“Everything about us was a lie?” Haden frowned. “You manipulated me. You have been the villain this entire time!”
Malamay opened his mouth to argue with Haden, but I quickly interrupted him.
“Yes.”
Malamay looked at me and stepped toward us. He looked me in the eyes.
“What are you doing?” he whispered. “You are supposed to convince him, not let him walk away," he snapped.
“Saving him the guilt of what is about to happen to me.” I answered. “I was never going to let him follow me down this path.”
Malamay’s eyes filled with rage as he looked at me. There was an understanding in his eyes as I let Haden become angry with me. If he hated me, it would probably be even better.
“What the fuck are you up to?” He looked frantic.
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” I said innocently.
“You deserve this,” Malamay said softly.
I saw Haden’s eyes pulsing red as he looked at me. He was so angry and disappointed in me. But I would take the hatred. I would take everything so that he did not wonder if he could have saved me.
“Ardella, please,” Malamay begged with one last attempt. “Tell him to come to our side. This was not part of the plan. He is my son, and I don’t want to end him with the other gods, but I fucking will.”
“I will not allow it. Haden will never be like you.”
“What else are you hiding?” Haden yelled, shaking the ground below us. I looked at him, and I could feel the devastation radiating from him. He was pacing back and forth, his eyes shifting from red to black and back again. Shit.
“You two go back to the stars,” Malamay demanded of the other two stars. They seemed to hesitate before they disappeared.
“Is it that bad that you had to send the other stars away?” Haden scoffed.
“I was born of two stars, the star of Zipher—a normal star—and one of Balinier—a dead one,” I confessed. Haden stopped breathing as he looked at me. “It wasn’t always outlawed that gods had to be born of a living star. That is how your mother was born of a dead one, and afterward we understood the difference in her. It was outlawed to be born of more than one star. You were the last god born of such circumstances.”
“You are a God of Hell?” Thea asked.
“No,” I whispered. “I am the Goddess of Life, but I am also the Goddess of Deceit, but no one knows.”
“Do I even fucking know who my own wife is?” Haden sneered. “I understand that I came from Hell and planned on seekingrevenge against the heavenly gods, but for fuck’s sake, Ardella, even I am not this calculated and manipulative. You were only interested in me to kill me and get information. How will I ever trust anything about you?”
Tears formed in my eyes as I stared at him, and I could see the moment he wondered if I should even be his mate. I felt it through the bond. The feeling was cold and empty, just like his eyes. We were always going to be together. That was destiny; that was not me changing anything. Yes, I manipulated him, but we fell in love because that was always the way it should be.
But it would not be in this life. Now, I wasn’t even sure that he would pick me again. Maybe he would understand after I finished what I started all those years ago, but by then I will be stuck in the stars finishing my plan. I could not see him or I in the future anymore.
“Haden—” I started to speak, but he ripped off the star ring on his finger and threw it at my feet. The pain in my chest was beyond anything I could have ever felt. The mating bond tugged and frayed as if it would snap this second.
“Son, what are you doing?” Malamay’s voice trembled, but I saw the truth—he didn’t care about me, only about dragging Haden down my path.
“This bond was made of lies. Which seems like it isn’t a real connection. My wife is the Goddess of Deceit, and that is how we got here—her lies and manipulation. Gods, do I even love you, or was that part of what you did to me?”
“You love me,” I answered, but Haden didn’t believe it. His eyes were so full of hate and devastation. Thea and Cassius looked at me, and maybe I was imagining it, but I swore I saw disappointment on their faces too. Even Ezra was watching me with confusion. Maybe Haden did deserve someone better than me. I was still lying to him.
“How can I love someone I don’t know? Everything has been a lie.”
"No, not everything," I said softly.
I leaned down and picked up the ring off the ground. My tears fell, black and inky, as I held it in my hands. When I lifted my gaze to his, he looked over me in a way that I hated.
“Are you rejecting me?” I asked.
