Titan cuts me off as he yanks his sword out. “You are. Just keep shooting. We’ll keep them back.”
Fucking men.
I’m choosing to ignore the butterflies in my stomach that their protective natures have evoked.
How can I both love and hate it so much?
As more and more people pile toward us, the three of them are forced to step back until their shoulders are brushing and there isn’t enough room for me to move. At least not if I don’t want to end up touching all of them, but if I do that, then I’ll die for real and so will my sisters.
I lower my gun, unable to see anything except the bulky mass of my fated mates.
“Damn it. We can’t hold them back,” Titan’s words are practically growled. “What do we do, Steel?”
“Keep fighting,” he yells.
Blaze snorts, unamused as he lops off the head of an attacker. “Like we’d stop. But that doesn’t keep them from pushing us back. We’re good, but we’re not that good.”
“We have to stop giving them ground. If we don’t, then we’ll kill Dalia—and her sisters alongside her.” Steel tries to push against his attackers, but he’s immediately pushed back again.
The storm that’s been brewing finally breaks over us, rain pouring down on the battlefield. I tip my head back to stare up at the dark sky, wondering how everyone else is faring.
I hope those who chose to defend me and Iero aren’t dying for nothing.
“It doesn’t feel like my time to die,” I admit as they’re forced back another small step, smiling into the sky.
What I wouldn’t give to be able to see the strings of fate once more—to know for certain if this is the end for my sisters and me.
If this is really my last moment on this plane, then I’m thankful to have been able to feel the love of the three men around me. Dying at their hands is better than dying at Renwick’s.
I’ve barely had time to get to know them, but I love them, and they love me. It should be too fast, but that’s just how it works when you’re fated—love comes easily.
My only regrets will be taking my sisters with me to death and not having enough time with my men.
Because they are mine, and I’m theirs—not Renwick’s, no matter how much he seems to think otherwise.
Thunder rumbles in the distance as lightning flashes across the sky.
“I love the three of you,” I yell, wanting to make sure they can hear me over the noise of the battle and in the sky. “No matter what happens, I’m so glad I met you.”
“Don’t you dare fucking give up on us, Dalia,” Steel growls.
I shake my head, still smiling. “I’m not. I just want to make sure you know I love you.”
“Sure as fuck sounds like you’re giving up,” Titan argues.
I shrug even though he can’t see me. I understand how my words would make them think I’m giving up, but accepting my fate isn’t the same as giving up. If it’s time for my life to end, there’s nothing I can do to change it. I can’t fight fate, and even if I could, I wouldn’t.
I’m moirai. I’m literally one of the Fates. We might have lost our power over the strings, but that doesn’t mean I’ve lost my belief in them.
Everything happens for a reason, and if my death is meant to come today, then so be it.
“I love you, too, gorgeous,” Blaze calls.
Titan and Steel grumble under their breath, making my smile widen.
“Of course I love you,” Titan growls.
Steel pushes his attacker away from him. “We’ll protect you until our dying breaths. I don’t know what says I love you more than that.”
