Chapter 64
Vivian’s Point of View
Rule sixty-four: Don’t let them take him.
The world stops as I watch Sin collapse. His sorrowful eyes meet mine one more time, and then the light behind them flickers out.
“NO!” The word is wrenched from my lungs, and the air distorts.
I land at his side, falling to my knees.
Black rings creep in at the edges of my vision.
The world around us fades away.
Only Sin matters. He’s all that matters, and I need to bring him back.
“No, no, no, NO!” I sob as I flood his body with golden energy.
It’s not too late. I can save him.
It’s not too late. He will NOT die.
“Sin, wake up!” I finally manage to choke out when the wounds close.
But his chest doesn’t rise.
“SIN! WAKE UP!” I screech.
He can’t be dead. We haven’t had enough time, not even close. I need him to smile more, to learn that it’s okay to have friendships. I need to love him so completely that he will never feel like he deserves anything less.
Agonizing pain rips through me as my own soul responds to his loss.
Still, I don’t stop.
I’m not losing him.
My hands shake as I shove more power into his body. The ground beneath us begins to glow a faint gold as my Creator power spills from Sin’s body, no longer knowing what it can fix.
Not him. Anyone but him.
I refuse to accept this.
“I love you, kitten. It’s okay. You can let me go.” Sin’s voice is a gentle whisper in my mind.
A faint blue glow appears before me, and I choke on a renewed sob.
There, in front of me, is Sin.
Only I can see the battlefield through him.
He’s a ghost.
His pale blue glow flickers slightly, like it’s struggling to stay whole.
Bile rises in my throat. His soul isn’t whole. He’s broken.
I broke him.
His ghost crouches down, and he cups my cheek, pressing his forehead against mine. I lean into his touch, even though I can’t feel him.
“Don’t blame yourself. If my purpose has only ever been to live long enough to love you, then the Fates have truly blessed me,” he soothes, and I sob harder.
He pulls back, his expression hardening. “You need to keep fighting now, kitten. Fight back, or this will all be for nothing.”
Trembles wrack through my body, as the grief threatens to pull me under. “I can’t – not without you.”
“I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be right beside you the entire time.” His ghost stands, and even though my legs are shaking, I do the same.
The world around me feels more like a dream as I take in the frozen chaos.
Morgana is lying on the edge of the chasm.
Her body is propped up against Ragna’s chest as the Beast Realm leader works to patch her wound.
Morgana is gasping for air, and tears stream down her face as she stares at Sin’s lifeless body.
A little further down the field, Magnus has an arm wrapped around Damien, and they limp toward us. Damien’s face is smeared with blood, and there’s a wicked-looking gash that extends from his eyebrow to his jaw.
Varian prowls behind them, still in his dragon form, growling at anyone who dares to step closer.
An arm wraps around me, and I turn to see Arianna mirroring my grief. We lean into each other for strength, not saying a word.
“Well, this is quite enough bloodshed,” a calm, and yet no less evil voice says.
I turn to find Need only a few feet away. Leon stands beside her, arms crossed, looking smug.
Her gaze flicks from Sin to somewhere beside us, and her expression is more annoyed than sad. “So much power wasted,” she tuts.
As if on cue, a line of fae soldiers parts, and devastated pink eyes meet mine. Rosie struggles forward, dragging something behind her. Blood is smeared across her face, and more continues to run over her eyes and cheeks.
She looks like she’s bathed in blood. But then, somewhere through dissociated shock, I realize it’s coming from the thing on her head.
It looks like a crown, but it’s so viscerally wrong. It’s made of dark iron, but it’s intertwined with flesh that is still somehow alive. The veins twist around the metal, pulsing as blood continues to flow through them.
My gaze flickers behind her, where Lilanthara and Irena silently follow. Lilanthara is beaming, while Irena still has a vacant expression.
Rosie stumbles a step, and Arianna whimpers, apparating beside her. But Rosie only shakes her head, refusing her help.
She doesn’t stop until she reaches Need, and with a final heave, she tosses whatever she was dragging to the ground for all to see.
It’s a body.
The Fae Queen stares lifelessly up at the sky, and there’s a gaping hole in her chest where her heart once was. Murmurs of ‘the heart crown’ start to rise, and there’s a single thud as every last fae soldier falls to their knees before Rosie.
“What… interesting rituals your people have,” Need notes, her nose wrinkled in obvious distaste as she takes in the blood-coated fairy.
