Minutes passed.

Phenїx suddenly sniffled, "W-why are you we-weeping, n-numb-n-nuts?"

She was shaking against Byron's chest, sobbing.

You crazy beautiful girl... "Because you're not insane." He pinched his eyes free of tears, "You're amazing, you're gorgeous, and you sure as fuck don't deserve this. No one but the evilest assholes deserves this shit."

Her limbs and body quaked so much, he worried she was having a seizure. Phenїx sniffled again.

"It's m-my own fault," she sobbed. "Mother wa-warned me, all ri-right??? But I... I never li-listened well."

Byron clucked his tongue. Jesus, she was blaming herself for this? What the hells was that for?

"Phenїx, God's sakes, demigoddess... girl, that's not your fault. You have a gift. You're meant to use it." He settled on his haunches, cradling her in his lap. He frowned, peering off at the distance for some focus. "But that mental shit is so twisted...! You're not supposed to see something like that."

"I kn-know. But I don't know w-why. I'm supposed to, though."

Oh, no. She was not going to blame herself and put all this on her.

"Shhhh, hush that. You giving the tough girl act... don't do it here. Ever-Knowing isn't All-Knowing, Nїxie. You've done amazing just to keep this together so long."

Nїx rubbed against his chest, fingers tracing over his skin. Already his wounds were healing up fully. The claw marks were scarcely an issue.

"Y-You're not going to stop m-me?" she whispered.

Fuck. His heart almost gave out. She would have to ask that one. The hardest question of all. Tens of billions versus one's mate? Jesus didn't even have to make that decision.

Thank the Lord God, or I'd be in hell... oh wait, I'm in one of'em. He frowned. In spite of the fact that this hell-plane was definitely a vacant wilderness, he felt more at ease than he had in months. Like he belonged here.

Well, that made sense. He was a reaper. Hell suited him. A thought occurred to him. He whispered in her ear, "What if it's a false vision?"

"I tried that," she let out a sob, "I tested it in the first century after. It isn't a fake. Rings pure like a diamond on steel. That's how I know people are lying to me or evading when I can't see."

Wait... she could test a vision? Not the issue. Focus on getting it out of her, Dekker. "Okay, Nїx. So why stay in? Why keep using the foresight?"

She licked her lips. Byron wished he had water around to wet them. She was caked in dirt, sweating. Immortals didn't dehydrate easily, but it happened. Plus, let the water to flow through her.

It might help wash some of the pain out with a physical medium. Even if the Valkyries didn't drink or eat regularly, something had to be done.

But what did you do for an immortal who was dealing with that sort of heartache? Even his books hadn't covered such a case.

Nїx wrenched out, "H-Hurts to know others will suffer the same if I don't get it right, reaper. It's like a bad infected tooth you can't... can't pull out. But h-him... him it's worse. So much worse."

His heart anchors were twisting like she'd just pulled his heart out with the raw look on her face. That sort of devastation wasn't right for one like her.

"But, saving the others, it means I'm saving him. It helps keeps me sane... keeps that away... and with all the shit going down elsewhere... I have to do this, reaper."

He could hear the pain welling up again. "When can't you see? When do you not see that?"

She let it out on a rush, spitting the words in staccato bursts. "When I sleep peacefully or deeply. Which is almost never. And when I'm overloaded. Sometimes too many variables, too many paths."

She guttered an inhale and couldn't get the tears to stop. Byron held her cheek gently.

"Okay, just hold on..." He reached into his back pocket, passing her the handkerchief he kept there. She peered at him strangely, then wiped her nose and face with it. It took her another minute.

"If I don't see, I listen. People lo... love talking with a soothsayer. I can hear a false desire from the real one. Then I pick up what they really want in a vision and... I send'em packing."

Yeah, he'd heard about where they went packing. How many different couples had she pulled together in the previous centuries and millennia?

Hundreds of thousands. Not just the big ones, but the little ones that followed. Where love was seeded and alliances built, peace could reign. After even more unlikely matchups would pop out. Just like a garden.

