And the worst part? He wasn’t wrong. He never lied. I was the one who built a future out of hope he never promised me.
“I thought he was wrong. The moon sent you to me. I am cursed to not know who my mate is, so I thought when you showed up, that it was fate telling me.” I looked up at him.
Abram swallowed hard as he stared at me.
“My curse is unfolding in front of me. I fell in love with you just for fate to take you away from me.”
Abram’s shoulders fell as he looked defeated. Suddenly, Nyxthra appeared behind him in a cloud of shadows, her form rising like smoke with teeth. Her eyes snapped straight to mine, cold and ancient and furious, and the world around us thinned.
Leave,she told me.
Her voice wasn’t sound. It was pressure inside my skull, pushing, twisting, trying to pry me away from him. But if I left, if I turned my back now, I would lose him forever.
He is not yours, she hissed.
"Nyxthra, please help me." I begged her.
Abram's mouth fell open at my plea.
Her power pulsed outward in a violent ripple that lifted the hair off my shoulders and sent dust spiraling across the ground. My breath caught as her darkness wrapped around me, sinking its teeth into the edges of my mind.
My eyes clouded black. I could feel her digging her claws into my thoughts, dragging herself up through my ribs like she wanted to wear my skin for me. My veins pulsed with her power, streaking black beneath my flesh as she tried to take over—tried to shield me from this heartbreak the only way she knew how.
By erasing me.
“Elowyn, don't do this. I think we both need to take the night to process what is happening.”
I scoffed, the sound cracking like lightning. “You found your mate, and you completely forgot about me within a span of hours. There is nothing to process.”
“Please, there is so much to talk about.” He stepped closer to me. “We can talk in the morning. I will still go to the coven with you and make this right.”
It had been well over an hour. It was too late. Too godsdamn late.Add it to the list of shit taken from me in my life.
Something inside me twisted. My breathing came harsh and uneven as Nyxthra’s power surged through my veins, staining them darker, making my teeth ache, making my hands shake with the urge to destroy something. Someone. Him.
I stared at him, at the man I loved, the man who forgot me like I was nothing, and the realization hit me like a blade sliding between my ribs.
This was my fault. I let it get this far. I let myself believe in something I was never meant to have. Greedy. Just like my mother. The same disgusting sickness my mother left in me.
Abram looked devastated as he watched me unravel. He didn’t deserve this. He didn’t deserve my fury… but gods, I couldn’t stop it. Nyxthra wouldn’t let me.
“You didn’t do anything wrong.” I wiped the tears from my cheeks, anger shaking through me like a storm. “You said you would stick by me until you met your mate, and you met her.”
“El, please.” He took another step toward me.
I couldn’t stand the sound of my name in his mouth. I couldn’t stand being close to him when he wasn’t mine.
I reached forward and gripped the coven key on the chain around his neck, yanking it so hard it snapped free. His breath hitched.
“What are you doing?” he said, panicked.
Nyxthra’s shadows swirled around my feet, rising up my back like wings.
“I, Elowyn Ashgrave, release you, Abram, God of Fates, from this marriage. May all ties be severed, and may the moon goddess forgive me for not accepting her gift.”
Pain lanced through me, hot and sharp, as my marriage bond cracked and tore. I groaned as it snapped clean.
“No.” Abram grabbed my arm. “Stop it. I didn’t say I wanted a divorce.”
