I’ll never be able to live without her now.
“It changes everything,” she sobs and tangles her fingers into my shirt. “Don’t you get it? If Barrett killed them, it means… It—I have to—you—” she starts, not able to get the words out and shaking her head frantically.
The paper falls to the floor and I tangle my hands in her hair, stopping her growing panic. I’m barely keeping mine at bay as the pieces click together.
It’s obvious. So fucking obvious.
“An eye for an eye, a life for a life,” I murmur, heart racing, “That’s what will end the curse.”
Could it be true? Is that not any other way?
I have to potentially trade my life for Renata’s safety—to protect Sybil and the rest of the coven. Because of a jealous man’s anger a century ago, I have to balance the scales.
Sobbing, Renata grabs my hands and lifts them back to her cheeks. I’m numb to our surroundings, not realizing they fell from her body. I take on my earlier position, holding her face so I can stare down at it through my own silent tears.
“I’ll do it,” I say.
It’s not even a choice. I would do anything for Renata, but with Sybil’s safety also in the equation, it’s the only right answer.
“But I… I can’t,” she admits and drops her head to my chest. “If I do it, then I won’t be here much longer. I can’t live with that, Archer. Iwon’t.”
She’s the only living Blackthorn witch with spirit magic. It has to be her.
Fuck.
Holding her, it takes a long moment for her words to process through my hazy brain. When they do, I roughly pull her back to look at me and forcefully say, “That’s not an option. Fuck no.”
With a fresh wave of defiance, she says, “You couldn’t stop me.”
As the blow lands, her face crumples and she begins crying harder. There are some garbled words, most likely apologies for hersharp-tongue. I try my best to comfort her, kissing her head and shushing her, until her breaths begin to slow.
Once she’s relaxed, leaning all of her weight onto me, I place a soft kiss on her temple and murmur, “I will do anything I need to do to protect you and Sybil. The coven. Please,” I say and slip my hand to the nape of her neck, “you could live a happy,longlife, Renata. We saw how full Cordelia’s was. You could have that.”
She pulls back, glaring at me. “No.No,” she spits out. “I don’t want that with you. Not after finding you. If we do this, Archer, I will die with you.”
“Renata,” I whisper and close my eyes. The thought of her life ending scares me more than my own. When I think about it from her perspective, there wouldn’t be any moving on for me either. Leaving only one option… “Then don’t fight this. If all we have is this short life together, then let us have it, Little Wisp.”
Letting out a deep sigh, she watches me for a moment before nodding.
A fucking nod.
“I want you—now that I know what it’s like to be with you, the only option is to follow you into the afterlife when the time comes.”
Her words are like a dagger to my heart, but there’s a selfish, possessive part of me that loves the idea of eternity with her rather than the possibility of someone else getting her love after me.
“Let us have this,” I plead against her lips.
With another bob of her head, she slips her hands up my chest and pulls me down to kiss her. It’s a rough clash of our mouths, as desperate as our desire to change our fate. All of the need, affection, and dread manifesting through this kiss and bonding us together through the reality of our situation.
“I need you,” she whispers and pulls away to look at me. “All of you.”
Chapter 37
Renata
My quiet demand rings through the air between us. Archer looks frozen in place, like he isn’t sure what exactly my words mean. It would be quite comical if I wasn’t so desperate for him.
“Archer,” I say, “If we only get this, then I want all of it—and I want you to have all of me.”
