Open Your Heart (Chosen By Fate Book 2) Read online

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  Table of Contents

  Acknowledgements

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Sneak Peek

  About the Author

  To Connect with Aspen Winters

  Thank you for purchasing OPEN YOUR EYES—

  BOOK ONE OF THE CHOSEN BY FATE SERIES.

  Thank you to everyone who has been patient and waited for this book to come out.

  I know when I pushed it back there would be some people not happy about it, but I thank everyone who waited patiently for this book.

  Special thanks for my amazing author friends who pushed me to get this out and spent time encouraging me.

  Also, thank you to my editor who put up with me while getting this out. I had to move things more than once on her and she just went with it. You are awesome!

  ~Cronus~

  I paused when I felt the Egyptian god get closer. A smirk stretched across my face as I finished the last symbol on the girl’s arms. Her screams rang out through the field one last time before I waved my hand over her, gold dust sprinkling on her, making her fall into a sleep.

  I knew that Ra would have to bond to her to keep this girl alive, and that was what I wanted. I wanted the gods to bond with her. When I tear her bonds apart and break them, it will hurt much more. I would take great pleasure in watching them go crazy from the broken bond, and that was when I would strike. I was going to make them all suffer pain and torture before I killed them.

  Once the main gods were out of the way, then I could make plans on having the Titans taking over. I knew that I would have to find Fate though, she would be the key to making everything happen. That and this slip of a girl that was asleep in front of me. She would be the one to start the downfall of all the Gods.

  “You shall be the key. I can’t wait to use you.” My lips curled into a cruel smile, as I looked at the girl on the ground before disappearing and reappearing in my home. Deep in the underworld, where I had been banished too. Though, that banishing didn’t last long. I was able to stay here in the small slice of hell and plan, then slip out and do the things that needed doing.

  “Welcome back, Lord Cronus.”

  A voice brought me out of my thoughts as I saw who I had been waiting for. A smirk crossed my lips as I saw the human spirit look at me wearily.

  “The plan has been put into action. Start preparations on locating Fate and move our hideout to the one I used during the Titan Wars,” I instructed, my voice sharp as I spoke to the spirit that was under me.

  “Do you want me to have some of the Titans start to go back into the human world then?” the human asked.

  My grin grew. “Not yet; soon. Once we have Fate in our hands then the Titans can roam free,” I told him.

  He gave a bow and left me to my thoughts.

  I silently walked into my study, my eyes going to the gold scissors I had been keeping close to me.

  Soon. Very soon things will fall into place and the gods will be no more, and the Titans shall rule. My eyes took in the gold scissors and knew that my plan would work. I knew that everything I had done to get here would be worth it.

  Things were looking up and I couldn’t wait for the battle to begin. My decades of planning were all falling into place now.

  A war was going to start soon, and I was going to be the victorious one. My laugh echoed through the room, the feeling of victory already running through me.

  No one will be able to stop me.

  ~Clara~

  I took a deep breath as I slowly woke up, my body felt heavy and my head felt like someone hit me with a sledgehammer. I winced when I sat up trying to figure out where I was. My mind going back to what had happened.

  Flashes of Cronus came to my mind. Being kidnapped and his taunting words as he did something to my arm. I lifted my arm, and saw that there were bandages around it. I ran my hand down the bandages and felt a twinge of pain. I had a feeling whatever Cronus carved into my skin would forever be on my skin.

  "You’re awake."

  The sound of a voice made me snap my attention away from my arm and to where the voice came from. It was a woman, she had fiery red hair that was pulled up into intricate braids and eyes that were just as red as her hair.

  "Who are you?" I asked, looking her over and then to my surroundings. I was in a small room that was white from the ceiling to the floor and even the bed I was in was white. There was also no door, just a pillared entryway.

  The woman's lip twitched as she looked down at me. "I am Airmed, mortals know me as one of the Tuatha de Danaan."

  The what now? I had never heard of her before, than again I didn't know much out of the well-known gods and goddesses. This woman's name I had never heard of before and from the amused look on the woman's face she knew it too.

  The woman came close so she was standing in front of the bed. "I am a healer...or one of them that still resides here." She gave me another smile as she moved closer and motioned to my arm.

  I held it out and she took it in one hand as she used her other one and ran it over my arm gently, her hand glowing a soft purple as she did so. I blinked at this, watching her in fascination.

  "Where is here exactly?" I asked, still fascinated with the purple glow of the woman's hands. There was a kind of warmth coming from them and it was making my whole body tingle. It wasn't a bad feeling, just odd.

  Airmed took her hand away from my arm, the purple glow slowly disappearing and took a few steps back. I assumed it was for my own comfort from the smile she flashed me.

