Charmed Destiny (The Charming Series Book 2)

by Dee King

  “Oh yea, he wants the next generation to start to marry, make babies, who the hell knows, he probably wants to build an army with your kids.”

  My father laughs, but none of us do. Aries grins but no laughter comes from him.

  “Why would we all have to marry? That's the dumbest shit I have ever heard. I mean, I get why he wants Alex to marry Selene, but why do we all have to be punished?” Ian is acting like a small child throwing a temper

  tantrum.

  “No worries. You have time to find misses right. He didn't say anything about today.” My dad taps Ian on the hand with a smile that makes him just look evil.

  “This place is out of control.” I had to say something.

  “You can say that again.” Ian agrees with me.

  “Is he doing this so that more of us will return to Earth?” Selene's voice sounds like a mouse.

  “Earth? You can't go back there once you’re here, dear. I thought you knew that?” Shit. She may have just put ideas into all their heads about us.

  “Yes, I mean like choosing to stay there. Is this a control thing for him, or does he just want everyone to marry? That seems a little harsh as a decision even for a God.” She recovers nicely.

  “He doesn't want anyone to leave here, hun. He wants to control all of his people. Thankfully, I'm not his people. He doesn't control us as he does to others. Your father will see to it that his new rules never go into effect.” He glances at me, then back to her.

  “That's comforting.” Ian is pushing back on the chair, rocking it with a fury.

  “Chill, dude. We will find you a nice gal. Isn't what's her name, um, Taylor, yea, isn't she available?” He leans forward slapping me on the arm.

  Ian and Taylor dated before we left, but he broke up with her by telling her that a goddess couldn’t hold him down. He was going to Earth and needed to see what mortals had to offer. She was pretty angry at the time.

  It was funny in a sick sort of way. Laughing with me, Zack and I start make kissing noises to Ian, lightening the conversation.

  “Hades, what I want to know is who will you be taking as a wife for the Underworld? If you have to have a goddess?” Aries asks the question I had been dying to know.

  He wouldn't treat Aries as he did me. We all lean forward, waiting for the answer.

  “I have a plan for that, but honestly, I'm keeping my options open.” He keeps drinking the damn coffee.

  He said the same thing to me. He had a plan to do something and I wanted to know what that plan was. I still

  hadn't come to terms with the fact my mother was gone.

  Really gone. It felt weird being in the house without hearing her voice, or hell, her yelling. She would never have won mother of the year, but still, she was my mom. The question I keep pondering over is who he will take

  as a wife. My dad is the God of the Underworld, there is a stigma with being that. He is good looking, funny, can be kind, but then again he just kept two women prisoners in places they never wanted to be, so that's probably going to work against him.

  “Kids, Aries and I have some much needed wedding plans to discuss. Feel free to get out. Go walk around, go swim, go sky diving, go do anything, but don’t stay in this house all day. It's the last day for two of you to be single. Make it count.” My father stands from the table motioning to Aries if he wanted coffee, which he did.

  We all take that as our cue to leave the two of them.

  I still didn't know what were supposed to do.

  “Dad?”

  “Yes.” He pours the coffee into a mug. Hot things don't bother my father or me.

  “We don't have a clue as to how this is supposed to go.” Selene and I stare blankly at my father.

  “I know. How about this, come back in a couple of hours and all the plans will be done. Then we will walk you through the next course of events.

  Sound good?” He has his back to me, handing the coffee to Aries.

  “Yea, okay.” I shrug my shoulders, leading Selene out of the house behind everyone else.

  A couple of hours? In a couple of hours, I will be finding out what I'm supposed to do on my wedding day. Was I as prepared as I thought I was? My stomach starts to turn over. Feeling like I may puke, I grab Selene's hand.

  “You alright? You look... pale?” She asks me.

  “Yea, I think I just need to blow off some steam.”

  I try smiling at her but inside of me there was a roller coaster of emotions. Stay strong, show no mercy, no weakness, and for the love of the Gods don't vomit on your girlfriend.

  Chapter Nineteen

  That just happened

  What do you do on the day before you get married, with anything available for you to do? You go surfing. What else? We decide to go to the beach to surf, then we will go snow skiing. When you’re on Mount Olympus, everything is close enough that you have the whole Earth, literally within a few feet. That's the one thing I did like about home. Everyone takes what they need for the beach, surf boards, towels, no sunscreen of course, food. This is how you spend the day before you get married if your, well, Selene. She missed being on the water you could tell

  it in her crystal blue eyes. She longed for a good surf day, and now she could have that. Skiing is my idea for her to have some fun and relax. Maybe not skiing, but for sure some snowmobiling. She would love that, I hoped. We swam, we surfed, we laughed, then we ate. The beach was

  pretty bare today, which wasn't a great sign, but not a bad sign either. It gave me alone time with Selene. I had promised to meet up with Ian and everyone else at the snow lodge. When I told Selene it was time to go, she

  didn't argue, she just smiled, and said this was pretty freaking awesome.

