Page 1 of Secrets & Curses of Crimson

Chapter 1

Della- The day Thea died

My chest burned with fury and anguish as I left Thea in Exile again. She was important to me, and I hated to see her suffer. I was angry because my brother, Mikel, was the reason for this. I couldn’t believe my own brother was such a cruel, heartless asshole.

Summoning my star mist, its silver glow wrapped around me, taking me to my home high in the stars. Staring at the stunning structure that felt like anything but a home, I felt hatred. The beautiful white stone looked angelic, but it was stained with my betrayal. These walls were once my sanctuary, but now they are my prison.

I barged through the large, glass front door, my footsteps echoing in the silent entryway. My eyes were turning white from grief and sadness. I could not get Cassius’ crying and pleading out of my mind. I had once beggedHaden the same way, and I knew how devastating it was when our prayers weren’t answered.

“Ardella?” Pia, our housekeeper, pulled me from my rage for only a brief moment. Her big blue eyes widened when she saw me because I never got angry, but fuck, I was sick of this. I stormed past her into the sitting area where Mikel was drowning his sorrows in fae wine. He didn’t acknowledge me when I walked into the room, but I was used to it.

He hadn't glanced at me in years.

“How fucking dare you!” I yelled, making the walls shake. One of his favorite tapestries fell off the white wall and onto the black marble flooring. Mikel kept his eyes on the book he was pretending to read and his back toward me. But his shoulders were now tense. I took off my heel and threw it at him, hitting him hard enough in the back that he finally looked at me.

“Have you lost your fucking mind?” he asked.

My brother’s eyes, which matched mine, held nothing but hatred. I hope he saw my hatred for him reflected back.

“Why?” I yelled. “What did you do to Thea and Cassius? I know you intervened and made sure she failed.” But still, a sliver of me wanted this not to be true. How could my brother be this cruel?

Mikel’s face barely changed emotion as he listened to me accuse him.

“Cassius doesn’t deserve a fated mate. He killed her. It is his burden to carry. I am the god of judgement, and he hasn’t paid his penance.”

“Stars above Mikel, he killed her to save her, and you know this. He loves her more than anything; why are you inflicting more pain on him?”

“Why does he get to keep his mate when I don’t?” Mikel stood and clenched his fist at his side. “You took her from me. You killed Remiah, and with that, you killed me too.”

I wanted to kill him.

“You gave them an opportunity that you never granted Remiah and me. A second chance. You gave it to Cassius, but not to your twin brother!”

This time a portrait fell off the wall from his rage. I deflated at his words for a brief moment.

“Mikel, Remiah’s soul left immediately. I did not send her away. She. Left. Thea refused to leave Cassius. She stayed, so I gave them a chance. If Remiah had stayed, then you could have claimed her, and she would have come back. That is not my fault.”

“This is all your fault!” His words were full of heartbreak and anger. “You took the only thing I had to look forward to.”

I stepped forward in a rage. Pia caught my attention out of the corner of my eye by shaking her head, but I ignored her trying to stop me.

“How many times?” I sneered. “How many times did you make sure Thea didn’t break her curse?”

Mikel smiled like a smug prick.

“Every year,” he said with a grin that made me recoil in disgust. How could this be my brother, my twin, my only family? “I let Luren know everything that was happening; I made sure Cerithian and Kizar guards snuck into the trials; and I made Thea forget that Crimson had a traitor in their circle. I made her so confused over her feelings for Cassius that she questioned everything about him.”

“If I could kill you, I would slit your throat open this second. You willneverinterfere with Thea and Cassius again.”

“If we could die, I would have killed myself the day you killed Remiah,” he spat back at me. My brother’s chest rose and fell in short, choppy breaths. Guilt clawed into my chest because one decision I made had destroyed countless lives. This was all my fault, but this... Mikel was a disgusting excuse of a god.

“Never again; do you hear me? You will not come near Thea and Cassius again. Remiah would not approve of this.”

I turned around but stopped when Mikel laughed.

“I’ll leave them alone for a trade.”

I turned back to him and stared at his menacing face. I would do anything to help them. They were important to Haden, and that made them even more special to me. They had made Haden smile for the first time in years. They gave him a family again.

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