Gems of Fate: The Sezna Seer Series Companions

By Kiersten Lillis

Sometimes even goddesses fear Fate...

 

 

The four Goddesses of Fate are not fine.

 

These weavers of destiny fight like the sisters they are. Half-finished tapestries clog up their living space. The enchanted trees they tend ooze with mysterious illness that threatens the balance of time. 

 

Then the Goddess of Certain Future predicts the supposedly immortal goddesses' deaths and the crystal balls hit the fan. 

 

Dunamai, the Goddess of the Potential, Sees a way forward, if only she could get her sisters to respect her power and let her help for once. But Dunamai's done asking permission and just hopes her plan doesn't blow up in her face.

 

Will Gifting humanity with the power of choice doom the heavens and Earth alike, or will Dunamai's risky decision save them all?

 

Inspired by Old Norse mythology, modern witchcraft, and the relationship between fate and free will. Gems of Fate is a companion story to The Sezna Seer Series. It does not include spoilers and can be enjoyed at any time!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kiersten Lillis
• Release date: May 3, 2024
• ISBN: 9781733617864

Kiersten Lillis

Kiersten Lillis is the author of the Sezna Seer Series, a YA time-altering fantasy that interrogates the relationship between destiny and free will. She spent years storytelling through audio and video while coveting the written word and trying to bribe the muse. Kiersten loves sweet tea, libraries, and the Oxford comma. She lives in Colorado with her family.

Book preview

1

Dunamai zig-zagged a path through the large workroom, weaving in and out of scattered mirrors and dodging looms holding half-finished tapestries, their threads glittering in the firelight. Mugs of cold tea leaves covered every surface. Dunamai growled to herself, leaning against a side wall and setting the heavy tea tray on the iron table in the corner. Cesera never washed her dishes. Then again, why would she, when she knew it would irritate Dunamai enough that the youngest Suditza would eventually clean them for her?

Not this time, sister.

Instead of collecting the empty mugs, Dunamai focused on the charred wood smell of the fire. She sighed, twisting a finger into her silky shoulder-length black hair as she watched her three sisters work and trying to decide how to broach the subject with them. They’d never been receptive before. But she’d been honing her own craft for so long now. Wasn’t it time to share it with the world? Hunched over a large loom, the eldest Suditzas regarded their current project, a tapestry for a newborn who’d someday rule some place or another.

He’s colicky, Katamai said. She held a blue thread up and shook her wavy black bangs out of her face. Which means his temperament is... She communicated wishy-washy with a wobble of her hand.

He’ll be a great ruler, Cesera said airily. Her golden eyes studied the contents of yet another mug.

Dunamai rolled her eyes, barely containing a snort of laughter. With short, thick fingers she gripped her emerald mug so she wouldn’t spill the mint tea on the white wool rug. She sipped from it and let the smell and taste soothe her nerves.

Her sisters might be more reasonable this time. Maybe they were just in a bad mood when she’d asked before.

He has already suffered much. A difficult birth, Urtha offered, her even tone as somber as always. She relayed the past as if it brimmed with tragedy and nothing else. The day she told a joke would be the day Dunamai, an immortal, died. Consult his parents’ lines. We must See what has already been written for them.

But I know what he is to become. Cesera pinched a red thread at both ends and tugged it to emphasize her point.

Katamai sighed dramatically. "Cesera. Must we go through this every. Single. Time? Do you think, perhaps, that he is to become so great because of the decisions we are about to make?"

Cesera flicked her long poppy-red curls over her shoulder. The color choice suited her today. An obnoxious color for an obnoxious attitude.

All the bickering made Dunamai want to spit in their tea. She resisted, though. Urtha would know what she’d done, and Dunamai couldn’t bear another lecture.

Another future king, I presume? Dunamai asked. She approached on slightly shaky legs and peered over Urtha’s shoulder.

"Even I can’t keep up with all of them," Katamai said.

If you just let me— Dunamai started. Not as smooth a start as she would have liked, but better to at least say something before her second-guessing got the better of her.

No, Cesera sniped.

But I can help, Dunamai said. She hated the pleading tone her voice always adopted when she asked her sisters for anything. She was hundreds of years old for Creator’s sake, not a human child. Urtha?

Urtha pursed her plum-colored lips. The ends of her angled lavender-gray bob grazed her narrow chin as she shook her head. I’m sorry, Dunamai.

I just don’t understand why.

Time is a delicate balance, Cesera said.

This wasn’t a new argument. Still, Dunamai couldn’t help herself. Why the Creator had made four instead of three, she’d never know. But she existed and there had to be a reason.

"Then why