Brim sighed heavily and looked at the fire again.
“Her fate has not changed. I still cannot see her in the future either. Whatever was going to happen must not have been your decision.”
I stopped rocking and stared at the fire, confused. I couldn’t see her future either, but I truly thought it was because she was still blocking me. Was this because of what I said to her? No, this was what her future had been since before I did anything.
“How am I supposed to save her if I don’t know what is going to happen?” I asked.
“Maybe you should never have started this to begin with,” he said snarkily. I knew he was right, but I was not about to admit that. There was no way that I could have known how important Della would be to me.
“Maybe your siblings are up to something without telling you.” Brim stared at me directly in the eyes, letting me know that he had indeed discovered who I was.
I sighed heavily and leaned back in my chair.
“How did you figure it out?”
“Little things at first.” Brim began rocking, the creaking of the chair the only noise besides the fire popping. “You use star mist, but it is black, and I think you thought I would assume it was shadows, but there is a clear difference. The hell’s flowers were your biggest downfall. I had to go to Avesh to ask him, and he went into the whole story behind them. Malamay promised Diath when he took her soul that he would bring something beautiful to Hell so their children could still appreciate beauty. Your father created them for Hell, and now they are here.”
“I told my sister, Elra, it was stupid, and someone would figure it out,” I said with a sigh.
“But then Avesh brought out their book and story. I flipped through the book, and in the back was a picture of each of you. Haden Vale, God of Wrath, and the last of the seven sins to be born. It is rumored that your father and mother agreed that you would be born from his star, but somehow you were born from both, with a good side and a bad side.”
“I see you did your homework, Brim.”
“You manipulated Della before you learned of the curse, though, and that part I do not understand. You met her before, 500 years ago, wasn’t it? Why mess with fate?”
I smiled when I thought of that first day I met her.
“Because I knew she was meant to be mine, and I didn’t care about fate. The stars could not even deny how perfect we are together. Besides, we had a mate bond floating between us when I met her, but it was dead. I didn’t manipulate that, but don’t get me wrong, I would have. I would have done anything to get to keep her.”
Brim looked at me oddly.
“We had a mating bond when I met her. It was transparent, barely there, but I could see it. She didn’t see it, though. I only manipulated her into feeling as though she remembered me when we ran into each other again, just in case the stars fucked with her, which they did. When I was reborn, the mating bond should have been there, but the stars purposely gave it to Holden to piss me off, and they succeeded. But they failed to take her own free will for loving me away.”
“I don’t understand,” Brim said.
“Gods can’t be mated to each other because of what happened to my parents. But fate had other plans for me and Della. We were mated, but it was a sin in the eyes of the stars; that is why only I could see it. It was a sin, and she couldn’t see it becauseshe is a heavenly god. They forced a bond with my twin fae brother, but it didn’t work.
“That is why she never felt anything for him, and she was immediately drawn to me instead. They tried to take the mating bond, but I think it was still there, just broken or invisible. The stars are not so fucking wonderful as they pretend to be. Just like with my mother, Diath. They knew she was born from a dead star but pretended like they had no idea when she started producing children with it.”
“Why would the stars do such things?” Brim frowned, but I could see he believed me.
“Because the stars didn’t think anyone would ever find out. But I will admit that they were probably right to lock my siblings up in Hell because they are out for blood, and that is the blood of the heavenly gods.”
“They don’t know that you are mated to one,” he guessed.
“No, and I won’t tell them. They would kill her or use her against me. But at some point, I will have to face them, and I don’t know what that will mean. Della made it so that I could not die when she forced a piece of her soul into me; maybe I could if she took it back from me, but she won’t do that. She loves me so much that I know she would fall from the grace of the stars to set me free if I asked her to.
“But she changed my fate when she killed Remiah. Not only did Della give me half of her soul that night, Brim, but she took half of mine for herself as well. I cannot be sent back to Hell if I can’t die. My curse is broken, but my siblings do not know that.”
Brim was watching me like he had never truly seen me until this very moment.
“Your siblings are taking the gods and their mates?” Brim asked.
“Yes, but I do not know why. They did not tell me, and I have no idea what the hell they are doing, but I will figure it out.”
Brim turned away from me. "Why the change of heart?"
“I cannot do it, Brim. I thought that in nine years my heart would harden and I would fall out of love with her so she would fall from the grace of the stars, but it didn’t. Not even close. I had my doubts before the fire but I had a vision—I saw what Della would do. She would change our fate and I didn’t hesitate to sacrifice anything for that. Because deep down I know that is what I care about—her, only her, and there is no fucking way in hell that I will let her fall. The heavens and hells know that she is the only thing that matters. But if her future didn’t change, then it was never me that caused it, so what is controlling this?"
