Page 75 of Dark Destiny: The Fates' Bargain

"Navuh is my mate, I love him, and he needs me to take care of him while he recuperates after jumping to what could have been his death while trying to save me. That should be simple enough to understand."

"What would I know about love?" Mirumah asked. "I was bred like livestock, and my three sons were taken away from me when they turned thirteen."

The words were the equivalent of a punch to the face, but Areana just nodded. "A truelove bond is rare, and it is a blessing from the Fates that even gods don't dare to question." She paused, and for a moment the graceful hostess was gone, and something far older looked out of her eyes. "You had your sons for thirteen years before they were taken away from you. I had mine for only months before I had to give them away. And yet, I would have given up the sky to sit beside my mate in a hole in the ground, and that is precisely what I did, back in the harem and then here."

Silence fell over the room, and it wasn't the kind that could be broken by redirecting the conversation to another topic or cracking a joke.

All the females in this room had suffered similar fates, including the goddess. Most of them had been forced to give up their sons, but the harem ladies had chosen the men who had fathered their children, and Areana had been loved by a monster, but it was still better than being handed over to strangers.

Still, Sullha wasn't sure any of them could claim that their sum of grievances was worse than that of the others. It seemed, though, that Areana had managed to make peace with her own ordeal. She had a truelove mate who was more of a curse than a blessing, and yet she thought of him as the latter and not the former.

From where Sullha was sitting, though, a truelove mate seemed like a ship's anchor, but not the kind that kept a seafaring vessel from drifting away, saving it.

It held it captive. It was a shackle.

27

YAAF

Yaaf sat on the small couch in his room and stared at the television without actually seeing what was on the screen aside from the timer in the corner.

It was time.

Bowen had said that he would come to escort them to the gathering at eleven-thirty, and that time had passed seven minutes ago.

They were finally getting out of the underground and were going to see the sky.

The invitation from the goddess had come as a surprise. A very nice surprise.

He was finally going to meet Areana and the other former harem ladies, but most importantly, he was going to see Sullha again. Only two days had passed since they had met, and they had talked each night on the phone for hours, but that wasn't enough. There was an ache in his chest that only eased when she was near him.

Was that what love felt like?

He wanted to ask Dimitri, but the goddess hadn't invited the scientists for some reason. It might have been an oversight, or perhaps she didn't think they were a good fit for whatever she had planned, but it wasn't as if he could tell her what to do.

He was just thankful to be invited to the penthouse apartment at the top of this building.

The elevator pinged on their level, and a moment later, Bowen's footsteps sounded on the concrete floor.

The collective recognized the rhythm of his stride.

"Gentlemen," the Guardian said as he stopped in front of the row of open cell doors. "The ladies are upstairs and awaiting your company."

"About time," Yaaf murmured as he clicked the screen off. "You said eleven-thirty."

Bowen arched a brow. "This is not a military operation. It's a social gathering. Timelines are flexible."

"Good to know." Yaaf waited for the other seven to join them.

It was strange to see himself and the others in nice civilian clothes, and even stranger that each of them was dressed differently. Most of the time they wore clothing similar to the Guardians, either black fatigues with no insignia or training attire. Today they had made an effort to look like eight individuals.

The mothers should be less spooked.

"There is a guest upstairs you've met before," Bowen said. "He goes by Eluheed now, but you would have known him as Elias. Navuh's shaman."

They remembered him. The one who'd come with Navuh and brushed against their hive mind.

Yaaf held the memories up with the others. They were old memories, frazzled, before the cohesion had settled. A feeling of a presence that had entered their shared space, keeping his nearly impenetrable walls up so they couldn't read him.