A second war will break Forevermore.
War was beginning. Forevermore had been found, and I knew the Warden wouldn’t keep it a secret. He would announce to the world that the Elves were still alive, and I was certain that the discovery of their existence would plummet the supernatural world into calamity once again.
We’d failed.I’dfailed. And as the Warden claimed his victory, I recalled what he’d done to Charlie… how he’d nearly ended the life of the man I adored, because he was connected tome.
I looked at Charlie’s broken form, slumped over Oberi, and loved him more than ever. It was then that my thoughts sickened with the worst truth I could ever face.
I couldn’t be with Charlie. I couldn’t be his Empress, or have his kids. I couldn’t even love him like he deserved to be loved.
This prophecy would always get in the way. And now there was more on the line than losing him. His dad was right. If Charlie died, the royal Elven line would die out. The Elves would be without a ruler— and a savior. They’d never reach heaven. It’d be like sentencing their race to death, right after they’d managed to survive their first genocide.
I couldn’t do that to an entire supernatural empire. And more importantly, I couldn’t do that to Charlie. It was wrong to take his family away from him— the family he’d wanted and craved, hell, the family he had evencried overfor the past twenty years of his life. Now he had to find that family all over again.
There were thousands of Elves that needed him more than me— people that were now refugees from the Warden’s wrath. And he needed them, too.
I’d promised to burn down the world if it meant saving Charlie. But I’d never thought that I’d have to abandon what was between us in order to keep him safe. The world, the prophecy, they weren’t the problem.
Iwas. There’d always be people who would come for me, the Warden or otherwise. I’d pick being with Charlie over rescuing the supernatural world a million times over, but as I saw now, my destiny wasn’t going to let me go. One piece of my prophecy had already come true, and there would be more, and more, until we were at the end and all that was standing around me was ashes.
I thought I could abandon my quest in order to preserve what was between Charlie and me, but now I saw that was a futile effort. I was destined to either save this world or destroy it, and at the end of the day, that sacrifice always included Charlie. That wasn’t right to put him through. Not after everything he’d endured. He’d suffered enough. I wasn’t about to be another catalyst for his agony. I loved him too much to be the source of his pain.
He was fated to be a dark prince. I wouldnotbe his curse.
My insides twisted, and a feeling like death came over me at the thought of what IknewI had to do, but I refused to let myself crumble under the torture. I’d made my decision— though it tore me up to do it.
Yet it didn’t agonize me as much as the thought of Charlie dead. And that’s what I clung to. I’d accept it if Charlie was sad, in pain— miserable, even.
But I would not have him gone from this Earth. Broken or not, he’d still be alive.
Whether my heart was still beating at the conclusion of this prophecy remained to be seen. I hardly cared. I knew my fate, and I was doing thismy way.
If I had no choice but to go through the worst pain of my life, it wouldn’t go unjustified. The Warden had lost any chance of forgiveness from me the moment he’d dared to harm my Charlie, and by the ancestors, his actions weren’t going to go unpunished. One day, the Warden was going to pay for everything he’d ripped from me.
I’d celebrate when I was laughing over his corpse. The Warden thought he could take awaymyworld? Fine.
I’d end his.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Charlie
Having your life force sucked out of you wasn’t something I wished upon my worst enemy. My whole life seemed to flash in front of me— every memory, every trauma played out for me to relive. I witnessed everything, starting with the soft feel of the teddy bear I’d been given at my first foster home, the weight of the toy in my arms, and the squish of it as I hugged it close.
The rest of my life seemed to play out in detail. The screams from my foster parents echoed in my ears. The bullying from kids taunted me. The memories of sexual assault as I’d had to sell myself to survive churned my guts.
Then came the memory of Ava. The blazing hatred I once felt for her shook my body, but it quickly shifted into intense passion and desire. The one thing that tore me to bits above all else was the thought of losing her. I was going to die at the hands of the Warden. There was no fighting it.
I should have expected this. I’d lost everything else. Nothing stuck around forever— not even Forevermore. And certainly not Ava. Certainly not this life with her.
I felt as if I’d aged decades in a matter of seconds. When I tried to move, my joints ached and protested. Fatigue washed over me, and my chest hammered like I was having a heart attack. I tried to breathe, but even my Air magic couldn’t save me.
In a blink, it was over. For a moment, I thought I had actually died. Then the air returned to my lungs, and I gasped.
I had a vague memory of getting to my feet after the Warden’s torture, but it was all so fuzzy. I remembered breaking my father’s arm to get to Ava. I hadn’t meant to injure him, even though I was hurt he’d never been there for me. A part of me thought I could learn to accept his reasons— even accepthim— once I had a chance to truly process everything. Though I felt awful about what I’d done, I didn’t regret it. I’d said I’d do anything for Ava, and I meant it.
I woke up in the infirmary several days later, though I didn’t know where I was, at first. I felt as if I’d been trampled by a stampede of dragons as I pushed myself upright. My fingers trailed over the sheet covering me, and footsteps came from the other end of the large room. I inhaled the scent of disinfectant and realized I was back at the Institute, somewhere in the infirmary.
Beside me, Oberi barked. He jumped onto my bed and licked my hand.
