Page 130 of Secrets & Curses of Fate

Something about the name stuck out to me, but I couldn’t place my finger on it. There was an itch in my brain like a memory would surface, but nothing did. Gods, I felt like this was important.

You need to go,the void said. He had gone missing after Remiah died.

Where have you been?

Nothing.

I had no idea who this woman was, and I wasn’t sure why I was so fixated on her name like I knew her.

“A woman.” I didn’t know how I felt about this. What did it even mean, that we needed to kill her? “I don’t want to hurt her.”

“We don’t have to kill her. We just need to fuck with her so that she doesn’t finish. Come on, man, I could use a wish, and so could you.”

Maybe I could wish to go back to the night of the fire. Then I could prevent it. I wouldn’t have to lose Della. I could save Remy, and Della would still be mine. I wouldn’t have to fight these overwhelming emotions for her. What would my life looklike now if I had never lost Remy and Ardella seven years ago? Better than this hell I had been living in, this very lonely hell. The hell that made me dream of a woman I could never have every single fucking night.

“Fine.”

“I fucking knew you’d pull through,” he said with a smile. “Pack your bags; we’re leaving in the morning.”I watched him leave and said nothing else to him. A wish. I would wish to go back to the night of the fire. I would not go to sleep. I would make Remy leave and go see Mikel. I would not have to lose Ardella. I would not have to tell her I hated her even though I loved her. I would not have to live with her betrayal. I would not have to hear her tell me she loved me out of desperation. I would be able to tell her that I loved her back.

When I glanced around the cabin I was living in, reality hit me. I was completely alone. The only fae that knew I even lived here was Nev, and even that was not comforting. Della had ripped everything away from me. Not only Remiah, but the life I had imagined with Della. A life I thought I would be blessed with because of all the pain and suffering I had endured. But I didn’t know my life could be so much worse than it was growing up. I didn’t know that the woman I loved with every fiber of my body would completely cause havoc.

My eyes closed tightly, and Ardella’s face haunted me. I tried to shake it from my mind, but I couldn’t.

I hate her.I hate her. I hate her, I reminded myself.

?????????

Nev’s words played on repeat in my mind as I walked Thea back to her room after dinner. I knew she was uncomfortable with me following her. I was not getting any pleasure from causing her discomfort, but I needed that wish. If that meant that she had to be weirded out by me, then so be it.

“Thanks. Goodnight,” she said quickly as she opened her door.

I grabbed her arm before she could leave. Fuck, I didn’t like doing this.

“I’m glad you decided to form an alliance with us.” I smiled.

“Let go of me,” she said, struggling to get her arm free.

“I’m not the enemy here, Thea. You can trust me.” I gave her a sinister look. “You do trust me, right?”

"Haden, you're hurting me. Let go." My smile only grew more wicked the more she struggled against me. Frost moved over the sleeve of her cloak. I could feel her fear.?

“Is there a problem?” Cassius stood ten feet away in the shadows. I hadn’t heard him, and apparently neither did she. I plastered a friendly smile onto my face and summoned my frost magic back.

“Just saying goodnight after hanging out with my girl.” The phrase made my insides twist with guilt, like I was betraying Della. Which pissed me off.

“She’s not your girl,” he snapped back.

“Or yours, apparently.” It was clear that he had some odd infatuation with her. I saw the way he watched her closely. The Crimson captain had a crush on her.?

Cassius shifted his eyes to Thea before focusing on me again, his mouth in a hard-pressed line. After a moment, I lifted my hands in a sign of defeat and stepped away from her because he looked like he might rip my fucking head off.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,friend,” I said to Thea. I only made it a few steps away before Cassius hissed my name. I stopped, and we stared at each other.

"If you touch Thea like that again, I'll rip the arms from your body."

I glared at Thea over his shoulder. I knew without a doubt that he would rip me to tiny pieces for the woman. "Somebody sure is possessive over something that doesn't belong to them," I taunted him. His fists clenched, but I turned and disappeared.?

I did not make it very far before I heard him coming up behind me. When I turned, Cassius’ eyes were pure black. I didn’t even have time to react as he grabbed me by the neck, lifting my feet off the ground. As he went to slam me onto the ground, his shadows moved us out of the castle and deep into the woods.?

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