Chapter 1
Aadya's POV
My eyes flutter open, and I wince as the bright light from outside seeped through the transparent curtains. As my vision begins to focus, I notice that I'm in my old bedroom at the penthouse. Rolling over, I expect to see Gabriel, but he isn't there when my eyes meet the other side of the bed. Maybe he's downstairs. Crawling out of bed and walking down the spiral staircase, the penthouse is deafly quiet to the point that I'm terrified to make a sound. When I reach his office, I cautiously grab the knob and open the door revealing an empty room. Furrowing my eyebrows, I close the door and go to the kitchen. Maybe he's just out grocery shopping or at a business meeting with Alex and Magnus. I make myself breakfast and turn on the tv in the living room to watch something on Netflix.
After a couple of episodes, I hear footsteps coming down the stairs, and when I turn around, I see Magnus, Alex, and Celena enter the living room. Maybe he's still going after whoever was in our room last night. I give the three of them a bright smile before turning my attention back to the show I'm watching. Before I knew it, it was almost time for dinner, and Gabriel still wasn't home. I knew that his business meetings were long, but I didn't think they would last the entire day. I glance over at the trio in the kitchen, and it's only then that I notice that they're acting off like they wanted to tell me something but didn't want to at the same time.
"Where's Gabriel?" I finally ask them. All three of them immediately and avoid my eyes. Why? If he's at a business meeting, they shouldn't be acting like this. The only other conclusion that I could come to was that he was unfaithful. "Where is Gabriel?"
"We don't know, Aadya," Celena's voice replies. Her voice had this heaviness to it, like she wanted to tell me more but was restraining herself.
"What do you mean you don't know? If he was going after whoever was in the mansion last night, then he should be back by now!" I panicked, running my fingers through my hair as tears trickled down my face.
"Aadya, it's been two days since you last saw Gabriel," Celena tells me. "We wanted to keep you asleep so that you wouldn't have to worry while we tried to find him."
"Well, maybe I'm just overdramatic, and this is all a misunderstanding. It's only been a couple of days. Maybe Gabriel is still tracking whoever is responsible for trashing the room and didn't even see the note," I hopefully reply. Celena gives me a sly smile and nods. She's hiding something from me. The truth, perhaps? Whatever it is, I hope she tells me soon because her body language is putting me on edge. Magnus and Alex are also giving me the same feeling.
"That's a false hope, Aadya," Hesperia flatly states as she emerges from a shadowy corner on the southeast side of the room. She had tear-stained eyes, and her hair was beautifully styled as usual. "For all we know, he's being tortured or dead, and it's all your fault! If he hadn't been so intent on being with you and just claimed Nicolette as his mate, he would still be here! I should never have told him to continue to pursue your filthy fairy ass!"
Her words were like daggers piercing my heart. The woman I've come to view as a mother figure has just blamed me for her son's disappearance as if I wanted this. But she's right; if he hadn't met me, he'd still have a father who was proud of him, a mother who wouldn't stress as much, and Nicolette wouldn't have acted so irrationally. I burn everything I touch; whether it's a relationship, an object, or a person, I always burn them.
"You're right," I tell her, "It is all my fault." I shift into my fairy form a fly out of the open window, not looking back as tears ran down my face. I'm being rejected for the second time by my family, so it appears that I can't do anything right. I'm sorry, Gabriel, but I'm not strong enough. I guess you chose the wrong fairy. I look to my right and see a giant poster of him, and that's when I couldn't take it anymore. For all I knew, he could be dead, and it's my fault for coming into his life and fucking everything up. For making him choose between the woman and me, his parents wanted him to claim as his Beloved. There's a hole in my heart that can't be filled as I close my eyes, stopping my wings and letting gravity take me.
As I begin to fall, a pair of strong arms catch me and gently lands in the park that Gabriel and I took a walk. When whoever was holding me landed, they landed right in front of the New Year Grandifloras. I turned to look at who was holding me and saw Rhal's kind eyes. A wave of fury washed over me as I struggled out of his arms and shifted back into my fairy form. "What the hell, Rhal? Why couldn't you have just let me go?!"
"Because I called him and told him to go after you," Alex says from behind him. He emerges from behind one of the surrounding trees, with Celena and Magnus following closely behind him. Their expressions were severe, with a hint of disappointment.
"Why?" I seethed, balling my hands into fists.
"Gabriel left his coven in the hands of someone he believed could take care of the people he considered to be family, and here you are turning your back on them because his mother was lashing out. If he were here now, what do you think he'd say?" Alex harshly says, crossing his arms. I look away from him and say nothing.
"You're letting him down, Addy, but you can change that right now and be the leader that he believes that you are," Magnus says, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder. I let out a sigh in defeat. I am letting him down, but I'm not going to continue to do so. I nod towards the four of them and shift back into my fairy form to take flight.
When I arrive back at the penthouse, I'm greeted by Hesperia, who hugs me and apologizes for what she said to me as the others come. Then, Hesperia helps me get dressed into something more formal while the others get ready. She takes out a dress while Celena does my makeup leaving me in complete and utter confusion.
"Why are you two getting me all dressed up? Shouldn't we begin the search for Gabriel? Why do I need to be in this dress that makes me look like I'm going to prom?" I ask each question one after the other, barely taking any time to breathe. If they're planning on going to the club, I refuse to until Gabriel is found and safe. He is my only concern right now, and they can shove a stick up their rears if they think I'm going to do anything other than look for him.
"The coven is without a leader, and we are following through with Gabriel's wishes," Hesperia replies as she finishes curling my hair. When they're done, I'm wearing a black and red v-neckline tulle beaded evening gown with a crimson peacock style garnet pendant, which is also part of a set that had a matching ring and pair of earrings. When we all reconvene in the room, Celena compliments me as usual while Hesperia opens a portal, and all of us walkthrough, arriving at the front room of the mansion where the rest of the coven and Kayne were waiting. At the end of the aisle of people stood Councilman Celestino Stretton at the end who had a kind smile on his face. As I nervously walked down towards the councilman, I could see Strix snickering at me out of the corner of my eye, but I ignored him as I approached the Celestino. When I'm standing in front of him, I kneel and bow my head.
"A couple of days ago, you all lost your leader, Gabriel Kalmar," Celestino begins as he pulls out a scroll from the inside pocket of his suit. "And tonight, I shall follow through with his last wishes and read his will out loud."
He clears his throat, and I can hear him opening the scroll. "As is tradition, should anything happen to me, Gabriel Kalmar, the Primus of the Shadow Blood coven, declare my Beloved, Aadya O'Keeffe, to be my successor."
My heart is racing as my anxiety skyrockets. I'm becoming the leader of Gabriel's family, and we aren't even married yet. But I'm also focused on finding him. Then, finally, I'm snapped out of my thoughts as I see him bend down and lift me to my feet. I see Rhal stand beside me with a hot branding iron out of the corner of my eye. I give him a nod as he approaches me and presses the branding iron onto my left arm. Gritting my teeth, I fight the pain until he removes it, revealing a phoenix burned into my skin. Turning around, I gaze upon my new family as they clap and cheer, making me smile, but on the inside, I'm hoping this is only temporary.
