Mated to the Chaos - Georgette St. Clair Page 0,62
And yes, sister, I may have been the cause of it all.”
Nanshe froze. “What are you saying?
“Oh, I'm sorry,” Skuld added, covering her mouth and feigning a sense of surprise. “Did you not know?” She smiled. “Before we took all these opposing appearances when we accepted our position as Norns, we looked just alike, didn't we? The same coloring, the same complexion. You looked better when you had dark hair, by the way. But something about the Norn power made you look so different, no trace of our old blood.”
“We did this for Ishtar, Skuld.”
"Do not say her name in my presence.”
“Oh? Did you forget the goddess we did all this for?”
“Who we did this for? We turned our backs on her to follow the gods in order for us to gain our position as Norns. Don't fool yourself into thinking you were better than me.”
Nanshe shook her head, knowing her sister would not listen. “We did not turn our backs on Ishtar. It doesn't matter how you try to turn your words or change anything. We could not follow her to where she went to, and she made us take over the flow of time, so we always have a woman's touch in a world that was gaining the control of men. It simply was. It was our turn for control. We are like water, ever-flowing, ever-powerful, slipping through fingers that tried to clinch too hard. We were there to temper the gods, not take their place.”
“Well, better to retire than to be forgotten. I will no longer die for these peons of humans that don't care for us. I will no longer have to be reborn and strangled by this power connecting us. Could you imagine being free? Could you imagine no longer being tethered by this skill? It's why I tried to free you. I knew if you fell in love with that man and gained your happy ending, you would have blissfully fallen into the trap of becoming annoying. You would have gladly died life upon life, over and over again, while making him our king. I knew that wasn't for us, so I took him back from you. You see? Even though you stole him first, I returned the favor only to save you.”
Once more, Skuld had hinted at something more involved when it came to Carlo’s past incarnations. “Speak plainly, Skuld. I’m growing tired of your games.”
Skuld stepped forward, her black dress swishing around her legs, her cherry-red lips spreading into a crooked smile. “Oh, he enjoyed my flesh as well. He enjoyed how I felt.”
Skuld took more steps toward Nanshe, her hips rolling with each movement, flowing with sensual seduction. “And then I raced over to another timeline, and another and another, making sure he could hear every word.”
Nanshe’s heart stuttered in her chest.
“By the time I was finished, dear sister, he knew he was worth nothing to me but a roll in the hay. He was unimportant. My love for him was delivered with the same words I said to others who gave me what I wanted.”
“Is that what you made him think? That I betrayed him because he saw you with other men?”
“Oh, Nanshe. You should have told him you were a twin sooner in every timeline. By the time you did, it was already too late.”
“I never thought you would do something like that to me. I believed some witchcraft had been done to him.”
“Well, maybe one of us is naïve and the other one deserves to have both powers. I wonder what should happen in the future. Future should finally kill the Past.”
“It is impossible. It is why this position has been held by us for so long. We’re two halves of the coin that could never be separated.”
“If you know I cannot die, you know I can return. So what makes you think this war will turn out in differently?”
“Because he has recognized himself as the King of History.”
“Bravo, sister. One battle won. But one day, whether or not in this lifetime or the next, he will end you. It is written.”
“Let's see if we'll make it this time around.”
“I think I'll make sure he dies permanently if possible. I've seen the future, don't you now? I know of ways that have not even been invented yet. I can make sure his soul can never return. Trust me. He will not remain our King of History. You and this fucking system are going to be replaced.”
Nanshe bellowed her