Page 22

Chapter 22

Haden

S he hadn’t come today. I lay in bed and stared at the ceiling, wondering why she didn’t come to see me. Did I do something wrong? I could not remember part of the night after I went upstairs to follow her. Should I call her to me? Maybe she only meant that if I was in distress. Fuck, I hated feeling like this, so insecure. It was obvious that she liked me. Or maybe I was making it up in my head. I closed my eyes and ran my hands down my face.

“You do realize that you don’t have to physically call for me. I can hear it if you are thinking my name over and over. Della’s voice held a slight amusement in it.

I sat up. “Della.”

“Haden.”

We stared at each other for a moment, and I felt that doubt creeping up.

“Please, stop doing that.” She frowned.

“Doing what?” I asked.

“Shutting down on me.” Her eyes flashed with disappointment. “You want me near you, but then you act like I am the last woman you want near you. Why?”

I stared at her, and she frowned. Della sighed as she walked over to the bed and sat down close to my hip. My gaze watched her to see what she was going to do. I could feel the panic that I was going to mess this up bubbling inside of me.

“That, right there, that look. Tell me what you are thinking.”

“That I will mess this up by saying something stupid.”

She smiled.

“You won’t. Ask me a question,” she suggested. “This will be fun; we’ll take turns.”

I sat up and rested my back on the headboard as Della slipped her shoes off and sat in the middle of my bed.

“Um, what do you do all day?” I was curious.

“I work a lot.” She smiled. “And when I am done, I come here to see you. My turn.” She paused and seemed to be thinking. “Do you have any magic besides frost?”

“No.” I shook my head, and she seemed surprised by it. “What is your favorite color?” I blurted out.

“Orange.” She smiled.

“Earlier, I was standing in a field of flowers and was thinking of picking you some , and I realized I didn’t know what color you’d like the best. If I’m being honest, I didn’t think orange would be it. I thought maybe purple or green.”

Her eyes filled with an emotion I didn’t understand before she leaned forward and hugged me tightly to her.

“Orange is the color of your soul,” she said softly. “It will always be my favorite.”

I swallowed hard at her confession.

“You can see my soul?”

“Yes, it’s part of my magic.” She pulled back. “Do you like me?”

Instantly the insecure feeling filled my chest. What if she laughed in my face about my feelings?

“I can see I am losing you again.” She frowned. “I like you. You know that, right? I don’t come here for any other reason. I really like you, but I am starting to worry that maybe you don’t feel the same about me unless you are void at the time.”

“Has my void side said that he likes you?” I asked. Her face immediately flushed. Gods, I liked that a lot. Her eyes filled with confusion.

“You don’t remember what happens when you are void?”

“Not really. I can sometimes, but it is only bits and pieces of the memories. Like last night, I don’t remember anything that happened after I went upstairs with you. Well, and when he shares things with me, but he seems to know everything that happens when I am the present personality.”

Her face became more red. But then her head cocked to the side with confusion.

"He can keep things from you, but you can't keep things from him?" she asked.

"Yes."

Stop talking about this right now. The void was pissed at either me or Della. You shouldn't have told her that.

"Isn't that odd for you?" She stared at me.

"Sometimes, but he usually shares important things." I shrugged.

Shut. The. Fuck. Up. He was pissed at me for telling Della this. But it only made me wonder why.

“You didn’t answer if you liked me or not.”

I was relieved that she changed the subject.

“Yes,” I whispered. “I like you so much that it scares me. But I worry that if you do like me back, I will not know how to treat you well enough, and you will leave me. And I worry that you will stop liking me because I am poor. I do not have anything to offer you, Della. I only have myself, and I have been told my entire life that I am not worth anything. The void said you will never feel that way about me, though.”

"He did?" Her eyes narrowed on me.

Fucking hell, now she is suspicious of me. He growled.

