The gods?”
“No god has that power. Only one other being can bring a soul back.”
The air caught in Talisa’s throat. No. That couldn’t be possible…
The Fate floated toward her and stopped close. So close she seemed to glow, and even though Lachesis was ethereal, Talisa felt warmth as the Fate reached out and touched her shoulders.
“There is a reason you were brought back. A reason you were given these markings. A reason you were chosen in this time and place. Your destiny may have once been linked to Zagreus’s, but your purpose is your own, paidí. I know you do not remember your past, but every life, every death shaped your soul into what it is today. And while you may feel lost, while you may still struggle to find where you belong, today your soul is strong, not just physically but emotionally and spiritually. That strength is what will lead you where you were always meant to be. All you have to do is trust in it. Trust in yourself.”
Talisa stared at the Fate as her pulse raced. Lachesis had just nailed who she was inside. She’d never felt she fit in anywhere... Not with her family or the Argonauts or anywhere in her realm.
Her gaze drifted toward Zagreus, and she wondered... Was he the reason? But if so, then why had the Fate said her destiny had once been linked to his? Was it not any longer?
Her gaze dropped to her arms and the Argonaut markings on her skin. Was he not her soul mate as she’d thought?
Something warm echoed in her chest. Right where her heart should be. Telling her… Yes, he was her soul mate. But she felt something else, too. A fullness that screamed the connection she felt to him was more. Something bigger. A bond that couldn’t be broken.
She swallowed hard and looked at Lachesis again. “H-how…?” she managed, blinking because her eyes were suddenly hot. “How do I know what I feel is real? I’m not the same person I was those other times—”
“No, you’re not. But neither is he. He has lived every lifetime you have. More because he’s had to fill in the gaps between. And though his body might not have died as yours did, his soul was damaged each time he lost you. No one falls in love with a body, Talisa—that’s lust. But the soul—even one that is cracked and bruised and broken—can be healed. It can still love. It can still be loved, if it finds the part of itself that is missing. It can even be redeemed.”
Talisa’s gaze swept back to the bed. To Zagreus’s relaxed features and thick dark hair. And as she looked at his bruised and bleeding body, lying still against the mattress, she remembered the way he’d kissed her in that club before all hell had broken loose. How alive he’d been then. How real. Then how he’d kissed her in those woods just prior to letting her go. As if she’d been his everything. As if he’d sacrifice anything to protect her.
She wasn’t sure what she felt for him. Didn’t know if it was infatuation or love or something in between. She only knew that she couldn’t leave him. That she didn’t want him to leave her.
He needed her. And she needed him. For reasons that still didn’t completely make sense.
She swiped at her eyes. “You have to do something to help him.”
“I can’t.”
“You can. You can’t just poof in here, tell me all this, then poof away again. Not after all the ways you fucked things up for us.”
“I told you, we do not interfere in his affairs anymore.”
“This isn’t an affair. It’s his life.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It does matter. If it didn’t you wouldn’t be here.”
“I’m not here for him, paidí. I came for you. So you would understand. So you would not spend the rest of your life searching for answers. Your parents were afraid for you to know the truth about your link to Zagreus, but they were wrong to keep it from you. Just as we—the Fates—were wrong not to trust you. Zagreus fulfilled his destiny. You helped him do so, and for that, we are extremely proud of you. But whatever happens to him now is his choice, not yours. You have to let him make it. Just as we have to let you make yours.”
Frustration gathered inside Talisa. She didn’t like that answer. Didn’t understand it at all. If his destiny was to restore balance