Charmed Destiny (The Charming Series Book 2)

by Dee King

  “Sebastian, what are you doing?” She began to laugh a quiet laugh, then she smiled.

  “Marry me?”

  “Okay, I will marry you.” I stood and she a smiled that smile that melted my heart as I kissed her one more time.

  “You're crazy.”

  “About you.” I yell as her cheeks blushed, then Iris pulled her away giggling. I yelled I loved her, hearing her yell she loved me back. Tomorrow had to go as I planned. She needed to be happy. Standing alone watching her carriage

  take her, I felt a hand on my shoulder.

  “It's time to get the party started.” Turning, I see Ian holding something.

  “Dude, what are you doing?”

  “It's your last night as a free man, we gotta go out in style.”

  “No, not like that.” I point to the bottle of wine he had grabbed off one of the tables.

  “You’re no fun now that you’re married.” He laughs, but a part of him meant that.

  Zack comes outside and Ian hands him the bottle, telling him I'm not longer fun and that he can have the bottle. Zack takes the bottle back inside just shaking his head at Ian. Ian didn't understand love or how I felt for Selene. He understood love in a different way, not the way I felt. He

  never had someone that made him want to wake up the next morning, or that person being the reason you felt like you were alive. One day he would, but that day wasn't today. We leave in my carriage heading back to

  my dad's house. It was quiet in the house. I was kind of hoping that I could just go to sleep, but Ian had different plans.

  “Let's do something! Come on, man.”

  “What? What the hell are we gonna do?” I ask him, taking a seat on the couch.

  “We could go mess with the centaurs?” He means we could go get into a fight.

  “No.”

  “Oh, we could go riding our pegs.” Ian is pacing back and forth in front of me. He was very anxious, even for him.

  “What's going on?”

  “Nothing, what? I'm just trying to get you to have some fun before you are married.” He never acted this nervous. Something was definitely going on with him.

  “Cut the crap, Ian. What is it?” Ian sits across from me.

  “I'm just trying to keep you busy.”

  “Why?”

  “Shit. I can't tell you that. Come on, let's play something? Guitar? What's your pleasure?” He points to the instruments sitting beside the open fire place.

  “No. Now.” He knew exactly what I meant. He was trying to keep me busy so I wouldn't know something.

  “Your dad said I needed to keep you busy before he...” His voice trails off.

  “Before he what, Ian?” I was starting to get frustrated.

  “Before he did something crazy.” That's all the information Ian was giving me.

  “What do you mean? I'm not joking around, Ian. What the hell has you so nervous?” He won't look at me; I know this is something serious now.

  Standing over Ian, I ask him one more time.

  “Where is he?”

  “Okay, if I tell you, you have to remain calm, alright?” He points for me to sit back down. Hesitating, I do.

  “He is helping Poseidon with your plan. There is a small problem.”

  “What? What's the problem?”

  “They can't get them into the Mount, and they can't get in either now.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean they are trapped on Earth. Zeus closed the gate. Literally, no one is coming in or out. Your dad left to go help Poseidon because he called for help, then they found out that he closed it for real.”

  “He can't close the gates to Mount Olympus.” I was starting to panic.

  “He can, and he did. Your dad says they have a plan, that they will be here tomorrow for sure, but he didn't know if they would have the cargo in hand as you asked.”

  “Shit. Shit. Shit.” I stand back up, pacing the floor where Ian had just been.

  “Look, they will be here, everything will be fine. You just have to have faith for once.”

  “I don't have faith, because somehow my plans always get screwed up. Poseidon was supposed to be back by now. I knew this was going to fail.”

  I slam my fist down on the table closest to me.

  “It's not going to fail, it's just going to take them a little longer, that's all.” Ian comes to stand beside me.

  I begin pacing again when there is a knock at the door.

  “Who is it?” I yell. No answer. Then there is another knock. I walk to the door, not in the mood for any other problems.

  “What!” I scream at the person who is on the other side of the door as I open it. It's Cato.

  “Leave.” I tell him, shutting the door in his face. He knocks again, and this time he made sure he knocked hard enough that the door shook.

  “What is your problem? Get out of here.” Opening the door, I see he isn't alone. Alex, Colin, Zack, and Harper are standing with him.

  “No, really, leave. Last warning.” I try to shut the door again, but Cato's hand catches it just before it closes. He just walks in like he has always lived here, bringing in all of them behind him.

  “Get out!” I yell as I point to the door. Cato refuses and they all take a seat on the couch I was just sitting on.

