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But no sooner did I even have the thought than I realized that IThis entire place was real, but it was appearing to

The three wo at a massive white marble table, each in an ornate carved chair The wo at htly Her skin was like parchment and I could easily see the blue veins in her hands and temple Her pitch-black hair flowed to her waist, like an ebony river, pooling in her lap

The woht was sht brown eyes and a soft, heart-shaped face She wasn’t pretty, but she wasn’t ugly, either She atchingabout her putat her, I felt like I should feel comfortable, but it was exactly the opposite The hair on the back of my neck stood on end

And I knew the woman on the left White blonde hair, ice blue eyes, skin so pale it was al at me It was Lachesis The middle sister of the Fates and the only one I actually had previous interactions with

I was face to face with the three Moirae sisters I gulped This couldn’t be good Usually the Aegis stood in front of them and carried their wishes to the Keepers I had never been summoned Until now

I took a step forward

"Stay where you are," the woman in the middle commanded "If I want you to coe which meant she must be Clothos And that left the mousy little one to be Atropos The one who controlled death itself No wonder I felt uneasy She was called The Unavoidable And I suddenly realized what the mist was It was my life force

Whenever any mortal was in the near vicinity of Atropos, their life force becomes visible If she chose, she could inhale it which would kill me instantly My foot faltered as I instantly stepped back and stood still

A sered on her lips and I wondered briefly if she could read minds like Lachesis could

"Yes, I can," she confir about her was so delicate and feminine, it was hard to believe that she could wield death with a ed

"Don’t worry, little one," she assured me "It isn’t your time yet I have no wish to harm you"

Clothos scowled

"Speak for yourself, sister I itated with her"

My head snapped up What in the world had I done? I rattled through every possible thing that could have offended them, but came up empty

"No, sister," Lachesis said smoothly "This situation isn’t Macy’s fault That is your name in this life, is it not?" She stared at me coolly She knew that it was I nodded

"You need to know that the Keres are gathering around you" Clothos explained, in the least gentle tone I’d ever heard "Things are about to change, in a way so enorhtly excited about that last part, which seeuely re about the Keres when I was in Alexandria It was right after I had saved Hasani when he died saving my life

What had Annen said? The Keres won’t stand for this, Lachesis I will try again and next time, I will not fail Afterward, I had asked Ahmose who the Keres were, and he had replied that it wasn’t ti it was time now

"And you would be correct," Lachesis nodded I sincerely hated the wholewas private froest sisters They used to ith us, or rather, for us They carried out the punisho, they rebelled They have been working against us ever since"

I stared at Lachesis, trying to make sense of what she had just said If the Keres had carried out the worst punishments possible then they ht, I saw Lachesis’ lip curl slightly

"Yes," she confirhtly They are fairly heartless"

Well, I suppose years of carrying out heinous executions would do that to so aithto picture what they looked like and fro what these scary creatures wanted with ainst you? What do they want?"

"Oh, who knows?" Clothos asked airily, waving her hand "They wanted their independence and then they wanted to be seen as iht and noho knows? They are deluded That much is certain"

She stared harshly at me

"And they are inordinately interested in you, Keeper Do you wonder why?"

I met her stare and tried not to flinch Her eyes were as black as night

"I don’t know, Clothos I didn’t even know they existed until recently"