Haden’s wrath was pounding through me so violently. I knew that was a problem too because I was so fucking angry at the heavens, which overtook me completely when I was like this. But I didn’t tell Brim too much. I needed to play the part of a heavenly goddess.
My fate was too complicated to try and explain it to others. So, I would pretend like I didn’t know what was going to happen, like I hadn’t seen the horrible events play out in my mind for hundreds of years. At this point, my plan was going accordingly, and I needed to make sure that it stayed that way.
“But you came to me and pretended like you didn’t know what Haden was.” Brim frowned at my deceit.
“You must understand, Brim, that I will lie to anyone who might be a danger to Haden, including his family. I went to them too and acted as if I didn’t know everything about him already. I have to cover my tracks thoroughly so no one suspects me. The stars will check up on me, and everyone around me needs to be blissfully unaware of me and my plans.”
I left out the part that I did use my own magic against myself to hide the truth because I was a danger to Haden too. I would have tried to stop all the bad things from happening, and they had to happen. But Cassius had done exactly what I asked him to, and now I remembered the plan I set into motion. It was time to finish all of this once and for all. The heavens knew my intentions, and they would allow me to do whatever I needed to. Abram told me what would happen to the realm if I did not follow through with this, and I could never allow that. My duty was to this realm, and I would always fulfill it no matter what.
“I don’t know you at all.” He looked like his reality had shattered.
“No, you know me the best, Brim.” That was the truth, but he didn’t remember that. But soon, he would. “Does Haden suspect that I know about him?”
Brim laughed humorlessly.
“No, he came to see if your future changed. He is trying to save you without you figuring out who he is. He is terrified that you will not love him anymore. Haden loves you; he has turned his back on his siblings for you. He is terrified that we cannot see your future.”
I smiled at Brim. Haden did love me—at least the void part of him did, and I hoped the other side of him would forgive me too.
“Do you know why we can’t see your future?”
I watched him and nodded. “Do not tell anyone what I know. I just wanted to make sure he wasn’t onto me.” I stood up. “I have a meeting with the stars.”
“That’s it? You’re going to walk out of here like you did not just destroy my reality of the realm and gods—of you?”
“Yes, sorry, but I have a lot of things to do, and I am running out of time.”
“Tell me why I can’t see your future,” he begged.
“Because fate has not decided if I will have a future after this, Brim.”
Then I left.
Chapter 9
Della
These fucks. I yelled so loudly I thought I might pass out, because they were ignoring me. I yelled for the stars to come talk to me. They would come; they always did, but they were taking their sweet-ass time, and it was pissing me off beyond reason. I was running out of time, and I needed them.
“Get down here, and speak to me!” I demanded as I looked up at the night sky, the stars above twinkling with their mockery. These pricks were pissing me off more and more. The gods did not understand that the stars had no real power over us, but I needed to pretend that I didn't know that. Only the old gods were supposed to know these secrets.
“I swear to everything holy, I will start destroying this fucking realm!”
Still nothing. I knew they could hear me— I could feel them close by. Smiling, I glanced around before realizing what would get them out of hiding.
“I will start ripping souls from your precious gods!” I was not bluffing. My wrath was ready to sacrifice everything for the stars to answer for their part in this.
I lifted my hands, and lightning began striking the ground everywhere in the field near me. Each strike was more violent than the last, shaking the ground beneath my feet. I could feel my eyes shifting to black as I ran through the names of the gods to find one I could kill.
“Which god shall I kill first?” I yelled to the night sky. “Perhaps Elra, Mateo, or Daya?”
My eyes widened when four streaks fell from the sky like shooting stars. That’s what I thought. Their light was blinding as I stopped my lightning and squinted. Suddenly the light was gone, and four cloaked figures stood in front of me. Their cloaks glowed like the stars, silvery with specks of shimmering light within them.
“Ardella, Goddess of Life, you have been summoned to the star council,” a man said with the most authoritative voice I had ever heard, a voice that held a tinge of familiarity about it.
“It’s about damn time,” I hissed.
He sighed heavily with annoyance before their magic wrapped around us. After a moment, I opened my eyes and took in the large, circular room we were in. The walls were completely made of glass so we could see that we were in the dark sky surrounded by the rest of the stars. There were eight cloaked figures now, all sitting on wooden thrones in front of me.