  “Oh, okay. Let's all have a seat and sing songs around the campfire. No! Get out, Cato! Take your friends with you. I got real shit to deal with right now.”

  “We know. We're here to help.” Colin tells me.

  “Help who? Help yourselves? Alex? Why are you here?”

  “Because I can open the gates.” They knew what was going on. This was bad. If Alex knew that meant this was really bad.

  “What are you talking about?” I pretend to have no clue what he means.

  “I will open the gates, but it's going to be fast. Like, blink and they will be closed again.”

  “Okay? What's that have to do with me?” I didn't know if this was a trick or not.

  “You have to do something for me before I do that though.” Here we are.

  This is the Alex I know. This is the true Alex.

  “What could I possibly do for you?” He sits there pondering over what I said.

  “Do you want my help or not?”

  “What's the price? Either way I'm getting married tomorrow, with or without them.”

  “I want to take a stand against my father.”

  “Huh?” I had to sit down. He wasn't making any sense.

  “If you let me be the witness for you, that's the biggest stand I can take.”

  That's what he wanted? He wanted to be where Ian stood?

  “Why would you want that?”

  “And... I want Cali as the other witness.” There it was. He knows that Selene would never go for that.

  This sounded more like a game that he was used to playing versus the truth.

  “What's your plan, Alex?” Ian asks him.

  “My plan is that my father will never see it coming. It will show that we are standing up for what we want. You’re already trying to bring humans inside the gates, which is a rule we are never to break. So why not this?”

  “One, because I don't like you. Two, I don't trust you!” Standing over Alex, he doesn't make a move.

  Colin moves to stand beside me, putting his arm around my neck.

  “He is being serious. We wouldn't have come over if this wasn't legit.” I move Colin's arm off me.

  This was going to be a problem either way. If I let Alex and Cali stand as witnesses, then Selene would kill me. But if I don't let our fathers back inside the gates, we won't have the upper hand. Either way, this was a bad

  idea.

  “I need a minute.” Walking away from all of them, I needed to gather my thoughts, weigh my options, and I needed to talk to Selene.

  But if I did then she would know my plan. I was confused on what to do. Either way, I could be left standing at the alter alone tomorrow if everything
didn't go as I planned. This was obviously not in my plan. I had to tell Selene. There would be no other way around some of this.

  Selene?

  Sebastian?

  I thought we weren't allowed to talk?

  We aren't allowed to see each other. I can't see you…or can I?

  I laugh at myself, hoping this made her laugh to ease into what I was about to say.

  Very cute.

  I just wanted to ask you something?

  You already asked me to marry you, what else could you need? This time she made me laugh.

  True, but no, it's more serious.

  That sounds bad.

  It kinda is.

  Shit. What?

  Would you mind if Alex and Cali stood as our witnesses’ tomorrow?

  Are you kidding me?

  No. I can't say why yet, but if we don't then we may have a problem.

  Like what?

  I can't say tonight, but I don't like it either, just so you know.

  Does any of this have to do why my father isn't here?

  Yea, kinda. Listen, if everything else goes as planned you won't even care they were there.

  Sure, why not. I mean if I want to kill her I'll just lean over stab here real fast, then we can carry on.

  Selene.

  Yea, I know, doesn't mean I trust either of them.

  Me neither.

  I guess we don't have much of an option, huh?

  Not really.

  Yea, whatever. Let's just get this day over with.

  I know, I swear I do.

  Okay, is that all?

  Yep.

  I love you.

  I love you, Selene. She had said yes, but I know this is far from what she wanted. Now, I needed to make a deal.

  “Alex, may I speak to you for a second?” I lean my head around the corner, peeking in on all of them.

  Alex rubs his hand through his hair, making his way towards me. I take him outside. We needed to have a heart to heart, so to speak, and that wasn't going to happen with everyone listening. Alex doesn't even flinch when I offer him a seat on the furniture outside, he just sits down.

  “Why?”

  “Why what?”

  “Why do you want to do this?”

  “I told you, I wanted to take a stand.”

  “So you chose Selene and I to do that with?”

  “I know I owe you more than I can repay you. I also know I owe you an apology. That's not in my nature. You do know me.” He slightly smiles, finding his body relaxing.

  “I don't trust you. I never have, and now, on all days, you want me to just do this for you? What do you get out of it. You have an end game, tell me.” He sits back in the oversized seat, rubbing his hands down his suit pants. I watch him carefully.

  “I need something.”

  “What else could you possibly need?”

  “I need Iris to take over my seat beside my father.”

  “Why? Why would you give up all this?”