  That made me happy. She hadn't really got to live on the mount, yet, and I found myself wanting her to want to stay. We find Ian sitting on a bench by himself at the lodge.

  “Where is everyone?”

  “Inside, but I wanted to warn the two of you before you went in.”

  “Warn us?”

  “Yea, Alex and his whole clan is here, along with Cali, Colin, Cato, and Iris.”

  “This should be freaking great.” I turn to Selene.

  “We can go back to the beach if you want?”

  “Nah, they don't scare me.” She teases me with her eyes, while her hand strokes my arm.

  We go inside with Ian, where we see everyone sitting on couches, around the grand fireplace. We go to our snow gear, when Alex

  see's us first.

  “We were waiting for you two.” He smiles at us.

  “Okay...” I try to at least be cordial. Selene doesn't acknowledge him.

  We get snow boots, snow jackets, pretty much everything you need to go to the top of a mountain. She is enjoying the fact we just went surfing, and now will be in snow. She keeps repeating it's like magic, and that's what I

  wanted for her. To always feel like she is worth magical trips. Everyone else really had been waiting on us. When we are dressed, ready to head outside the back way, they followed. I didn't enjoy the entourage as much as I use too. I liked being alone with Selene, getting to know the little things about her, which I hoped never changed. Cali makes her way towards us faster than anyone else.

  “Hey guys.” We both keep walking to the ski lift.

  “I said I was sorry. Ian forgave me, why can't you?” This really was her trying to get our attention, yet, we didn't care.

  She had admitted she tried to kill Selene, and that was just unforgiveable in my book.

  “You need to go. Go away from me, from us, just go.”

  I try to convince her to leave us. She is the daughter of the goddess of war, this would be no easy task.

  “Listen, I'm sorry. I will do anything. I just need you to forgive me.”

  Before I could stop Selene, she did it again. She punched Cali in the face, making her fall to the ground, bending over her, was words I never thought Selene would say.

  “You tried to kill me
! Now, you want forgiveness? Then marry Alex. Be with him. Leave me alone, leave us alone, don't talk to me, and may be one day, just one day, I will see you and not want to kill you.”

  Ian was standing behind Cali when Selene knocked her down.

  “Boom! That just happened!” As he throws his hands up in the air like he actually made a bomb with his hands.

  He steps over Cali laughing at her, while she is holding her face, with him stopping in front of Selene and I. Then Selene, took me by the hand, and we walked straight onto the ski lift. That was the love of my life. Strong, powerful, and never backing down. She was the perfect girl for me.

  As we lifted our feet off the ground holding our ski poles in our hands, I had to admire her.

  “You are amazing; you know that?”

  “Why?” She tilts her head back, smiling.

  “You just are, and tomorrow will be the best day of my life.” I take her by the hand, jumping onto the snowcapped mountain. She froze. Right in her tracks.

  “You have to go down the mountain, Love.” I smile at her.

  “I don't think I can.” Others are now passing us, skiing down the mountain.

  “You can, Selene. You're a goddess. It will come naturally to you. Look, put your poles behind you, under your arms, grip the top of the pole with your fingers, put your ski's forward, and remember snow is just hard water.” I help align her body, touching her softly to not startle her, then

  show her how to stand.

  She looks back at me, then I push her. It may have been wrong, but there was no other way for her to go. Following behind her, she is already looking as if she is a professional.

  “Whewhoo! You go girl!” Iris glides by us, turning, yelling at Selene. She keeps focused, weaving in and out on the path. There wasn't anything she wasn't good at it. We slide sideways at the bottom stopping us from a long

  journey down the mountain. She is radiating with pride.

  “That was fun.”

  “Wanna go again?” I ask, leading her towards the ski lift again.

  “Hells yes.”

  She races me to the lift, I let her win. I know, it sounds so cliché, but the girl is amazing, I probably didn't need to let her win, but I like it when she is happy. We spend the rest of the day chasing each other, hanging out with our friends, laughing with one another. Selene was truly happy here.

  Which meant that our future may not have to be spent on Earth for eternity. There were parts of me that wanted to stay here, stay home, but I know somewhere in the back of her mind, she wanted to go home, to Earth. I just wasn't sure if it was for visits now, or to live? I would do

  whatever she wanted, but a part of me was hoping she liked the idea of possibly living here, and only going to Earth for visits. I wasn't even sure why I felt this way. I should want to get the hell out of here, away from the

  drama of this place, but something was happening inside of me. It's hard to describe, but something was changing. There was a small piece of me that had a feeling I may have to stay here, not being able to live on Earth. It

  didn't make any sense to me, but I would go where Selene wanted. That wasn't going to change. Night time creeped up on us faster than I had anticipated. Tomorrow we would be married, and nobody was going to stop us. Nerves began filling my body, that puking feeling came back.

