Designate | Fated Four: Book 3

Prologue

A man walked into the living room and smiled when he saw that his niece had taken a blanket and all of the couch cushions and made a fort out of them.

"Hmm, I wonder where my sweet little niece is?" the man asked in a knowing tone. He heard a small giggle from inside the fort and confirmed his suspicions. He crawled into his niece's fort and smiled. "Nice place you got here," he told her, "Mind if I come in?"

His niece giggled and shook her head.

"You know, it's getting late, moonbeam, maybe you should go to sleep," he told her.

"But sleep is boring," the girl sighed.

"I don't think so," the man replied with a smile, "I think sleep is the best thing ever."

"Why?" his niece asked.

"Because when you sleep, you get to dream beautiful dreams," the man replied.

"I guess that's true," the girl agreed. She thought about it for a minute. Her dark blue eyes stared off into space as she got lost in her thoughts. Then she looked at her Uncle again. "Okay, I'll go to sleep, but may I please hear a story first?" she asked.

"Your parents will have my head for this, but since you asked so nicely...okay," the man agreed, "What story would you like to hear?"

"The one about the four brothers," the girl replied.

"That one?" the man asked, "Didn't your Dad and Uncle Soren tell you that one already?"

"They never finished it," the girl replied, "I want to know how it ends. Did the brothers defeat the evil sister? Did they all break the curse?"

The man chuckled.

"Where did they leave off?" he asked.

"Well Uncle Soren told me about the second oldest brother and the other angry Goddess," the girl replied, "I think that's where he stopped."

"Okay, well the brothers and the two soulmates devised a plan to stop the angry Goddess and they did," the man told his niece.

"Yes!" the girl cheered.

"But the evil sister appeared and cursed the soulmates for their part in the angry Goddess' defeat," the man added.

"No!" the girl protested.

"I'm afraid so," the man replied, "She cursed them to lose the brothers after the curse on the four brothers was broken. But thankfully, one of the Gods offered the soulmates a way out. He told them that the brothers would fall asleep and that they'd wake up once the evil sister was defeated. So the soulmates were hopeful. The problem was that they knew the curse was coming."

"What do you mean?" the girl asked. 

"The curse on the soulmates would only come into play after the curse on the brothers was broken," the man explained, "And to do that, the last two brothers would need to find their soulmates. But the brothers and soulmates had another problem to deal with."

"What happened?" the girl asked.

"Well, when they defeated the angry Goddess, they angered the God that loved her, so he vowed to destroy them," the man explained, "But thankfully some of the other Gods stepped in and helped the brothers and soulmates. And so we get to the second youngest brother. Now, his journey is a little different than the others."

"How?" the girl asked.

"Well for starters, he met his soulmate while he was hurt," the man replied.

"What happened to him?" the girl gasped, "Was he okay?"

"He wasn't okay, he was hurt by the evil sister," the man explained, "He tried to protect his brothers' soulmates and got hurt. So the Gods took him to their home and did their best to heal him. And that's when he met her. He thought he was just imagining things, but..." The man trailed off, lost in thought.

"But what?" the girl asked, wanting to hear more, "Did she fall in love with him? Did she break the curse?"

The man smiled.

"But that's enough for one night," the man replied, "Now try and get some sleep. Your parents will have my head if you don't."

"Okay," the girl sighed.

"Do you want to sleep here or in your room?" the man asked.

"I'll sleep here," the girl replied as she laid down on a pile of pillows. The man smiled and placed a blanket over her small body.

"Goodnight moonbeam," he told her as he kissed her forehead.

"Goodnight," she replied as she closed her eyes and held on to her teddy bear tightly.

The man exited the fort and quietly left the living room. He went upstairs and entered his room. He found his wife standing in front of the mirror. She undid her chestnut hair and he watched as it tumbled down past her shoulders in its usual flawless curls.

He snuck up behind her and wrapped his arms around her from behind, so that her back was against his chest. The wife breathed in his scent and sighed in contentment.

"Hello handsome," she greeted him.

"Hello, love," he replied.

"Did you manage to get the little moonbeam to sleep?" she asked.

"Yes, but I had to tell her a story," the man replied.

"Let me guess, it was the one about the four brothers?" the wife asked.

"How'd you guess?" the man smiled as he kissed his wife's neck.

"Rose told me that Soren told our little moonbeam their part of the story," the wife replied, "You told her our part?"

"Some of it," the man replied, "I didn't finish."

"Well, I feel like a story, love, so why don't you tell the rest to me," his wife suggested.

"I only know certain parts of the story, love," he replied.

"Don't worry I'll help you fill in the gaps," his wife assured him as they both got into bed. He leaned back against the headboard and she snuggled up to his side, resting her head on his chest. He instinctively wrapped an arm around her.

"Why don't you start then," the man suggested, "I don't remember much from the beginning of our story."

"I'm not surprised," his wife stated as she traced the scar on his shoulder, "You were in and out of consciousness for most of it."

"Do you want to start then?" he asked, "You don't have to, I know that you were feeling off during that time."

"No, my love, it's fine," she assured him, "There's a lot of good that came with the bad. Our story isn't all bad and it deserves to be told as it occurred."

"Okay then," the man agreed, "Whenever you're ready."

"Alright then," the wife agreed, "Here goes..."

AN: Thanks for reading! Be sure to drop some comments and vote!