Dark Passions at Death's Door

30 - What It Will Cost

She sucked in a hard breath. "Okay, reaper!!!"

That had hurt, godsdamn him!

She walked away, seething, then turned to stare at him. The reaper was wearing an expression that mixed anger and pain equally.

Did he understand how menacing he was? And why was he the one feeling hurt?

Nїx was feeling a singular emotion she never wanted to express to anyone. She was the Ever-Knowing, damn it! She'd orchestrated some of the greatest upsets in the entire Lore.

It was she with whom others quoted the phrase, "one with which you did not fuck!". If she'd come that close to death without her foreknowledge?

It meant she was vulnerable. She, the soothsayer without equal, vulnerable?

She was expected to be better than all the rest. For her friends, for her family. For her mate. For all of Gaia and all the Vertas. And this arrogant asshole was treating her like she was fallible. Like she wasn't already a demigoddess.

She flickered her gaze around a moment, then resolved herself. She inhaled hard. Test him, Nїxie.

"If you remember," she started carefully. "What t-shirt was I wearing this day?"

Byron halfway closed his eyes, focusing. "It was blue. Cotton. And it left your belly and lower back exposed. The front read, I Know Best."

Her mouth fell open in disbelief. When his gaze reconnected with hers, it had gone from menace to confidence. Her diamond had pinged softly with the truth. Worse, Nїx remembered that day. The dimension was an armory. It was away from the rest of her local jaunts. There she could hide and nude-sunbathe in peace. She could let her mind float on the paths, not chasing the fates.

She bit down on her lip. If what he says is true, I'm not the Ever-Knowing anymore!

She shook her head and crossed her arms under her bust, "Vow to the Lore it's the truth."

"I, Byron Dekker, vow to the Lore that I have defended Phenїx the Ever-Knowing on more than several occasions," he spoke without censure.

The air shivered. No more. And her diamond on steel? No, no-no-no-no...

But yes, it rang true. NO! What in the fucking hells?! She tossed it again. Turn to coal!

The diamond pinged again, louder. Rage left her in a rush, replaced by another emotion. One she abhorred most. Nїx stared around the beach.

She stroked her hands over her head, then shook out her locks, rubbing her fingers through her tresses to think.

Before, for centuries, she'd been so deep in chasing fates. She learned to do all sorts of different little hobbies to keep other pieces of her mind and body preoccupied. Stuff that helped tell others what to do, or just kept her from the vision. Here, she had nothing except herself. Nїx didn't know precisely what to do with herself with all this free time with empty hands. It flustered her.

Either Byron was insane enough to really believe what he was saying, or it was true. And he didn't act insane. She winced. No, she couldn't even lie to herself about that. The male was really telling the godshonest truth.

And she couldn't discredit him. She'd been missing things recently. The fates and decision trees were getting harder to read as time wore on. That day in the swamp, she'd been worn out, worried sick about the future. She went to the pocket dimension to relax for just a couple hours.