Chapter 2
Chapter
Two
“No…” I shouted. “Torin?”
I crawled back to the edge of the abyss and looked down, my heart pounding.
There was only darkness. Torin could have fallen to his death.
I shook my head. I didn’t want to think about that.
Torin might have been injured, but he’d climb back up.
I refused to believe that I was responsible for another person’s death.
The count kept growing.
I placed a dirty, scraped palm over my heart. It was déjà vu all over again for me—Uncle Derek, the warrior at the annual winter hunt, Lisa, and now Hayden and Torin.
I couldn’t believe how selfish I was for bringing my mates here, risking their lives and mine. For what? To discover my connection to the witch books and why I was human? My purpose to find out my identity had cost people’s lives.
I’d ignored all warning bells and logic and came here with my mates, despite knowing the dark witch would wait for us.
Whenever I went on a mission to unravel the mystery of my human heritage, prove myself to the supernaturals, or find out more about my link to the witch books, someone died. It was as if someone didn’t want me to know who I was and what I could be capable of.
The gray mist that followed the witch had lifted around us at the graveyard, but the bright sky had turned darker with approaching storm clouds. I inhaled deeply and filled my lungs with an ozone-like scent. It wasn’t a storm that was coming, but a hurricane.
Cordelia stood across the massive hole. Her sickening grin told me she had more destruction and pain in store for me. My body felt as heavy as a tank, and I was reaching my limit.
The dark witch placed her hands on her hips and tilted her head to the side, watching me with so much intent that the little hairs on the back of my neck rose.
“I can’t take the bracelet off your arm. The protection spell on it was a smart thing to do,” she said and made a humpth sound deep in her throat, “and you’re not cooperating, so here’s what we’re going to do.”
She dropped her hands to her sides and then clapped them together. My blood turned to ice in my veins. I had a bad feeling about this.
“Now, one of your mates will join the spirit realm, child. And you get to choose which one,” she said.
I drew in a ragged breath, the heavy air scorching my throat like a mouthful of hot coals.
Cordelia's voice wound through the stillness, her words an incantation that echoed off the cold tombstones. Her hands moved in a swift, graceful arc, and as if obeying her silent command, two colossal headstones erupted from the moist earth with a resonating thud that vibrated through my bones.
The tombstones, massive as boulders, hung suspended in midair. They were precariously balanced by Cordelia's magic—a dangerous dance between the earthly and supernatural. The sight was both awe-inspiring and terrifying.
“Now, Princess,” she said with an eerie calmness that sent shivers down my spine. “You choose your mate. One dies. The other lives.” She paused for effect before adding with a cruel smile, "Or both die."
My heart pounded against my rib cage like a trapped bird desperate for escape. This wasn’t just about choosing who I loved more—it was about deciding who would live or die at the hands of this manipulative witch.
The weight of my decision bore down on me like those levitating tombstones, oppressive and immovable. I was caught in an impossible situation where every choice seemed wrong.
I looked from one floating tombstone to another—each representing a life I held dear—and gulped down the overwhelming fear threatening to choke me. This was no longer just about love—it was about survival.
Cordelia talked as if she knew Torin was still alive, probably barely holding on to dear life with his claws.
A glance at Hayden told me that he was also still barely alive.
Although blood dripped at the edge of his mouth onto his chin and neck, his leg and arm muscles twitched and his eyes switched between open and shut.
The dark witch was determined to send one or both of my mates to the spirit realm.
I didn’t know much about it, only that it was the realm where the soul wandered before descending or ascending as it left the body.
Any human or supernatural creature who possessed a soul would pass through the spirit realm.
The spirit realm was where it didn’t matter if one was a human or a supernatural—it only mattered how one lived their life. The soul could be trapped in the spirit realm for a long time, like when a person was in a coma or only passed by instantly when the person died immediately.
