Excerpt

Fated

Kristine Grayson

Ah, the Fates.

In the art from Ancient Greece, we see them (usually on urns) weaving the thread of life, and then cutting it with those abhorréd sheers (as the old book I use for my Greek myths describes it). The Fates are serious women, with the power of life and death in their hands.

My Fates don't really have the power of life and death, because (in my personal opinion) that's a bit too much power for fictional characters to have. However, they rule over all magic. They're magical judges, if you will, with the power to punish the magical who go awry. The magical can also appeal to them, to see if the Fates will change a circumstance or rescue them or maybe give them a break.

The Fates are also in charge of True Love. Only they're withholding women. They're not going to tell you who your soulmate is if you haven't found said soulmate yet. They're not going to mess with the system. But if you have found said soulmate and you haven't figured out that, yes, you and this person should be together for life, then the Fates might offer broad hints.

The Fates first appeared in my first Grayson novel Utterly Charming. They weren't in the origin short story. They just appeared one day as I was writing, and they had annoying quirks.

You see, they have to speak in order. Clotho speaks first, followed by Lachesis, and then Atropos. They have been together so long that they can finish each other's thoughts. And they've been in charge for so long that they're a bit off.

We first meet them dressed as teenagers, but with some flaws, because they don't understand the modern (mortal) teenager. They see Nora Barr, the heroine of Utterly Charming, and morph into what they think she expects: beautiful women standing near ancient white Greek columns. But the Fates can't hide their skewed perspective or their intellectual curiosity. They're constantly searching for understanding (and rarely finding it), and they're extremely frustrating to everyone who comes into contact with them.

Including the Powers That Be. Those are the Gods of Mount Olympus (the Grayson version), and that includes Zeus.

He's had enough of them by the time the Fates series starts and he…fires them. Which no one is sure he can actually do. He then installs his teenage daughters in their place—the ultimate nepotism.

What does all of this have to do with romance? Well, quite a bit actually. The Fates' fate, as it were, is the driver of the plot for the three books in this omnibus. Or, as Alfred Hitchcock called it, the McGuffin. That thing which makes everyone act in concert, sending them out of their comfort zones and into whatever it is that makes them change their lives.

First up, Vivian Kinneally, psychic and comic book lover who lives in Portland, Oregon. Whom the Fates go to for help because, without their vast resources, they can't find the real Kinneally that they're searching for, who is Vivian's aunt.

After a bit of confusion, they send Vivian to the only true hero they know—Dexter Grant, who is the model for a very famous superhero. You know, that guy with the S on his chest? Well, he's now wrangling kittens in an Oregon pet store. And as this book gets underway, he needs to wrangle Fates.

Vivian and Dexter manage to fall in love while helping the Fates, but the path of true love is never smooth. And to say more would ruin all the surprises in Simply Irresistible. Then the Fates' story arc moves from Vivian to her brother Travers, a somewhat fussy man who must drive the Fates to Las Vegas to meet with magical detective Zoe Sinclair. As fate would have it, or rather Fates would have it, Travers and Zoe are destined for each other.

Because, y'know, the Fates can't help themselves. They bring people together even when they're fighting for their very existence.

So most of Absolutely Captivated takes place in Las Vegas, as does Totally Spellbound, which resolves the story arc. The remaining Kinneally, Megan, a child psychologist, responds to her brother's rather desperate cry for help (because, in addition to wrangling Fates, he has to deal with his precocious son and a very strange little dog). On the drive from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, Megan meets the strangest, most handsome man she's ever seen—oh, yeah. And watches him hunt with a falcon. In the desert.

Turns out he's a rather wealthy guy who calls himself Rob Chapeau, which is yet another variation on the name he's used for centuries—Robin Hood. And he's mourning his dead wife—the legendary Maid Marian. How in the world does a modern woman compete with that?

Well, I have answers. And they're all Fated throughout these books.

The Fates are—and have been from the start—three of my very favorite characters of all times. They surprise me with their intellectual curiosity, their love of language(s), and their attempt to consume as much culture as possible. (They binge-watched things before it was cool.)

They annoy me just like they annoy everyone else though. Only the others want answers. I (as the author) have the answers. It's the Fates' insistence on speaking in order. It would be so much simpler to write them if they talked like everyone else.

But if they did, they wouldn't be the Fates, now would they?

This omnibus puts all three books together for easier reading. I've also added a short essay at the end about my various pen names, as a little bonus. And if you can't get enough of the Fates, well, then, you can find them in most of the other Grayson novels (except the Santa Series…for now).

Have fun! I certainly did.

—Kristine Grayson
Las Vegas, NV
December 10, 2018