”
“I feel like I should also mention that, depending on how old Asher was when Mirna left her, she may or may not know how any of her powers work.”
Fate scowls at our friend. “Stop being all doom and gloom. It’s going to work. It has to.”
“Doom and gloom is kind of my thing,” he chuckles. “You know, Death and all.”
She rolls her eyes. “I’m surrounded by a bunch of smart asses.”
The chuckles in the room do nothing to lighten the heavy emotions hanging in the air. Wait. How can I feel everyone’s emotions? They’re faint, barely noticeable, but definitely not something I could ever feel before. It’s hard to tell where mine leave off and everyone else’s begin. Is this another side effect of the potion? Are our powers slowly morphing into one another’s? I decide to keep this to myself for now. I know we agreed to no more secrets, but until I have more time to analyze this new development, I don’t want to cause unnecessary panic. I can tell the crew once we’re back at the Gateway and I have more information.
Cole’s gaze scans over the group before landing on Fate. Her hand leaves Nate’s, and she sinks back into me.
“Cole, I don’t want to hear the words that are about to leave your mouth right now,” Fate says, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Love, we need to-”
“That ‘Love’ shit won’t work on me this time, Cole.”
“Sweets,” Levi says, his eyes never leaving our girl, “you need to listen. We need to be prepared for every eventuality. If we can’t find Asher soon, we’ll have to revert back to Option A.”