33. Chapter 33 #3
His heart ached for her. “Will you talk to me?”
Nothing.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
She turned then, tears on her cheeks and fury in her eyes.
“What exactly are you sorry about? Not sharing the truth with us as you know it? Knowing all along that you had to die? Letting me fall for you? Telling me that we can talk about us after the curse is over? Which is going to be hard to do since you’ll be dead. ”
John’s stomach clenched. “Yes, I’ve suspected all along that I would need to die to save magic. And when Megan found the scroll and we deciphered it, I knew it was destiny. Forgiveness and sacrifice. It’s clear to me now.”
“Well, congrats. I’m so glad it’s clear to one of us.”
His chest felt like a weight squeezed the last bit of breath from him.
“This is why I kept to myself and didn’t let anyone near me.
I couldn’t afford to feel anything ever again.
I knew I had to die. And I accepted it. Knew that this life sentence I had been living was close to being over.
But the Fates decide to kick me one more time by bringing you into my life.
” He pounded his hand against his heart.
“To let me actually feel something just in time to have it snatched away.”
“I told you at some point there would be a line we shouldn’t cross.” Sienna sobbed, covering her face with her hands.
He wanted to pull her against him. To hold her and make the pain go away, but it would only make matters worse.
“I know you don’t want to hear this, but I don’t want anyone dying because of me. Mia might already be dead. And I carry too much on my shoulders now as it is. If something happened to you or the girls, it wouldn’t matter if I lived. I wouldn’t be able to recover from it. It’s my time.”
After a minute she sucked in a shaky breath and then another before wiping her cheeks. Anguish painted her features, and he couldn’t help but push her hair behind her ear.
A throat cleared behind them and John turned. Adam stood a few feet away. His heavy scowl had John waiting for a punch to the face.
“We’ve got a problem.”
“What now?” Sienna moaned.
Adam hesitated for a moment. “We can’t touch the dagger.”
John couldn’t have heard him correctly. “That can’t be right.”
“It is. We tried more than once.”
“No.” John rushed back inside to the office. He pushed open the door, and everyone stopped talking when he entered the room. Adam and Sienna followed in behind him.
“Try it again,” John demanded.
Adam walked over to the box and reached for the dagger. A bubble of light covered it, and Adam’s hand bounced back. Eric’s attempt had the lid of the box slamming shut.
“If they can’t touch it, then Mia is wrong,” Sienna said, her face full of hope.
“I don’t think she’s wrong,” John said. “Maybe I can touch it.”
“And do what? Stab yourself?” Tessa asked.
“If I have to, yes.” Hell, that was better than having someone else have to take on the guilt of killing him, even if it needed to be done.
John reached for the dagger and stopped when the box started shaking.
“Everyone stand back.” He reached again and the lid flipped open.
The dagger levitated, the blade pointing toward the ceiling.
It flew toward him and he reached for it, but it skirted past him.
He spun to see it hovering in front of Sienna.
Her hands shook as she held them out in front of her as if to ward it off, and the handle bumped up against her right hand and rested there until she wrapped her fingers around it.
What was left of John’s heart ripped in half.
Sienna cried out like a wounded animal before rushing forward, flinging the dagger back in its box, slamming the lid shut, and running out of the room.
Why? Why did it have to be Sienna? And how in the hell was he going to convince her to fulfill his destiny. A destiny that would destroy not just him?
John wanted to follow her, his brain screaming at his feet to move. Instead he watched Tessa and Megan take off after her. It wasn’t fair. He could accept his fate. Why did it have to hurt Sienna in the process? Everything he did ended up hurting those around him.
Maybe the dagger would let him wrap his hand on top of Sienna’s holding the blade so that he could end his own life.
It was worth a try. Whether or not it worked, Sienna would be devastated.
He looked at the men in front of him. Sienna’s brothers, best friend, and surrogate uncle would stand beside her when it was over. She would need the support.
“Take care of her. She’s so strong and she’ll fight you, but she needs you more than you know. She looks up to you both.”
Eric nodded.
Adam swallowed hard. “We’ve got her.”
He turned to Ryan. “She’s going to need you most of all.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
For once in his interminable life, he wished he could say the same. But everyone was relying on him now. And he wouldn’t let anything else happen to this clan—to Lily, Bella. It was time to stop the Templars and bring back magic to fulfill his destiny.