She doesn’t speak. She just strides forward, grabs a fistful of his collar, and drives her dagger into the flesh between his neck and shoulder.
Maldrak’s scream rivals that of the cannons. A thunderous, chaotic thing.
But Jax doesn’t want his screams; she wants his pain.
She jabs her fist into his jaw, once. Twice.
Because some wars are fought with swords. And some require a woman’s bare, shaking hands.
The crack of splitting bones and rattling teeth rip through the chamber. He spits blood onto the stone, laughing through the pain, and it’s that sound—that laugh—that shatters whatever restraint Jax had left.
“I fucking loved you,” she hisses, voice shaking with grief and fury. But she’s not just unleashing her fury—she’s emptying herself of a decade of pain and guilt. She’s ridding herself of every fucked up thought, every time she’s missed him, every regret, every memory.
And I understand.
Kael doesn’t stop her. None of us do.
“I should’ve died with them,” she whispers. “It would’ve been a mercy compared to living with the guilt of helping you—oflovingyou.”
Jax’s words hang there, trembling between us, and the chamber goes utterly still.
Even the flames in the sconces seem to recoil, shrinking low as if ashamed to bear witness.
Maldrak’s blood drips onto the stones, each drop echoing like a clocktower counting down to something holy or damned.
Kael’s jaw locks. Teddy’s hands go white around his axe.
No one speaks.
Because grief that old doesn’t need an answer—it just needs to be seen.
And in that silence, I realize Jax isn’t trying to punish him anymore.
She’s trying to forgive herself—and gods, that might be the hardest war any of us ever have to face.
Ronyn’s arms wrap around Jax in the kind of embrace that heals. The kind of embrace that says a thousand words.I see you. I don’t judge you. I accept you. I’m here for you.
Ronyn has always loved with his whole heart—big, loud, unflinching in the face of darkness.
Her body shakes and trembles with the grief of it all, her dagger still slick with blood.
“You can’t end him, Jaxxy,” Ronyn murmurs into her hair, pressing a kiss there. His hand wraps gently around hers, stilling the trembling hand that craves blood.
Her shaky exhale breaks into a sob against Ronyn’s chest.
“Always so predictable, Jaxxy,” Maldrak croons from the stone floor, blood smearing his teeth giving him an unhinged, maniacal expression. “Those emotions of yours—so passionate, so explosive. So easy to twist to my every whim, my darling.”
I suck in a sharp breath at his taunting, baiting words.We all do.
But Jax narrows her eyes, tilting her chin up to meet Ronyn’s gaze.
“Let’s fucking finish this,” she snarls through gritted teeth, harnessing her grief into primal, unadulterated rage.
“That’s my girl,” Ronyn says low and deep through his lop-sided smirk.
And the chamber takes its first breath in what feels like an eternity.
“I’m ready,” Seren announces with a voice that doesn’t sound like hers. Not meek. Not mild.Powerful.Ancient.Otherworldly.
