Chapter 1

Death reclined until her head rested against a soft golden pillow. Throwing her arm above her, she crossed her feet and stared upward, seeing nothing.

"What ails you?" Eternity asked from a chaise nearby. Although Death and Eternity had spent many millennia without speaking, their relationship had mended. Speaking her feelings aloud didn't make Death comfortable, but she was grateful to have a best friend in her sister again.

A disagreement about the Fae realm that was now destroyed had splintered them. But what Death had truly hated was the way Eternity had grown detached from everything. To save herself from hurting over the many eternal beings whose lives were snuffed out, Eternity had withdrawn and spent much of her time lost in slumber. If she was asleep, Eternity could not feel, and her escapism had angered Death. Probably because Death had often wished for a way to flee her troubles, and she had no way out.

Unlike her other ethereal sisters, Death's duties never ended. She had her own realm of spirits requiring care. Or at least Death believed it was necessary to ensure the dead undeserving of suffering had everything they needed and those that merited punishment received every ounce of pain they'd earned.

Thankfully, Eternity's heart had mended, and she'd adapted to her role of watching those granted immortality. People still died. Eternity would forever mourn them. But Death hoped her sister had learned that she, as caretaker of spirits, would tend to those people to the best of her ability. They lacked many of the things they'd had in life, but Death offered everything in her power to them.

"Death?" Eternity asked.

Irritated that her sister had interrupted her train of thought, Death scowled. "What?"

"I asked you what was wrong. Something is clearly on your mind."

"Of course it is," Fate interjected with a smug smile as she fussed with her long glittery gown. "Death believes she is mysterious, but she has no talent for hiding her feelings."

Death clenched her teeth. She squashed the part of her that wanted to snap out an insult and march out of the room. That had been her way for far too long, and although she loved her home in the ebirlloba realm she commanded, it was lonely without her sisters. Not that Death would ever mention admit it.

"I believe you have many couples desperate for a partner," Death said to Fate. She was the goddess responsible for establishing matebonds and selecting leaders for the many races dreamed up by various goddesses. "Instead of bothering me, perhaps you could get to work."

"What makes you think I'm not working as I sit here?" Fate demanded, her blue eyes narrowed. "The more relaxed I am, the better I can appreciate the qualities a person has and find someone with compatible traits."

Death used a wisp of her constantly growing power to have her black gown flow seamlessly to the floor in a smoky haze as she sat up and her bare feet hit the cool white tiles. "Tell me then, who have you decided will be a perfect matebond?"

"She refuses to tell anyone," Justice said, stalking in with Life at her side. Although Justice habitually wore chain or plate metal, it made no sound as she chose a couch to rest on.

"You know why, so no reason to make me sound unreasonably sly," Fate defended, crossing her arms. "I trust my sisters in this room but few beyond it. I will have none of our favored people in any realm suffer because someone decides they wish to be mischievous or cruel."

"I'm not judging you," Justice replied, flicking her blond braid behind her. "It is a wise choice."

Fate blinked. "Wait, you think so?"

"Of course, who knows how lives would've played out differently if no one had known the connections you'd made beforehand," Justice said.

Fate responded to their sister, but Death didn't hear her words. It was impossible to pay attention with her head spinning. Death wasn't sure what about Justice's statement had beckoned a strange idea in her mind, but it enticed as much as it appalled her.

"What if we could find out how things would've played out differently?" Death blurted.

"I will not destroy a realm and send innocent lives to your ebirlloba just to satisfy your curiosity," Life snapped.

With a roll of her dark eyes, Death leveled a bland stare at her sister. "I did not mention murdering anyone. Quite interesting that a woman tasked with creating life is so often preoccupied with the ending of it."

"Stop being so quick to judge Death," Eternity scolded, her silvery gaze narrowed at Life. Death had to bow her head in case anyone saw the flush of color rising to her cheeks. Having someone defend her was novel, and it created such a warm feeling inside her that her heart overflowed with love for Eternity.

"Excuse me if I thought the goddess in charge of death would want additional spirits in the ebirlloba," Life retorted. "I do not think it cruel of Death to wish for more people to care for; it is what Mother created her to do. Neither of you needs to be so defensive."

"Stop arguing," Justice ordered. "Death, explain your idea."

Raising a hand, Death waved it in front of her face. "Forget it. I don't know what has come over me, but it's foolish." Death wasn't being intentionally reticent; she doubted anyone would find value in her idea despite her growing fascination with it.

"If you cannot be foolish with your sisters, then where else will you share your thoughts?" Eternity countered.

"I wouldn't mind hearing it either," Fate chimed in.

"You know we will pester you until you relent," Justice said. "You may as well speak up."

Ever the pragmatic one, Justice stared at Death with a flat penetrating stare that would weaken anyone—even the goddess of the afterlife.

"Fine," Death relented, ridiculously eager to share the visions dancing through her head. "What if we could recreate the lives of some of our favorite people we've created and see how differently things would play out?"

"We would require a blank realm for that," Justice responded. "Mother hasn't returned in many millennia, and we cannot create them on our own."

"Drat," Fate replied. "It sounded like a fun project."

