There was something they weren’t saying. Something going on beneath the words they shared.
“How about mine?” Clotho asked with a tremor of what might be hope.
“I have it,” I said.
She nodded. “Well, it’s generous of you to offer to give him ahand. Howrewarding.”
Atropos sighed, and Lachesis muttered, “We talked about this, Clo.”
Clotho’s words sounded an awful lot like the paper Dad had sent with Val.
Never for self,as that life thread has been spun, allotted, and cut, but for another does Fate’s coin spin. A generous heart and a giving hand are rewarded.
It was talkingabout the coins. How to spend Fate’s coins. Which had to be done with generosity and giving. A gift.
The siren has said something like that too, that of course the coins hadn’t worked for Card. Because they never would work for the person who took them for their own use.
But maybe they would work if they were given. If they were a gift.
“Crossroads?” Clotho said. “Are you going to give me my coin?”
“No,” I said.
Card turned to me, his eyes wide. “Ricks? Please? Whatever is between us... I understand your anger...but please?”
“Cardamom Oak. I have one of Fate’s coins,” I said. “It was given to me by a swamp siren named Lilt Keyva. As a gift. I never stole it. I never took it. I never completed a task for it. I have not spent it. It is not mine. I do not have it for my own use. But now, as I return it to Fate, I will ask one question for someone else. As a gift.”
He held so still, he wasn’t even breathing. I didn’t think Fate was breathing either, but I wasn’t all that sure gods had to breathe.
My heart was in a full-out sprint. I was going on hunch alone here, and I hoped I wasn’t setting him up, settingusup for failure.
Or worse.
I faced Clotho.
“Fate,” I said, my tone humble, “as I return this coin to you, may I ask a question for the good of someone else?”
Clotho’s eyes twinkled, and she nodded. “Yes, Crossroads.”
“Will asking this question cause harm to Card’s tree? Or to anyone I care about?”
“No. You are returning our coin that was taken, then gifted. Since it was a gift to you, I will gift to you an answer to your question.”
Card sucked in a short breath. I thought he was going to pass out if he didn’t start breathing normally.
There were a lot of things I could ask. So many things I wanted to know. Did Card love me? Should we try a life together? As friends? As lovers?
Was Stel vowing revenge and about to turn out the Halls of Wizards to kill me?
What about my friends? Val and his unfixed relationship with the werewolves? Lu and Brogan’s curse to wander Route 66?
But I knew what this coin should be gifted for.
“Is Cardamom’s sister still alive and on this earth?”
Card exhaled like someone had just kicked him in the kidneys.
Clotho’s smile was brighter than a hundred suns. “Yes, Crossroads. Thistal is alive. On this earth. Rooted and sleeping.”