  “Let's just say that the plan I have will help all of us.”

  “I'm still waiting to hear this great plan.”

  I sit back waiting for whatever lie, or truth to him, that will come spewing out of his mouth. He proceeds to tell me how if he is to be with Cali he has to give up his seat by his father. Which made no sense. When I begin to question that, he keeps talking. I find out that Zeus wants Selene to be the only wife he takes if he wants to be by his father's side. When I tell him just to tell his father that

  he doesn't love Selene, he loves Cali, he begins telling me how Zeus forbid that. He is either alone or with Selene. Those are his only options. If he gives up his seat beside his father, he is free to live how he wants, but he can only do that if he and Cali are already married. He goes on and on about how he is scared of his father and how he doesn't know how this is going to work. Tomorrow would be the first step in him disobeying Zeus. Then he and Cali are leaving for Earth, getting married, and he will give

  up his throne so to speak to Iris. This, in return, makes it to where Iris will have to marry, making her the Goddess of the kingdoms. Now all of this was making sense. That's why Zeus was wanting everyone to be married

  suddenly. He thought if he made it to where Selene and I didn't get married, Alex would marry her and take his rightful place by his side. If he failed, he would now have a Goddess child that would take Alex's place. Even more weird, is if we got married it could tilt the fates. Zeus

  would never allow a goddess to rule the kingdoms. Especially if his son wasn’t married to the one he wanted. Alex was letting everything go for Cali. He really was in love. I saw a new side of him. He was happy, genuinely happy. He had a plan. Even though it involved Selene and me, he was still worried about himself. Yet, he wasn't. We talked for a while longer before I told him yes he could be our witness. When I did, I thought he was going to hug me. I wasn't that crazy. We had discussed a plan together.

  This was a first I felt. The first of many plans between Alex and I.

  Hell may have just frozen

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Till Death do us part

  Hanging out with a group of your best friends, besides one, was great. I hadn't done that in so long. We discussed girls, sports, you know, dude stuff. All of them decided to stay the night, expecting my father to walk in at any time. He hadn't come home by the time I had finally fallen asleep. My dreams were vivid. I worried about Selene, how my life was about to change, and would I ever be the man my father had raised me to be. The dreams came in and out. Dreams of Cato standing beside my father in the

  Underworld, dreams of Selene and me, surfing in Malibu. They were great dreams in a way. In not one of the dreams, was not Selene by my side. There was one secret I had kept from her. It was a dark secret, and tomorrow it would be revealed. I didn't know what I was going to do, but I also know she would be there for what I would have to tell her. I don't know why I had kept it from her. It wasn't as if it was going to hurt her and a part of me thought she might have already understood. Although, I know she didn't. I had to answer some of my own questions if my instincts were right. If I give my seat up, Cato would be the next in line for the throne. If I don't, that makes Selene and me the God and Goddess of the

  Underworld. Is that something she would like to do? I highly doubt it, but I had to keep the secret because I still didn't know what I really wanted.

  It's always been that I was the one to be by my dad's side, but since finding out about Cato, I kind of lost my way.

  Selene wasn't even in the equation when I had thought about how my life would be as a God of the Underworld. I just figured I'd always be with whomever I had to be with, to please everyone else. Then Selene came along and changed my whole life. She will find out that I am the rightful heir, but do I really want that? No time for thirty what if questions, I had a wedding to attend.

  Mine.

  The loud noises are what startled me awake. Somehow, I had managed to sleep in my bed, but there was an alarming noise in my room.

  “You gonna sleep all day or are you going to get married?” I hear a voice talking to me, it sounds familiar. Chris. He was here.

  “YES! You made it!” I threw off my covers, making my way out of the bed.

  “Yea, this is a cool place.” He is looking around my room.

  “Did they make it too?”

  “Yep. Everyone is here, although, we were blindfolded most of the way. We are here. We're ready for the big day.” Chris pats me on the shoulder.

  “This is freaking awesome.” I'm so excited I want to run around the room.

  They had done it. My father and Poseidon had brought mortals to Mount Olympus. Of course, they wouldn't remember coming here after they left, but it had been done. Selene was going to be stoked, and possibly love me more. This was what I had planned all along. I take Chris downstairs, where he gets to meet the other guys. Ian was even excited to see Chris. It surprised the heck out of Chris when Ian hugged him.

&n
bsp; “I know we aren't allowed to ask any questions, but are we in some kind of heaven? I mean, what are you?” Chris asks me, in all seriousness. I knew I could answer him because in twenty-four hours he won't remember

  anything except that Selene and I got married.