Page 199 of The Silent War
He gave me one final look, clear satisfaction across his face before he turned and left.
I tried to drag in another breath, but it felt like drowning. The world tilted, shadows closing in.
I could feel myself slipping, every breath harder than the last.
Luca would find me, and I wouldn’t be here to help him through the pain, or ground him as he spirals.
We were two halves of the same soul—he’d follow me into the dark whether he meant to or not.
This was where it ended. My part in her life, over. And hers… hers went on without me.
Tears slid hot down my face. I stared up at the sky,
I couldn’t protect her anymore. Shield her from the world, the dynasty, from the men who would cut her down just to claim her name.
I’d love her until my last breath, but it came too fast. Griefflooded me, for the life we didn’t get. For knowing I was leaving her, and Luca
My body fought for every burning breath.
I forced my eyes shut and I pictured this morning.
Her between us in bed, her breathing soft against my chest. Luca’s weight on one side.
I dragged it into me like oxygen and pretended I was going to sleep with her right there, Luca the other side. I wasn’t dying alone, I was with them, in bed. Not alone.
I let the memory take me under, held it until everything went black.
And for that last moment, I believed it.
