Page 99 of Secrets & Curses of Fate

“That is part of the point, Brim.”

“Will you be able to live with yourself when you destroy her?”

My jaw clenched tightly. He was starting to piss me off.

“I’ll be very fucking happy at the end of this.” I glared at him. “You all have this warped perception of the realm, and it's time you see everything for what it is. Not everything can have a happy ending.”

“You are such a bastard,” Brim snapped. “You put her through losing you, for falling in love with you when she knew it wasn’t fate, and for what? To prove a fucking point to whom—the stars, the heavens, or what? Is Ardella worth so little to you?”

“Sacrifices have to be made.”

“Fuck you.” He stood up as if he were towering over me. “Do you think it is wise to corrupt someone with so much power? Della is the balance in the realm.”

“I know what she is.” I knew everything about her—out of duty, out of obsession. Brim began pacing in front of me like he would magically find the right words to say to save Della from a broken heart.

“Are you going to kill her?”

“No, gods can’t die.” I smiled.

“Oh, cut the fucking shit, Haden. You and I both know that is not true.”

I nodded and sat back in the chair, staring at the frail old man who loved Della like his own child.

“I am not going to kill her.”

“Will she survive whatever this plan of yours is?”

“I don’t know. That is what I am trying to figure out, and neither of us can use this stupid fucking magic to see what happens to her.”

“I know you know more about what she is going to do than you are telling me.”

“Of course I do, Brim. But even I do not know the extent of Della’s treasons. She has sinned against fate by trying to make me hers, but your precious Della is not done with her trespasses. Della is not innocent in all of this.”

Shit.

Brim’s eyes widened as he looked at me.

“Treasons against the heavens? I know of one, and that was ripping her damn bond out for you, so what do you know?”

“I’m not telling you anything else.”

“You know you really are good at deception.” His friendly eyes were long gone and replaced by a hateful man. “I had no idea all those years ago that you were a fucking snake hiding under the nice persona of Haden. And just to make it very clear to you, I do not believe that you only ever had visions of Della one year before you met her.”

Gods, he was a nosy little shit.

“I met her 500 years ago. Are you happy?” I snapped and immediately regretted saying it. “I did have a very specific vision of her a year before she saw me in front of my family home.”

“Della didn’t say she met you 500 years ago,” he said as his beady eyes stared at me.

“She doesn’t remember.”

“Why not?”

“None of your damn business,” I snapped.

Brim stared at me for a long moment, seemingly contemplating how much he would argue with me. I would not tell him of my other magic. After a moment, he gave up and sat down, rocking back and forth angrily.

"Where is Abram?" I asked. Brim turned to me and narrowed his eyes.

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