Ava stood in the doorway, watching him. The Manhattan skyline painted him in shades of gold and shadow, and for a moment he looked exactly like what he was: something ancient, something powerful, something that had been carrying weight for centuries longer than she’d been alive.
“I’ve been thinking,” he said without turning around.
“About?”
“About how to end this. Really end it. Not just buy time or delay the inevitable.” He was quiet for a moment. “There’s an option I haven’t mentioned.”
Something cold moved through Ava’s chest. “What option?”
“I could offer myself to Marchosias.” He turned to face her, and his expression was carefully blank. “A century of service. Maybe two. Whatever it takes to clear the debt and release your parents from all contracts.”
“No.”
“Ava…”
“Absolutely not.” She crossed the room, stopping just short of touching him. “That’s not an option. That’s you throwing yourself away.”
“It’s a transaction. My service for their freedom. Marchosias would accept; I have skills he’d value. And it’s cleaner than trying to fight him in demon court, where we might lose anyway.”
“Cleaner.” The word tasted bitter. “You’d give up a century, two centuries, and you’re calling it clean?”
“I’m immortal. What’s a century to me?”
“What’s a century?” Her voice shook. “It’s a hundred years of you being someone’s property. A hundred years of me feeling your misery through this bond. A hundred years of us being separated while you serve a Duke of Hell.”
“The bond would persist. I’d make sure of that. You’d still feel me…”
“Feel you suffering. Feel you trapped. Feel you getting further away every single day until I’m dead and you’re still paying for a debt that was never yours to begin with.”
Victor flinched. He absorbed the words like blows—she felt each one land.
“Your parents…”
“Would never forgive me if I let you do this.” She grabbed his face with both hands, forcing him to look at her. “And I wouldn’t forgive myself.”
“Then what?” His voice cracked. “What do we do? Fight Marchosias directly? Petition demon court? Hope that a Duke of Hell decides our case has merit?”
“Yes. All of that. Whatever it takes that doesn’t involve you martyring yourself.”
“You don’t understand.” He pulled away from her hands, turning back to the window. “This is what I do, Ava. This is what I’ve always done. When something threatens the people I—” He stopped. Started again. “When something threatens what I’ve built, I solve it. I pay the price. I make the sacrifice so no one else has to.”
“And what about what I want?”
He stopped pacing.
“What about what I need?” She moved to stand beside him, looking out at the same skyline. “You’re standing here talking about giving up a century of your life like it’s nothing. Like the time we’d lose doesn’t matter. Like I’m just… what? An obligation you’re trying to fulfill?”
“That’s not what I…”
“Then what?” She turned to face him. “Because from where I’m standing, it sounds like you’d throw away everything we’ve built without a second thought. Like this—” she gestured between them, “—is just a problem you’re trying to solve.”
Through the bond, she felt his shock. His hurt. And underneath it, something raw and terrified that he’d been trying very hard not to let her see.
“I claimed you before the soul bond,” he said finally. “Kissed you before any magic forced my hand. I chose you, Ava. Every step of the way.”
“And now you’d choose a century of servitude over fighting beside me.”
“To save your family…”
