Page 112 of Demon Monster's Little Human

A violent shudder wracks through me. My stomach churns. “So I shouldn’t have been be born,” I whisper, the words bitter on my tongue. “I was just a?—”

“A consequence,” Amara finishes for me. “You’re me at the same time, not me.”

Something inside me shatters.

The dark presence laughs.

I press my hands against my temples, my breathing shallow, uneven. My mind feels like it’s splitting apart. The artifact’s hunger curls against my skin, taunting, coaxing.

I should break the bond.

I should let Dain go.

If I do, I will be defenseless.

But if I don’t…

I will always be the thing standing between him and his freedom.

A choice.

One last, final choice.

The decision falls into place.

A weight lifts from my chest. The pain dulls.

I will unbind myself from Dain.

To free him.

To let him live.

To love him enough to let him go.

The darkness shifts. The whispers grow eager. Amara smiles sadly.

"Perhaps," she murmurs, "this is the right choice."

A different path. Another possibility.

Her image fades, swallowed by shadow.

Suddenly, Dain is there.

He crashes into the space like a storm, wings unfurled, golden eyes blazing. The rage on his face is terrifying, lethal.

"Liora," he snarls. "Don’t you dare."

The sheer fury in his voice almost makes me falter, but I can’t.

I have already decided.

I step toward the center of the cave, toward the sigils carved into the stone, toward the magic thrumming beneath my skin.

"I’m breaking the bond, Dain."

His growl rips through the air. "You won’t live long enough to do it."

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