Page 7 of Cheating Fate

Seeing tears well up in my father’s eyes wrecked me. The prickling sensation in my own eyes hinted that emotions were also getting the best of me. He pulled me into his arms and gave me a bone-crushing hug. I returned it then pulled my mother into our collective embrace. We held each other for a moment longer before letting go.

“Don’t you get yourself killed over there, you hear?” my father said in a grumpy tone.

I snorted. “My Zhara is a healer and a soul whisperer. I’ll be fine.”

“See that you are!” my mother echoed in a playfully severe tone.

“Come on. Let’s get you on that ship,” my father said.

Chapter 2

Zharina

My stomach fluttered with nerves as I once more examined myself from head to toe in the mirror. I changed outfits at least fifteen times in the past hour and tortured my hair to oblivion and back trying to settle on the perfect look.

After fifteen years—almost sixteen—of only ever talking to my soulmate through psychic dreams or offline videos, we were finally going to have a live conversation in real time. My current behavior more than qualified as irrational. Gavin already knew what I looked like. Between photos, videos, and 3D holograms, my appearance held no more mystery for him. Well, my prim and proper appearance…

And yet, this would be the real first impression. Videos could be patched and tweaked until they were perfect. But with a live chat, there would be no hiding the brain farts, nervous babbling, and any other silly reaction one could have. What if I froze and just stared at him like an idiot, my mouth gaping like a freaking wormhole?

Enough! Stop jinxing yourself!

Sometimes, I could be my own worst enemy. People always saw me as the strong, badass, no nonsense battle maiden. They’d be shocked to discover the extent of the insecurities that plagued me. Often, I wished I could just drop the mask and show my vulnerabilities. But too many people—entire worlds even—counted on us to see them through the bloodiest war in generations.

Strangely enough, as crushing as that burden felt at times, the thought that Gavin might be disappointed with me terrified me even more. I cast another look at my reflection. It shamed me that, to this day, I remained irrationally self-conscious about my skin color. As much as I loved my Xelixian heritage, like every other Titan, I considered myself first and foremost a Veredian.

But Veredians were brown-skinned.

Since our females began mating with Xelixians, their offspring displayed dominant Veredian features. This included our skin color, breed spots along the sides of our necks, arms, and legs, and our round-edged ears similar to those of a human. After hundreds of births, only five of us had taken the silver-gray complexion of our fathers. Normally, the only Xelixian traits inherited by the hybrids were the chevron-shaped ridges on our foreheads, our oversized irises, and for some, the unusual eye color of our sires. Vahleryon got his dark purple eyes from our Dad, whereas Rhadames got our Papa’s electric blue eyes.

I hated that such superficial concerns continued to plague me. It felt disrespectful to my sire, but I couldn’t help it. Deep down, I just wanted to fit with the others. That stupid reaction made even less sense that no one but me even seemed to notice it. Nobody ever gave my skin a second thought. We truly were our worst critic.

A startled yelp escaped me when the timer on my bracer went off. I’d set an alarm five minutes before the scheduled call to be sure I would be ready to receive it in case I got distracted somehow.

I ran a nervous hand over the short skirt of the sleeveless black dress I had settled on, smoothing the non-existent creases on it. As with every Veredian of the Warrior breed like me, I had insanely long hair down to my ankles, which served as a lethal weapon once covered in celesium armor. I had gone back and forth between letting it loose or plating it in the traditional single braid. As I didn’t want to end up getting tangled in it if I fidgeted too much during the call, I chose the safer approach of the braid bound with a ribbon at the nape.

Taking a deep, fortifying breath, I made my way to the sitting area of my room. Like every bedroom in my parents’ mansion, it was spacious with a massive walk-in closet, my personal hygiene room, a comfortable sitting area, and my own private balcony, which faced the eastern side of the house.

I settled on the three-cushion couch and turned on the giant screen located above the fireplace. Normally, I would slouch on it barefoot, wearing nothing but an oversized T-shirt. Pictures of Gavin and I cuddling on this couch while enjoying a movie flashed before my mind’s eye, stirring a violent longing. I so often dreamt of romantic moments like that the thought we were only hours away from it finally happening felt unreal to me.

Seconds later, a discreet chiming sound accompanied the message on the giant screen indicating an incoming call. My heart leapt into my throat. Feeling both hot and cold, a swarm of butterflies taking flight in my stomach, I inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly to get my emotions under control before accepting the call.

The beloved face of my Gavin immediately filled the screen. I felt faint. He was so beautiful, so perfect. And the look of wonder, of complete awe and happiness on his face kicked to the curb any nervousness and insecurity that had been gnawing at me. This was my soulmate. Whatever hesitation or misgivings might have lingered vanished the moment our gaze is locked.

“Gavin,” I whispered, my voice a little shaky.

“My Zhara,” he replied, his deep, rumbling voice filled with a similar depth of emotions.

Its sound sent a powerful shiver down my spine, and my skin erupted in goosebumps. I had heard him speak countless times before in the recorded videos he sent me over the years. But this hit differently.

“At long last, we finally get to speak face to face,” he continued.

The sliver of shyness—maybe even nervousness—that emanated from him did the weirdest thing to me. It further soothed me to know we were in the same boat.

“I’m still pinching myself,” I said with a nervous giggle, immediately flinching inwardly for it.

“Fuck, you’re beautiful! I knew that stunning smile would do me in,” he blurted out, his greige skin immediately darkening with embarrassment over his mouth running away with him.

A timid chuckle escaped me, and a warm feeling spread through me. I couldn’t stop the stupid grin on my face.