It detonated.
The whole of Aurathia seemed to scream.
The bond convulsed.
The air cracked like a dying star.
The other five Faction members' marks shattered—not by design, but by the backlash.
Ambrose died instantly.
Merritt and Bren fell gasping.
Zenon and Larkin crawled to her, reaching—and collapsed.
The realm trembled.
Lexith, Cassian, Viktar, and Soren crumpled to the floor trying to reach their queen. Her faithful Varruk warrior and Fellat dying before they could stop me.
The ancestral tether broke.
My attempt to save her went horribly wrong.
Lilibet hit her knees, face streaked with tears. “Kratos,” she whispered, touching the bodies. “You killed them.”
“I tried to save you,” he pleaded. “I did it for you.”
She looked up at him with a heartbreak so deep it carved itself into my bones. “Kratos… love was never the realm’s enemy. But your fear was.”
He—I—reached for her.
She stood. Her abilities rising around her—silver, cold, holy.
“Then curse me,” he said, choking. “If it keeps you alive—curse me.”
Her lips trembled. “I don’t curse out of hatred,” she shook her head, tears pouring down her cheeks. “I curse out of knowing.”
Lightning cracked overhead, shadows writhing on the ground. She placed her hand over his heart. “You will return in every lifetime,” she spoke softly. “You will remember me too late. You will find me only in rebirth. And the girl who carries my soul?—”
The dream trembled.
Her face blurred?—
Reverie’s face phasing through it like a ghost.
“—will see all of it when the time is right.”
My breath caught.
“And Kratos,” she finished, tears still falling, “When she remembers what you did… only will a great sacrifice make things right.”
The dream shattered?—
And I woke up screaming.
This changed everything. I knew what needed to be done.
Chapter 33
