Chapter Fifty #2
I stand by him, staring him down, not giving him the satisfaction of supplying him with an answer. Through all his despair, I fight the urge to smile at his fear, hoping his death will be slow and painful for what he has done to Ryder.
“There is a war coming, and you have destroyed the only hope we had. You have killed everyone. Their deaths will be on your hands.” He couldn’t be telling the truth. He is trying to mess with me even on his deathbed.
“No. You did this because you are cruel and power hungry.”
“You will burn with the world, Asha Calloway, knowing you could have stopped it.”
His last breaths are hoarse, and I swear his mouth turns into a sickly smile as the colour drains from his eyes.
Miss Worthington seems to have succumbed to the same fate.
Dead on impact. Flimsy with the way her neck snapped against the control table and left her body lifeless on the ground, along with some soldiers.
But Charlie is nowhere to be seen. The Soldark rests untouched by the destruction, sitting proudly on the floor next to Miss Worthington’s body, like it is waiting to be back in my arms. I pick it up and rest it under my arm.
I have to pause for a moment to take in the rest of the room.
Multiple screens hang on the wall, some shattered but some still in one piece.
Live surveillance of the dungeons that hold the missing Moons, the doors now cracked open.
I see Nala and watch as she tiptoes out of her cell to safety.
Thank the Gods she is okay. I breathe a little easier.
My eyes fall onto four tapes in an open box with labels on them.
‘Project Star.’ I take the box and squeeze The Soldark into it.
Something is telling me I will need these.
The rooms flash red, including my own, as an alarm rings out through the building.
‘Evacuate…. Emergency…. Self-Destruct Protocol in progress’
Ryder groans, and I rush over to him, still keeping my distance.
Blood stains his face as he twitches on the control panels.
I have to get him out of here. I rest the box on the floor next to me and work at igniting my portal, but the void appears and then fizzles out.
My power is not strong enough to get us out of here that way. The surge must have bled me dry.
“Ryder?” I call out to him, and he groans again, but I approach him with caution. “Are you okay? Can you walk?” I grip his face as he scrunches his eyebrows at me, his eyes are the same brown I am used to.
“Asha?” His voice is a low rumble and barely moves the air. It’s him. It’s really him.
“Yes, Ryder… It’s me. You’re back… thank the Gods.”
My aches and pains are numbed by the relief I feel.
“We’ve got to get out of here.” I pull him by his torn-up clothes and try to get him to his feet. His legs waver as he finds his footing, leaning into my body.
“I’m sorry,” he mumbles, his head drooping in weakness, as he holds onto my shoulder for stability. “I never wanted to hurt you.”
He winces with every step he takes, and my heart pangs. I did this to him.
“I know,” I say. “I never wanted to hurt you either.”
We take another step, but Ryder flinches away from me, making me jump.
He screams and drops to his knees, holding his head in pain. I kneel before him, my knees bloodied from the glass.
“What is it?” I hold his shoulders and try to lock eyes with him. That’s when I see it. A flicker of purple in the midst of the darkness.
“Ryder?” I ask, in denial of the serum taking hold of him again.
His muscles strain as the purple rings reignite.
“It’s too fucking strong.” His knuckles clench into fists as the serum courses through his veins.
“NO! NO! NO!” I scream, agony sharpening my words as my heart breaks again. “This can’t be happening… You have to fight this,” I beg and watch the light in his eyes flicker in torment. My vision blurs with the streams of tears that cloud it.
“I told you to kill me!” he shouts as he backs away from me.
“I CAN’T KILL THE PERSON I LOVE!” I shout back.
“Well, neither can I.”
He grabs a shard of glass off the floor and plunges it through his heart. It’s so quick, I don’t have time to react.
“NOOOOOOOOO!” I scream, a part of me pierced along with him.
My soul aches at the thought of being without him.
“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?” I frantically remove the shard and place my hands over his wound to stop the bleeding, but the blood seeps through my fingers and stains my hands.
Time seems to pause as I watch the life slowly drain out of him.
I close my eyes and try to heal him, picturing his wounds closing up, but when I open my eyes, the blood keeps spewing, flowing like a sick waterfall.
“I can’t bring you back,” I cry helplessly into his chest.
The light in his eyes dims as time passes, his warmth fading against my trembling hands.
A choked sob escapes my lips as I kneel next to him, his head in my lap.
His breath becomes shallow, each staggered release of air like a stab to my heart.
I focus on my energy again, but the more I try, the emptier I feel.
“It’s okay. Let me go,” he lets out between breaths as blood begins to pool from his lips. The same lips I had dreamt of kissing for so long. Tears stream down my face in an uncontrollable storm, like a rain cloud bursting over me.
“I-I won’t. I-I can’t.” My tears fall onto him and roll down his cheeks like they are his own. I clutch onto him tight, hoping he won’t slip away. I love him more than anything. He can’t do this to me. He can’t betray me like this.
“Oriah, do something!” I call out to her, but the silence that follows speaks for itself. There is nothing she can do.
His eyes meet mine as the blood drains from him, a lingering gaze that speaks a thousand words, an unfinished love poem etched in their depths.
“I love you, stalker.” Then his eyes close, and the world falls silent, leaving me alone in the wreckage of a love that could have been.
“I love you too.”