Page 135 of Love, Nemesis
He would rather be her enemy.
Chapter 33: The End
“NO.” SHE SHOOK her head. “Why are you doing this? You can’t do this.”
“He can’t not do this,” Ivan replied, inspecting his nails. “Haven’t you realized? He’s a Strike.”
“The Mystics are marching on the capital! Lethe, real people are about to die. Breaking The Great Light will stop it! It will save lives,” she said, trying to reason with him, and unsure what him being a Strike meant.
None of it made any sense.
Lethe watched her calmly, a dangerous kind of calm. “Ana,” he said, and she could hear his resistance in the word, a kind of pain that told her he would deny her again and again.
Ana approached him as he created space between them. The other Strike watched in a circle and closed them in with interest. The emotion in the room seemed to rouse them, as if despite having no hunger, they still remembered the appeal of human feelings.
“And you’re all fine with this?” she shouted to all of them. “Time is up for you to refine The Great Light anyway! The Mystic army will discover this place either while burning the capital or when tearing through the ruins!”
Ivan sighed. “What, so we should rush to our deaths?”
“You’ll lose all of your progress and research and then will be sentenced for the rest of eternity to a life of illusion,” she shot back.
Some of the Strike seemed to shift and almost awaken at this notion. A couple of them glanced at Lethe, who returned their glances with a silent threat.
“Ana,” Lethe warned.
She stepped toward him, shaking her head. Ivan straightened off the pyre and walked between them as if testing the tension that kept them apart.
Lethe kept Ana’s eyes, “A battle between Strike would ruin the capital faster than any Mystic army,” he said.
“Give me The Great Light,” she replied.
Her mind splintered with the questions and she struggled to wrestle them into a cohesive story. How had she gotten here? She and Lethe, surrounded by a room full of illusion Strike. Lethe, a very real one, now perhaps her greatest barrier to freedom.
“There isn’t a single real reason to break it,” he said. “I’ll face the Mystics if I have to.”
Ana blinked and glanced over at Ivan, who shrugged. “He’s a Strike who heals quickly and, at least based on past experience, has the rather strong propensity for violence without the help of Madness. That call is yours. I imagine if the Mystics saw a Strike unleash its full power, they very well might flee.”
“Help me,” she said to Ivan.
He raised an eyebrow.
“Ana,” Lethe warned again.
“You’ve put me in this position!” she shouted back at Lethe who almost seemed to wince at the extent of her own anger and hurt.
“Interesting,” Ivan replied with a smile, glancing between them.
“The reality of the Strike’s existence will be unveiled anyway,” said Ana. “If someone else doesn’t tell them, then I will. Help me. Your only way out is by breaking The Great Light. Your time to fix it is up.”
“We could always just vanish from this place, transport somewhere else, and kill you,” Ivan offered. “We aren’t real Strike, Ana. We don’t have the same fixations that tie us to the humans in this city.”
“Hurt her and I’ll kill you. I’ve done it once,” Lethe hissed.
Ivan looked over at Lethe, sizing him up as if pleased by the threat. “How did you kill me? Just one man?”
“Actually, a boy killed you,” Lethe growled back. “You’d grown wasted, dull, and lazy, indulging on human emotions in Xal Xel.”
Ivan grimaced. “That sounds awful.” His eyes flickered back to Ana. “I admit, a battle to the death would be more interesting than what we’ve unfortunately had to tolerate the past few years. Now that Hailey is dead, it does appear that to some extent the game really is up. What do all of you think?” Ivan said, glancingbehind him. Several of the Strike shifted as if considering the idea.
