Fate's Exchange (Twisted Fate, Book 1)

Chapter Forty-Two

The Brothers

The Mortal Realm

"I did what you asked," I said through the open window of the car as I pulled to a stop along the curb a few blocks from Alyssa's house. Unfolding myself from the driver's seat, I felt my muscles contract and my joints snap. Straightening, I rounded the car and placed the keys into the First's hand. "Maybe next time we could arrange something a little bigger if I have to drive?"

He shrugged and looked down to the keys. When he looked back up, both the vehicle and the keys were gone, faded from sight. "You turned it into a date."

I pulled the collar of my jacket up to my chin and bent my head against the wind. In this shape and material form, I was no longer impervious to the elements of the human world, and for the first time of my existence, I felt the bite of cold.

"You said I wouldn't be watched."

"I said that you wouldn't be judged—"

"—and backs would be turned," I finished with an edge to my voice. "I took her to the field. Wasn't that the whole point?"

He nodded and stopped to face me. "The plan has changed, Brother."

Lifting my head to meet his gaze, the truth of what was to come was clear without the need for words. My breath, shortened with surprise, sucked in, cold as it slid down my throat. "No." I shook my head and looked away. "We can't—no. How is this fair?"

"It's a life for a life, Brother, or have you been gone so long you've forgotten the rules?" The First Brother sounded like he was enjoying this, like in some weird way, this was how his justice would be served. "You're the one who got close to her."

"Whose idea was this? Yours?" I shoved my hands through the back of my hair and kept my gaze averted, forcing myself to begin walking.

"The Sisters, although I haven't failed to see the beauty of their plan." He shrugged and fell into step beside me.

"So, no matter what, you're saying that there's zero way out of this plan." Nobody could escape fate, not when the Sisters were directly involved. But then, nobody should be able to wrangle away from Death, either, and that was what this plan allowed.

"It is how it must be for her to be prepared for what comes next," the First said without emotion. "It'll also make sure that the people she needs will be there for her when she needs them."

"Do you know what it is yet? Did you even think to ask?"

"I know enough, and after tomorrow—"

"—I won't be able to see her again," I said, cutting him off with a whisper.

Angels were gifted with the ability to take mortal form, but it was limited to one. After tomorrow... Well, if what the First wanted to happen occurred, she wouldn't recognize me if I tried to see her.

"No, you won't."

He stopped walking.

My steps continued down the street as I kept going, hating who and what I was for the first time—the restrictions of my existence that had been limited by my power—and what it meant for the only person I'd ever loved. The First faded from sight and my breathing returned to normal, at least by human standards. The truth that I had witnessed in his eyes was terrifying. The worst of it was that Alyssa was the one who would be made to suffer, more than I already was. Even if it meant that I could no longer be with her, I would do anything to lesson her pain.

If the so-called plan I'd seen in my brother's eyes was followed, I didn't need words to see that not only would she be in pain, but we'd never see one another again. How was I supposed to live with that? I didn't know how to change it, and if the First was right, it couldn't be altered. Not now, not ever. But now I was so integrated, not only among the students at Royal Academy, but with Alyssa, I couldn't regret being assigned anymore. Alyssa could never be a regret.

I love her.

It was the simplest thing I had ever known, and the most complicated. Angels do not love humans. Period. It just wasn't done; it certainly wasn't permitted.

Walking in my mortal form all the way to the woods, the scene that represented the beginning of the madness, I was pulled as if an invisible line was tugging me in. Wishing for the ability to erase the hardships from her mind, I wanted to take all the pain that she'd felt over the weeks and bear it as my own. Only He knew I had suffered worse, that even the agony of multiple deaths was nothing in comparison to the knowledge that we would never be together.

The tree she had been bound to during her first death showed no sign of her blood, though when I closed my eyes, it was almost as though I could still catch her scent. It was like she was just here, and I just missed her by a matter of moments.

But there was nothing—no blood, no Alyssa, no Death.

Because it hadn't happened yet. It only existed in her mind now, frozen in her well of memories. Experience my ass. How could something so wrong be construed as good?

I kicked the low-hanging branches with frustration, the snap as they were ripped from their life-source satisfying. Kicking it again and again, I didn't stop until sweat formed on my brow and there was nothing but the bare trunk of the tree remaining.

It wasn't enough.

Reverting to my true form and its invisibility from the world, I welcomed the change—it made me stronger.

Strong enough that when I hit the tree with a clenched fist, large fragments of bark flew through the air in every direction and an indentation was left in its wake. I hit it again. And again. I wound my leg behind me and kicked the tree as hard as I could, the thunder of contact echoing for miles, shaking the land.

The tree toppled to its side as easily as if I had taken a chainsaw to its base.

I moved to the next tree, and then the one beside that.

It sounded like a thunderstorm had erupted, and anyone who may have been close enough to see it must have imagined they were losing their mind. Good. Maybe those students from Elixir were wandering around looking for their next high and this would scare them straight.

Trees toppling of their own accord?

It looked as though they simply disintegrated and fell.

The clearing that formed erected a sense of accomplishment within me. It was my way of removing Alyssa's fear. Now, no matter what memories she retained, the clearing wouldn't trigger them like the sight of the trees standing tall would.

It did nothing to ease my problems.

I grunted and with a final kick, sending the tenth tree to its side. My goal was complete as the circle became fully formed. I sat where I stood and surveyed the damage, but it didn't help. The troubles that spiraled into an angelic hissy fit were still weighing on me as heavily as they had before I'd transformed to my true form. It was naive to think that changing my appearance and the formation of the trees would change how I felt.

Leaning forward, I rested my elbows on my knees and held my head in my hands. My true form started to fade back into my mortal body and I fought through the flickering to remain invisible. I had been amongst humans too long.

Still, now that I had a taste of life, if I could choose between the two, my true form would fade forever.

"What do I do?" I whispered into my hands.

A branch snapped behind me and I twisted at the waist to look left, deep into the woods, but there was nothing. Turning right, I saw a faint light, and then a petite woman with white-blonde hair streaked with red appeared. Her matching red dress, made of gauzy layers of fabric, didn't touch the ground. She was floating, hovering as she appraised me with a critical eye.