Anomaly (Causal Enchantment #4)(73)
She drifted back down again, this time landing directly on top of Earth, a sympathetic smile filling her entire face. “You will never be alone if you do not want to be.” Her bare toe rolled over the smooth surface beneath her. “This is your origin. While you are limited to influencing the other worlds within your supervision, here …,” With a flutter of her wings, she lifted off to hover above the pedestal. “Anything you want is yours. It is our gift to you for your future service. May you thrive.”
She vanished into the hazy white nothingness.
“Anything I want is mine,” I repeated, reaching out to touch the smooth sphere.
It held everything I wanted.
Epilogue
“Dude! I never realized how much I missed this place.” Bishop slid down into the hot water, wrapping one arm around Fiona and another one around Amelie. A swift knuckle to his bicep from Julian and Bishop pulled his arm away from the pretty blond.
“I can see why you guys liked hanging out in here.” Julian’s eyes roved over the cavernous oasis with admiration.
I slipped into the water next to Caden, feeling his jade eyes inch over my scantily clad body, sending a thrill through me. “Does it look exactly like the real one?”
“With a few embellishments, of course,” I said, gesturing to the hundred-foot-high cliff. Amelie had insisted that the original wasn’t tall enough for her swan dives into the water below.
“I keep asking Evie to add gators to up the excitement but she refuses. I don’t know why.” Bishop leaned his head back to relax.
Because she’ll be fishing your heart out of their stomachs at least once a day for being the idiot who tries to turn them into pets, Max’s gravelly voice retorted as he meandered past, his brothers in tow.
Chuckles erupted around the spring.
“We all really don’t need to have Max in our heads, Evie. You can switch that up anytime.”
“If I have to suffer, then you all do too. It’s only fair.” Resting my head against Caden’s strong, sculpted chest, I sighed softly. I’d gladly stay like this for the day.
The little faery hadn’t been kidding when she said I could have anything I wanted. I had everything I wanted at my fingertips. I may not have any clue what being a “warden” meant, but I figured out how to get what I needed very quickly.
In seconds, the empty white nothingness held everyone I loved. And they hadn’t left me since.
“Evangeline, I’d like to go see Veronique,” a soothing French voice said.
Caden’s arm tightened around my waist as if to hold me in place, but after a light pinch against his ribs and a quick kiss on his cheek, I squirmed away. I hopped out of the hot springs and walked over to the vessel. It didn’t matter what world I conjured—the Oasis, the ocean, a beach, the Siberian mountains—my responsibility in the form of a giant bowl of worlds was always there.
It would take some getting used to.
“You know I still have no clue what I’m doing, right?” I waved my hand to pull the image pool across. An image appeared of Veronique kneeling in front of a garden at the French countryside home she and Mortimer shared, planting spring bulbs.
“You seem to be figuring things out quite well.” Sofie smiled, reaching out to clasp hands with the tall, dark-haired man next to her. “Ready to go see your brother-in-law?”
Nathan rolled his eyes and I laughed. I found most of his facial expressions amusing because he was so different from his doppelgänger, Wraith. Those idiot Fates and their sick imaginations. If they’d had a circle of friends as I did, would they have abused their powers in such a manner?
“Maybe you can convince them to join us next time,” I suggested.
It was Sofie’s turn to roll her eyes. “You know Mortimer. He’ll come for a visit but he prefers the real world. And now that everything is under control, they’re enjoying themselves. They were even going to visit Manhattan. He wanted to show Veronique the atrium, seeing as it was built for her.” Sofie paused, her smile sliding only slightly. “I’ll talk to Mage and see what she thinks about the situation there.”
Though the city stood as pristinely as before, the bombing itself had not yet been erased. I wasn’t sure how it could be done without ramifications to the human world. Would I fix one issue only to have it snowball into another? It seemed I would be learning what a warden of magic did through trial and error, for I hadn’t seen so much as a butterfly wing since being “appointed” to my new role.
As it was now, the miraculous rebuild of Manhattan had the entire world on pause. Some believed it to be the work of angels, while others—those who had not witnessed it firsthand—convinced themselves that it was a disgusting political hoax. Regardless, citizens united in recovery efforts and a time of peace—though temporary—held more trouble at bay. The Sentinel had gone underground with Galen tagging along to keep tabs. Mage monitored the sorceresses closely. Regardless, they wouldn’t be granted any “causal enchantments” anytime soon because I hadn’t the first clue how to receive them. Right now, the only requests that ever reached my ears were Sofie’s. I supposed that granting the Witches Order requests wouldn’t be a problem. It would simply be a matter of what I wanted to grant.
And all the other worlds in my realm? The thousands of tiny globes waiting for my attention? They’d definitely be waiting a while.