Because when it leaves his hand, death will come for him.
I won’t let that happen until my work is done.
Until this power has complied with my will.
“You helped give me the vengeance I sought. You kept your end of our bargain. So now, here I am, with a steady hand,” I say to him, this man who stole my heart. “And I’m giving you lacquer and gold.”
I fight against the fury and the malice. Fight against the cold darkness.
My voice builds in power as a whirlwind of energy grows around me.
“You will not be Emil anymore,” I command him, this man who stood at my side. “You will not beEnemy.”
I take another breath, shaking my head resolutely. “You will not be a demon or a dragon or a wolf or a draugr or any other supernatural creature whose form you’ve taken that did not belong to you. You will not be Diavolo and you will not beKeeper. Because if you are none of those things…”
Again, I force myself to breathe as my hands shake on the chest of this man who called me his beloved. “If you are not the keeper, then you won’t die when I take this crown.”
My right hand forms claws across his heart as the power from my left hand flows through my chest and down my right arm, and with that power, I pull and pull and pull…
I will take the malice so he can be free.
I will rip out the darkness so he can know peace.
The person I am will die so he can live.
My heart is pounding, flooding with feeling as I take back what I gave. Even after I gifted my heart’s power, I formed bonds and found my family and made peace with my enemies.
And when my heart’s power is fully mine again, I swear I will find balance. I will find a way through this cold malice.
I have to.
“I will take back the power of my heart because you won’t need it anymore,” I whisper, leaning over him as the clash of feeling and darkness becomes a storm within my mind.
A battle between my reason, my sense of justice, my intentions, and the cruelty that wants to claim me.
“You won’t need my heart’s power anymore because you will be new,” I say, pressing a final kiss to his lips, taking a final breath of his scent.
There is value in broken things.
A broken heart can lead to a new life.
“You won’t remember me,” I say. “You will have a new life with a new name that you choose. You will have only the magic you were meant to have, and you will have all the goodness and light that was taken from you.”
I sense the last threads of my heart’s power pulling away from him and now I gather all of my intentions, everything I’ve spoken, and I prepare to let them loose through my left hand at exactly the right moment.
I will have a split second to save him.
A heartbeat between taking the crown and stopping his death.
Around me, streams of power have gathered, a beautiful darkness, a snowstorm of thought and feeling, all my commands ready to be unleashed.
I take a final breath and then I roar, “I will take this crown and you will live!”
As my command leaves my lips, I slip the crown from his finger and let my intentions loose.
You are not the keeper. You are new and whole. You are good.
You will not remember me.
