Page 154 of A Bond with the Dark

Thinking of my child’s sweet face wrapped up in this mess of a world I got myself into stills my heart and nearly drops me to my knees, feeling diminished. Nothing in the world can break me faster than threatening my son’s life.

“On his twenty-first birthday,” the warlock continues mutinously in his horrifyingly deadened voice, “should I reach my demise at your hands, he will succumb to his fate for a lifetime of darkness.”

There’s no way out of this. The warlock has won. There isn’t a chance in hell I would give Gauge over to the darkness. My life’s purpose is to ensure that he lives a long, happy life in the light.

“To safeguard that this continues past his twenty-first birthday, I will leave both brothers, Sebastian and Dominic, marked. One will remain inactivated to assure you kill no more warlocks. Should you choose to partake in any warlock killing, I will activate that mark and bring him over to the darkness, too. The other one will be activated, but he will not become a grimspawn. He will keep his mind for the most part and live his life, but he will belong to me, doing my bidding when and how I say. One mark is to ensure you do not kill more warlocks; the other is to have a marked immortal to do my bidding, killing when I say to kill, damning his soul with every murder. It is up to you to choose which brother gets which mark.” The smile he gives me is pestiferous, his black teeth glistening in the candlelight. “I will give you twenty minutes to decide.”

Panic sets my soul on fire.

What do I do?

There is not a single route around what he’s asking for.

To get Scarlet back, I need to let him live. Handing over the artifact makes it impossible to break either mark on Dom, Bash, or anyone else with one. What’s more, going beyond the artifact, this warlock secured his safety and a hundred others by threatening to mark my son on his twenty-first birthday. Even further, I now have to choose which brother gets which mark, saving one soul while condemning the other.

This is a fathomless choice with profound consequences beyond anything I’ve comprehended.

41

A FATHOMLESS CHOICE

SAYAH

Heavy is the unendurable assignment I have been tasked with to choose.

Turning to walk back to the fodder, approaching them is slow and rigorous, my choices heavily weighing me down.

Walking up to Adaline, there’s a deep anguish in her eyes, but one that tells me that she understands what my choice must be to keep my child safe.

Dom’s eyes have returned to normal, and he and Bash’s face have stern looks, telling the tale that they’d heard the whole thing.

“What am I supposed to do?”

“You give him the artifact,” Dom surmises, his posture rigid. “There’s no other way to save Scarlet.”

“And what of the marks?”

“I’ll take the activated mark,” Dom answers quickly.

“No,” Bash interposes, his voice dredging smoothly through me. “Sayah, choose me. I already condemned my brother’s soul once; I’ll not do that again.”

“What if I don’t want to condemn yours?” Dom asks grudgingly, shoving him on the shoulder.

“You guys spent your lifetime hating each other, and now, when time is of the essence, you two can’t decide which one of you wants to be condemned?” Everett asks harshly.

“Sayah, choose me, okay? Let me do this for my brother.” Bash’s eyes bore into mine, the supplication in them deciding me. “C’mon, I’m used to the dark. I’ll run it. Choose me.”

As Dom has said, Bash is always one befitting of the darkness. He thrives in it; it’s becoming on him. Dom belongs to the light more than Bash does. He’s the good one.

It makes sense to me.

And thus, the psychic’s words never rang truer in my mind: “When the time comes, you must choose which love you want. The love that ends you. Or the love that revives you.”

Although I didn’t have any time with Bash besides my dreams and a few brief moments on the shore, I still have a love for him I don’t quite understand yet.

Though it’s nothing like the love I have for Dom.

He has made me feel safe and loved, and like I’m somebody when I’d been on the narrow edge of darkness after losing my parents.

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