"What if we had a realm?" Death asked. "The necromancers created one. While the Lich Sentinel believes it is destroyed, we know it still exists; it is just beyond their touch."

"You mean the realm where the sentinels were once forced to live in that dreadful gray compound?" Life asked. "But we have a larger one created by Mother that the Imperian believes he destroyed. Death, we can use your former demon realm. It is bereft of magic. A perfect blank slate for us."

"And we will require the sentinel compound," Justice commented. "If we are to recreate our favored interconnected families, then the sentinels will undoubtedly need to be returned to that vile place."

"Where will we put the demons, imps, and goblins?" Eternity asked.

"Good question, perhaps we hide them on a private island somewhere on our new fake planet?" Fate asked.

Death was too busy thinking of the mistakes she'd made in the demonic realm to worry about the conversation flowing around her. Enough words penetrated her self-imposed haze to tell Death they were arguing about the necessity of returning the sentinels to the prison the necromancers had created for them over two thousand years ago, and about how to keep the demonic entities separated until it was time to introduce them to the D'Vaire clan.

As a young and foolish goddess, Death had created the demons in the realm gifted to her by their mother. Since Death controlled the ebirlloba—which had started as a vast expanse of nothingness—she had misunderstood the requirements necessary to help a population thrive. Instead, Death had offered the demons little in the way of resources beyond magic. As they'd spiraled into disarray and grown preoccupied with hoarding the few things available in the realm, she'd sought to inject the morose people with two new populations—imps and goblins.

In imps and goblins, Death had created races with kindness and exuberance. They had all but sparkled with vitality. Instead of embracing the energy and liveliness of their new neighbors, the demons had turned on them. The horrible demonic leader had murdered nearly everyone in a public spectacle Death could still recall in perfect detail. It was an outcome Death could never forgive herself for, and those lost lives were the ones she paid the most attention to now that they languished in the ebirlloba.

"Death," Justice called out loudly enough that it shook Death out of her maudlin thoughts. "What ails you?"

"It is a question I am getting far too often today," Death grumbled under her breath. "I apologize, my mind wandered. What did I miss?"

"Stop tormenting yourself over the demise of the demonic realm," Eternity said.

"My mistakes led to their downfall," Death quietly stated.

"That is not the way of things," Fate replied. "You cannot take credit for the way their lives ended up. You tried your best. It is all we can do. If I sat down and thought of every couple I put together that failed to find love or focused on the leaders I gave power to who ended up corrupted, I would have no confidence in my abilities. I can offer no one happiness if I lack the ability to believe in myself. The demons left are still broken, but they are improving."

"Your imps thrive," Life said with a grin. "Look at the way your Imperian leads. I was not wrong about infusing his soul with so much and ensuring he was a stalwart one. He and his mate are so happy."

"I would remind everyone that you thought me out of my mind for putting the Imperian with a demon. Yet here we sit, and if we summoned them up in our viewing mirror, we would see nothing but love and devotion," Fate insisted.

"If we can discover a way to infuse the former demonic realm with great magic, I will be happy to grant life to new versions of our favorites," Life volunteered. "I am assuming we want the D'Vaires and every family connected to them in some way."

Fate laughed. "I may melt from all the handsomeness. Another Aleksander and Rafe? How delicious."

"I feel the need to lay out ground rules," Justice said.

"Of course you do," Death replied. "What do you propose?"

"I have a rule that must be obeyed," Fate interjected. "My matebonds remain the same."

"No," Eternity retorted. "Not all of them. The ones that failed…those will be fixed."

"Oh, I like that very much," Fate replied. "Yes, I agree. Imagine how different that makes things right from the start."

"Do the leaders stay the same?" Justice asked. "The ones you have assigned to lead their races."

"Mostly, yes, I believe they should," Fate replied. "Although I will reserve the right to switch a few. I have an idea of changing a ruler, but not because the current one is lacking. I am just curious."

"You granted them, of course you would have no argument," Death said. "But I agree."

Eternity raised a finger. "A twist, perhaps, on titles? If a couple rules together, maybe the other gets the title first this time around or something like that. Do we have to hand out the titles in the same moments of their lives as before?"

"Intriguing," Justice commented, her lips pursed in thought. "It could be interesting if we alter things. We are not removing those titles; they are receiving them on a different day."

"Without enough change, everything will wind up the same," Fate predicted. "As long as most titles are the same eventually, it will be fun to experiment with a different timetable for how the roles are dispersed."

"Races remain the same? No dragon becomes a sorcerer?" Death asked.

"It would make them different people," Life said. "Dragons are dragons. If you take that away, they are fundamentally not the same person. That is not the premise of this realm."

"What other rules must apply?" Justice asked.

"Can we bend when people are born? Or must we keep to brothers being exactly two years apart?" Eternity asked.

"If it makes sense to move things about, I have no argument," Death answered. Thankfully, no one disagreed, because she already had a flurry of ideas she wasn't yet ready to reveal about certain members of their experiment.

"What about children?" Life asked.

"We cannot take away their children, though sometimes their births will have to change," Eternity said. "I can think of a certain Valzadari elf who will be demoted to nothing more than an egg donor, for example."

