“You can’t be the only one accomplishing the impossible. I need to be there right alongside you.” I grabbed her hand. “Ask it, and it’s yours.”
There was silence, before Ava slowly drew her hand away. “Casey showed me a vision.”
I struggled to comprehend what she’d said. “He’s only a few months old.”
“Which shows how powerful he is already. Naderei gain their abilities long before they become adults, and Casey is already prophesying.”
“How?” I didn’t understand that this was possible.
“I’m not sure. I don’t understand seer magic, but he touched my face, and he showed me a vision of the future. One with two very different paths.”
“And what did you see?” My senses melted away, and I lost all feeling as I understood that whatever she’d foreseen, it meant something bitter for us.
“In the first vision, I was on the throne ruling as Empress. It was the end of the war, and we’d beaten the Warden. You were holding Casey, and both of you were alive. Everyone we loved made it out, and the world was at peace.”
I managed to open my dry mouth. “And in the second?”
“I clung to you. I tried to make a family with you and Casey, and tried to work things out in our marriage. That ended up ruining everything.” Ava stuttered on the words, gasping as if she was drowning. “I saw the Warden destroy it all. All of our friends and family were dead before he turned on us. Then he killed us in one blast. There weren’t any survivors.”
Oh, gods. Oberi sounded absolutely wrecked.
Ava had stolen the air from my lungs and turned it to shards that cut me whenever I inhaled. “You’re sure you can trust these visions? Could they be a mistake, something Casey created he didn’t intend for you to see?”
“There were no other alternatives. I’ve experienced visions from the Elvish goddesses, and this one was more prominent. Casey wasn’t putting his opinions onto me, because he’s a baby. He doesn’t understand what any of this means. He’s just a conduit from the gods, to give me a warning about the future so I can make a decision.”
“What have you decided?” I already knew. I just needed to hear her speak it aloud, so I could give my heart another reason to break.
“I know we want to stay together. But we need to make a logical decision, not an emotional one.” Ava’s throat cracked. “We need to divorce. For good this time. We have to sign these papers and we can’t be together, because it’s the only way to save our baby. To be safe, you two have to get out of my life entirely. Once we’re back from the afterlife and have obtained help from the mutabeecha, I can never see either of you ever again.”
What a completely demolished existence we’d both live. I was sad for myself… but I mourned for her. “Are you certain that’s what you want?”
“It’s not what I want. It’s what has to be done.” Her sigh was excruciating. “I do love you, Charlie. You’re the love of my life. You always have been. I want us to work things out, to be a family somehow. But after what Casey showed me, I know that’s not possible. Not if I want to save your life.”
I knew better than to doubt the powers of a naderei. Maddie’s prophecies had all come true, despite everything we’d done to avoid them over the years. Trying to change what my son had foretold would only lead to more pain, and I was done with fighting fate. Oberi’s sentiments agreed with me, though it destroyed him to do so.
Still, though. I didn’t like how defeated Ava sounded. She didn’t quit even when the rest of us had, and I needed to remind her of that. “There might be two endings to this war, but there could be multiple ways to get there. What if there’s an option for you to get the outcome you want without having to give up who you are, and everything that makes you the incredible person you’ve become?”
“I can’t be the ruthless Empress I need to be and still be part of this family. It’s too big of a distraction.” Her fingers trembled as she placed them over mine. “I’m one woman. I can’t do, or have it all.”
“But you can. You’re Ava. You can do whatever you want to, and there’s nothing that’ll be able to hold you back.” I grasped her hand tightly. “I don’t want you to doubt yourself. I still believe there isn’t a force on Earth or in the heavens that can prevent you from having everything you wish for, and if you let it come to you instead of fighting it, everything will work out in the end.”
“I want there to be another way, Charlie. But I can’t be his mother, or your wife. I’m being forced to become something bigger now.”
She truly believed it. There wasn’t anything I could say to convince her otherwise, because her mind was made up, and the whole world wouldn’t be able to divert Ava from her path once she’d decided upon it. “If we’re not together, what happens to Casey?”
“He needs to go to you. I’ll sign away my rights to him, and you can be his sole parent.”
“Ava, think about what you’re giving up.” She didn’t even want visitation?
“If he’s in my life at all I won’t be able to do this. You’ve proven to me you can take care of him. So do this for me, and take him. Raise him to be better than both of us were.”
I couldn’t agree to that, because I didn’t think I had the capability, but I’d damn well try. If Casey was the only piece of Ava that I’d get to keep, I’d do my damndest to make sure he turned out to be the best of us.
We’d tried, and tried, until we couldn’t try anymore, and we’d attempted to resuscitate this marriage until it’d fallen completely apart and there were no more pieces to salvage. It was nobody’s fault. Sometimes, you both gave your all to save a relationship, and it still crumbled anyway.
Oberi nudged me through the bond, told me it was okay. I knew it was, even though this was tearing me up inside.
Ava sniffed. “I don’t want to go through lawyers, or a mediator?—”
