“Take it back, Cora!”
Cora was equally pale, her expression both anguished and resolute. “I would if I could, but you know that’s not how this works, Rhea.”
“Fine. Then we figure out how to change this.”
Cora was shaking her head. “Every path I take shows the same thing.”
Rhea turned away, which left her facing Cass and Iris. The baby stirred, a small hand reaching out to grasp Rhea’s pendant. Her mother made a soft shushing sound.
“I’ve got you, Sofie.” She bent her head and pressed her lips to Sofia’s head.
The naked pain on her mother’s face froze Cass in place. It was raw and uncensored, leaving no room for doubt that this was a tormented woman. “Mom.”
But Rhea couldn’t hear her because this was a captured memory, locked into the mirror by Iris. Rhea gazed down at her youngest daughter, her fear swallowed by a ruthless determination that was much more familiar to Cass.
“No.” Rhea’s denial was quiet but unrelenting. “I won’t allow it.”
Iris flinched. “You can’t outrun the Fates, Rhea.”
Rhea looked at her mother, obstinate determination clear in her face. “Fuck the Fates, Mama. These are my babies she’s talking about, and I’ll do whatever I must to keep them safe.”
Cass recognized the sorrow that darkened both Iris and Cora’s gazes—not just because one sister was breaking the other’s heart but also because both knew there was no manipulating the Fates’ plans. Any attempt would only lead to more heartache.
Cora started to reach out. “Rhea, you can’t?—”
“Don’t!” Rhea bit out, a flush sweeping through her face as fear was a living fire in her eyes. She kept Sofia cradled close. “Don’t tell me what I can or can’t do.” The tension between the sisters clogged the air, and Sofia started to fuss. Rhea rocked her, softening her tone even as frustration kept her anger alive. “If there’s no escaping this, why tell me in the first place?”
“Because you need to know,” Cora replied, resigned.
“That’s not an answer, Cora!” Rhea snapped.
“Would you rather I didn’t say anything?” Frustration edged out Cora’s compassion as she matched her sister’s temper.
“It’d be better than this,” Rhea snarled. “You can’t tell me which daughter, you can’t tell me how, you can’t tell me when. All you give me is some vague warning that one daughter will cost me another.”
Cora endured Rhea’s accusations, her hands fisted at her sides, and said nothing.
“You’re a damn Oracle, so tell me how to fix this.”
There was so much pain in Rhea’s voice that it left Cass feeling bloodied and bruised. And considering the tears falling down Cora’s face, she shared that feeling. Both Oracles knew the cruel truth, and in an eerie tandem, they said, “You can’t.”
“Can’t what, Cassandra?”
Cass looked up and met her mother’s gaze, disconcerted as the past and present collided. The world around her shifted back to her parents’ guest room. Rhea stood on the other side of the bed where Sofia lay, a frown joining the tired lines on her face. “Cassandra, are you okay?”
Cass shook her head, trying to come back from the past and sync with the present. “Sorry, Mom. Give me a second.” The emotional echoes of what she’d witnessed clung tightly, and she barely registered Rhea’s shock at the informal address. “I was just…” She went to wave her hand, forgetting she still held the pocket mirror. Shaking her head, she closed the antique compact, put it in the box, then set it and the letter aside. “Must have fallen asleep.” She got to her feet, grabbed her glasses, and set them in place, their familiar weight dislodging the lingering hold of the past. “Everything okay?”
Rhea gently straightened the light cover on Sofia, her gaze lingering on the box. “What did you see?”
Still rattled by the past, Cass adjusted her glasses and fought the urge to squirm. “What?”
“The mirror,” Rhea said, angling her head toward it. “What did Mother want you to see?”
A tone of accusation had slipped into Rhea’s question, setting Cass’s teeth on edge, but she struggled past her fundamental rejection of whatever her mother asked her to do and aimed for a mature response. “Why don’t we discuss this later?”
Rhea didn’t take the hint. “What did you see, Cassandra?”
The haughty demand set Cass’s back up. Fuck being mature. “You, Sofia, Yaya, and Cora.”
