Kai
Her body becomes limp in my arms, and something inside of me breaks. The agony is excruciating. I feel it, her soul ebbing away as the pain that has been plaguing my body eases. No… no!
“Sira, no…” I whisper– no, I’m fucking begging. Kneeling in the ruins, simply holding her body as her heartbeat fades, and I can’t do anything.
What is life without her? Why should I live without her?
“Kai… live on, for me. Be the king you were destined to be.”
For her… a life with no happiness, one where the sky has shattered and darkness shall forever remain? I want to be selfish. Fuck, I don’t want to live without her. There’s no purpose.
“She’s dead. Does it mean I’m cursed now?” one of her miserable sisters whines, but for the first time, I’m unable to muster any rage. Something inside me has completely shattered. I’m simply broken as I gaze at the woman I love.
I failed her...
There’s no home without her.
I pull her into my chest as everyone remains silent, simply watching, but I don’t care. I just want her back.
She sacrificed herself because of the curse – for me.
Never in my life have I felt such agony. Not when I was tortured, not when my mother died, never. But in this moment, it’s as if I have lost a part of me, and when I feel her heart stop racing, it feels as if my own will stop too.
I have never cried, not in the last century, but tears now threaten to fall.
Emotions I never thought I was capable of feeling any longer return.
Sadness, hopelessness, loss…
They tear through me like a storm that refuses to ease.
I close my eyes and bury my face against her shoulder. Her skin is cold, her weight too still. What I would give to feel her move again, to hear her laugh, to have her look at me. What I would do, what I would destroy, if it meant she could live.
My hand finds hers, limp around the dagger still lodged in her chest. My throat burns as I curl my fingers around the hilt and pull it free with a trembling hand. The blade slides out slick with her blood, blood that never should have been spilt.
My eyes blur as I hold her tighter. Someone says something, but I can’t hear them properly.
She can’t be gone.
Sira…
“You need to return her to the ocean,” a voice murmurs, butit sounds distant.
“NO!” The word rips out of me as I lash out at whoever tries to touch me. They try to take her from me, but I refuse to let her go. “No!” I snarl again, clutching her against me like the world itself is trying to steal her away.
I fight them until they stop. But there’s nothing I can do for her but hold her and whisper her name. I am useless, helpless.
A single tear slips from my face and falls onto her chest. It lands where the dagger had been buried. I stare at it through blurred eyes. She took her life for me…
For a heartbeat, the world stands still, and then she jerks in my arms, gasping.
Her eyes fly open, bright and alive, and her chest rises in a sudden, shuddering breath.
The crowd murmurs, but I can’t move. I can only stare, my heart pounding so hard it hurts, wondering if I’ve finally been driven to madness.
I pull her into my lap, cradling her as though she’s made of glass.
Whether you’re here or not… I’ll live in this illusion. I kiss her forehead, her cheeks, her hair, anywhere my lips can reach.
