Page 34 of Bound By Destiny

Warwick merely crosses his arms and taps his foot for a few moments, studying me in aggravation. “Why do you get to choose what’s a ‘bullshit promise’ and what’s a real one, Dane? Your word counts, but not what Isobel and I have to say?”

I jerk backwards. I guess he has a point there.

“You talk about forever, Dane,” Warwick continues in a quieter tone, “but you’re forgetting mortals don’t have the same definition of that as we do. Seventy, eighty years is a hell of a long time to stand by a decision. But an eternity?” His azure gaze searches mine beseechingly. “Nobody can spend all those centuries alone. Not even you.”

“But I chose to give my heart to Isobel,” I mumble in defeat.

My brother cocks a brow. “Sorry to be blunt, but if that were the case, you wouldn’t be alive and breathing right now.You’re here. Isobel, she–”

“I won’t forget her,” I snarl. “That’s what you’re saying.”

“No,” he goes on just as calmly. “Not forgetting. Burying her. You have to stop pouring your emotions into a ghost of your own making. It won’t make Isobel come back. If anything, it’ll only make her absence harder to bear.”

I slump against the wall. My knees give in, and I let myself slide down.

“I love her,” I counter weakly. “I always will.”

Warwick crouches by my side, always pushing forward whenever I try to retreat.

“I hate sounding so sappy, but that’s not how the heart works,” he tells me with a sad smile. “There isn’t a set amount of room available. You can love your mate without wiping away what you lived with Isobel.”

As confusing as it is, I begin to see the truth in my brother’s words. Isobel and Destiny couldn’t be more different. Isobel was strong where her body was weak. Destiny – at the beginning she was afraid of her own shadow, but then she grew strong before my very eyes. Pride still swells within my chest when I remember the first time she soared through the skies. They lived through different times, endured different kinds of hardship, have different dreams.

I’d be a liar if I said I had no feelings for Destiny. I do, more than I care to admit. But now that I think of it, now that I can gauge the fire she awakens in me and compare it to what I experienced with Isobel… I realize it’s impossible. The two can’t compare – nor do I want to compare them. This new place in my heart Destiny has carved for herself doesn’t breach upon Isobel’s special spot.

“But what about Destiny?” I ask hoarsely, since it seems my annoyingly perfect brother has all the answers. “Wouldn’t she be getting the short end of the stick, stuck with a mate who already loved another woman?”

I don’t say it out loud, but Warwick understands the implications of my question. Among phoenixes, the bond of matehood is sacred. Any attachment to a person outside of that bond is greatly frowned upon, even if it occurred centuries before. My mother never forgave my father for having a human lover, though it was before he knew her.

When I chose to marry Isobel all while knowing she wasn’t mine – at least not in Fate’s eyes – I knew all the rules. I knew I was basically forfeiting my One and Only, because I’ve never yet heard of a phoenix taking for a partner someone who rebelled against the almighty laws of matehood like I have.

And even if Destiny doesn’t know that specific rule because she’s so new to all of this,and because I carefully avoided the subject of matehood in my lessons, there’s no way her nature won’t turn against me. That’s just the way we’re wired. My heart still brews with jealousy at the mere thought of that Caleb guy.

“Well, I may be biased because you’re my cute little brother,” Warwick chuckles, “but I think you’re a pretty good deal.” He watches me with unmistakable pride scintillating in his blue depths, though I have no idea where it stems from. “You’re loving and you’re loyal. That’s what your story tells about you.”

I shrug, uncomfortable under his scrutiny.

“You were so young back then,” Warwick tells me. “Do you realize how much we’ve both changed? We continued to age a good fifteen years after you married Isobel.”

I nod, studying the ceiling. “I was so glad I got to grow older by Isobel’s side,” I mumble. “But once she died, and I stopped aging… I didn’t know who I was anymore.”

Warwick examines me pensively. “The evening we fled Sowilo, you told me something. I was pretty angry at you but for once, I think you were right.” When I send him a questioning glance, he goes on: “You said that with Isobel you would live your human life, and then once she was gone and you were frozen into immortality, you’d live your phoenix life.” He pauses, as I remember the moment by the campfire. “I think the time has come for you to live as a true phoenix. With Destiny.”

We remain like that for a few more moments, side by side on the hay, as a tsunami of emotions pours over me, each wave more powerful than the last.

First I think of Isobel. Of how she was sweet and brave, and how she saved me from a throne that most likely would’ve been my death, judging by the way history unfolded.

I remember how she wrestled me into swearing something that went against my every belief at the time.What do you want me to promise?My nineteen year-old self asked some four hundred and fifty years ago.That once I leave, you won’t go with me, she told me.And that you’ll keep your heart open so when your mate finally comes around, you’ll be ready for her.

Isobel read me so well. She always knew I’d stubbornly refuse to let go, but that one day, like right now, those words would set me free.

And then I think of Destiny. How she was so bold when she came forward and told me her feelings, and how I was such a coward for running away. I wonder if she hurts half as much as I do now.

Of course she does. She’s my mate. And I abandoned her.

“But really…” Warwick interrupts my train of thought. “Her name is Destiny?” he shakes his head with a snicker. “You two really are written in the stars, aren’t you?” Always the funny man. On that note, he stands up. “I’ll let you straighten things out in your head a bit.”

I nod. “Thank a lot, Warwick,” I say in a raspy voice.

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