I’m quiet for a moment. “But if you knew I would end up here, why bother matching us together like that at all? Why put them through this?”
“Despite what is believed in the mortal world, we gods have no real control over soul matches. Whether those matches are platonic or epic loves, they are the design of fate itself, and fate is a force that even we gods must bow to,” Galene explainsgently. “Whomever quintets belong with is out of our hands. I only foresaw that you would need your soul matches, though I admit that Ididhave to meddle in order to get all of your quintet to Everbound at the same time. An anonymous tip to the Frost family, falsifying correspondence with the Garnet Wizard, circulating rumors about an escaped wicked man for a certain steward of Limbo to follow…”
Her gentle voice fades away, and abruptly, I once again find myself beside Everett’s unconscious body. It’s jarring, having memories shoved back into my head like lost puzzle pieces.
I slump onto the floor with a grimace at the soreness lingering in my limbs. My scythe once again turns back into a knife that I tuck away.
If I unconsciously bound my matches to my shadow heart before, does that mean I can use the same holy magic to bind them to me now?
I snap to attention when Asher Douglas knocks loudly on Everett’s ajar office door, striding through it bundled in a ridiculous number of jackets.
“Damn it, Frost, I know you don’t sleep anymore, but I need some fucking shuteye if I’m going to keep putting up with?—”
He cuts off, halting in place when he sees me. His hand drops to a small gun at his hip.
I scoff. “If you're going to attack me, at least use something fun. Like a knife. Or a mace.”
Gods, it’s been too long since I got in a good fight with someone wielding a mace.
Douglas makes a face, pulls out a flashlight, blinds me with it for a second as he checks my pupils more thoroughly, and finally grunts as he clicks it off again.
“Okay, you’re officially the freakiest thing I’ve ever encountered. How did you even?—”
“Heal him now, ask me questions never,” I advise, testy thanks to the pain flaring up in my shoulder and ankle.
The bounty hunter shakes his head, muttering something under his breath about me being a “cosmic cockroach” as he kneels beside Everett. He removes the tattered trench coat and blood-soaked shirt underneath to take a look at the deep claw marks.
Seeing such a nasty injury on my elemental makes my throat tighten painfully. I can't stop remembering how defeated he looked as he lay there on that damn street staring up at the ghoul that was about to end him.
If I’d been a moment too late…
No. I can’t think about that.
Douglas is focused as his hands light up with soft green magic over the injury. His eyes glow slightly, too, reminding me that he has a gift for sensing magical signatures, even his own.
It’s the first time I’ve seen him use healing magic up close, and I catch the microexpression of pain that flashes over his features when he starts healing the worst of Everett’s wound. It’s so subtle that someone raised in a normal world of expression would’ve missed it.
But like everyone from the Nether, I grew up deciphering the tiniest changes in expressions. It’s not hard to figure out why a legacy would have that reaction.
When he sees me analyzing him, he shooes me away. “Give me room to work, you fucking zombie.”
“Feeling the pain of those you heal. What a poetic curse,” I muse, admiring the sadism.
Douglas startles before pinning me with a glowing glare. “Look, however you figured that out, you keep your fucking mouth shut about it.”
I glance down at the impressive progress he’s already made on Everett. He seems extremely skilled at healing, despite his curse.
“I'll heal you next. Pretty sure that's why Frost summoned me at all.” He flicks a glance at my bloodstained shoulder. “Vampire bite, right? Should be fast enough.”
“Don't bother.”
“Look,telum.I’m beat and I don't really give a rat’s ass about your little ouchies, but Frost pays better than anyone, so if he says to heal his creepy Undead girlfriend?—”
“It won't work, so drop it.”
Asher Douglas completely ignores my words as he finishes with Everett and moves on to me. His hands light up with green magic and hover over my shoulder, but as I expected, nothing happens.
He makes another face. “You’re just too fucked up for normal treatments, huh?”
