Chapter 5
In my dream, images flashed by like a blur–my little brother growing from a tiny, timid child into someone strong enough to shield me
with his life.
In the end, he lay there, bleeding from every orifice, eyes wide open, refusing to die in peace.
When I woke, Alaric was slumped beside my bed, his brow furrowed in anguish. He was murmuring brokenly in his sleep, “Don’t go…. please, Seraphina… don’t leave me…”
My chest filled with cold, seething rage.
I reached for the hairpin beside me, ripped it free, and pressed it hard against his throat.
He jolted awake, cold sweat dripping down his temples.
My voice scraped like gravel. “Where is my brother’s body?”
Alaric froze for a beat, then spoke stiffly. “He’s… been buried. In the wastelands outside the city.”
“Take me there,” I said.
He did.
We rode in silence until we arrived at a lonely mound of fresh dirt–no stone, no name. Nothing to mark the life it once held.
Alaric stood beside me, fists clenched at his sides. “It wasn’t supposed to go that far. I failed to restrain the guards. They’ve been punished.”
Isank to my knees before the grave. Tears fell, hot and heavy, splattering the earth. I felt nothing but emptiness–like my soul had been ripped out and tossed into the grave with him.
Alaric shifted behind me, shame flickering in his eyes, though his voice still held an edge. “Seraphina, enough. He’s dead. What more do you want from me?”
My face was pale, my eyes hollow as ash. “Let me go. Or kill me.”
His expression turned to stone. “Don’t be stupid,” he snapped. “If you dare run again, I swear–I’ll dig up your brother’s corpse, lash it in the square, and scatter his ashes to the wind.”
My heart turned to ice.
I let out a dry, hollow laugh. “Then do it. Kill me. That way, I’ll finally stop trying to leave.”
“It’s been six years, Alaric. Six years of breaking each other apart. Aren’t you tired?”
He seized my jaw, his hand shaking. His voice cracked as he stared into me like he didn’t recognize what he saw anymore. “From the moment your father framed my family, you should’ve known…”
“…we were doomed. You and me? We were always going to end in ruin.”
“Then finish it!” I shouted. “Kill me!”
Before either of us could say another word, chaos exploded.
A swarm of masked figures in black burst from the trees, blades drawn, heading straight for Alaric.
Everything turned to smoke and screaming
In the midst of the confusion, the leader of the assassins grabbed me, pressed a dagger to my throat, and dragged me backwards toward the cliff’s edge.
“Let her go!” Alaric roared, nocking an arrow to his bow, voice like a whip crack. “She’s nothing but a toy. Hurt her, and I’ll see your
corpse fed to crows!”
Chapter 5
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One more step, and there was nothing beneath us but the jagged teeth of the valley below.
The masked man’s voice rang out with raw hatred. “If I can’t kill you, Regent, then I’ll take her with me!”
And with that, he pulled me over the edge.
“No!”
The wind howled as we fell, the scream of the earth rushing up to meet us.
The last thing I saw was Alaric’s face–panic twisting his features, arms outstretched, reaching for me.
But I was done reaching.
Done begging.
Done bleeding.
For the first time in six years, I felt free.
Goodbye, Alaric Thorne.
Goodbye forever.
