Page 197 of Beast and Remedy
But the damage is done.
Gone.
Ripped away, far beyond my reach.
Far beyond my control.
Everything in me wants to collapse—to break down—to sob and plea for this not to be real. But instead, I grapple with the frail, dwindling fragments of my control as I give him the rose and sidestep him.
Beau grabs my wrist. “But what about whatyouneed, Vi?”
My shuddering breath is the only thing filling the silence. I keep my tortured self together, attempting to protect his heart and hating how selfishly I’m trying to protect how he sees me.
“It doesn’t matter what I need. I am the future queen of Belmur, and what I need doesn’t matter.” I sigh, pulling away from his grasp to leave.
“Why not?” Beau pushes, stepping in my way and raising his voice. “Why don’t you care about us?”
“Because there will never be an us!” I exclaim, my soul shattering when he flinches.
He grimaces, refusing to back down on his demanding questions and lacing them with distress. “How can you even say that?”
“Because I agreed to marry someone else!”
Every harsh line pinched tight across his features smooths painfully, his shoulders fall a fraction as he scans my face. His mouth moves, wanting to speak—wanting to take me back from what I said.
But he can’t.
Beau squeezes the rose, his knuckles whitening and his whole arm trembling.
“Marian needed a cure.” I strain with each word, the knot in my throat tightening. “And for everything to work, for you all to come to into our lands, I had to give something up to rally Jean and Pierre to my side and not tell Papa.” Tears soak my cheeks through my poor explanation. “And what Belmur, its people, and my family need will always take precedence over what I need.”
This was doomed from the start, and I don’t regret my time with him, nor the chance I got to save my sister.
But it’s no use trying to say any of that now.
I’ve lost the man I love. Lost the best parts of myself. Lost it to save my sister and Draymenk.
Now I can only hope my sacrifice was all worth it.
I rush for the exit, my heart shattering with each step.
I force myself to open the door. It creaks as I slink past the threshold, halting at his lamenting words.
“I love you, Rosebud.Always.”
I turn, memorizing every feature I can through blurred vision.
Sorrowful and despondent, my voice lowers, uttering a fact—a feeling—a truth that will never change. “And I love you and only you, B.Forever.”
Tears line his beautiful,breathtaking, golden-honey irises as he releases his grip on the rose.
Its crunched petals and snapped stem cascade into broken, ruined pieces at his feet.
Anguish threatens to drag me down, wanting to yank me to the floor and rip me apart beside the destroyed flower.
The obliteration of our love.
And it’s then my magic vibrates to life, waking from a long-needed rest only to pause at the recognition of my broken heart. Forlorn and pained, my power retreats into the stillness of my chest, taking my dying soul along with it.
