I shook my head. “I choose a third option.”
Gathering my power, I centered it in my core, stoking the fire and waiting for it to build, to grow and change and consume the whole of me until that sense of rightness clicked into place. Then, harnessing the demon magic in my palms, I raised them in the murky air in front of me.
I can do this.
It was my gift, wasn’t it? My birthright, thanks to the father I’d never known. Did I even have to spill my blood, draw a rune or use an incantation?
Time to find out.
I sent the power outward and watched as a dime-sized ball of light appeared in the gloom. The light grew until a portal large enough for me to step through loomed in front of me, vibrating with magic.
“Sloane, don’t do this. Don’t run away,” Ryker called out from behind me.
It wasn’t running away. At least, it wasn’t in my mind. I found the only available option left to me that didn’t involve death.
At least, not more death.
Hadn’t I seen enough of it?
The glow of the portal caressed my skin and I hesitated again. A love sacrifice. Never in a million years could I have foreseen this.
“I’m sorry,” I called back to him.
Then I stepped forward into the mortal realm. Prepared to live out whatever days were left to me.
Alone.
Because that seemed like a better alternative than anything the last trial offered. If I had stayed to face Ryker in battle, I’d likely lose, and now that I was back in the mortal realm, I faced death anyway. But this way, I had a choice. And this choice meant Ryker wouldn’t have to live with killing me to gain the throne. At least I could give him that–a clear conscience.
Ryker would make a good leader. He’d already proven that. The glow of magic died behind me, leaving me standing alone in my apartment.
After facing those horrific trials, I no longer feared my disease, but living without the man I’d fallen for seemed like the worst kind of punishment.
I took a deep breath and looked at my apartment. It appeared untouched and exactly the same as I had left it, including the smear of blood on my living room floor. Had Becca come over that night? Had she used her key to find me gone with my blood all over? I winced. I needed to see her and make things right before my time was up.
I had made a choice.
And now I had to live with it.