“Thus, the gods operate through us, not for us.” Willow smiled. “Lanokota is one of the only deities to play a direct hand with us.”
“But she likes me.” Hayley frowned. “Why? Why me? I’m not even a dragon.”
“The first moment I met you, Hayley,” Willow answered, “I knew you were special. I don’t know why, or what makes you stand out. But Lanokota does. We must trust in her.”
“I’m just a girl with funky hair and no guts to stand up for myself.” Hayley sighed. “I’m not special.”
“You are to me,” I said, smiling. “It’s as much a shock to me as it is to you.”
Hayley chuckled. “I know. You thought I was a brainless bimbo when you first met me.”
“I did. And I was wrong. You’re not brainless, and you were made to think so. Roxanne is a sick and twisted person with a complex. You were under her influence for far too long.”
“I’m out from under it now.”
“That may also be Lanokota’s doing,” Willow mused. “She helped you to become your true self. Strong. Capable.”
“Again, why?” Hayley gestured toward me. “I married him because of a bargain, a contract. I don’t need to be strong for that.”
“Of course, you do.” Willow laughed. “He’s the most bull headed and obstinate dragon you’d ever want to meet.”
“I didn’t want to meet him. I wanted a job.”
“Perhaps that jolt when we first shook hands created the perfect storm,” I commented. “Literally shocked you into becoming your true self.”
Willow sat bolt upright, her mouth ajar.“What did you say?”
Hayley and I exchanged a confused glance. “Um,” I began, unsure of how to describe the weird sensation when I first made flesh to flesh contact with Hayley. “Well, I asked her to marry me, she agreed, we shook hands.”
“A jolt, like a terrible electric shock hit us both at the same time,” Hayley added, frowning at Willow. “We blew it off.”
“Oh, holy Lanokota,” Willow breathed, sinking back into her chair. “Oh, praise the lady. It’s happened. It bloodyhappened.”
“What happened?” I demanded, cross. “What are you yammering about?”
For a long moment, Willow didn’t answer. She stared blankly into space as though listening to a voice that only she heard. A smile bloomed on her face as she returned to earth, and my office.
“It’s you two,” she said, laughing. “You two are the ones, the first since time out of mind.”
“First what?” I snapped.
“You two are fated mates. The first in over a thousand years.”
Chapter Fifteen
Hayley
“Fated mates?” I exchanged a long look with Alaric, who appeared as confused as I was. “What does that mean?”
“Let me explain, my children.”
Alaric sat back in his chair, still scowling. “I wish you would.”
“Across time and space,” Willow began in a haunting voice, “there are those souls who are linked. Linked by destiny, by the will of the gods. These souls must meet, must find one another, or time itself is ripped apart.”
“No way,” I scoffed. “Now that’s just a load of crap.”
“No, my dear, it’s not crap. It’s difficult to fathom that two such souls are so important to the very fabric of time and space. You two have been chosen to join together, to become one. One with the gods, one with each other.”