“In the interest of preserving what remains of our realms, I would like to call a truce,” she says, now addressing the crowd.
“To see so many fall to their death is a tragedy beyond anything our realms have ever seen.”
She pauses her speech to hang her head, looking devastated.
Anger flares through me, seeing through her games.
The only thing Need is sad about is losing access to more power.
“Let us return to peace. Spirits will be returned to their rightful owners, and the Underworld will be given a seat on the Council,” she states, turning to look at Hades.
He narrows his eyes at her from where he stands before his army of undead.
She gives him a forced smile before continuing, “Queen Rosenthal,” she stiffens even further at using the title, “you will, of course, be given your mother’s seat on the Council.
Ragna, you will be given a fair trial to determine whether you are fit to rule the Beast Realm.
” She nods at each of them before finally turning to me.
“And if Vivian agrees to having her powers drained, then we will spare the Mortal and Shadow Realms, despite their treason,” she pauses to give me a victorious smile, “Now, if I’m not mistaken, Vivian, you were elected interim Council leader.
As such, you must be the one to accept or reject the truce.
So, what will it be? Will you save your friends?
Or are you so power-hungry that you would send millions to their deaths? ”
She holds out her hands, waiting for the agreement she’s certain I’ll give. And for a heartbeat, I feel the weight of guilt that she’s using to force my hand.
It’s the same trap she’s laid, over and over – and every time, I’ve immediately folded.
A deep and consuming loathing fills me as I glare at the woman who has manipulated me from day one – the woman who orchestrated the enslavement of millions of spirits and committed countless atrocities against the living.
I suck in a slow, measured breath as I turn to look at Sin, still standing by my side.
But it’s not Sin, not really.
It’s his ghost.
They killed him.
A searing heat crackles through my veins.
Sin is dead because of them.
More of my Creator and Reaper energies combine, but rather than pulsing off my body in random bursts, I draw them inward and hold them there, welcoming the burn. The pain sharpens my focus, and I wrench open the wells of power, letting them spill without restraint.
A lavender haze starts to form over the field.
The skies darken as dark purple clouds build overhead, occasionally illuminated by electric charges that thread through them. Shadows fall over the field, and the fine hairs along my arms lift, pulled by the static in the air.
Somewhere in the distance, Hades yells to retreat. Rosie’s voice cuts through the chaos as well, ordering the fae army to bring the shifters with them. Thousands of figures start to blink out of sight, while others vanish into black, shadowy holes that open over the ground.
Their commotion fades to background noise.
All I can see are the two figures before me, and the ghost at my side.
“Leon,” Need drawls, sounding beyond bored as she takes in the storm, “I do believe this little light show has gone on long enough. Stop her power and incapacitate her.”
Leon grins. “Gladly.”
My breathing grows more ragged as he approaches, but I don’t say a word.
Every scrap of my attention is focused on holding the power inside me for just a little longer.
His tattoos glow a brilliant blue, but he doesn’t attack right away. “You know, when they remove your powers, I’m going to keep you, anyway. You’ll be my little pet, chained to my bed, and exist solely for my pleasure.”
I smile, and Leon tilts his head, surprise flickering across his face. It’s only there for a second before it’s replaced by hunger.
“You look excited,” he murmurs. “Are you finally ready to accept that I own you? Because that’s what you are – mine.” His pupils dilate like he’s already aroused and thinking about it.
“Ready, kitten?” Sin asks in my mind with a growl.
“Ready,” I answer.
Leon’s powers start to twist around me, like a snake coiling around its next victim. Everywhere the light moves, the dark purple haze dissipates.
My smile doesn’t waver. “No, Leon, I’m not yours, and I never will be.” I pause to take a ragged inhale as the power inside me screams for release. “Even if I have to kill us both to ensure it.”
“I love you, Sin,” I whisper in my mind.
Then I let go.
“Vivi, no!” Someone screams.
But it’s too late.
The blast hits Leon first. His Destroyer powers surge forward to meet it, but the blue light is obliterated the moment they make contact.
There’s no time for him to understand what’s happening before my power tears into him.
His life flickers out.
But I don’t stop.
A blinding explosion ripples out from him, annihilating everything in its wake, as I force the energy into every last one of his atoms.
I splinter their bonds and unravel every last fragment of his existence, until there’s nothing left of him to destroy.