Page 8 of Secrets & Curses of Fate

Haden

Istared at the spot where Ardella disappeared from after using her odd magic, waiting for longer than necessary to see if she was going to come back. Gods, I desperately wished she would have stayed longer. Something had scared her away. Maybe it was too fast for her—meeting me and my entire family. But she was fine until she saw my brother and Sara. Why would that have made her so tense?

Taking a deep breath, I got ready for the onslaught of questions that would be coming. I stepped inside, and my entire family was waiting in the sitting room. My mother’s eyes glanced behind me with a frown. My father's friendly eyes were gleaming with excitement at meeting Ardella.

“Did she leave?” Her shoulders slumped.

“Yes,” I said with a sigh.

“Do you think we scared her off?” Holden asked.

I shrugged and stared at my loving, overbearing family and grinned. She would fit in well with us. They all stared at me,wanting me to say something, but I didn’t know where to start. I didn’t think I would meet her today; my vision showed her coming in a few weeks. The details surrounding her were still fuzzy at best. I also couldn’t see everything that would happen between us, but I saw enough to know she was for me. Ardella was the one I had been waiting for—the heart that beat in rhythm with mine, the soul that filled the missing pieces of mine.

“Gods, Haden,” my mother sighed. “She is the woman from your vision, isn’t it? The one you ask to marry you?”

I smiled brightly.

“Yes.”

“Well, she was great.” My father smiled. “She’s going to fit in well with us.”

My family began talking about her, and it made my longing for her more intense. Growing up, I hardly had any visions, and if I did, they were insignificant. But all of my visions of Ardella had shown me a future that I was desperate for.

I don’t know if it was because I prayed to the stars to show me what woman I was supposed to end up with, but the vision came to me in a dream that very night. She didn’t know it yet, but we were about to fall madly in love with one another. But I could feel her hesitation tonight after the kiss. Maybe she thought it was too soon to feel things so quickly. How did I explain to her that I saw where we were headed and it was beautiful?

“Are you going to tell her about your visions?” Sara asked.

“Maybe.” My family all looked so happy for me.

“Well, she seemed to be completely taken with you,” my mother said.

I hoped so. She had finally sought me out today, after I had seen her sneaking around the village for weeks. I still had no idea what she was doing, but she had acted as if no one could see her. But I could.

“Are you going to tell her that you know she is a goddess? The poor girl looked terrified when we asked her what she did,” my father said with a worried look.

I hadn’t thought about how difficult it would be for her to answer basic questions. Ardella was trying to blend in with the fae in the village, but she never could. I would have known she was heaven-sent even if I hadn’t seen her confess to me in a vision that she is a goddess. She was too pretty to be anything other than a woman that others bowed to.

I knew that she wouldn’t be back for a few days. She was running from this feeling.

“No, I will get her to confess it to me so she doesn’t feel like she has to be dishonest. She will tell me when she is ready.”

“I can’t believe the stars thought my little brother should be destined for a goddess,” Holden joked. Younger by minutes, but he never let me forget it.

“Jealous?” I smiled.

He grabbed onto Sara and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

“I’ve got my own goddess right here.”

Sara rolled her eyes. “Please, don’t say strange shit like that.” Her cheeks heated as my brother smiled at her. “It’s so corny.”

“I’m sorry,” he chuckled.

“Well, I’m going to go to bed. Thanks for not scaring her too much. Now let's hope she comes back soon.” I smiled as I headed up the stairs to my bedroom. I couldn’t wait until the home I was building was done and I could move there—we moved there. I had seen Della and me together, living in that house. It was ours.

I walked over to the drawing of the house Ardella traced earlier. My heart had nearly fallen out of my chest when I thought she was going to pick it up. Slowly, I lifted the picture, and my drawing of Della from my vision lay under it. Gods, I could not stop smiling. Della was finally here, and I couldn’t wait to see my visions come to life.

?????????

---