Chapter 14
CHAPTER 14
Valory
Two realizations hit me at once as Endor pulled the vial away from me.
One—he had been harboring his own poison.
I reached into my pockets for mine, realizing it was gone.
Lost.
I cursed myself for being careless. Perhaps if I had kept better tabs, I could have reversed this somehow, but...
The second realization I had was that Endor had committed a sin.
And he himself said sins were not the desire, but the act of sacrifice.
Which meant Endor had a soul to give in exchange for what he’d done.
I knew as much, but he clearly did not believe so.
Until now.
And if Endor had a soul to give, he had a soul to save.
Mercy dropped as well, grasping at Miles.
“Miles!” she cried, flashing an angry gaze at Endor. “What did you do?” she asked, tears welling in her eyes.
Endor grabbed her.
She twisted in his arms, fighting him.
“What had to be done, Mercy.”
“No!” she fought his grasp as she strained for Miles. “Do something, Val!”
I realized at that moment, I was no match for the celestial poison.
I could not give him my grace without contracting some of the poison in the process, and if I did...
I would never be able to return to Heaven. To my dog, my friends, my life...
My gaze met Endor’s and I saw the pain there.
He knew this was what it would come down to. Knew that I would try to transfer my grace to the hellbound soul and it would cost me my own.
He didn’t want me to transfer my grace because it would kill me.
So, he took the choice away.
He made it so I could not save Miles without also hurting myself.
Damn him!
“The contract is broken,” he said as he shoved Mercy toward her bed.
“You are no longer hellbound,” he said to Miles, who looked as if he was on the brink of death.
“But we must find your body. Now, if you wish to live.”
Mercy stilled as Endor looked at her.
“You must assimilate,” he ordered, his jaw stern, his eyes red from tears.
“Endor...”
His words hit me like a brick.
He broke the contract. He saved Miles’s soul.
By giving up his own.
It was selfish, but it was also selfless, and I knew he had broken a celestial’s greatest law.
He had tampered with death, and it would come for him now.
Mercy ran to him, wrapping her arms around him.
“Thank you,” she cried.
The room brightened from their touch. Light engulfed them both, golden and warm.
“No, Mercedes. Thank you,” he said as he kissed her forehead. His gaze flashed up at me. “For reminding me we all have a choice.”
I watched as he pushed her once more. She did not expect it, and therefore, it was easy for her to fall.
Her bright light sparkled as she assimilated, and he ran to Miles.
I froze, unable to move.
“Stay with her,” he said, his voice commanding.
I did not want to leave him, but I could not leave her, and?—
Endor pulled me close and kissed me, hard.
I could feel the pain, the fear, and the hope etched in his kiss and it was as heartbreaking as it was beautiful.
“Guide our girl where she needs to go.” The love in his gaze was irrefutable. “Guide her home.”
And with that, Endor and Miles disappeared.
I held her hand, and in that one touch, I knew what she had chosen.
It was not Heaven, or Hell.
Death would come for her one day, as it did for everyone, and when it did, she would be ready.
She chose peace, because that was what her power always had been.
She chose life.
Her life flashed before me, from her first breath, to dancing on her father’s toes, to her first dance trophy, to her mother’s cancer, to her first kiss.
The neural pathways tangled together with her soul, and I could see it all.
I could see her and Miles, together, standing at a beautiful altar.
Her sweat-slick face contorted in pain as she breathed deep through contractions.
I could see her running her first marathon, Miles beside her, with pride on his face.
And I could see the moment the darkness came for her, at the ripe old age of ninety-three.
She did not choose Heaven or Hell. Because she had lived through both Heaven and Hell.
She chose life, and in that choice, she would live forever.
Her lost soul would find a home again, and she would live.