Silva paled. “No.”
Giuliana leaned on Pasquale and looked to Silva. “Who was Joran?”
“The man I was to marry, but he made a bid for Silva’s hand instead.”
Heath tensed at Asherah’s words. “You?”
“He was the foremost advisor to House Kulen of Daemon, the royal house. Joining with me, as Niamh—er, Silva—could have joined with his father, the king, would have united the Seelie and Unseelie. We hadn’t known war in so many years, and it was time.”
“Or so I thought. My sister disappeared, and I was distracted with a sudden uprising in the city. It took several months before I even realized she was not in our family homelands enjoying her vacation, and not too long after that, I was gone.”
“How?” Heath never understood how Silva ended up in Encantado.
“It started as nothing more than a chance for me to quell the revolt. But during my travel to the outskirts of Seraph, I was attacked. I don’t know what happened, but I woke up here. Without my name, without my powers. I was … nothing, and I couldn’t remember what had happened,” Silva explained.
“But what is a Norn?” Dominic ran his hands through his hair. Heath didn’t envy his confusion.
“Somet’ing even I don’t wan’ to mess with,” Zahara answered. “Powerful an’ very old.”
“Fate,” Heath explained. “In this world they are known as the Fates, a myth from the past. But they are very real. You might know them as past, present, and future. They still watch over what’s happening in what they consider the mortal world.”
Dominic growled. “You have got to be shitting me. Why can’t things be as simple as a bullet in a body?”
Eiravel laughed. “Or a blade.”
“Or teeth at the throat,” Pasquale forced out through clenched teeth.
“Either way,” Heath interrupted, “the Norns are real, and they had some part to play in Asherah’s capture, and Skuld targeted Silva. As to why, or what she has seen may one day happen, we don’t know. But if she tried to use Asherah, it’s only common sense to think she’d try another route. And if she comes for her again …”
“Then we’d be in danger as well,” Romano finished. “That’s why you came back when you didn’t have to.”
“Yeah. I know what I did, and I can’t take it back. But I wasn’t going to run away and not bring you what I know. Encantado is facing a threat from the outside no one is aware of.”
Kalinda groaned. “And we’ve just opened the doors to more residents to come here from neighboring portal cities. This is going to be a PR nightmare.”
“We don’t know more than that, but we had to bring the warning. I sent the Renegades to other cities as well. We don’t know if she knows exactly where Silva is.”
Dominic turned. “You sent the Renegades. They answer to no one.”
“Except, it seems, me.”
Romano gritted his teeth. “Thank. You.”
“Any harder to get that out and you’d crack your teeth,” Kalinda admonished.
Not that Heath could disagree with her, but he simply nodded in response.
“I’m sorry I don’t know more, but either way, something is coming,” Heath warned.
“Then we face it. For now, we put whatever shit we have to the side until we get this under control. Deal?”
Romano nodded. “Doesn’t mean I won’t accidently on purpose break your face.”
“As long as I get to return the favor,” Heath returned.
“We have to stop fighting long enough to come up with a plan. Just like with the Bianchi versus the Moretti, not all is what it seems,” Pasquale surmised.
Kalinda sighed. “It’ll have to be good enough. At least we know who the fugitives are. Now I just need to call the Guardians and talk this through.”
