We hadn’t told them we were working on finding a way for them to actually know, that would be a hard promise to break if we never found out a way to actually do it. But we did! With Samantha and Liam’s help, and with our vampire fated, we made a potion that together with moonstone necklaces, would beam if two people that were fated stood close enough.
“This is going to be a huge bestseller for our store,” Giro said proudly. It was the first real product we’d made together from scratch, and I had to agree with him. I felt proud of it, too.
We’d decided to give our coven the potions and necklaces for free, knowing many had partners they wished were their fated, and it seemed wrong to want money for it, them being our coven and all. We often gave out free potions and crystals and they would often send us packages with gifts, too. I found I liked being in a coven. We had this friendship and community that I had no idea I would actually need, or want. I had no idea what I would do without them now, they weren’t just my coven, they were friends, and some I even considered family.
“Think Astrea and Claire will like it?” I asked, feeling the tiniest bit of doubt creep in. Maybe they wouldn’t be fated after all, and I would have ruined their happily ever after.
“Stop that,” Giro admonished. “They’re fated. Everyone knows this. We just need them to know for certain.”
Nodding, I accepted his words. He knew me so well after all these years living together. We were like brothers now, something I cherished.
“We should get back to the party,” he said, grabbing the necklaces. He handed me the potions and off we went.
Sev and Peter loved to throw parties once a year with our closest friends, it was a way for us to stay close to the ones we wanted in our life forever, and since we now had so many that were important to us, we saw it as a sort of tradition. Our most sacred one.
The party was at the drinking amazing drinks and chatting stage, so we slid back into the garden where we’d put up tents and soft playing music. Astrea and Claire were slow dancing under one of our biggest trees. It had many lightbulbs in it for when it turned dark. It was getting there, with the sun slowly setting.
Sneaking up to them as we’d planned, Giro placed the necklaces around their necks and I handed them each a potion.
“What?” Claire asked, taking the potion with confusion all over her face.
Astrea sighed. “Tell me we aren’t your test subjects again?” But before we’d even answered, she’d downed the potion. If that wasn’t the biggest sign of trust in us, I had no idea what was. Claire followed suit and we beamed at them.
“We found out a way to test out fated bonds!” I exclaimed, bouncing a bit on the spot.
“Really?!” Astrea’s voice was so excited, I almost missed the terror on Claire’s face.
“I don’t want to know!” Claire snapped, her expression horrified and scared.
And that was when their necklaces lit up, making the four of us look down where they proved Astrea and Claire truly were fated. I should feel happy, but all I felt now was guilt over doing this without their consent. Claire hadn’t wanted to know, and now they did. Because of me. I really needed to work on the consent part, we still hadn’t seen Reminia and I was beginning to thinkIwas the problem here.
Claire was a sobbing mess in Astrea’s arms, both of them crying in a way that could mean heartbreak and happiness. It was hard to tell. My stomach was in knots watching them.
“Thank you,” Claire croaked.
Wait, what?!
“Yeah,” Astrea agreed, her voice hoarse from crying. “Thank you. Now we truly know we’re meant for one another. Knowing is peace.”
“Peace?” Giro questioned.
Claire nodded. “We both feared Astrea would find her fated someday, and that fear would forever be there. But now, the fear is gone. So, thank you.”
“Was that why you didn’t want to know?” I asked.
They both nodded. “It was one of our biggest insecurities in our relationship. The fear of fate breaking us apart,” Astrea explained.
“But now, we can live the rest of our lives knowing we are meant to be,” Claire added. “I had no idea how freeing it is to know.”
I let out a relieved sigh. “I’m so glad to hear that,” I said, clutching my heart. “I feared for a moment I’d messed up again.”
“You two do seem to take things into your own hands,” Claire teased.
Giro and I shared guilty looks, but they were right. From now on Sev and Peter would be told everything in advance. It seemed we needed someone to watch over us in the future. I wasn’t mad about that, though.
Strong arms sneaked around my middle and the heavenly scent of my vampire came with it. “What are you two up to now?” he whispered, nibbing my ear playfully.
“So, the crying wasn’t as quiet as I’d imagined?” I dared ask, glancing around the party to see we had too much attention on us.
