27. Bella

Deja vu hit me as, once again, I ran through the forbidden woods in the cold. The snow was no longer on the ground, but winter still seemed to have its tight grip on the land as the wind picked up and chilled me to the marrow in my bones.

I had run at a decent pace until I heard the howling of the wolf packs behind me. I ran with everything I had, letting the blood moon light my way through the trees and the mist. It felt like forever when the vines appeared, and I searched for a way in. Even with the decay, there was no safe way in or through.

A growl tore through the night, and I turned to see the fawn-colored wolf staring at me, its head lowered and its teeth on full display. Gideon. He growled and then paced back and forth.

”Stop. Let me go.” I threw up my hands, pleading with him. ”I wasn”t meant to be yours.” I admitted, not daring to take my eyes off the wolf in front of me even as the shrieks of the undead and the sounds of battle echoed from the castle courtyard.

There was an attack happening at this very minute. Fear lanced through me as a strong desire to get to Lore made me turn my head to glance over my shoulder, back toward the people I cared about.

Lore was surrounded, and I couldn”t see Alastair anywhere. Thorns were in my way.

What if Billy was hurt? Or Alysha, too? These people had become my family in a short period, more than my own blood. They needed me, and I”d be damned if I wasn”t going to be there for them. I scanned the vines, trying to find a way to climb them without getting stung. I didn”t think. Just as the growls from Gideon became louder, he pounced, then broke off with a yelp as I jumped on the first vine. I climbed quickly until I was on top of the wall. I didn”t assess any cuts; instead, I looked to see where the fight was.

I saw them just a few hundred yards away across the courtyard, battling the undead bodies that crawled in pieces along the ground. It was horrifying to watch. It was then I saw, for the first time, a newcomer.

A woman with obsidian hair watched the carnage before turning to me. Our eyes collided, and I was held transfixed in her pitch-black depths. The stars shone back at me as I stared, unable to look away.

A slow, malicious grin spread across her lips, and with a flick of her wrist, a grating noise began. The growls of dozens of wolves who had just been howling from a distance seemed closer. Yet I was still unable to look away.

My feet worked on their own as they moved closer to her. The wolves began to scramble over the fence as if assisted. As if they merely walked in. Though I felt their nearness, I dared not look away from the nightmare gaze of the woman who forced my feet forward.

With horror, I realized this was the same goddess who had destroyed the Vampire Court. Only her hair was darker. The moon goddess, Nyx. She held me in her grasp, and vengeance sparkled in her gaze.

As I stared, I saw it all—more than one mere mortal should see. I saw her destroy the Vampire Court all over again, an act of fury as she toppled it to the ground, searching for something—no, for someone— for me.

”Hello, Isabella,” she purred, her voice lyrical and sweet yet rich and decadent. ”I”m glad you could make it to watch him meet his end.”

She flicked her wrist at the wolves behind me, and Gideon and his pack descended on Lore, who was now panting. His sword was heavy in his hand, and he seemed barely able to lift it.

The wolves surrounded him, pacing, growling, and hunched, ready to strike. They didn”t—not yet. They waited. They waited for orders from the goddess who controlled them. As she held me now, even I fell under her command because of my vampire blood.

Nyx pulled me forward with her as if I were held by a string. Try as I might, I couldn”t stop or break free. I struggled against it.

”Let me go!” I demanded, panic in every thought and action. The panic increased as I looked at Lore. He”d fallen to his knees in the dirt, his sword gone.

”Look what I found,” Nyx called out to Lore. ”So close.”

”Let her go and I will submit to the curse,” Lore said, not taking his gaze from Nyx. Not sparing me one glance.

”It”s not you submitting to the curse I want,” Nyx sang in an odd tone that sounded too sweet and gleeful for the moment. ”I want to see you die. And I want her to watch it.”

Lore”s gaze finally met mine. So much was conveyed in that one look, that one heartbeat of a fraction of time. The words he could never say before shone in his gaze, no longer hidden. It was love. The kind that burned so hot it could engulf me entirely. It was there, deep and unending, a chasm of emotion that turned bitterly into heartache as I watched the acceptance and resolve form.

