Chapter Twenty-Two

My mother and I walked along the beach, a light breeze in the air keeping me cool in the tropical heat. It was strange looking at a face I'd known my entire life but had not actually laid eyes on since I was an infant.

She had more wrinkles around her eyes than in my dreams, and there was a deep kindness in her heart that reminded me of Piper, but her light was dimmed—no powers.

"You are no longer a Seer," I concluded.

"I broke off with them after you were born. Long story."

"Was it because of me?" I asked.

"You should know by now that everything is connected."

I nodded and glanced up the beach. Piper and Ansin were watching from several yards away. "Who is the guard dog?"

"My husband."

"Children?" I asked.

"Three. They are grown now, each off in the world living their lives."

So I had three half-siblings. "Do they know about me?"

"Everyone knows about you."

"And do they think I am the anti-Christ?" I asked.

Jeni's eyes danced over the horizon. I could tell she was trying to choose her words carefully. "You asked why I didn't kill you. The answer is because I love you as much as I love them."

"Hard to believe, but I am not here for words of comfort or remorse. I am here for answers. Why did you spare me if you believed I would end the world?"

"I don't know. I guess…I guess I always hoped that something would change."

I woke up, so I supposed it had. "Why do you believe I'm destined to be an evil man? What event turns me into him?"

She stopped walking, a troubled look in her light brown eyes. "Who told you there's an event?"

"I assumed."

She stared with a deep, deep sadness. "There is no event."

"Then?" I asked.

She swallowed hard. "You had a twin sister. She died when you were born."

I did not know. "I am sorry to hear that."

"You killed her, Draco. You drained her life away in the womb. And after you were born, you would cry and cry until I picked you up. But you didn't always want milk. You wanted power—to drink people's life force. Then one day, you almost killed your grandfather when he tried to hold you."

"So you locked me away as an infant. Was there any consideration for teaching me to control myself?"

"I saw your future—who you were meant to be…" She broke off in sobs. "And you don't destroy the world alone, Draco. I help you. Me." She wiped her face with the back of her hand. "That was the moment I tried to create another path for us both. I gave up my powers and you."

"Then you placed me in a dungeon to grow old and die."

"They would have killed you."

"They who?" I asked.

"King, the Bastuli, and anyone else who didn't want Ten Club or the Seers to get a hold of you. I saved your life the only way I could, and that was by—"

"Putting me on ice."

"Yes. And I'm sorry." She wrapped her arms around herself. "Especially because I have no way of finding out if it changed anything. But please know I'd do anything to erase the pain I've caused you. There hasn't been a day that I didn't miss you or want to get you back. I must've gotten on a plane twenty times over the years, thinking, If I could just find a way to help him or prove his future isn't set in stone, then I could free him. Sometimes I made it as far as the house where they kept you."

"What stopped you?"

"I love my other children, too. And I made a promise to Ansin that goes beyond—"

"Motherhood?"

"It's more complicated than that. Just know that you're not the only one who suffered."

"I lost thirty years of my life to a dream. Without a choice, I might add."

She stopped walking and whooshed out a breath, looking at her feet. "I know how upsetting this is and—"

"What is upsetting is that you seem to be saying my fate is sealed because there is no event, and I was born to murder, torture, and destroy everything good in the world. That is not the future I imagined for myself."

"I'm not saying that at all. I don't actually know if my choices, or yours, have changed anything. I don't have my gifts anymore, and the only ones who could help are the Seers. They can't be trusted."

"What about the Bastuli?"

"They're enemies of the Seers. They won't help you, Draco."

"Because I have your blood, and I am a Seer." Which I already knew. "So why don't I have your gifts?" From what the black binder said, Seers had a variety of powers ranging from seeing multiple versions of the future to gazing into a person's soul—who they were meant to become, their destiny.

"Draco…" Her voice was filled with warning.

"You are afraid if I figure out how to use my Seer abilities, it will only bring me closer to becoming the evil, murderous bastard I was born to be."

She hesitated and then nodded. "More power is the last thing you need."

"Fuck." I turned away for a moment, attempting to rein in my rage, but it was no use. Perhaps I wasn't really here just for answers. "So you all decided who I was meant to be, and then systematically ensured I became that monster, instead of arming me to fight the sons of bitches who want me to lead them.

"Did you or anyone else, for one fucking moment, think? Maybe if you had been there to guide me, all this would have been avoided." I pointed a finger at her. "You have created the angry, bitter man on the edge of control. You have made my future. Not me." I exhaled sharply, noting Ansin and Piper walking toward us. "I need time to think, but when I return, Jeni, you will help me find a way out of this. You owe me that."

I marched away, needing to calm down and consider my next steps. It had just become apparent that everyone who had acted "on behalf of society" had never once given a shit about the man they'd locked up. They had written me off and set me on this path at birth. It was why Ten Club had been expecting me. So far, it was all going as planned, and I had no doubt that the Seers would come knocking soon to make their sales pitch.

I'm fucked. I never had a chance.

"Draco!" Piper yelled, following behind me. "What happened?"

"All they had to do was keep me, Piper. That was it."

Piper

I waited until we arrived at our hotel suite before I asked Draco anything else. On the outside, he looked calm and collected, but there was a coldness to his voice, and he refused to look me in the eyes. Whatever his mother said had left a deep mark. He was hurting.

