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Zachariah hovered behind him. “Everything all right, Maya?”

“Just having a nice chat with Mr. LaRue, but I think we’re finished now.”

“Oh, we’re definitely finished.” He marched past me, shoulder-checking me as he passed by.

Zach chuckled. “You make friends wherever you go, don’t you?”

“A lifelong habit,” I said.

He clapped my shoulder. “I wouldn’t be overly concerned. Sounds like you’ve neutered him. The worst he can do now is pee in the pool.”

If only.

CHAPTER FIVE

I kneeled on a slab of gleaming marble with flecks of gold and silver. Icy dread pooled in my stomach. I knew this place all too well—the circular chamber where my former mistresses would exert their influence over mortal events. The room was as stark and cold as I remembered. It would’ve been right at home as a surgical suite in the Bellagio.

“You’re late this morning,” Clotho said. The Fate looked down her nose at me with eyes of stone. “I believe that’s the fifth time this month, is it not?”

I didn’t respond. Why bother when I knew my answer wouldn’t matter?

“You are to locate and acquire a Category 1 and bring him to face judgment.”

I kept my head bowed. “Yes, Fate.”

They treated people like objects. Toys to be played with and then discarded. The Fates didn’t deliberate or consider the consequences of their decisions. They simply didn’t care. Why the gods ever chose those three for such an important role was beyond me. The only plausible reason was because the gods didn’t care either. The Fates were the tools of the gods, and I was the tool of the Fates. A pipeline of toxicity pumped into the realm.

Clotho’s fingers flexed and an image appeared between us. “This is the target. Last known location is Scottsdale, Arizona. You have a contact there, should you require her assistance.”

“I require no one.”

“You are not to use deadly force if you meet resistance.”

“I would recommend trickery with this one,” Lachesis interrupted. “Your odds of survival will be much improved.”

I didn’t ask for a description of his crimes, or whether he had a family or loved ones.

Don’t go, I urged. You don’t have to obey. I knew this was a memory, yet I felt trapped inside my own imagination.

I rose to my feet like a good little robot, bowed, and was ejected from the chamber. One second I was aware of the cold, hard floor beneath my feet. The next second, I was shielding my eyes from grains of sand blown by the wind and burning from the heat that soaked my skin.

When my vision cleared, I was staring at the ceiling of my cottage bedroom, drenched in sweat. I pulled myself to a seated position, my heart like a jackhammer in my chest. At the foot of my bed, Jinx lifted her head and observed me with curious eyes.

“Only a nightmare,” I told the cat. “It’s over now.”

Satisfied, she lowered her head back to the blanket and closed her eyes.

I slipped out of bed and padded to the bathroom to splash cold water on my face. My brain was opening drawers of information I’d locked away years ago. It had to be Penny’s presence, reminding me of who I’d been.

Of what I’d done.

I’d fled that life, but I hadn’t truly processed the role I’d played. While it was true I hadn’t chosen to become a fury, I’d done their bidding without question for most of my life. So much damage inflicted by a single young woman—a mere girl at the start. What if I’d rejected my fate sooner? How many lives would’ve benefitted? How many families wouldn’t have suffered?

I may have washed my hands of the Fates, but that didn’t make them clean.

Penny’s presence was a reminder that I still had work to do. I’d grown complacent on Evermore, allowing myself to believe that the simple act of escaping had absolved me of the part I’d played.

But that wasn’t true.