“I do not care that you are poor.” She had tears in her eyes as she stared at me. “And I know that you think I will at some point, but trust me when I tell you I won’t. I have everything—money, power, and anything I could ever desire. But I do not have the one thing I have wanted more than anything. You.”

I looked at her, unsure of what to say.

“Is there a reason why it feels like we have known each other for a long time?” I asked.

“Maybe it was written in the stars, and if it was, then I thank the heavens every day that they gave me you. I mean it, Haden. There has never been anyone before you, and there will be no one after. Your soul calls to me, and I cannot stay away. We can go as slow—”

I leaned forward and kissed her. Della hummed against me. I pulled away, and her eyes flashed white, looking at me in surprise before falling back to my mouth. She suddenly moved forward and kissed me again. My hands seemed to have a mind of their own as they reached out and pulled her forward. Della straddled my lap as she deepened the kiss. Gods, she could fucking kiss.

After a minute, she pulled back and smiled at me. She gave me one last lingering kiss before hugging me to her. This felt right. I don’t know why she felt like home, but I never wanted it to end. I inhaled her intoxicating scent and held her tightly.

“I’m so glad you like me back,” she whispered.

I chuckled softly.

“You didn’t come to see me today.”

She pulled back and traced her fingers over my cheek.

“I was about to come when you started calling for me.” She looked in my eyes. “I don’t think I can stay away for a whole day.”

“Good,” I said.

“Can I take you somewhere tomorrow?” she asked.

“Yes.” I nodded.

“I’m exhausted; I need to get some sleep.”

She gave me a hard, lingering kiss before sliding off of me. Gods, I wanted her to get her ass back over here. She grabbed her heels off the floor, and I felt panicked about her leaving me.

“Wait,” I called out. She stopped and looked at me. “Stay with me for a little bit longer. I know you're tired; you can lie with me.”

“Haden, are you asking me to stay the night?” She smirked.

My face instantly turned red, and she dropped her shoes.

“I was teasing.” She looked around and smiled as she picked up my tunic I had tossed off. She turned around and slipped off her dress. I turned quickly, but not before I saw her pretty bronze skin covered in glowing silver tattoos. She chuckled as she crawled into bed, now wearing only my tunic.

I shifted so I was lying on my back, and Della snuggled right up to me, resting her head on my arm. Gods, she was so natural about this, like we had done this a million times before. Her hand rested on my chest, and I felt a warmth spreading through me. Gods, I really fucking liked this.

“Storm?”

She didn’t answer, and I peered down to see her already passed out. So, I wrapped my arm around her and closed my eyes, excited that tomorrow she was spending the day with me.

?★★★?★★★?

“What is this place?” I asked as the small waterfall fell into a large pond.

“This is our new favorite place.” She smiled like she had a secret. She glanced around and laid out the blanket she brought with us.

I admired the beauty of the scenery, not having seen anything quite like it before. The thousands of wildflowers surrounding us as the waterfall created mist in the air that made rainbows seemed magical. But it was Della’s big, excited smile that was my favorite thing to see. A willow tree stood by itself off to the left, and something about it made me walk toward it.

As I got closer, I noticed there were letters carved in the tree. I traced them in confusion as Della appeared next to me and looked at it. Her face turned toward me.

“H loves A.” She smiled. I could see that something about this carving made her happy. “Haden loves Ardella,” she whispered. Her face flushed. “Gods, I’m not saying you love me. I just think it’s quite the coincidence.”

I smiled as she blushed and nervously tucked her hair behind her ear.

“My gods, I talk a lot when I am nervous, and if I’m being honest, I know I should stop talking. But it's like my mind thinks I can make this awkwardness better if I just fill the silence.”

She was spiraling as she kept going on, but fuck, I could listen to her ramble on for hours, and at this rate she would probably tell me her whole life story and everything she ever thought about me.

“But I know this is probably making everything worse. You don’t even know me. But I feel like I’ve known you my whole life.” Her eyes glanced up at me as I smiled at her, and her talking faded off. She turned quickly, and I followed her, smiling at her even though she was embarrassed.