"Since we want things to play out naturally, we should not intervene overly much once we have added someone to the realm, right?" Life asked.

"Agreed," Eternity responded. "They should have free will, just as our current favored people on Earth do."

"Are we giving them a magic-rich realm or a recreated Earth?" Justice asked. "You spoke of adding magic to the former demonic realm, but that changes the fundamental circumstances of their birth."

"Good point, we must recreate Earth exactly," Life insisted.

"I agree," Fate said. "What of the Fae? They have no realm."

Death glanced at Eternity, and they both shrugged. "Perhaps treat them like the demonic beings and hide them on our new Earth?" Death suggested.

"That will work," Eternity responded. "We need changes though. Daravius and Drekkoril are together from the start. They rule the Fae. Zarasha is never turned into a to'faer, and the only difference between Light and Dark Fae is their magic. Dark Fae are born, not turned as we did in the past. We give them the Faedrekans but no ability to dream travel."

"We will have to explain the sparse population as I have no desire to recreate all the people now living as elves and sprites," Death remarked.

"Oh, the sprites. There is a group that could use a few twists to their story," Justice commented. "As for the Fae, a disease, perhaps?"

"Yes, I believe that could work," Eternity replied, her silver gaze narrowed in contemplation. "But I do not want them scared of it. They have an antidote now to protect themselves."

"Agreed," Fate said. "As for other races from other realms, we add them as necessary and alter their memories to have them believe they once lived somewhere else."

Tilting her head as she stared at her sister, Death wondered what plans Fate was making to suggest they worry about other realms. As far as Death could tell, they had already decided everything. But perhaps they needed to account for future matebonds from other realms and make arrangements for these strangers.

"What other goddesses do we allow to have some say in our realm?" Death asked, not bothering to pose questions to Fate. She didn't mind a few surprises.

"This was your idea," Justice stated. "What are your thoughts on the matter?"

"The more people involved, the more chaotic it grows," Death replied. "I vote we do not add any of our sisters unless we agree unanimously."

Fate wiggled happily on the sofa. "This is beginning to feel like a D'Vaire weekly meeting. I am so excited about this."

"A twist on things is always fun," Eternity replied with a grin.

"Have we finished with the rules?" Justice asked.

"Minimal restrictions are best," Fate said. "We recreate Earth, add in our favored people with them eventually getting their beloved mates, and titles follow in the same succession. Everyone is immortal. Each person who loses their life will send power to Death, and our sisters may notice our project."

"Anyone in disagreement?" Justice inquired. No one spoke up, and she nodded. "Good. We agree. Is there another goddess we need to add in right now before we begin?"

"Absolutely not," Fate decreed, then rubbed her hands together. "When do we begin? How do we start? Which matebond do we put together first?"

"Death, what year is it in our realm?" Justice asked.

Cocking her head, Death took several moments to think things through.

"1369. But things are different. The Coven of Warlocks is not destroyed. The harbinger of their doom is a mere footnote in history. Carvallius is never even mentioned among his kind, and the same Grand Warlock and Grand Summoner still hold their titles, but they will hand them over to their twins once they come of age."

"Imagine if his granddaughter wasn't a twit and had run to her rulers to tell them of her grandfather's plot to undermine them," Fate crowed. "He could be caught prior to any damage being done."

"Oh, I love that," Eternity replied.

"Why 1369?" Justice asked.

"Because a few hours of difference would have changed everything in the lives of Killian the Dwyer and a newly crowned Duke of D'Vaire," Death said. "What if they had met at Castle Draconis instead of Dravyn leaving hours before the ruler of the druids arrived?"

"A Killian unbroken by the devastation of the warlocks," Fate responded, rubbing her hands. "How delicious. I still want him incredibly powerful and unique even though he is not given the gifts by the dead warlocks."

"Agreed, he deserves the full power he has in our current timeline. But we cannot explain how he came to be neutral without the fall of the warlocks and their gifts to him, so he will be fully light magic," Justice said. "How could we rob Dravyn of Killian's beloved vines anyway?"

Death cackled. "We could not."

"This is perfect. Let's get started," Life said, jumping to her feet.

"We need privacy," Justice stated, rising next to their sister. "To Death's castle?"

Touched that Justice would think first of Death's beloved home, she stood and took the hand Eternity stretched out to her. "A perfect spot," Death answered.

"Expect me to visit often to watch our twisted new realm," Fate enthused as she skipped out of the room.

"Invitations to view our realm are always open," Death offered softly.

"Thank you," Justice replied. "Now, let's rush over, I'm nearly as excited as Fate. We will have to stay for several days to regain our strength. It will take a great deal of magic to locate the lost realms and restore them. I can already feel the ache in my bones."

"Me too," Death said. "But I am enthused as well."

It was a fun idea, and it would be interesting to watch the events play out. But Death had no clue what to expect and how the most minor of changes might alter the personalities of the D'Vaires and their extended clan. She was concerned for their wellbeing but assured herself that matebonds awaited all of them—even those who had yet to be matched on the real Earth. Fate was good at her job despite being painfully slow at pairing couples sometimes.