Chapter 30 #2
The prophecy. If Valentina reaches her peak, she dies, not because Starfire is too powerful...
because the sovereign heart can't die without taking its body.
I take one step toward Valerius. My knees buckle. Blood spills from my mouth. Everyone shouts at once. Valerius's eyes open. He sees me falling. He tries to rise.
Professor Vale restrains him. "You cannot move."
His gaze stays on me. "What did she do?"
I press one hand against my chest. White-gold light leaks between my fingers. The mark has opened. Aurelia screams inside me, weaker now. 'You cannot survive without me.'
"Watch me." The words leave my mouth.
The Ancient Masters raise their heads. Their queen is failing. The first Master looks at me with horror. "What have you done?"
I turn toward him. The Starborne souls stand behind my eyes. "I freed them."
His face twists. The Masters rise. Old law floods the courtyard. Voss throws both hands upward. "Protect the sovereign heart!"
The Remnants surge. Students scream. Eli stands. Lightning explodes around him. Luc raises a wall of spirits. My mother tears the last of Arcana's wards from the ground and throws them around me. Professor Vale keeps one hand over Valerius's chest and casts with the other.
The final battle resumes.
I barely see it. My body is burning from within.
Valerius drags himself upright. Professor Vale shouts.
He pushes her away. Shadowflame supports his limbs as he stands.
His eyes never leave me. He knows. My father told us.
The Shadowbound can remove the sovereign heart.
By taking it into himself. By burning until nothing remains.
"No," I say. He begins walking toward me. Slowly. Blood leaves a trail behind him. "No." The courtyard fights around us. Lightning. Veil magic. Silver wards. Black flames. Valerius keeps coming. His expression is calm. That terrifies me more than anything. "Stop." I panic.
He doesn't.
I raise one hand. Starfire flickers weakly. He walks through it. The flame bends around him. "Valerius." My voice breaks. Emotion fills every part of me now. All of it, love, fear, anger, grief, devotion. The old Valentina. The new one. Every piece restored. "I defeated her." I yell.
"I know." He nods.
"She's dying." I tell him.
"I know." A tear falls down his cheek.
"So am I." I cry with him
His face breaks. Then he reaches me. His hands come to my face. Warm, bloodstained and shaking.
"You're back." The words are full of wonder.
I cover his wrists. "Yes." His forehead rests against mine.
The bond opens, no silence, no walls. Only us.
"I love you," I whisper.
His breath shudders. "I know."
"Say it." I look up at him.
His eyes close. "I love you."
The world disappears around us. For one heartbeat, there is no war. Only the boy who stayed and the girl who came back. Then his hand moves from my face to the mark over my heart.
I catch his wrist. "No."
"Valentina." His eyes open wide.
"You promised." I sob.
"I promised you they would not have you." He shakes his head.
"You said you hadn't decided, you lied to me!" I grab his hand.
"I did." The bond confirms it. He decided in the Hall of Passing. The moment my father told him.
I shake my head. "No."
"If it stays inside you, you die." He say.
"If you take it, you die." I can't see in front of me anymore, my vision is blurred.
His mouth trembles. "Yes." The truth lands between us.
"No." I push against his chest. He barely moves. His arms wrap around me. I fight him with everything human left in me. "No. You do not get to do this." I hit him repeatedly with my fists on his chest.
"I do." He squeezes me harder.
"You don't get to save me by leaving me! You promised to never leave me." I yell.
His eyes fill. "I don't know another way."
"Then we find one." I beg him.
"There's no time." His face is set to stone.
Aurelia's dying power tears through me. I scream. White fire bursts from my chest. Valerius holds on. The Ancient Masters see.
The first Master points toward us. "Take the Shadowbound!" Remnants rush. Eli's lightning strikes them down. Luc's spirits hold the line.
My mother screams at Valerius. "Don't!"
Professor Vale knows what he intends. Her face goes white. "Valerius, the transference will kill you."
He looks at no one except me. "I know."
I grab his face. "You said you couldn't leave me."
"I can't." He shakes his head.
"Then don't." I fall to my knees and beg. "Please don't leave me Valerius. I love you!"
His tears fall. I have never seen Valerius cry. Not when he was chained. Not when I stopped feeling him. Not when I turned away. Now tears move over his bloodstained face. "I'm sorry."
The words break me. He kisses me. His mouth meets mine with every promise he can't keep. Every night in my bed. Every choice. Every time the world tried to take us apart and failed. I taste blood, salt, fire, love. His hand presses over the sovereign mark. Shadowflame enters my chest.
Pain explodes. I scream into his mouth.
The heart moves. White-gold fire tears through my body toward his palm.
Aurelia shrieks. The Ancient Masters scream with her.
The Eternal Flame bends toward us, responding to the transference.
Valerius's body ignites. Black fire spreads beneath his skin.
White-gold light follows it. He pulls the sovereign heart from me.
I feel every thorn. Every stolen life. Every piece of Aurelia leaving.
My knees give. Valerius holds me upright while he burns.
"No," I sob.
His skin cracks with light. The prophecy releases me. My body cools. His begins to die. The sovereign heart enters him. Shadowflame wraps around it. Containing and consuming at the same time. Killing him from within.
Valerius breaks the kiss. His forehead stays against mine. His eyes are glowing black and gold. "Live." The word is barely sound.
I shake my head violently. "Not without you."
"You can." He nods weakly against my forehead.
"I won't." I continuously shake my head.
His legs buckle. We fall together. The Eternal Flame roars above us. The Ancient Masters collapse as Aurelia's presence leaves me. Their bodies begin ageing all at once, skin splitting, bones turning to dust beneath their robes. Voss screams. The Remnants unravel across Arcana.
The war is ending.
I don't care. Valerius lies in my arms. White-gold fire burns beneath his chest. His Shadowflame is fading. "No." I press both hands over his heart. "Give it back."
He smiles weakly. "It will kill you."
"You are dying." I feel my heart breaking inside my own chest.
"I know." He smiles. "But you get to live."
"Stop saying that." I feel my heart explode.
His eyes search mine. Soft and peaceful. "You came home."
"For you." I cry.
"I'm sorry I couldn't stay." He say broken.