Page 62 of Framed and Forgotten
“Nerine, you don’t want to do this,” I half warned, half begged, hands raised in a sign of peace.
I stepped forward. She pressed the blade tighter, a sliver of red blooming across Avril’s skin. I immediately stilled.
“Why not?” Nerine asked, her expression shifting between despair and anger. “She took you from me! If I-”
“I was never yours,” I said, low, controlled, begging the universe to let her hear me. “Even if you kill her, nothing changes. I still won’t love you.”
She was thoughtful for a moment. “Maybe. But it’s worth a shot.”
“If you kill her, Nerine,” I said, louder this time as my control started to slip. “I’ll kill you. I won’t let you get away with taking her life.”
Her lip quivered. For a second, I saw doubt flicker in her eyes.
Then she smiled again. “Maybe. But at least she won’t get to keep you either.”
“Think of Elias,” I tried, one last desperate attempt to make her see reason. “His father is gone now. If you die, too, he’ll have no one. He’ll be alone.”
Her mouth trembled, like she was on the verge of crying. “I don’t care. He isn’t yours, so he doesn’t matter to me.”
After that, everything happened too fast for me to even register it.
The dagger moved.
The line of red opened across Avril’s throat.
Time shattered.
Nerine didn’t even scream. One second she was standing. The next, her head hit the dirt several feet from her body. My claws were dripping with her blood, but I couldn’t feel a thing.
All I could see was Avril.
I dropped to my knees, cradling her limp body. Her eyes fluttered, unfocused. Her breath came in soft, wet gasps. Blood soaked her chest and my hands.
“Avril,” I breathed, voice cracking. “Stay with me. Please, just stay.”
She didn’t answer.
“I’ll fix it. I’ll fix everything,” I whispered frantically. “You’re going to be okay. You’re going to be okay.”
But she wasn’t. The light in her eyes was already fading, and no matter how tightly I held her, I couldn’t stop the blood. Kea couldn’t help her either, the wolfsbane preventing her from healing.
Col howled, broken, and I pressed my forehead to hers. My tears fell onto her cheeks, mixing with her blood.
“I can’t lose you,” I begged, to her, to the Goddess - to whoever would listen. “Not after everything. Not now.”
But the silence that answered me was the loudest sound I’d ever heard.
She was bleeding out, and all I could do was watch, waiting for her to slip away - knowing she’d take the last piece of me with her.
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A V R I L
Was I going to die?
When the blade sliced across my throat, time seemed to stop. Everything slowed, the world falling into silence as warmth spilled down my neck in thick, wet rivers. Strangely enough, there was no pain - just a strange numbness. A sense of detachment, as if my body was no longer mine.