  "You are in the infirmary on Olympus. You were brought here about three days ago by your Bonded Ones and I put you into a sleep state so you could heal." She glanced at my arm, a deep frown on her face.

  "Whatever was used to carve the markings on your arm was filled with dark magic and it was getting into your bloodstream. If you had been awake when I cleansed it, you would have screamed your throat raw." Her red eyes looked into me, trying to tell me she was sorry.

  "The markings..." I asked, my voice catching as my mind flashed back to being held down and screaming. I flinched as I remembered how much it hurt to have the knife dig into my skin slowly as Cronus wrote on me. It would forever me in my mind. I would never forget it.

  "They may fade in time...." She didn't look me in the eye.

  I knew from her expression they would scar. ‘Fade in t
ime’ for me could mean over a hundred years from now.

  "How much time?" I asked, not wanting for her to sugarcoat it. It would hurt less if I knew I would forever have a permanent reminder of my time with the Titan, than hoping it would go away and never did.

  "More than a human's lifespan." Airmed gave me another smile, eyes glancing to the door before going back to me.

  I was still sitting up in the bed and didn't know if I had the energy to get out of it yet. The goddess must have known what I was thinking because she sent me a glare.

  "You aren't strong enough to get out of bed yet. I will happily get you a book to occupy your time if you need it."

  I heard the threat in her voice, as if daring me to try to get out of bed. I had a feeling if I tried to do so, I wouldn't like the consequences. "A book would be nice." It wasn't like I had much choice. I was tired and my body did still ache. I knew when not to push it. If I didn't heal right the first time, it would just make the process much longer later on.

  The goddess nodded moving to the entryway, pausing before she left. "Your Bonded Ones will be here shortly. They have been here constantly, but needed to address some things. I will have one of them bring you a book since they are due back soon."

  I nodded not knowing what to say as I watched her walk out of sight.

  "This is not how I pictured my life," I told myself as I ran a hand through my hair and was surprised that I didn't have any knots in it. I sighed and laid back down, my hair spreading against the white sheets of the bed.

  I didn't know what to think of my situation. I knew if I had thought of my actions more, I wouldn't have gone through what I did. I had tried to push the gods away so bad I put myself in danger. I made sure I was snappy and short with them, but I also made sure I didn't let them know the real me.

  Now though, I had bonded with Ra...and there was no way out of the situation. I was stuck, but I was stuck before we had bonded.

  Ra had saved my life, I knew that...it still hurt that I didn't get a choice in the situation. I was going to have to learn to live with it, but it didn't mean I was happy about it. I had wanted to get a job and live my life as a normal woman.

  That wasn't going to happen. I wanted to try to find a job or maybe build my own business, but I knew that would have to wait till all this was over. The overprotective gods wouldn't let me out of their sight after this. I didn't blame them, their life was on the line too. If I died they would eventually die too.

  I rolled over, closing my eyes, and sighed. I would have to figure out how I was going to act from now on. I told them I would try, but at the same time I wanted to run away.

  I wanted to run away and forget all about gods, Titans and Bonded Ones. I wasn't going to though. I was too stubborn. I was going to try to make this work.

  I had too.

  Maybe I could try to get to know them slowly and see if there was even a connection. If there wasn't, maybe we could just get along as friends.

  Who am I kidding? I am attracted to them all, even if I don't want to be. The moment I met each one of them, they called to me. It was probably the bond they had talked about on multiple occasions.

  This bond that we had… I needed to know more about it. That, and I needed to learn more about Titans and gods and the fight that seemed to be going on.

  Humans and Titans were working together, and I needed to know more on the subject. My mind started to drift off as I felt my body relax and sink into a deep sleep. I would get answers when I saw them all. For now I would sleep and hope my dreams weren't filled with nightmares.

  ~Clara~

  I jolted awake by someone's voice yelling. I quickly sat up, my vision blurry from sleep as I was on high alert from the yelling. My body was tense as I blinked the rest of the sleep out of my eyes.

  There in the room were four of the five gods and they didn't look happy as they were all glaring at one another.

  I licked my lips, not really knowing what to say. I hadn't gotten to speak to them since I passed out on them after I had told them I would give them a chance. I had probably given them a scare.

  "You're awake," a soft voice spoke, making me jump again.

  Sitting beside the bed in a chair that hadn't been there when I awoke before, was Ra. His gold eyes looked tired, but had a spark in them when he saw I was awake.

  "…Hi," I squeaked out, and mentally curse myself.

  He raised an eyebrow at me and I almost did curse at myself out loud. I wasn't a meek person, but I didn't know what to say to him.

  "How are you feeling?" His eyes swept over me as he stood from the chair and moved to sit on the side of my bed. His hand reached out and brushed my hair out of my face and gently caressed my cheek.