  “You alright?” She asks me as we are returning our ski gear.

  “Yes, why I don't look okay?” I raise an eyebrow, looking down at her.

  “You always look good; you just look... sick?”

  “I don't get sick. I promise, I'm good. I just don't want to leave you tonight.” I lie, a small lie, I didn't want to leave her, but it may be a first for a God to get physically sick.

  “Why can't we stay together tonight; it's not like we haven't slept in the same room all week?”

  “You know that whole, not see the bride till she comes down the aisle thing?” I try to play it off.

  “Yea, but I don't care about that.” Surprisingly, she pulls me towards her.

  “That's not an Earth thing, that's from our rules. I literally can't see you after midnight. I won't be allowed.” I hold her closer to me.

  “We better make the best of the night then.” She leans forward kissing me in front of everyone.

  I was taken by surprise, but I was enjoying every second of it, till I had a voice inside my head.

  “Shit. We have to meet my Dad.” I hurry her outside.

  We walk to my dad's house, hand in hand. We discuss our day, how much fun it had been, then she begins laughing.

  “Um... my house doesn't have a bed.” She remembers.

  “You can stay at your dad's. I know, it's not ideal, but he will be able to help.” She doesn't like the answer I give her, but she knows I'm right.

  Nodding yes as we walk inside the house of Hades, we see my dad, Aries, Aphrodite, and Apollo. What was Apollo doing here?

  “Dad?”

  “Sebastian, Selene, come, sit. We only have mere minutes till the dinner.”

  “Okay, Dad, chill out.” I roll my eyes, still feeling Selene's warm hand in mine.

  I tilt my head just a tad, seeing what has Selene gripping my hand tighter. Her eyes are fixated on Apollo. Yea, he shocked me too.

  “Sebastian, so wonderful to see you.” He comes to shake my hand, and I introduce Selene to him.

  He kisses her hand, telling her it was an honor to meet the daughter of Poseidon. She blushes, saying it was nice to meet him. Then she let out a noise that sounded like hehehe. She was like a school girl all of a sudden.

  My face must have said this, because Apollo grinned at me. He taps me on the shoulder telling me I had made a marvelous choice in marrying such a beautiful goddess. I thank him again, and watch Selene's face, smiling

  from ear to ear. Apollo wasn't just a normal looking god, he was huge. I mean muscular, broad shoulders, tan, a perfect white smile. Pretty much the most beautiful god ever known to man, or immortal.

  “Okay, we have to tell you what will happen at the dinner.” My dad makes us take a seat on the small couch across from him.

  “Apollo has said that he will help. That's the best news we could get today.” My father recognizes Apollo for being here to help us.

  “Now...”

  My dad goes into the details of how the dinner will go, who all will be there, how we will do a walk-through of the ceremony, then Selene must return to her home. We shall not be permitted to see one another till she

  walks down the aisle. This news doesn't excite either one of us, but we both agree.

  “Your father asked me if I would walk you down the aisle tonight, he has another engagement, but he will be there for the dinner.” Apollo tells Selene sympathetically.

  “Um... okay.” She doesn't really give much of an answer, but I take a listen into her mind. Okay, I ease drop. Shoot me.

  Why is my dad not going to be able to do it?

  Why can't Colin?

  Of course, the asshole wouldn't walk me down the aisle. Yea, he really loves me. Ha.

  “He does love you, he is doing something for me.” I whisper to her. She looks up at me.

  “Hey! You aren't supposed to do that.”

  “I know, but I wanted you to know.” I try to give the sweetest puppy eyes I can muster. She smiles, and I know that she is okay with what I have done, this time.

  My dad tells us it's time to prepare, Selene will be guarded by Apollo to her home, with Aries trailing behind, then we will see each other at our places at the rehearsal dinner. We kiss fast, feeling their eyes upon us, and she walks out the door with Apollo taking her arm, with Aries behind the two of them, doing a perimeter check. This seemed a little over the top for a rehearsal dinner.

  “Dad? What's all the extra guards about?”

  “We have news that they were going to try and kidnap her, and Colin was going to help.” My dad shakes his head.

  “Colin, wouldn't do that.” I knew him better than he
did.

  “He would if he thought that Alex was going to get to her before we could. He is trying to protect her, but he doesn't know that's what Zeus would want him to do. Apollo agreed to do this favor. Plus, look at him, she wasn't going to say no.” My dad laughs at himself, which didn't make me feel any better about the situation.

  “No time to stand around, you must get dressed, your carriage will be here shortly.” My dad starts pushing me to the stairs.

  I want to argue with him, but I know the time has come for me to do this. Showering didn't help my nerves at all. Just trying to stay cool, was seeming to become a problem. I was sweating, my hands were shaking at