Page 70 of Fortune Fae Academy
Instead of reacting in anger as I had, he calmly raised a brow in judgment. “Is that so?”
“You disagree?” I ground out. I lifted a single finger and let Dust course through my body until the Web materialized. I found the strand I was looking for and snagged it with my claw, then shoved it at him. “This is a timeline where you had claimed Rowan and Zeke instead of demanding I break them. We would all be together right now, under the same roof, with Gina at our center.”
As it should be.
He smoothed the strand out in the air and took his time examining it. Then he fisted it, grabbing it and yanking it aside. The Web made a pained sound in response, keening in protest as the strand expanded and revealed a series of junctions.
“Do you not look at the full picture, Axel? I thought you were better versed in these things. Don’t you see where that timeline winds up? With Gina as Etu’s bride. In that timeline, we’re all as good as dead.”
Since when are we trusting every vision we see at the end of a thread?I wanted to argue, but he did have a point.
I waved away the spiraling strands of the Web until they dissipated and returned to their proper place between time and space where all of the Web existed. “It was just an example. I’mnot going to scour every timeline just to prove to you that you made a mistake.” I leaned in. “Because you did, Seif.”
“I’ve made many mistakes,” he admitted. The admission only irritated me, because he wasn’t trying to be humble. He just wanted to make me look like a fool. “Some mistakes I can’t undo, but the past is the past. We aren’t Paradox Fae. All I can do is look to the future, and you don’t have to waste your time finding timelines to prove me wrong, Axel. With Gina, we will make our own. She will weave the tapestry of time in our favor.”
I lifted my lip in disgust. “You use Gina to mend your mistakes? Some fucking Alpha you are, Seif. You can’t even own up to the obvious mistake of failing to claim your Omega’s Betas.”
He tilted his head, sending silky hair over his face. “Why are you making this so difficult? The answer is in your own words. Rowan and Zeke belong to Gina. They are her Betas, as you just said. She claimed them. They were not mine to take.”
I’d never heard him mention that before. “What the fuck are you talking about? Then why did you demand that I break them?”
“Because that’s what you needed.”
My eyes widened. “You didn’t do that to teach them their place?”
He shrugged. “Perhaps there was some of that, too. But I could have just used my Alpha voice on them from the very beginning. That would have required claiming them, so sending you in to do what you already wanted to do made more sense. And it helped push your transition along as an Alpha, too, did it not?”
Yes. Breaking Rowan and Zeke had been a critical moment in my transition. I had perfected an Alpha’s toxin during those months and I had learned the truth of the kinship the two shared. It had helped me to better understand what it meant totruly be bound to another, to protect another, and to be self-sacrificial for a mate that mattered.
If Seif hadn’t given me that order…
My fist slammed against the table, sending a long crack streaking through the solid iron. “Do you honestly expect me to believe you knew that was what I needed to transition? That you did anything to help me on my journey? Because fuck that, Seif. You’re full of shit.”
He chuckled in response to my fury. Anyone else would have lost their head by now, but Seifiek managed to seem relaxed as he crossed his arms. The glow of the fire licked over him, highlighting his sharp jaw and toned muscles. “I don’t take credit, Axel. I didn’t know what would come of that order at the time. But that doesn’t change that I helped you, even when it didn’t seem like I was helping. You’re trying to tell me that we’d be in a better position now if I had claimed Zeke and Rowan, but you might not have even become an Alpha had I done so.” He shook his head. “No, Axel. This is the timeline that’ll give us all the best chance. It’s messy, but it’s all we’ve fucking got.”
I swept my fingers through my hair as a flurry of emotions wound a noose around my heart. I wasn’t going to agree with him, but he was right about one thing.
We couldn’t dwell on the past. Fortune Fae belonged in the future. That was where we had to put our energy.
A knock at the door interrupted our conversation and my mood further soured, which I hadn’t even realized was possible.
A shirtless Beta let himself in, which would have earned punishment had he done that to any other Alpha.
But this one belonged to the Collegium. I already knew who he was before he opened his stupid mouth.
“Roderik is waiting,” he said, not bothering with courtesies.
At least he wasn’t going to waste my time.
“I’ll be there in a minute,” I sneered.
The Beta crossed his arms and leaned against the doorway, then cocked a brow. The position allowed me to see the Collegium’s badge on his hip, marking him as their property. His impatience was a testament to the power he felt that gave him.
Fucking Betas. Had I been like that? No wonder Seifiek had always wanted to pound my face in.
“Go,” Seifiek said, not bothering to turn around to give the Beta the time of day. “I’ll track down Zeke and—”
“No,” I said, knowing what Seifiek had to do. He couldn’t leave Gina alone, not when I was going to be stuck in the Collegium and Rowan was injured. “You need to return to the others. And you need to finish what you started.”
