Mother’s head tilted as if listening to an invisible voice. “Fate knows the punishment I have planned for you and has asked for mercy for your actions. I will grant Fate’s plea. Instead of sending you to Hades, which you deserve, I will be lenient. Stand.” The wind died, leaving the room eerily still as Joro rose shakily to her feet.
“You shall walk the earth as a human. If you die in human form before I call you home, forever will your black soul be lost.”
“Mother, please, do not do this,” Joro begged.
“I will not call you home until I know that you understand the pain Fate is now feeling at the loss of her husband and child.”
The verdict made, Joro disappeared as Mother’s punishment became final.
Chapter 3
Fate brought herself back to the present, the fresh air and the crying child a stark reminder of the path that had led her to this moment. She had recognized that Joro was not the same woman on her return home. She had always fought for what she wanted, either by outright confrontation or stealth; but as a human on Earth, she had at last learned compassion, loyalty, and above all else, love.
“I told you on your return that I forgave you, and I regret the child you left behind. Take and raise Odin’s son as your own, and in repayment, I will see that one day a part of your child will come home,” Fate promised.
Joro nodded while the child crying quieted as she soothed him. Fate forced back the sob in her throat and the desire to tear the child out of her arms.
“What shall we call him?” Joro’s question brought tears she refused to shed to her eyes.
“Thor.” As Fate disappeared, Joro barely heard her last whispered words. “Make him into the warrior he is destined to become.”
Destiny was waiting for Fate, catching her in her arms and helping her into the bed that had been cleaned to remove all traces of the recent childbirth. They could not die, but their bodies functioned as humans, feeling pain and agony just as those they watched over.
“You should have waited. It was too soon to leave your bed. Now it will take you much longer to heal,” Destiny fussed.
Fate buried her face in the pillow to keep Destiny from seeing her ravaged face. “I had to. If I had waited a moment longer, I would never have let him leave my arms.”
“You cannot unseal his future or Odin’s,” Destiny said. Fate felt her sit down on the bed next to her.
Fate said nothing as she turned on her side, away from her sister. She would not spill any tears over her decision, however the sacrifice was another in a long line that she had made to keep those she loved safe, each one tearing another piece of her heart away.
Destiny sat by her side long into the night, watching her fight the fever that overcame her body. It was almost dawn when Fate looked up to see Mother by her side.
Destiny lowered her head in respect as Mother knelt by Fate’s side.
“My dearest friend, it is beyond me to watch you suffer any longer.” Gently, she laid her hand on Fate’s forehead. Instantly, her body ceased moving fitfully and a sigh left her lips as she reached up to gently clasp Mother’s hand in her damp one.
“Please do not be angry with me.” Fate murmured.
“Why? Because you gave my gift to another to try to save those that cannot be saved?”
Fate’s hand tightened on Mother’s hand. “To save us all,” Fate replied, firming her weakening resolve.
“Rest Fate.” Mother sat down by Fate’s side, taking her into her loving arms. “The battle is near, but not tomorrow. For your sacrifice, I will grant you one reward when you wish. Even I do not know if the events you have set in motion will have the results you hope to achieve. We can only wait and watch over those we love and those who could destroy us all.”
Fate fell asleep as peace filled her—a parting gift from Mother. She lay in the bed that her son had been conceived in, remembering the night of passion that had led to the birth of Thor. Regret blossomed in her chest that there would never be another night in Odin’s arms to experience the feelings he could still rise in her weakened body as it suffered the aftermath of birth.
Gazing out into the star filled night, Fate sought the sight that always comforted her. Instead of seeing the millions of lives she constantly watched over, she focused on the miraculous beauty of a night darkened sky with a lone tiny star twinkling.
“Sleep little one.” Fate closed her eyes and finally slept, not seeing the curtain billowing in the wind, revealing a shadowed figure rigid with fury at being unable to enter.
His hands were clenched into fists because a God with his power was being held at bay. The desire to grab the stubborn woman and drag her back to his castle was palpable. Forcing himself to calm and take deep breaths, Odin whispered a promise on the night air over and over until the sleeping woman tensed beneath her silken covers and her dreams became nightmares at the revenge Odin would one day exact.
In her dreams, he could have her over and over again. She was at his mercy. Fate saw herself in the dream, held tightly in his embrace of iron with a brutal hand in her hair, tilting her head back and forcing her to look into his intimidating glare.
“You will be mine.”
“Never again,” Fate’s teeth gritted out her response.
“You will be mine. Know that as you run through time trying to escape me, every night you lay your head down to sleep, I will be waiting for you. I will bide my time—eternity is on my side. I will force myself to wait and watch. Until then, know I will not be denied. You will be mine.”
Centuries Later…
Fate leaned against the tree, watching her daughter with her new husband, laughing at something Valentine had said to them. Valentine beamed at the just married couple, proud as any father, both mortal and immortal. He had been asked by the couple to perform the ceremony, and it had been touching when tears had fallen from his eyes as he had announced them man and wife.
“You kept your promise.” Intent on the couple, Fate had not noticed Joro’s approach.
“I did, as did you. Your progeny has returned home.”
“I am truly honored that he is married to your daughter.” Joro reached out a shaking hand and touched Fate’s hand, clasping it within her own. “I wronged you, Fate, and deserved the punishment I received. Your forgiveness humbles me.”
Fate looked at Thor now hugging Cara and thumping Jericho on his back, nearly knocking the man over into the huge cake waiting to be cut.
“You paid your penance, Joro, and repaid your debt.
You made Thor into the warrior I needed him to become.”
“I did not do it alone; Odin trained him and gave him a place by his side. But that was your intention, wasn’t it, Fate? Which one are you protecting, Fate? Everyone within the realms is aware you deny Odin, that you mock his desire for you, so it must be Thor whom you protect.” A worried frown crossed Joro’s forehead, fear entering her eyes. Thor had become a son to her in every way but blood, and the look on Fate’s face was raising her mothering instincts of protection.
“I cannot speak of the future. Your lover and son will make their own path toward which destiny awaits them.”
Joro stared hard at Fate, seeing that she never took her eyes off Thor. Calm settled over Joro. Fate loved her children. Just looking around the gardens outside Fate’s castle gave proof to that devotion.
Cara was in her new husband’s arms, held tight and loved. The same man holding her was a descendent of Joro’s, looking just as the son she had left behind on Earth. A warrior’s heart and blood ran through that body. Yes, Fate protected her children well. If Thor was in danger, then there was no better protector than the woman who had given him life.
Joro smiled at Fate and stepped forward, hugging the woman and reverently kissing her cheek. “I guess this makes us sort of in-laws.”
Fate was caught off guard by Joro’s reaction, not sure how to react. She wasn’t given a chance since Joro quickly released her and moved toward the other guests as they gathered around the gigantic cake about to be finally cut.
“By the way, for your information, Odin is not my lover. I would never touch another male of yours. I learned my lesson. Unlike you, I can give you my premonition of the future; although I do not have your gift, I am not blind.” Joro waved her hand at a glowering Odin standing with the other married couple. “I do not believe that you will escape Odin for much longer.”
“You couldn’t have learnt your lesson too well by trying to antagonize me,” Fate shot back sarcastically.