"Not three thousand years ago, you couldn't," Clotho said.

"I've changed," Darius said.

"Indeed." Lachesis tilted her head back. Above her, a red velvet curtain appeared. The rest of the room lost its blue wallpaper.

"I suspect," Atropos said, as if she hadn't heard that little interchange, "that we would have more clout with the Powers That Be--"

A third genuflection.

"--if the whole Eros thing wouldn't have happened."

"True enough," Clotho said. "They would have trusted our judgment more."

"After all, we were the ones who put him on probation in the first place," Lachesis said.

"For a second charge. The guidelines have changed over the years. Three strikes and you're out. But we still saw him as that cute chubby boy--"

"He never was a cute chubby boy," Darius said.

"Sure he was," Clotho said. "We've known him since he was a baby."

"Although he had a foul temper even then," Lachesis said. "We probably made a mistake giving him a weapon so young."

"Never say we made a mistake," Atropos said. "Someone Important might hear you."

"So what does all this news about Cupid have to do with me?" Darius was trying not to let his own anger show. The Fates had defended Cupid all those years ago. If they hadn't thought Cupid was so important, Darius might not have spent the past three millennia looking like a lawn ornament.

"The a.s.signment was a mistake on our part," Clotho said.

"We should have trusted the process," Lachesis said.

"But we're so used to meddling ..." Atropos took another puff from her cigarette.

"Trusted what?" Darius asked.

"You, my dear," Clotho said. "You've come a long way."

"Indeed." Lachesis turned her head and smiled at him. Her hair had fallen about her face. It wasn't as pretty a red as Ariel's.

"Really, if I had had to choose three thousand years ago, I would have said you were the irredeemable one." Atropos frowned. "Maybe there is a reason we have to reapply for these jobs."

"Posh," Clotho said. "We've done well enough."

"I don't know," Lachesis said. "Atropos has a point. After all, there's the whole Eros problem--"

"And then the way we treated Aethelstan when he really was doing the right thing--"

"Not to mention all those lost years Emma endured--"

"Oh, dear." Lachesis closed her eyes. "Maybe you do become complacent when you've had a job too long."

"h.e.l.lo!" Darius said. "Can we get back to me?"

"Why, darling?" Clotho said. "What problems do you have? You're our only success story this year."

"I'm not a success story," Darius said.

"Of course you are, my dear," Lachesis said. "Didn't you come to us because the girl is obsessed with you?"

"Yes," Darius said. "But it's wrong. She has a soul mate. Being under a magical spell is bad for her--"

"She's not under a spell," Atropos said.

"What?" Darius asked.

"Think, darling," Clotho said. "What did we tell you about Eros?"

"Irredeemable," Lachesis said.

"Criminal," Atropos said.

"Inferior arrows," Clotho said.

"He shot her with an inferior arrow?" Darius asked, feeling panic build.

"No, silly," Lachesis said softly. "He didn't shoot her at all."

"He was supposed to," Atropos said. "Again, a mistake on our part. We really should have trusted you."

"But we haven't spoken to you in so long," Clotho said. "We thought the arrogance remained."

"And arrogance is so unattractive in a man," Lachesis said.

"Especially unfounded arrogance," Atropos said. "You were such a youngling in those days."

"Green," Clotho said.

"Untested," Lachesis said.

"Full of yourself," Atropos added.

"Wait." Dar's head was spinning. Something on the bowler was stabbing him in an uncomfortable place. He rose slightly, removed the hat from beneath him, and tossed it on the floor. "He didn't shoot her?"

"No," Clotho said. "He missed."

"But he told me he shot her."

"He also told you that he had forgiven you," Lachesis said.

"He was going to implicate you in the faerie affair," Atropos said.

"In fact, he tried," Clotho said.

"But we know all, see all," Lachesis said.

"Except you rent movies so that you can understand the real world," Darius said.

"All right," Atropos said, glaring at him. "Know some, see most."

"You can still be a royal pain, Darius," Clotho said.

"I don't understand," Darius said. "If he missed her, what about her soul mate?"

All three Fates stared at him.

"Apparently he's still somewhat clueless," Lachesis said.

"Well," Atropos said, "not everything can be corrected in three thousand years."

Darius was watching them, that dizzy feeling returning.

Clotho smiled at him. "Darling, 'you' are her soul mate."

"What?" Darius asked.

"She's told you she loves you, right?" Lachesis paused and stared at him.

"Yes." Darius still didn't believe it.

"Wonderful," Atropos said. "Someone has shown an interest."

"Not just any someone," Clotho said. "The right someone."

"And it happened without magic or potions or spells."

"With Darius actively trying not to let anything happen," Atropos said.

"We were the ones who tried to force the hand," Clotho said.

"After all," Lachesis said, "three thousand years is a long time. We did want your sentence to end, but we couldn't change it entirely. Not without a bit of help."

"Fat lot of good that plan did us."

They were all silent for a moment. Darius was breathing shallowly. Ariel was attracted to him? To both hims? To the tall, slender, runner, handsome him and the short, stocky, obnoxious him? She could actually fall in love with him?

She had a soul mate and it was him? How had he missed that?

"We do have one other thing to tell you before we declare your sentence fulfilled." Clotho stood. She ran a hand along her side, changing her clothing into the black robes of a judge.

Lachesis stood and did the same. So did Atropos. Suddenly they were in a courtroom. Darius stood before the bench as the three women looked down on him.

"We will tell you this," Lachesis said, "but you are not to tell your lady love this until after you are married."

"Or you don't have to tell her at all if you choose not to," Atropos said.

"But you cannot tell her before she agrees to spend her life with you," Clotho said.

"Not because she doesn't love you," Lachesis said. "She does."

"But you have to be able to trust the emotion," Atropos said. "Years from now, you don't want to have that voice of doubt, wondering if she decided to be with you for the perks."

"Perks?" Darius asked.

"We have spoken to the Powers That Be," Clotho said, and they all genuflected for the fourth time.

"We did it about two centuries ago when we thought you were getting close to completing the sentence," Lachesis said.

"We really had hopes for you in London during the Season, until we realized the Marriage Mart was all about power and money," Atropos said.

"There were a few love matches," Clotho said.

"But not as many as in the books," Lachesis said. "If you read those novels they publish these days, you'd think that everyone was wealthy, t.i.tled, and in desperate need of a special license."

"And it really wasn't that way," Atropos said.

"I know," Darius said. "I was there."

They paused, as if they had forgotten what they were doing.

"Oh, yes," Clotho said, sounding surprised. "You were."

"Anyway," Lachesis said, "we spoke to the Powers That Be--"

Darius waited through the fifth genuflection.

"--and they gave us permission that we have only received twice before."

"He doesn't need that much information," Atropos said.

"Well, he needs to know how special this is," Clotho said.

"'And'," Lachesis said over her companions, "we received permission to extend your Ariel's lifespan to match yours, should she desire to spend the rest of her life with you."

"They let you do that?" Darius asked.

"Yes," Atropos said. "Didn't we just say so?"

"But I thought that wasn't allowed."