Page 43 of Chains of Nightshade

19

VERA

Istare down at Aurel's broken form, my magic crackling around my fingertips. The raw power surges through my veins, demanding retribution. He deserves to die for what he did to me. For using me. For making me believe I was worth something, only to discard me like trash.

But my hand trembles. The magic flickers, weakening with my resolve. His words echo in my mind: "I love you." The same words I'd longed to hear my entire life. The same words I never thought anyone would say to me.

"You're lying again," I whisper, my voice cracking. "How can I trust anything you say?"

M magic pulses at my fingertips as I stare down at him, my heart a battlefield of conflicting emotions. Freedom. That's all I ever wanted. To break free from the chains that bound me, both physical and emotional. And then he came along, this powerful creature who promised me exactly that.

My chest tightens as memories flood through me - his gentle touches in our dreams, the way he taught me to stand tall, the electricity between us that night by the river. For the first time in my life, someone saw me. Really saw me. Not as a defector a burden, but as someone worth teaching, worth touching, worth... loving?

But he left me. Just like everyone else.

The magic flares with my pain, and Aurel flinches. Good. Let him feel a fraction of what I felt when I woke up alone, when I realized I'd been nothing but a tool for his escape.

Yet here he is, offering himself to me completely. No pride, no manipulation, just raw vulnerability. The same vulnerability I showed him that night by the river. The same trust I placed in him when I helped him escape.

My hands shake. "I wanted someone to love me," I whisper, more to myself than to him. "Just once. To look at me and see something worth keeping."

The irony doesn't escape me. Now that I'm powerful, now that I'm strong enough to make my own choices, I'm faced with the hardest decision of all. Trust him again, or walk away forever.

Aurel doesn't move from his position on the ground, his eyes meeting mine with an intensity that makes my heart stutter. "Kill me then. End it. I won't stop you."

My chest tightens at his words. Even now, seeing him so vulnerable, so different from the proud, powerful being who first appeared in my dreams, something inside me yearns for him. The curse I placed on him binds us together, but it's more than that. It's the way he looks at me, the genuine pain in his eyes.

"I should kill you." The words taste bitter on my tongue. "You abandoned me. Left me to die."

"I know." His voice is rough with emotion. "And I'll spend eternity making it up to you, if you let me."

The magic at my fingertips pulses, ready to strike. One blast is all it would take. But my hand drops to my side, the power fading. "I hate that I still love you," I whisper, tears streamingdown my face. "I hate that even after everything, I can't bring myself to end you."

My magic dissipates from my fingertips in a breath of purple smoke, leaving behind only the raw ache in my chest. My hand drops to my side, trembling. The power is still there, thrumming beneath my skin, but I can't bring myself to use it. Not on him. Not like this.

Aurel remains on the ground, his serpentine body coiled loosely around himself. Blood trickles from a cut above his eye where my magic struck him earlier. He makes no move to wipe it away, no attempt to rise. His eyes - those ancient, powerful eyes that once commanded my dreams - now look up at me with such naked vulnerability that it steals my breath.

"Get up," I whisper, my voice hoarse from screaming. "Fight back."

He doesn't move. "No."

"Damn you." My fingers curl into fists. "Why won't you fight?"

"Because you're right." His voice is rough, stripped of its usual smoothness. "I deserve your hatred. Your rage. All of it."

I take a step closer, my body vibrating with conflicting impulses - to strike him again, to run away, to collapse into his arms. The curse I placed on him pulses between us like a living thing, binding us together even as I try to pull away.

"I should have died in that mansion," I say, the words bitter on my tongue. "At least then I would have died believing someone cared."

Aurel flinches as if I'd struck him again, but still he doesn't rise. His eyes never leave mine, accepting whatever judgment I choose to pass.

"You hurt me," I whisper, my voice shaking as I take a step closer to his prone form. The magic still crackles beneath my skin, ready to strike. "You left me when I needed you most."

Aurel's face twists with guilt, his serpentine body coiled tight with tension. Blood trickles down his temple where my magic struck him earlier, but he makes no move to wipe it away. "I know. And I'll regret it for the rest of my life."

My chest tightens at his words. The raw honesty in his voice makes my heart ache. The curse I placed on him pulses between us, a constant reminder of our connection. But it's more than just the curse - it's the memory of his touch, the warmth of his embrace by the river, the way he made me feel seen for the first time in my life.

I take a deep, trembling breath, my hands clenching at my sides. I still love him. The realization hits me like a physical blow. Despite everything - the betrayal, the abandonment, the pain - my heart still yearns for him. But how can I trust him again?

---