Chapter Thirty-Six #2
When it is over, she takes the first full breath since I found her.
“Your family records—a page is missing.”
“Don’t speak, save your strength.”
“Just listen. A name was removed. There are mentions of…” Violet’s lashes flutter.
She might be able to breathe now, but she is still fading before my eyes.
I can numb her pain, but I cannot fix her as I am. I am too weak.
Even some things are beyond the reach of magic.
I have failed her.
“… Second child. Brother,” she finishes.
I have no idea what she’s talking about. It could be delirium.
“I will look into it,” I swear hastily. “I will have everyone look into it if I must.”
“Joon,” she says my name softly and smiles. She always smiles—even clasped within the Otherworld’s grasp, she smiles—but it has never felt more like a lie. “Don’t be like that.”
I scowl down at her.
Violet releases a sigh that is a weak imitation of her laugh. “Don’t blame yourself—we both agreed to this.” Energy continues to fade from her voice. “Don’t let it be for nothing… please, Joon.”
She uses that word against me—the one that rendered me powerless to her since the night we met—knowing I cannot refuse her.
I squeeze my eyes shut, searching for a hint within our bargain to guide my hand. But when I need it most, there is nothing there.
We have reached a point in our bargain where I cannot fulfill my promise to her, and regardless of what path I choose, the result will be the same.
“And keep me alive until the end of it.”
“I will do all you have asked. In exchange, you will freely bind and obligate yourself to me until my task is complete.”
When I spoke those words, I thought only of finding the remaining shards. That was my only goal, because once I did, breaking the curse was a given.
Every other vow I made to keep her safe had never been a binding part of our bargain. I said I would allow her to keep her life, but that is not the same as personally keeping her alive. Now that I know the location of the final piece, we have reached the end.
If I had known I would love her, I would have spoken with more care. I would have ensured she could live.
Desperation claws at me, rending me apart from the inside.
“There’s no time. She is dying!” Imugi hisses above.
Violet squeezes my hand, halting me before I can lash out.
There is no fighting this. If a solution exists, it is too late. All I can do is what Violet asks of me.
I adjust her, helping her to sit straighter in my arms. I brush the loose strands of dark hair away from her face.
“I am sorry,” I whisper.
“Don’t—I don’t regret a second with you.”
Leaning in, I bring my mouth to hers. I kiss her, memorizing the feel of her lips, her taste, her touch. The way she fits me, it’s as if the Guardians of past kings and queens created her for me.
I press my palm over her heart and ease the threads of my power into her.
Then, for the last time, I siphon.
Now that I know what to look for, I can feel the shard moving. The pull of it and the slight resistance. The way the call of it radiates out in all directions.
I soothe the pain of the shard, slicing free of the home it made within her heart for the last fourteen years.
Violet gasps. Her body jerks as the shard comes free from her chest.
I pull back and ease her to the ground, retaining the soothing flow of power.
The shard hovers over her, glinting with her blood. It is such a small, insignificant thing, yet it has caused immeasurable damage.
I reach out and grip it in my fist. The jagged edge of broken glass slices into my palm.
Tears escape from the corners of Violet’s closed eyes. Her breathing is shallow. Uneven. Gasping uselessly. The wound in her chest closes, healing shut, but she continues to fade.
I scrape the dregs of the well within me for more power.
Watching her slip from this world is unbearable. The magic thrashes, wild and writhing against my hold. It summons a storm of wind and ice to howl and scream my pain and rage.
Streaks of bright blue snap and crackle over my skin like bolts of lightning as I edge dangerously close to draining every last drop of power I possess. Shimmering scales break out, traveling over my hands and racing up my arms, leaving trails of crackling ice in their wake.
She is slipping away. I grit my teeth.
I can’t let her go.
I can’t lose her.
The ice is to her ribs when I realize what I’m doing.
But I don’t stop. I let it spread. Let it wrap around her, enveloping her, weaving strands of the curse into the ice inching up her chest. Her shoulders.
Her neck. When Violet is fully cocooned within the ice chrysalis, I release the flow of magic.
It’s not unlike the others, but this time, it was not the dragon’s doing but mine. My power. My control.
Tremors rattle my bones from exertion.
Footsteps clatter through the hall, stopping just inside the throne room. I don’t move or look up.
“What happened?” Mingi crouches before me.
“I have the last shard.” Each syllable tastes like ash in my mouth.
Mingi starts to speak, probably to ask where it was this whole time, only to press his lips in a tight line when Iseul’s hand alights on his shoulder. She shakes her head and motions to Violet’s body with a nod.
Not enough.
I couldn’t save her. I was not strong enough.
But you could be. The voice is not mine but every bit as familiar. One I have not heard in an age.
I stand abruptly. “Stay with her.”
“Where are you going?” Mingi calls after me.
I am already gone, sprinting blindly across the palace grounds, heedless of the world around me.
Before I know it, I find myself in the underground cavern, darting for the mirror in the center of the silver lake.
I cross the narrow walkway. My gaze lands on the smooth surface of the water, summoning the memory of my brief swim with Violet in the water.
Everything. Violet has touched every facet of my life. There is nothing I can see, nowhere I can go, that will not remind me of her.
Stopping before the mirror, I force my fingers to unfurl from around the final shard.