  I felt the humming feeling go through my body and couldn't repress the shudder that went through me at his touch. It was intensified from when he had touched me before. It made my whole body hum and tingle.

  "You worried us." He leaned forward resting his forehead to mine and closed his eyes as he took a deep breath, his hand still on my cheek.

  I could feel the heat rise to my face at his actions. They were so tender. I just continued to look at him with wide eyes and a soft “I'm sorry,” tumbled out of my lips before I could even stop it.

  Ra pulled back, a big smile on his lips as he gave me a quick peck on the lips. I felt my cheeks heat up more, but said nothing as I looked away from him to the other gods who were now all looking at us.

  I raised an eyebrow to them, and gave a snarky, "What?" not liking being stared at by all of them. It was making me uncomfortable.

  Ra chuckled next to me, but I refused to look at him again after the little moment we had had. I was embarrassed. I usually didn't let my guard down that easily, but when he touched me it made me relax.

  His touch had been comforting.

  “Are you feeling any better? Airmed said you were fine, but just in a bit of pain.” Ra’s eyes flashed to my bandaged arm before coming back to my face, worry was laced in his voice as he spoke.

  “I’m…okay. I am in pain, but it is bearable.” There was no use lying about how I was feeling. I didn’t feel horrible, but I wasn’t fully free of pain. Every time I moved my arm, it stung. It was easy enough to ignore if I didn't brush my arm against anything.

  "Hmm," was all Ra said as he looked me in the eyes.

  I had a feeling he was trying to gauge if I was lying to him or not. After a few seconds of looking me in the eye he sighed before turning his attention back to the other gods.

  "Are you all done arguing now?" He raised an eyebrow at them, a teasing smirk on his face as he saw the look on all of the other gods’ faces.

  "What were you arguing about?" I asked, a frown crossing my lips as I looked to the four gods who were close to the entrance of the room. All seemed tense as they shot looks to one another.

  It must have been some argument. I didn't know what they were fighting about, but it must be something important for them to have such a tense atmosphere in the room.

  "We were figuring out plan of action," Hades spoke up first, his eyes flashing. He was tense from where he stood.

  I could tell he wasn't happy about something. My eyes shifted to the other three who were just as tense. None of them were happy. "Plan of action for..." I wanted to know more. I was positive it had to do with the Titans. I didn't even get to tell them about Cronus. I knew once I did that things were going to get more heated.

  "For what happened. We know who kidnapped you and we don't want to chance an incident like this happening again," Zeus spoke, his voice grave. He looked almost drained, making me wonder what I had missed when I was in a healing sleep.

  "I talked to who took me." I paused as all heads snapped toward me. I hadn't gotten to tell them anything so I guess they assumed it was a human that kidnapped me.

  "He spoke to you?" Eros inquired, frowning as he clenched his fists at his side. He looked angry.

  I nodded my head, eyes looked down at my arm aga
in.

  "Yes. Cronus. He said that I was a..." I paused trying to find the right wording to put this. I could see all the gods watching me. They were tense at the news and I could feel the tension in the air become thicker.

  "...He said he was using me to send a message. That he wanted his children to find his message." I held up my arm as I looked at them, seeing shock on their faces I continued to talk, "He carved a message in my arm, I am sure you guys read it already. It was markings of some kind."

  Before I could continue talking, I felt and hand grab hold of my arm. I looked to Ra who gently took my arm and lean it against his leg. He gently unwound the white stripes of bandage until my skin was bared to them all.

  The wounds were mostly healed, but an angry red. The markings that were carved into my arm were easily visible, but I couldn't read it. I didn't have a clue what it could say, but they did from the curses that filled the room.

  Ra gently traced his fingers over the marks, making me suck in a breath through my nose and clench my teeth at the contact. I didn't say anything though. I saw rage flash across his features, before they went to guilt.

  "What does it say?" I asked, breaking the silence in the room. I could see them glancing at one another, making me glare at them. They better not think of lying.

  "He said I was going to bring a message to you…and he wanted to break our bond after it is formed..." I was cut off by Eros standing by my bed looking me in the eyes.

  "We won't let that happen. If you listen to us and don't run away this time." Eros's voice was cold.

  I would have snapped at him if I didn't see the look in his eyes. Worry. Fear. He was scared of losing me. Guilt settled into my stomach because I was the one the made him feel such strong emotions. "I'm sorry." I never did apologize for going against their wishes when it was to protect me. They had stayed close to make sure nothing happened to me and I was a bitch to them. I had gone out on my own and ended up being kidnapped.

  "You need to start trusting us. You may be an independent person, but you don't know the world of gods and Titans. The world with creatures that could kill you with just looking you in the eyes." Hades’ grave voice cut through the room.