Page 203 of Of Blood and Banes
The chants creep in around me, prickling my skin. Like the archaic collection of whispers recognize that I finally understand. After all this time.
Fire incarnate. Flame in flesh. Blood of power.
Fire incarnate. Flame in flesh. Blood of power.
Fire incarnate. Flame in flesh. Blood of power.
“What?” Melaina snaps me back to reality, her eyes searching every inch of my body as if it’ll give her a clue. “What is it?”
Finally, I look up at her. “I was never the chosen one…”
I swallow.
“It’s Cole.”
CHAPTER 64
EVEN IF YOU WERE GONE
Iroll the hilt of my dagger across my bare palm. Back and forth, as the rain hisses on the ground around me. My clothes are soaked to the bone. As I fixate on the way the raindrops splatter against the blade, all I can think of is that the Gods sent me this sign, I’m taking the right path.
Cole’s voice repeats in my head over the pouring rain. “It was the closest I could feel to you…even if you were gone.”
My heart cracks, allowing each wave of emotion to spill into my chest, drowning out each breath.
I’d reflect on every last breath I shared with you. Every smile, every laugh, every kiss, and every touch.
The memories, the years, and every bit of Cole flashes through my mind in an endless torrent, threatening to sweep me down and out of sight. My eyes flick up to Daeja, and she blinks slowly at me in full understanding.
“Are you sure?”I ask, voice wavering.
“If you think it is the right thing to do.”She presses her forehead to mine, her eyes closing.“I will follow you into the dark and into the next life. And though we might not have had a lot of time together in this one, we will have it in the next. It is only destiny.”
Squeezing my eyes shut, I lean my head into hers as I wrap my hand tighter around the dagger’s hilt, with my other hand scratching underneath her chin. Her throaty purr rumbles through the air like deadly thunder, and tears spring to my eyes. She shouldn’t be involved, and no matter how hard I try to convince her I can try and break our bond, she never wavers with that headstrong stubbornness of hers.
“Where you go, I go,”she murmurs again, reminding me. Like it’s anything but a question.
I pull my head off hers and meet her white, cat-like eyes. Raindrops snake through the crested ridges of her black scales into rivers gushing off her muzzle. She blinks.
Slow. Easy. As if her trust in me is as simple as breathing.
Shakily, I raise the dagger and press the end directly above my heart. Three inches, Darian said. That’s all I’d need. Each thundering beat, the thought grows louder and louder until it develops lungs of its own and fuckingscreams.
Do it.
Do.
It.
This is the easiest way. The quickest way. It would be such a simple sacrifice. I’d save Cole before he even got halfway to the castle. And knowing what I now know, that he’s truly the one the prophecy is about, it feels selfish to not sacrifice for the greater good of the realm. Two lives to take out one. To save hundreds of thousands. The math is simple.
But the equation is not.
The shaking in my hand rackets up into a violent quake, and I wrap my right hand around my other hand to try and steady it. More tears slip free as I stare down at that beautiful, black ring around my middle finger on my right hand. The very physical piece of Daeja’s bond.
I’ve fought so hard to keep her alive, and yet, I’m the one who will end her.
All because she loves me.
