Page 37

Haden

W hat did I do? I stared at the fire as Ezra stared at the side of my face like I would explode or something.

Della had left hours ago, and I could not feel anything.

I was numb and empty. My soul knew something important was missing, and it wanted me to go find it.

My heart beat to a different rhythm without her, and I didn’t like it.

My mating bond was gone. It did not float from me anymore. I had rejected Della in a moment of hurt and devastation. What was I thinking? I wasn’t. I would have never rejected her.

“Haden?” Thea sat down on the small table in front of me. “Do you want to talk about anything?”

I blinked up at Thea and felt nothing but confusion in my mind. What did I do? Thea’s eyes were red, meaning she was feeling overwhelmed. I glanced at Cassius, and his eyes were black. When I looked at Ezra, his normally red eyes were black too.

“I fucked up,” I said. “Right?” I looked at all of them.

Ezra sighed heavily.

“Thank the gods, I have been waiting for you to realize you were an idiot.” He jumped up. “You made a decision in the moment and should have probably taken a minute to think it through.”

I stood up, determined to find Della. But I stopped when I saw that Brim stood in the doorway of the home. His eyes found mine, and I could feel the worry coming from him.

“Brim?” Cassius asked. “Where the hell did you come from?” He looked around.

“What did you do?” he asked me. Brim’s eyes turned bright red. “Why did you do that?!”

I went to open my mouth to answer him, but his eyes faded from red as tears filled them. He buried his face in his hands and began crying like someone died.

“Brim, you don’t understand. She told me how she manipulated me,” I said.

“But I was going to tell her no, that I was not going to reject her. Then, all of a sudden, I was rejecting her…oh my gods, she made me.” I looked at everyone.

“That's why I am so confused; she used her magic to force my rejection. What would be her reason for that?”

Brim looked up at me and glared. He came at me so fast that I was unsure of what to do. He kicked me in the shin, and it made me feel something other than nothing.

“She didn’t manipulate you into falling in love with her,” Brim yelled. “Those images she planted in your mind were images she saw of your future. Della can’t fabricate images; she can only share what she actually sees in the future.”

A moment later, star mist filled the room, and my heart beat quickly.

“Storm,” I sighed in relief, but it was only Mikel and Remiah.

He looked around and frowned when he saw me. Mikel dropped Remiah’s hand and looked around.

“Where is she?” he asked.

“Della?” I asked. “I don’t know; she left after I rejected her as a mate hours ago.”

“What the fuck do you mean that you rejected her?” He stepped toward me angrily, then stopped.

“She came to check on me not even an hour ago. She was being strange. It was like she was telling me goodbye but wouldn’t say what was wrong.

She said she was going home to you, and she’d see Remiah in a few days. ”

“Did you know she was the Goddess of Life and Deceit?” I asked. Mikel stared at me and swallowed hard.

“What?” He looked at me oddly. “Seriously, what the hell are you talking about?”

“Della said she was both—”

Mikel let out a long sigh as he paced around. “She is lying. That is not true. Who was there with you? She was obviously trying to throw someone off her tracks.”

“Malamay,” I said.

Mikel spun quickly toward Brim, and his eyes flashed red. “What the hell are you two doing? The gods are not supposed to know who the stars are, and Malamay is not supposed to be able to leave the stars without supervision.”

“Obviously.” Brim rolled his eyes. “Della is aware of this. You would have been too if you didn’t treat her like complete shit for years. She has been dealing with all of this by herself for so long because you had your head so far up your own ass.”

Mikel’s shoulders deflated at Brim’s words. Remiah stepped forward.

“Haden, why would you reject her?”

“I thought she manipulated me into falling in love with her.”

Mikel scoffed.

“The fuck she did.” He glared at me. “Della would never make you fall in love with her. Why would she do that? So she can have a fake mate? That makes no damn sense. How could she do that?”

“By putting images in my mind to make me do things.”

Mikel looked at me oddly.

“What’s wrong?” Ezra asked.

“I know Della, and she would never do that unless there was a good reason.”

“Della used her magic to force me to reject her,” I blurted out. “Why would she do that?”

Mikel turned to Brim, and his eyes narrowed. “You little shit. How much do they know about us?”

Brim glanced around the room and sighed heavily. “Della did not share anything with them. She has been very careful to cover her tracks.”

“Did you know that she is helping my parents free the Gods of Hell?” I snapped.

