Talisa’s mouth grew dry, and her gaze skipped over Zagreus again. Only this time, she knew what Rhen had told her, what Nysa had told her was true. Because she felt it deep in the bottom of her soul.
The she in the Fate’s story was her.
She was the soul who’d been reincarnated numerous times. Only this time they’d reincarnated her not as a nymph but as an Argolean—like Cynna, the last female he’d been attracted to. She was tough, like Cynna. She could stand up to him, unlike the nymphs. And she—skata—she had the Argonaut markings, which meant she’d been cursed with a soul mate. So she would be looking for him the way he was always looking for her.
“Your being here is not a coincidence. It’s destiny. You found me, mono mia, not the other way around. You can fight that feeling all you want, but it won’t go away. It’ll just burn hotter until you give in to it.”
His words echoed in her head, making her pulse beat faster and her skin grow hotter.
He was her soul mate. The one person she would always look for and never be complete without.
All those years wondering why she was the only female ever born with the Argonaut markings now made a sick sort of sense. It wasn’t because she was special in any way, it was simply because the Fates wanted to ensure she would find him. So she could draw him into the light and he could live up to his destiny. She hadn’t been chosen for anything more important than that. Nothing she’d ever done mattered.
Anger and disgust welled inside her, forcing her to release Zagreus’s hand. “So I don’t have a say in this. I’m just a soul you move from body to body so you can manipulate him for your own gain.” She pushed off the bed and moved away from the Fate, afraid if she didn’t she’d wring the creature’s miserable neck, and she had a feeling if she tried that her hands would just pass right through the mystical creature. “Is that how this works?”
“No, paidí. That is not how this works. I told you, we stopped interfering in his life that way.”
Talisa turned and stared at Lachesis. “Are you telling me I’m not her? He knows me.” And I know him even if I can’t remember him… “I have the same damn mark on my hip he does.”
“What I’m telling you is… The Fates did not reincarnate your soul this time.”
Talisa stilled, trying to make sense of that revelation. “Then who? The gods?”
“No god has that power. Only one other being can bring a soul back.”
The air caught in Talisa’s throat. No. That couldn’t be possible…
The Fate floated toward her and stopped close. So close she seemed to glow, and even though Lachesis was ethereal, Talisa felt warmth as the Fate reached out and touched her shoulders.
“There is a reason you were brought back. A reason you were given these markings. A reason you were chosen in this time and place. Your destiny may have once been linked to Zagreus’s, but your purpose is your own, paidí. I know you do not remember your past, but every life, every death shaped your soul into what it is today. And while you may feel lost, while you may still struggle to find where you belong, today your soul is strong, not just physically but emotionally and spiritually. That strength is what will lead you where you were always meant to be. All you have to do is trust in it. Trust in yourself.”
Talisa stared at the Fate as her pulse raced. Lachesis had just nailed who she was inside. She’d never felt she fit in anywhere... Not with her family or the Argonauts or anywhere in her realm.
Her gaze drifted toward Zagreus, and she wondered... Was he the reason? But if so, then why had the Fate said her destiny had once been linked to his? Was it not any longer?
Her gaze dropped to her arms and the Argonaut markings on her skin. Was he not her soul mate as she’d thought?
Something warm echoed in her chest. Right where her heart should be. Telling her… Yes, he was her soul mate. But she felt something else, too. A fullness that screamed the connection she felt to him was more. Something bigger. A bond that couldn’t be broken.
She swallowed hard and looked at Lachesis again. “H-how…?” she managed, blinking because her eyes were suddenly hot. “How do I know what I feel is real? I’m not the same person I was those other times—”
“No, you’re not. But neither is he. He has lived every lifetime you have. More because he’s had to fill in the gaps between. And though his body might not have died as yours did, his soul was damaged each time he lost you. No one falls in love with a body, Talisa—that’s lust. But the soul—even one that is cracked and bruised and broken—can be healed. It can still love. It can still be loved, if it finds the part of itself that is missing. It can even be redeemed.”
Talisa’s gaze swept back to the bed. To Zagreus’s relaxed features and thick dark hair. And as she looked at his bruised and bleeding body, lying still against the mattress, she remembered the way he’d kissed her in that club before all hell had broken loose. How alive he’d been then. How real. Then how he’d kissed her in those woods just prior to letting her go. As if she’d been his everything. As if he’d sacrifice anything to protect her.
She wasn’t sure what she felt for him. Didn’t know if it was infatuation or love or something in between. She only knew that she couldn’t leave him. That she didn’t want him to leave her.
He needed her. And she needed him. For reasons that still didn’t completely make sense.
She swiped at her eyes. “You have to do something to help him.”
“I can’t.”
“You can. You can’t just poof in here, tell me all this, then poof away again. Not after all the ways you fucked things up for us.”
“I told you, we do not interfere in his affairs anymore.”
“This isn’t an affair. It’s his life.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It does matter. If it didn’t you wouldn’t be here.”
“I’m not here for him, paidí. I came for you. So you would understand. So you would not spend the rest of your life searching for answers. Your parents were afraid for you to know the truth about your link to Zagreus, but they were wrong to keep it from you. Just as we—the Fates—were wrong not to trust you. Zagreus fulfilled his destiny. You helped him do so, and for that, we are extremely proud of you. But whatever happens to him now is his choice, not yours. You have to let him make it. Just as we have to let you make yours.”
Frustration gathered inside Talisa. She didn’t like that answer. Didn’t understand it at all. If his destiny was to restore balance to the world, then he hadn’t done that yet. The world was more fucked up than ever.
Her patience reached its limit. She glared at the Fate. “And what choice is that? According to you I have no choice.”
“You always have a choice, paidí.” Lachesis began to fade. “If you search that strength inside you, you’ll find it for yourself.”
Wide-eyed, Talisa stared at the empty space where the Fate had just been and fought from screaming in frustration.
No wonder her father hated the Fates. No wonder all the Argonauts did.
“Meddling, aggravating, stupid Fates…”
She stalked toward the bed but drew up short when her gaze slid over Zagreus lying still as death against the mattress.