The dark witch would throw a massive boulder either over Hayden’s chest, killing him, or down the dark hole, bringing Torin to the pit of the abyss to his death. One of my mates was going to be crushed.
And if I didn’t choose one mate to die, then both Hayden and Torin would die.
The gravity of the situation suddenly hit me. My breath hitched. Even if I didn’t announce it to the world and tried to live in oblivion among the humans, I’d always wanted a fated mate—someone to love me as I was. Human.
Most mornings, on my way to my office in the library in London, I’d watch the kids at the children’s corner absorbed in the story read by the volunteer. Their innocent expressions drew me in.
Now I understood why. I’d longed for my own family—kids who would fight at the dinner table while my husband and I refereed and unsuccessfully tried not to take sides.
But at the end of the day, after the kids went to bed, my soulmate would caress me, soothe me with words and touches, and love me passionately, making the daily struggles more bearable.
I would never have the family life I imagined if I were to live the rest of my life in guilt because of the choice I was about to make.
There was no best option.
How could I choose between Hayden and Torin? The mate bond drew me to both men, physically and emotionally, and it’d been difficult to disentangle my feelings from that mate attraction the bonds had created.
My heart skipped a beat around Torin, who ignited passion and a sense of being alive in me. With him beside me, I felt I was born for something more. Torin made me feel like I had some hidden, untapped potential for greatness.
But when I was by Hayden’s side, I was filled with comfort and a sense that I could entirely rely on him in any situation. Hayden gave me the same feeling I felt when stroking the canvas with my calligraphy pens.
Making a choice carried heavy consequences—another loved one would die. Either I chose one mate to die and live my life with more unbearable guilt, or I watched both of them die and live with the guilty thought that I could have saved one.
A decision that would haunt me for the rest of my life, changing it forever.
My chest tightened with so much pain that my vision blurred. My body shook, and my breathing turned uneven and ragged. I reached out as if I could lean against one of my mates and stumbled back a few steps.
“That was enough time thinking, child.” The witch’s voice pierced through my thoughts.
My energy seemed to drain from me as if the dark witch had sucked it out of me and left behind an empty vessel. Tears rolled down my face, but no sob came with them.
As the hurt in my heart swelled, my knees wobbled, and I crumbled, falling on them.
Did I make a big mistake by not handing the bracelet to Cordelia? But I couldn’t take it off.
“Which way do you want me to throw the stone?”
I snapped my gaze to Cordelia, who still had her hands to the sides.
Indecision split my heart, and the gravity of Cordelia’s demand bore down on me like a landslide. Why was I on this journey if there was no correct path?
“Please, Cordelia. I’m begging you…” My voice fractured under the strain, and I drew in a ragged breath.
Tears tumbled down my cheeks as I silently screamed in anguish.
I loved Torin, but I also cared about Hayden, and I couldn’t live without either one. I knew I would never live a normal life if I chose between my mates.
“Tear off my arm. Cut it off or do whatever you want, Cordelia. They are both important to me… Here,” I said, extending my arm, “take the bracelet.”
The words tasted bitter on my tongue.
Cordelia’s jaw tightened, but her brown eyes danced with cruel amusement. One of her arms twitched.
“No, please don’t aim the stone toward them. Do so toward me. I won’t dodge.”
I shut my eyes tight against the impending doom and drew what felt like my final breath into lungs heavy with dread. Once life left me, she could claim her prize from my lifeless wrist. The protective spell would likely neutralize.
I didn’t want to die. The thought of leaving my parents behind filled me with sadness.
But sacrificing myself for my mates was the right thing—the lightness that took over my chest told me so.
I couldn’t bear to let my mates go. Clarity struck me only in my last moment.
I realized how much I cared for both men.
This would be my last act of love. Any glimmer of hope of surviving the fight with Cordelia was now completely extinguished.
I had grown to love both men, each one in a unique way, and now it seemed I would pay the price for that love.
I took another deep, shuddering breath, welcoming death as it loomed over me.