I went to the phone on my nightstand and ordered a rare steak, salad, and bottle of scotch for Draco. A burger and wine for myself. Until the food arrived, it was better to leave him alone on his balcony, staring out at the waves.

Thirty minutes later, a young man rolled our food into the suite, and I sent him on his way quickly. Draco was in a mood that had been brewing since he woke up six months ago.

I opened the sliding glass door and stepped outside with his plate in my hand. "Hey, I thought you might feel better with a full stomach." I set the food on the small table next to him and returned with a glass of scotch.

He glanced at it but didn't move.

"You're not hungry?" I asked.

"Not really."

"Mind if I eat?"

"Be my guest."

I went back inside and came out with my food. I was absolutely starving, and after the tense situation today, I needed something to settle my stomach.

After I inhaled my meal, I poured a tall glass of wine and chugged it.

"You sure you want to be drinking? Alcohol fogs the mind," Draco said, his voice drab.

"That, my friend, is the point." My mind was still backlogged with all the fun events from the last week—Leo leaving and cheating, then Draco showing up, followed by an appearance from the ancient king of Minoa. Now we were in St. Thomas, trying to figure out how to stop Draco from destroying the world I loved. On top of that, I'd been brought to the afterlife and told in no uncertain terms that I had to make sure Draco didn't team up with Ten Club.

"What was that about the afterlife?" He took the glass of scotch.

Guess he changed his mind about drinking.

"Random thoughts," I lied. "So what happened with your mother? What did she say on the beach?"

Draco shook his head. "Have you heard of the chicken and egg paradox? In this case, it is man and fate."

"Okay…?"

"Have you ever read a story where the hero has a dark premonition and then attempts to avoid his future?"

"Yeah. Sure." Though, I couldn't name one off the top of my head.

"How about the story where he learns his actions only lead to the future he so badly wishes to avoid?"

It was often referred to as the illusion of choice in fables and mythology. In the end, the character, usually a mortal who has slighted the gods, learns he was never really in control. I always saw those stories as a metaphor meant to deter the masses from doing bad things. Specifically, life was a test with only one outcome: death. And no one escaped facing their maker, so better behave and listen to the gods.

"As hard as he tries, the character can't outrun fate," I said. "But that doesn't mean the minutes in between don't matter." In fact, it was the only thing that mattered.

"Yes, and today I learned that others took action, excluding me from controlling those minutes."

"You mean your mother?"

He nodded. "Along with others."

"But why?"

"She thought she was saving the world, I suppose." He shook his head. "Now, every decision I make only keeps me on a path I do not wish to follow. Ironic, isn't it? You remove one man's choice, and in the process, you remove everyone else's, too."

Whoa. What?"Why would you think it's game over after only talking to your mom for ten minutes?" I snapped.

"Jeni saw what was coming, which included her standing at my side when I effectively end the world, so she sent me away. But now, the very thing she wished to circumvent is happening. She now carries the same gnawing guilt for abandoning me that eventually leads her to help me."

I exhaled, trying to think. "Not that I believe it, but if everything is inevitable—"

"It is done, Piper. Over." He threw back his drink.

My eyes teared, and then the anger came. "Draco, you are not giving up." Too much was at stake.

"There is no point. Any action that could have changed things was ignored decades ago. I will end this world." He exhaled. "And I need another drink." He went inside.

I stayed on the balcony, staring at the turquoise waves, hoping some grand wisdom would come to me. After studying thousands of years of history about kingdoms, countries, and civilizations that rose and fell, there had to be something we could do.

I went around and around in my head. The one thing fallen empires and civilizations had in common was that the rulers began believing they were gods, that their power was absolute and that the people would always obey.

In the end, one of two things destroyed them: the people figured out they outnumbered the rulers and overthrew them, or the people left. Without anyone to rule, the powerful weren't so powerful anymore. But ninety percent of the time, the people reclaimed their power and took their fates into their own hands. All it required was that tipping point. Every civilization in history had succumbed to it eventually. Afterwards, something new would rise from the ashes.

That was it. I rushed inside. "Draco, we need to tell everyone what's coming. Show them what Ten Club and the Seers want for us all. Well, maybe not the Seers. Trying to explain a group of fascist dead witches would be a little difficult, but Ten Club is doable."

"How could that possibly do any good?" he asked.

"Maybe your fate's been decided, but everyone else's? You might be the most powerful man ever to walk the earth, but you can't control every single person on the planet. It's not possible."

"Are you all right? Have you eaten something you should not have? Because I have already told you what's coming. I cannot stop it."

"Maybe you can't, but if the world knows what's about to happen, the people will fight back." Or, at the very least, something good would rise from the ashes if people were prepared. It was like I said before, evil just couldn't get rid of us.

He frowned, unconvinced. "The world will not believe you, Piper. And even if they did, and the masses pushed back, it only resolves the Ten Club problem temporarily. Then there are the Seers."

"Mia said she'd take care of them."

"Who the hell is Mia?"

Shit.I had to tell him, but he wasn't going to like it. Draco would see the fact I'd hidden something from him as a massive betrayal.

Once again, I was faced with choosing. Did I put my trust in Draco or in a woman I'd never met before but who seemed to know what the hell she was talking about?

"Are you going to answer me, Piper? Who the hell is Mia?"