Page 113 of Demon Monster's Little Human

I smile. A soft, bitter thing.

He doesn’t understand.

Of course, he doesn’t.

I meet his gaze and say it.

"It doesn’t matter if I’m Amara or if I’m Liora." My voice shakes, but I do not waver. "Because no matter who I am, I will always love you."

Something breaks in his eyes.

I lift my arms.

The magic erupts.

Dain lunges toward me, roaring, but it’s too late.

The power surges through my veins, a blinding force splitting through my skin.

The sigils beneath me ignite.

The world fractures around me.

I hear his scream, my name ripped from his throat in a way I have never heard before, raw, desperate, pleading.

Agony.

I feel my soul tear.

The bond snaps.

The pain is indescribable.

Blood gushes from my mouth, from my eyes, from my skin. My body crumbles, every muscle seizing, every nerve shattering.

The cave trembles. The darkness shrieks.

Dain catches me just before I hit the ground.

His arms are warm. His voice desperate.

"Liora," he growls, shaking me. "No. NO."

His grip is so tight, his claws digging into my flesh as if he can force me to stay.

But I’m already slipping.

I blink up at him, vision fading. The warmth is leaving me.

I smile one last time.

Everything goes dark.

48

DAIN

Liora’s body is limp in my arms, fragile as something already lost. The bond, the thing that had tied us together, that had let me feel her, hear her, breathe through her—is gone. There is nothing but silence in my head where her presence used to be.

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