You would think that after my five thousandth birthday, I'd be used to dealing with family drama. Just when I thought I knew which of my siblings were the tame ones, they turn around and surprise me.

It's my turn to be the drama queen now. I may not have been instrumental in the creation and rise to power of our greatest enemy—the jury's still out on which one of my siblings holds that honor. I may not have given birth to a secret love child I conceived with my brother—though, to be fair, literal Neanderthals weren't exactly my type at the time, either. And I may not have accidentally traded souls with one of our sister races and let my body be stolen because I was bored screwing humans.

Right now, I would do any of those things just to change the course of events of the last hour.

After centuries of dreaming about my two fated mates, I finally met one of them. He was right there in front of me in all his beautiful, satyr glory. He looked at me with eyes that were even bluer than my sister's. They were as deep as oceans, as turbulent as whirlpools, and as haunted as the darker half of my soul. All I could think when I touched him for that brief moment was how I longed to change that look—to show him true joy. But he was gone too quickly, taking all my elation with him.

He knew me when he saw me. That much I'm sure of. I saw the longing in his eyes as though I were looking into a mirror image of my own desires. Then he left, leaping off the rooftop into the raging river. For a moment I thought he wished to fly, and so I went after, waiting to see him shift into a bird, but he just plummeted down and down, into the churning rapids deep in the ravine.

All he said before he jumped was that he was not ready—he still had work to do. What work? If only he'd waited, I would have gladly offered every ounce of my power to help. Instead, he disappeared into the river, carried away by the flood too swiftly for me to follow.

I know where he has gone. Home, to the nymphaea's Haven. It's a place even more sacred and protected than the Ursa Sanctuary or the Turul Enclaves.

It's a place I cannot go, and I would burn and bleed and fuck whatever I had to if I could only get there.

The Ultiori could have my soul, if I thought it would help.