“She made a bargain with the stars; they traded her the Book of the Dead for the Book of Dark Magic . She broke the curse; she fell from the grace of the heavens, Mikel. Any day, my siblings will come to the realm and rain hell down upon everything when they realize what she did.”

“No, they won’t. You will kill them.” Mikel spoke so nonchalantly. “That is your fate; I’ve seen it.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “What do you mean you’ve seen it?”

“I can only see big events that will impact Elloryon. I knew some day that the Gods of Hell would escape, but I also saw you kill them.” Everyone stared at Mikel, and he sighed heavily.

“Della and I are tr…twins; we got the same magic to a degree. Mine is to help make sure justice is sought. Hers only ever seemed to be about you. She told me that she had visions of a man with dark blonde hair and stormy eyes that was surrounded by darkness. She only ever had visions that had to do with you.”

I looked at him and frowned.

“Della would never do anything to jeopardize your bond.” Mikel was confident. “So, where the fuck is my sister at, and how do we find her before Hell comes to Elloryon?”

“She is going to Hell to free the gods and their mates,” Brim said. “That's why I came; I had a vision.”

Mikel looked at Brim. “You two will never be allowed to see each other again. How long have you two been scheming this? I know why you didn’t tell me now—because I would have never allowed this.”

“Calm down, Mikel. Della and I have this handled. Besides, this will take care of the problem for good. If I’m being honest, Della wiped my memories so I couldn’t tell you her plan, but I know it was a good one.”

“You little fucking shit, I will fucking kill you.” Mikel stepped toward him. “That's why you have been hiding in that stupid shack.”

Brim stepped toward Mikel and gave him a sneer. “You can’t hurt me. Della needs me to help her finish that plan, and I won’t hurt you either, because she also used her magic on you."

“Damn it, Ardella.” Mikel snapped. “You two are in deep shit after this. When is she going to Hell?”

“Now.” Brim looked at me. “You should hurry up.”

Fear gripped me; she couldn’t go there. My siblings would kill her.

I immediately summoned my magic to go to the Island of Death.

When I got to the opening of Hell, I realized Ezra, Thea, and Cassius came with me.

I froze when I saw her. Della was on the rocky cliffside staring down into the chasm opening of Hell which glowed with angry reds and oranges. I swallowed hard as she turned.

“Haden?” she whispered.

“Storm, get away from there,” I begged. “You don’t have to do this.”

Tears filled her eyes as she looked over each of us. “Actually, I do.”

Della raised her arms out to her sides and fell backward off the cliff and into Hell without hesitating.

“Storm!” I ran for her even though I could hear Thea, Cassius, and Ezra yelling for me to wait.

There was no hesitation as I jumped in headfirst. I could see Della falling through the bright flames of Hell; the farther down we made it, the darker it was becoming.

I reached for her as she stared at me, her eyes never leaving mine.

The wind from falling made her hair whip around.

I used everything I could to catch up with her.

My fingertips grazed her clothing, and I gripped it for dear life before I yanked her up to me, my body slamming into hers.

My arms wrapped around her back as I turned us so my back was toward the ground.

Della’s face was buried in my neck, her hot breath warming my insides as she gripped me.

Our falling slowed down until we were a few feet above the black, charred ground. We fell quickly the last few feet, my back slamming into the ground. Della held onto me until the sound of others hitting the ground startled us. Della let go of me and turned to see Ezra, Thea, and Cassius.

“For the love of everything holy, I thought I was going to fall for the rest of my existence,” Ezra groaned.

“What are you guys doing?” I asked as I stood up.

“You think we were going to let you and Della save the gods without us?” Thea raised her dark brow and smiled. Cassius looked at Della and frowned at whatever he saw on her face. “We are family; we will help.”

Della had put space between us, and I hated it. I stepped forward and grabbed her face in my hands.

“Gods be damned, Storm—don’t ever do that again.” Her eyes flashed with a deep sense of longing that strangled my words from me. “Are you hurt?”

She looked at me oddly. “Physically, no,” she whispered. I knew that she was talking about the bond.

“I will fix our bond when we get out of here,” I promised her. “I was not going to reject you. Why did you force me to?”

She didn’t say anything; she just stared at me like it was torture to be this close to me. Della’s gaze moved from me quickly and stared at the ground.

“Della, please look at me.”