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“To understand the full extent of what you have done to have me.” But his eyes faded from red to stormy blue. “You were always going to be the downfall.”

“Downfall of what?” I whispered.

“Of everything.”

Then he leaned forward and kissed me, and when he pulled back, I was standing in a different room, still in the castle. Haden was now sleeping in bed, and I watched as a version of myself stood over him. She turned toward me and smiled wickedly.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“What are we doing?” she corrected me. “We are telling Haden how to break the curse of the gods of hell.”

I shook my head.

“What?”

The vision turned to me, and her smile fell. Why was she happy, when helping them was going to destroy the damn realm?"

“You fell in love with a man you were never supposed to, Della.” I glanced over her shoulder to Haden sleeping peacefully. “Haden Vale, God of Wrath—God of Hell.”

I looked back at her. No. I did not do such a thing. Fear and confusion stormed inside my chest as her words rang through my mind over and over again. He was not who she said, but even as I thought of it, memories began to trickle through my mind.

The first memory showed me standing with the gods as Haden and his siblings were exiled to Hell.

I watched him with a sense of wonderment.

He was the most handsome man I had ever seen.

His dark blonde hair was messy from running his fingers through it and his face looked like it was carved from my very own fantasy.

Suddenly, he turned to me before falling into the opening of Hell, and smiled at me.

He couldn't see me under my hood, but I had seen him and now there was no way I was ever letting him go.

The next memory shifted and Abram stood in front of me with a look of worry in his eyes.

"He is a God of Hell, Dells." He frowned at me.

"I do not care. Haden Vale is mine and I do not want anyone else," I said, defiantly.

"He isn't yours." Abram's green eyes narrowed on me. "And you know it."

"He will be," I glared right back. "You won't stop me, Abram. I've already started to change fate."

"What did you do?" he asked. His anger fell away, and now concern painted his handsome face.

"I have seen the life that Haden will give me, Abram. I had a vision of how he will love me and I am not willing to let that go—even for fate."

"Fine," he sighed. "But the heavens will not like that you have fallen in love with the man they told you to use to figure out what his parents and siblings are up to.

What will Haden say when he finds out you were supposed to kill him, not fall in love with him?

Mikel's vision showed his siblings and him breaking out of Hell.

You are supposed to be stopping that, not changing fate. "

"He will understand." I frowned up at Abram. "We cannot tell Mikel what I am doing, Abram. He will not understand and will stop me. Besides, Haden and I loving each other will change the fates of the gods."

Abram tensed and looked at me. "You have found a way to change our fate?"

"Yes, and Haden is the key."

I was ripped from the memory suddenly. The other version of me still stood in front of me, smiling like she saw my memories too.

“Haden is a god of Hell.”

“Yes, and you are the reason why he and his siblings will break free. You will be the downfall of the stars themselves.”

Haden isn’t evil and there was nothing shameful about loving him.

There was an overwhelming sense of dread filling me.

I felt like I was going to pass out. The stars would have stopped me.

Then again, maybe they weren’t powerful enough to stop me.

A shiver ran up my spine, taking root inside of me and making my eyes shut.

When I opened them, I was in front of a mirror.

I stepped back when I noticed the black eyes of the void staring back at me. Why was I void?

My reflection in the mirror tilted its head and gave me a sinister look before punching the glass, shattering it and sending it flying into shards toward me.

I stumbled backward, falling onto my back.

When I went to stand, black starlight wrapped around my wrists and ankles, holding me down.

I looked up, and Haden was smiling from above me.

“Haden,” I pleaded softly. “You are a god of hell.”

His stormy eyes flashed red, and I began crying. I didn’t understand what was happening.

“Yes, and you have defied the stars and the heavens to have me.” He frowned.

“You’ve lied to me for as long as I have known you!” I called out, and this made him chuckle.

“Oh, Storm, you are about to see who is the liar between us is.” He moved forward slightly, and I flinched like he would hurt me. “Shhh, it’s okay. I’m going to show you how naughty you’ve been.”

His star mist moved over me, and flashes of what I had done began flashing through my mind—so many lies and secrets.

I had committed treason against the stars, the gods, and the heavens for lifetimes for Haden.

After a moment, they stopped, and Haden looked down at me.

My chest was heaving with realization of who the monster was between the two of us.

It wasn't Haden who was the liar, it had always been me.

“What have I done?” I cried out. “Haden, what have I done!”

He squatted down and smiled, staring at me for a moment before brushing my hair back from my sweaty forehead.

“And they say the gods of hell are the ones to fear. You’ve been a very busy girl, Storm.”

My breathing was coming out rapidly as the memories of what I had done kept replaying in my mind.

“You’ll always be my good girl, no matter how bad you are.”

“Please…” I don’t know what I needed.

“All these lifetimes of deceit are coming to an end. You don’t have much time left to make sure everything is in place when your secrets are spilled.”

His stormy eyes stared into mine.

“I’m still confused,” I said.

“It will all come together in the next few days. You should get some sleep because you have a lot to do.”

My head pounded, my forehead beaded with sweat as every treason I had ever committed raced through my memory.

“You have been deceiving everyone since the moment you saw me, Della.” He was not angry; he seemed pleased that I would do such things for him.

“When we met in Akecia, 500 years ago, it was not an accident. You summoned me there. That is why I was always in Akecia when I surfaced from Hell, because you were there watching for me—waiting.”

“No…” Yes.

“But that is not the first time you saw me, is it?”

“No.” I confessed as tears streamed down my face.

“You have manipulated everything around you, bent fate to your will, deceived others, and even killed for me—for us. An inherently good goddess will be what destroys the stars and rips apart everything the gods have known.” He brushed his fingers down the side of my face. “Was I worth it?”

I didn’t even hesitate. “Yes.”

Some deep emotion swirled in his pretty red eyes.

“Will you forgive me when you find out the extent of what I have done and what I’m about to do?” I asked.

“I don’t know.”

He shook his head slowly, like he wasn’t sure. But this was the way it was always supposed to be. Haden was mine, and the heavens would never stand between us. I have made sure of that. My chest ached as new memories flitted through. Gods, I had manipulated everything I could get my hands on.

“Will Abram forgive you when he knows what you did?” Haden watched my face when I began crying harder.

“Yes.”

“I guess we will see when he remembers who he is and what you did to him for hundreds of years.”

Abram would understand. I was sure of it. He could never hate me.

“Have you remembered who you actually are yet?” he whispered. “Does Mikel even know who you are?”

“No, he doesn’t.” Not yet, but he would remember.

He nodded and leaned down, giving me a soft kiss before he stood up.

“You have a lot of sins to repent for.” He smiled. “As a god of hell, I will gladly help you wash your sins away, Storm.”

He turned away from me, and I began to panic.

“Wait!” He stopped. “Why am I void like you?”

He grinned down at me like none of this was fucking crazy.

“It was your magic first; you gave it to me. You gave me more than that. There isn’t a single thing you have not manipulated.” He looked proud of me.

“Gave it to you?” I shook my head.

“Gods of hell do not get magic, and we do not get mates, Della. You made sure I had both.”

Then it went black.