I looked into his kind eyes.
“She was a fated mate to a god. It is a divine law that we are not allowed to cause harm to mates, and I killed her.” I pulled my arm from him and grabbed the sleeve of my dress, pulling it up. “I am falling from the grace of the heavens for it.”
Brim looked at the broken stars on my arm, and his gaze snapped to mine.
“Della…”
“It is alright, Brim.” It was part of my plan.
“Is that your curse?”
“No,” I sighed and looked at the fire again. The flames reminded me of Hell. “If I do not correct my mistake, I will lose Haden permanently. That is my curse. A mate for a mate.”
“For fuck’s sake, Della. How will you ever correct that?”
“I have a plan.”
“Which is?” he asked.
I frowned at him.
“I can’t tell you, but I know that you've seen parts of my future, Brim.” I could see that he wanted to argue with me, but I didn’t give him the chance. “You are forbidden from telling anyone what I told you today.”
“But…”
“No, no buts. Haden can’t know what I am going to do. He will know when the time is right. I will not lose him, and he will try to stop me when he learns what I have to do to keep him and save the gods."
“Della, why didn’t you say anything before?”
“Because I have been trying to save him from Hell for over 500 years. And there is no way in hell that this godsdamn curse will stop me from having him. I will not fail. The heavens thought that I would not kill a mate of a god to save Haden, and they were wrong. But the heavens also know me; they know I will make this right. My problem lies with the damn stars and their corruption. They have something I need, and I made a bargain for it. And I can’t tell you because you will think I have lost my fucking mind.”
“You would be damned no matter what choice you made that night. You either lose Haden or curse yourself by taking Remiah.” Brim looked around the room as if he could understand better. “The stars are corrupted?”
“Yes, they are nothing like everyone believes.” I stared Brim in the eyes and smiled. “Haden is mine, and I do not want anyone else. The heavens should have never let him cross my path if they wanted me to stay away. One look at him and I knew I had found the other part of my soul.”
“You need to talk to Haden,” Brim said. “If you fall from the grace of the heavens, then his siblings will come from Hell and destroy the realm.”
“I know they will.” I looked at Brim so he knew I was serious. “It has always been my intention to fall from the grace of the heavens and break their curse.”
“What the fuck, Della?” He stood, fuming at me. “You have lost your fucking mind. You are the whole reason you fall from grace and Haden and I have been trying to stop it. He thought it was him lying to you, but it is you lying to him!”
“I have it under control,” I assured him. “This is bigger than just Haden and I, Brim. There is intention behind everything I do. I will fall from the grace of the heavens, and just know that when I do, I always knew it would happen. It is my fate. Abram told me.”
“Abram is a fucking scumbag for telling you. Knowing too much about one’s own fate is a curse within itself.”
I laughed softly and gave Brim a big grin.
“Haden is convinced he is the reason why you fall from the grace of the heavens. He is trying to stop it.”
Well, that was good to know.
“He can’t stop me. It is inevitable. I have shaped and bent fate to my will so that nothing will stop it. Not even the heavens can stop me.”
“They will stop you before you can do something so terrible.” Brim truly thought that was true, but he was wrong. “What about the stars? Even if they are corrupt, they will know this is not a line to cross and stop you.”
“I am their favorite goddess, and that was their mistake. They do not know me or what I am capable of. I will destroy everything they built, and the realm will be better for it. The stars do not hold real power, and when I am done with this, everyone will know what they have been doing. I will destroy the stars, and I will use the fact that I am their favorite to do it.”
“Della, you sound like you are a God of Hell more than Haden is.”
