I'm giving up Maximus.
The ring presses against my chest beneath my shirt. His signet ring, his father's ring, the one Luciano stole and Maximus killed to reclaim. Six hundred years of legacy given to me with shaking hands and a vulnerability I don't think he's ever shown anyone. I'm wearing his claim, his promise, his heart, and I'm walking away from him.
"Do we have a deal?" I ignore Maximus, keep my eyes on Konstantin. If I look at Maximus now, I'll break.
The vampire smiles. "We have a deal."
"NO!" Maximus tries to reach me, but the guards hold him back. I hear the sounds of struggle, of violence, of a six-hundred-year-old vampire fighting with desperate fury. "Celeste, you can't, I won't let you!"
"You don't get to let me." I finally look at him, and it takes everything I have to keep my voice steady.
His face.
I will remember his face for the rest of eternity, however long that turns out to be. The anguish. The rage. The helpless love that's tearing him apart because he can't protect me, can't save me, can't stop me from making this choice.
"This is my choice," I tell him. "My decision."
"You promised! Not like this. Not to save me!"
"Not just you. Everyone." I hold his gaze, trying to pour everything I feel into the look. Every moment we've shared. Every kiss, every touch, every whispered conversation in the dark. The future we were supposed to have, paintings by firelight, centuries together, a love that would outlast empires.
I'm giving it up. I'm giving it all up.
"I love you," I say. "That doesn't change. But I won't let them die when I can stop it."
"I'll come for you." His voice breaks, and the sound shatters something in my chest. I've never heard him sound like this. Desperate. Destroyed. "I'll find you. I'll burn down everything he has until I get you back."
"I know." I almost smile. Almost. "I'm counting on it."
Konstantin snaps his fingers. "Valentina. Make the call."
Valentina steps away, phone to her ear. A moment later: "It's done. Forces are pulling back."
The compound will survive. Marcellus will survive. Elena. Nadia. Julian. Everyone I've come to care about. They'll live because I made this choice.
It has to be worth it. It has to be.
"Excellent." Konstantin extends a hand to me. "Shall we?"
I don't take his hand. But I step toward him, away from Maximus, away from everything we've built together.
Each step feels like walking through water. My body doesn't want to go. Every instinct screams at me to turn around, to run back to Maximus, to fight our way out together, even if it means everyone at the compound dies.
But I keep walking. Because I'm not just a fighter anymore. I'm part of something larger. And the people I care about are depending on me to make the hard choice.
"Celeste." Maximus's voice is ragged. "Please."
I don't look back. I can't. If I look back, I'll see his face again, and I'll break, and I'll run to him, and people will die.
"Take care of them," I say instead. "Take care of the network. And don't stop looking for me."
"Never," he swears. "Never."
Konstantin's hand closes around my arm. His grip is proprietary. Possessive. Like I'm a prize he's finally won after a long campaign.
I suppose I am.
"Come," he says, voice silky with triumph. "We have so much to discuss. Starting with what really happened in Rome."