With his lips pressed into a tight line, he nodded once.

”Any last words?” Nyx cooed to him. ”Go ahead and say what we both know you want to say. Then I”ll give you a gift—a chance to break the curse.” Her lips twisted with cruelty as if she delighted in his pain, in his desperation. ”I”ve waited a long time for this.”

Lore said nothing as he tried to stand, to move toward me.

”You took what was most precious from me, Dragon Prince,” she thundered, pointing an accusatory finger at Lore. ”My beloved daughter, murdered by your savage, unprovoked attack.” Hot, angry tears streamed down her pale cheeks. ”An innocent child, paying the price for your bloodlust.” The ground trembled with her rage and anguish.

”Your people, trapped forevermore between life and death, forgotten by time itself continuing on for eternity. Even after your death here today.” Her voice dropped to a vicious whisper. ”I have enjoyed watching you all these years, forced to watch helplessly as madness consumed you.”

Lore ignored her and held my gaze. ”I have only one regret in this life. That I could not love you longer.” He lifted his sword high, ready to plunge it into his chest. Before he could, Nyx shrieked, and her magic erupted, slowing him and forcing him to push harder. Power shot from her fingertips like moonlit death tendrils reaching to stop him.

Everything froze, and in the blink of a second, so many emotions erupted from me: love, pain, regret, and resolve. I knew what I had to do and what I was meant to do. I”d lived in the pathetic world for long enough—alone, abused, and unloved. Lore was the first thing in my life that was good. The first time, my heart beat in a way that felt beyond words to describe. Loving him made me feel warm, complete, and safe. More than that, I recalled his dragon”s words to me.

I stood paralyzed, my fate crystallizing before me with terrible clarity. This wasn”t happening. This wasn”t real.

Lore”s eyes found mine across the battle-scarred courtyard, infinite anguish in their wintry depths. I saw the truth then—he had known all along what ghastly sacrifice the prophecy demanded. Yet he had spared me that terrible burden, determined to defy our cursed destiny.

He had tried to break the curse to save me from trying to break it.

My heart shattered, realizing the sacrifice he was willing to make for me, for his people. I could not let Lore meet such a cruel end. He deserved happiness, not eternal subjugation to a bitter goddess”s curse.

I saw his darkness, and it did not scare me. I saw his darkness and gave it light as he took mine and did the same. I loved every part of him—the good, the bad, and all the ugly parts he tried to hide. I saw it, and I still loved him. No, I loved him even more because he was right: we were two puzzle pieces that were incomplete without the other.

He would burn the world for me, but I”d burn it for him. There was no life without him with me. This world was not done with him. I would always be his, and he would always be mine. I refused to live even a second without him in this world, the world of the living. So I decided right there, in that second, in that stilled moment. I acted.

A burst of energy erupted from me, and my feet moved faster than they had ever done—faster than if I had been a full-blooded vampire. It was me who met the tip of his blade at my back and the blast of power that erupted from Nyx.

I stared into his eyes one last time as the blast slammed through me, and the magic burned me from the inside out. I held his silvery blue gaze as the pain hit me in an instant.

Soon, everything started up again, and Nyx”s powers could no longer hold time still as the stars began to twinkle once again in the distance. It was time.

”I love you too,” I gasped as I felt blood trickle from my lips, and the world around me began to grow cold as darkness seemed to fade into my vision. ”Forgive me,” I whispered.

I was weightless, the night air cold in my lungs. Lore”s eyes widened in dawning horror as I threw myself between him and the cursed blade. His raw cry of anguish echoed across time as the sword pierced my heart.

Each beat of my heart slowed, and each breath became more labored.

I heard a roar erupt from the distance and thought someone held me, but I couldn”t feel it. My limbs and my body no longer hurt, and I felt nothing. The world darkened and faded away forever.

As my eyes moved on their own, looking upward to the sky, to the stars, I was ready. In that suspended moment, I memorized each beloved detail of Lore”s face. I wanted him to be my last sight.

”I love you,” I gasped through bloodied lips. A blinding blaze erupted within me, scorching away the darkness. The last thing I heard was Lore”s ragged sobs as oblivion claimed me.

I welcomed death.