Page 126 of Secrets & Curses of Fate

I did not deserve to be a goddess.

I broke Mikel.

I destroy everything I try to love.?

I did not know what I was supposed to live for now.?I had done what I needed to so that I could save my mate.

Something deep inside of me broke. I could feel my insides being tainted with an intense wrath that wanted to climb into the heavens and hurt the stars. I groaned in pain as a shooting pain started on my wrist and climbed up the length of my right arm. When I looked, there were four black stars on my skin now, but each one was cracked and broken.

I instantly recognized them as the same markings on the picture of Diath. She had been marked by the stars for her treasons, and now so was I.

I was falling from the grace of the stars for a man who hated me.

Chapter 32

Haden

My vision was blurred from tears as I stared at the mound of dirt in front of me. I had buried my sister at our favorite spot. I would not survive this grief. How could Ardella do this to me? How could she think I would ever be alright with her decision? My mind raced with thoughts, but none that made sense. I felt as if I was dreaming, and I would wake up to realize this wasn’t real.

My mind and heart did not understand how Storm could do this to us. She loved me.

I did it because I love you.?

Her words mocked me. This was not an act of love.

What was I supposed to do without Remy? I had no one left. I had no home. I had nothing. I lost the woman I loved, and now I hated her with the heat of a thousand suns. I would make her pay for this one day.?

Tears fell from me, and sobs racked through me so violently that I didn’t hear that someone else was here. I turned, expectingto see Della or Mikel. But I stared up at the six cloaked figures. They stood in a straight line in front of me. Their cloaks were black but shimmered with a dark red that looked like stars. Dread filled my chest as they hid behind their hoods so I couldn’t see who they were.

“What?” I snapped to hide my fear.?

It was silent for a moment, but I could feel them staring at me, watching me fall apart, and I swore they were enjoying this.

“We want to speak to the void,” a woman’s angelic voice said.

I opened my mouth to demand why, but I didn’t get a chance. The void was already racing forward. I could feel it clawing up my spine at the request. I couldn’t even fight it as it dug its claws into my bones, seeping itself into every fiber of me. I closed my eyes, welcoming the feeling of nothing taking over. I did not want to feel anything. I didn't want to face what Ardella did to me.

The shiver ran through me as my eyes opened. I stood, feeling the devastation of what happened tonight. The grief of losing Remiah was consuming, but losing Della that way was ripping me apart.?I missed being able to not feel a thing as void; now emotions were a constant battle.

“What the fuck do you want?” I hissed.?

“Can you fucking believe what she did?” Her voice was full of shock. No, I couldn’t. “What do you feel like with half of her soul?”

“The same.” I lied. I could feel something was different. Part of Della was living inside of me, and I only felt closer to her, which was probably a problem. But that made me wonder what she felt. I had watched her keep the other half of my soul. What would happen when good and evil collided inside of a goddess?

“Hmm, maybe it will change as time passes.” I could feel her beady eyes on me. “She didn’t even hesitate to commit treason against the heavens.”

Because she fucking loved me.

I swallowed hard to keep myself in check. I couldn’t let them know that I felt terrible for what I had let her do.

Mikel hated her. She hated herself, and now the other side of me hated her too. There was only me left, and I was not allowed to tell her that I loved her and understood.

“It has started, but she isn’t done yet. There is still something else she does that will crumble everything. I’m just trying to wrap my mind around what the hell could be worse than ripping her soul in two and giving away a part of it—especially to you.”

That was what I wanted to know too. What was Della going to do that would make her fall from the grace of the stars? It had to be terrible.

I couldn’t feel her through the bond, and panic gripped me at the realization. Without being obvious, I glanced down to my chest and sighed in relief when I saw the golden bond still intact and floating. But I could see the edges of it fade into black. That couldn’t be good.

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