Page 151 of The Star's Sword

Like before, when I’d come to get Zadis, light was streaming from me, and as I moved toward Samael, or what I thought was Samael, the light from me reached to him.

Like Zadis, he was fading at the edges, as he moved further into the void.

As I reached him, and my light wrapped around him, my heart fractured as I looked down into his face.

It was half gone. In fact half of all of him was gone, like he’d been split in half and was still smearing away at the edges, little particles of him falling away as we moved.

My light worked around him, as it had with Zadis, but it couldn’t seem to bring him back.

His face moved and his eye opened and warmed when he saw me.

A smile lit his face, despite him being able to see the condition he was in as he floated. My arms were wrapped around him, even though there was not much left of him to hold.

His one arm wrapped around me, and I could still feel him disintegrating. “You shouldn’t have come, Morningstar.” His hand found my hair, holding me close, tight, like I held him, like neither of us ever wanted to let go.

“I did it, Samael,” I said, tears falling from my eyes, heart stinging. “I did it for you.”

“I can see that,” he said, eye closing and body relaxing slightly as he held me close. “Thank you, Cleo. You’ve made my dreams come true.”

We were still flying, and he was still disintegrating.

“You shouldn’t have come,” he said. Even as particles of his face flew away, I was memorizing all of his features. The way it felt when he looked at me. Everything that was us.

It wasn’t fair we’d had to give this up for the world.

“I couldn’t not come, mate,” I said, brushing through what was left of his hair. “I love you, with everything I am. If the world is saved, let me stay here with you.”

“I’m going to disappear,” he said. “My ninth realm side is destroyed, and there isn’t enough matter left to sustain life.”

“No,” I choked out, holding on like I could still save him. My light continued to wrap around him. “I’m the Morningstar. You just need to agree to come back with me.”

“Cleo, there’s nothing to come back with,” he said, pulling back to look me in the eyes, as his face continued to move away in tiny specks.

Gods, they were taking everything that meant everything to me, bit by bit.

“You have to let me go,” he said, eyes pained as he studied me like letting me go was the last thing he wanted. His hand held me tight. “I love you, Cleo. I always will. I’ll be watching over you. And I’m proud of you. I’m glad you did what you did, I want you to know that.”

“Don’t talk like that,” I said, burying my face against what was left of his chest. I felt so safe there. I wanted to hold him and feel safe forever.

Nothing would ever be okay again.

It was a new world for everyone, but my new world had come when Samael met me, and now it was about to end.

I couldn’t let it.

“I’m going with you,” I said, as I felt Samael try to detach.

“We’re going too far into the void,” he said, somewhat panicked now. “You need to go.” His voice was fading now, even.

“No,” I said, holding onto him. “Where you go, I go. I kept my promise to you, now don’t expect me to live without you by my side.” I focused, trying to let my light envelop him again. “Come on, work. Why isn’t it working?”

“I would take you back if I could, Morningstar,” Samael said. “I’d take you back and see you safe.” He wrapped his arm around me, and my heart was so at home that I would have died just to stay in that moment forever.

He was my home.

He was my everything.

I closed my eyes and prayed for a miracle.

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