“Where are you going?” I chuckled.

She stopped and looked at me with a longing in her eyes. Her awkwardness made me relax. Della was just as terrible at this as I was.

“To swim.”

She turned away again.

“Swim? It is freezing.”

She turned and smiled at me, relaxing a bit more.

“Come feel the water with me.” She held out her hand, and I took it quickly, desperate to touch her. Della led me to the water’s edge and leaned down, running her hand through it. I did the same, and my gaze snapped up to her in surprise.

“Holy fuck, it's warm.”

“I know. Now get undressed and come in with me.”

I swallowed hard, and she smiled.

“Don’t be embarrassed.” She started stripping off her clothing, and I turned from her. I only turned back when I heard her splash into the water. When I looked, Della was smiling at me, her head the only thing I could see. I started taking off my clothes and noticed she looked away to give me privacy. Something about that seemed wrong.

I walked out into the water next to her and smiled when she looked at me. Her eyes shined brightly as we started swimming around. I watched her but felt an odd tugging in my chest while I looked at her.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Sometimes, I get weird chest pains.” I rubbed my chest, and Della looked down at my hand rubbing and smirked. She swam over to me, and her hand slowly lifted, resting over my heart. The aching stopped immediately.

“Is that better?”

“Yes.”

I leaned down and kissed her. Della pulled back and glanced at my face with questions in her eyes. She looked away for a moment before turning back and looking me in the eyes.

“Are you sure you are fae?”

I chuckled.

“Yes?” I stopped smiling when she didn’t smile back. “Why?”

“I don’t know. Sometimes it seems like you aren’t fae.” She shrugged. As she said it, I could feel the void wanting to come up, but I held it in with everything I could. This was my day with Della. I did not need him swooping in and taking over.

“My parents are fae. Unless maybe they are mixed with something else.” She looked me over slowly before reaching up and touching my pointed ear. Gods, she really didn’t think I was fae. What did I do to make her think that?

“You don’t have pointed ears, so what are you?” I asked.

“I’m not fae.”

“Witch?”

She smiled and shook her head no.

“Are you a god?” she asked and tilted her head to the side.

“You think if I were a god, I would live where I do?” I raised my brow at her. “I’m flattered that you think I’m good-looking enough to be a god.” I laughed.

“So, you are just a fae with elite magic.”

“I guess.”

Her pretty eyes studied me for a long moment, not seeming convinced.

“You don’t have visions?” she blurted out.

“Visions?” How did she know I had visions?

“Yeah, like did you have dreams or something about me before we met?”

I opened my mouth to answer her when I could feel the void being very fucking persistent.

Lie to her. Do not tell her that you knew you’d see her that day in the village. Fuck, he was pissed. I stared at Della, and she waited for me to answer. Lie to her, damn it.

“No, I’ve never had any visions. Should I have?” I smiled to throw her off because the void was raging inside of me. He was upset with her, and I didn’t understand why, but I knew that he had never led me astray.

Is she dangerous? I asked my other side.

To my incredible surprise, he answered me back. She won’t harm you. She is just very fucking nosy and observant.

Am I not fae?

He didn’t answer, asshole.

Della frowned slightly before replacing it with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes.

“No, I was just curious. Sorry.”

She began swimming around, and I watched her intently.

Is there a reason her questions upset you so much? I asked.

He was silent.

Fine, I’ll just tell her—

If you do that, you will put her in danger, he seethed. You do not tell her a single fucking thing I share with you. Got it?

Fine.

You need to wrap it up. I need to go somewhere and talk to someone. He demanded.

You’ll be fine. I want to be with her.

He groaned like a child not getting their way. I couldn’t help but wonder what she was trying to figure out. Della smiled brightly at me, and that tugging in my chest made me get closer to her. I would keep the void’s secrets if it protected her.