He smiled, marveling, "What a double whammy, Phenїx. You can see and hear truths and fates. Reliable intel is your thing."

She inhaled off a half-sob and shook her head, her eyes puffy but slowly returning to normal. She kept wiping her face.

"No, it's semi-reliable," she admitted. "It takes me a few tries to get the equations right. I have to steer them, feed them tidbits at a time, or the dumbasses just go and overthink themselves into a corner. Or they get into a huge messy fight and it gets all fucked up again."

She was having to play matchmaker to all these couples? How many lightyears did she have to have traveled to do all this?

How many heartaches and fights did she have to help overcome with her tough 'crazy' act, while her own mate lay dead in the background, haunting her?

"You're so warm," she listed into him, sighinf.

If that helped get her off the pain, he was damned glad for it. Byron hummed, "Mmm-hmmm. That might have to do with the whole 'fighting for my life' thing a couple minutes ago, there, Valkyrie angel."

Nїx giggled, then . She her face opened up and lifted to him, recognition lighting her features.

"You... you really aren't evil, are you?"

"Wicked," he corrected softly, then gave a shrug and rubbed a hand over her cheek. "Try to be good, though."

*   *   *   *   *

On a cellular level, Nїx knew. Byron could have crippled and ended her when he'd been finding the truth, but he never aimed the final blow. She swallowed the lump in her throat.

This strange youth, a new immortal who'd been so gleeful pronouncing her pain, was holding her like she was more precious than anything. Her brow furrowed. She'd been cutting him apart and this male had let her... was he stupid?

He was strong enough to hold a dieumort. Yet he didn't aim to kill her when she'd been ready to cut off his head?

She wiped several tears out of her eyes. "You..." Nïx paused, shifted around to look over his face again, reading his features. "You really weren't trying to kill me?"

"Ever-Knowing, I told you. I goaded you, that's all," he answered softly, "I needed you to hear me out. I just want you to stop, slow down, that's all. Take my word for it, alright?"

Her mind tumbled, Strange youthful male...

He sighed, drying a few more of her tears, "But Phenїx... I'd have eaten a bullet with that kind of pain."

She wiped another tear away and tapped his chest with a claw, tracing over his heart. "No bullets, idiot. I figured you'd know that by now. It's arrows, numbnuts. And they have to be poisoned or enchanted to do what needs to be done. It's that, decapitation, or eternal fire. Or," She gave a nervous noise and pointed to his scythe. "Something like that."

His face went curious, "Okay, real crazy, really honest, off-the-wall question."

When she looked at him again, her mind stumbled. He looked so serious all of a sudden. He bit down on his lips and squinted at her.

"Why the hells do you keep calling me numbnuts, gorgeous?"

Nïx blinked.

Wait, he did not... she held back a hard giggle.

He didn't know what happened when a immortal regrew something? Gods, he really was that young! Now she really giggled, snorting – no wait, she did not snort.

Okay, so maybe she did, but only sometimes. She put a claw to his chin, gently.

He pulled back reflexively. There was another check mark for him in her block. He didn't trust her fully. But she let her voice murmur wickedly. "Do you feel your left one yet, reaper?"

Pausing, he considered where her claw was, then squinted into the distance a moment. His jaw dropped, "Awwwww, fuckin' Hell...!"

Nїx bit back a guttural laugh. It had been... gods above, it had been centuries since she'd laid in a male's lap like this. Maybe he's really not that big an asshole... typical male, worried about his balls!

"It'll wear off eventually. Promise," she said.

He gave her a little shake, half-feigned outrage making her eyes slide shut on another bout of giggles, "Oh yeah, when, beautiful?!"

Clucking her tongue, she leaned to his ear playfully. Innocent male. She sent a purr in her, "Depends on how good you really are."

He squeezed her tight enough to almost make her breathless. "Nїxie!"

*   *   *   *   *