Gaia waved away the logic in front of her face, saying, “Yet many manage to do without mates.”
Fate jammed her fists on her hips. “Forgive me, but if I were able to put you on the stand…”
“Which you areNOT.”
“Yes. I know that. I just saidif I could, I would have to ask why you gave them this catch-22?”
“I made them catch what?”
“No. It’s an expression that came from a book. You must have seen the movie…”
“The only movies I watch are what’s happening right outside my ether. I just wish there weren’t so many horror movies.”
“Yes, well…you made them want to mate. You even set up mating rules. For instance, dragons are only fertile for one month every five years. Then you make them rare as fuck and scatter them around so it’s hard for them to find each other. Do you know how difficult you mademyjob as a result?”
Gaia smirked. “Whatisyour job, by the way? I don’t see you doing much at all.”
Fate narrowed her eyes. “You create beings with souls. I find them mates. Therefore, I create soul mates. Many of your children are happy because of my work.”
“And who told you to make their soul mates human? Maybe I should putyouon trial?”
Fate stopped her oration and appeared to be thinking. Good. She needed to think about what the hell she was doing.
Fate lifted her chin. “Might I remind you how you were complaining about how useless your ancient muses were? How you wished you had some modern muses who could help the others to navigate these changeable times? And now, you have those modern muses—because they were once humans and are now mated to a paranormal.” Fate raised her voice. “I call Amber Arish, the muse of air travel, to the ether.”
A pretty young woman with green eyes and honey-colored hair appeared and stood next to Rory Arish. The dragon wrapped an arm around her and returned her warm smile.
“I call Bliss Russo-Cameron, the muse of email.”
A confident brunette appeared next to Drake Cameron and took his hand.
“Brandee Wolfensen, the muse of photography and videography.”
A feisty redhead slid in next to Nick Wolfensen, offering him an unapologetic grin.
“Misty Carlisle Fierro, the muse of modern parenting.”
A petite brunette with big blue eyes appeared next to Gabe and tucked her arm around his waist, fitting perfectly under his arm.
Gaia gave a brief nod to her minor goddesses. Each young woman, previously human in every way, answered with a respectful bow.
Gaia sighed. “And your point is?”
“Without the mating of these women with one of your accused, you’d still be drowning in a sea of email, trying to sort through pictures of kittens and videos of dumbasses trying things at home that they were specifically told not to do, all the while watching for planes, helicopters, and drones about to crash. And if that weren’t enough, you’d be dealing with frustrated, overworked, or immature parents who forgot to tell their kids not to play with matches or lighters and stuff going up in smoke!”
Karma spoke up. “Don’t forget trying to use those little rectangles people put in their pockets.”
Gaia frowned. “Handkerchiefs?”
Strawberry-blonde dragon Kristine—the muse of mobile communication devices and wife of Jayce Fierro—appeared on her own. “Um, I think she means cell phones, Goddess.”
“You see how out of touch you are?” Karma cried. “These modern muses are saving our butts.”
“And we wouldn’t even have them if not for your rule breakers here.” Fate gestured toward the bleachers of the accused with a sweep of her arm.
“Wait a minute. Karma, you’re on their side?”
“What goes around comes around isn’t just for the bad stuff, Sister. You did them a favor by granting them minor goddess status, and they do you many favors every day. I don’t see the problem here.”
