AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Good timing, old man,” I said, scanning the layout of the room one more time. It was becoming clear to me that this would be a two-person job, since I would be dying at some point. I ducked low behind a stone pillar and motioned for Russell to do the same. Bastian was carrying Serena in his arms, shielded by the dripping veil of his dark power as he took her up the steps. She wasn’t even fighting him anymore, and her body moved limp as a satin scarf as he laid her across the throne altar.
He ran forward, but I held out an arm to stop him. “Don’t do anything stupid,” I said. “We have to do this one way, with one chance to get it right. But he’s going to know I’m coming because he’s in my head.”
I couldn’t let myself think. Bastian was distracted with Serena at the moment but that didn’t mean he was completely oblivious to me. I couldn’t think. My only option was to act and act fast.
I placed the Crown in Russell’s hands. “I’m going for Bastian. Make sure this gets back to her, no matter what. You go up there and you put it on her head as soon as you see me attack him. I have to let him kill me. It’s the only way she’s coming out of this alive.”
I darted off before Russell could ask questions or say something useless to try to slow me down. But, by God, he’d better do what I said. At least, I thought, there was no one else here who wanted to save Serena as much as I did. Maybe, just maybe, it was for the best that Russell was the one who’d made it here with me. He might’ve been the only one who loved Serena enough to understand how to complete a mission I couldn’t fully explain to him. Not if I wanted to keep Bastian unaware of it. Russell had no reason to give a shit about me, so he was likely the perfect one of the bunch to do this.
The chamber around me faded, becoming a mere haze to line the path before me. My focus homed in on Bastian and Serena. They were all I could see as I drew nearer, my footfalls speeding up with each frantic beat of my heart. I could make out the details now—the white terror in Serena’s glistening eyes; the beading sweat above Bastian’s brow as he lifted the skull-hilted dagger to kill her. I recognized it from the memory as the same one he’d used to kill me in my first life. And the same dagger my father gifted me. Knowing my next move, I couldn’t help but realize it was once and forever intended for me.
With the moonlight pouring in from above, I nearly tumbled down the cracking stone steps as I climbed them. Bastian turned to me just as I ran up on him. He knew I planned to attack him. Of course he knew. I expected that. We were linked, and always would be, no matter how much I wanted to escape that. But did he know what the rest of the plan was? I’d fought so hard to separate it from my mind, to deny my own thoughts, hoping I could somehow hide my true intentions from him. I only had seconds to do it…
He whipped around to face me as I tackled him. Serena screamed.
“Bellamy, stop! Let him do this! Forget about me, please!” She begged through the tears flowing down her cheeks. I ignored her.
Bastian fought me with inhuman strength. My muscles groaned as I took a hit from him hard enough to crack a rib. I struck back, but my hits resulted in little damage. His skin was like armor, and his grip like iron shackles. He pinned me against the steps, the jagged corners of the stone bruising my spine. Perfect.
Mustering all the strength I could, I grabbed the wrist of the hand in which he held the dagger, fully intent on making him think I actually had some self-preservation left. His fingers loosened on the hilt, and I fought not to show my hope dwindling. He knew what I was trying to do. But I couldn’t let him drop that knife. My tired arms ached as I inched my hands up over his, forcing each finger back down to keep the dagger in his grasp.
“I won’t kill you, Bellamy. I know that’s what you want.” He laughed as his snake-eyes flashed gold. “But I’ll certainly let you watch as I kill her.” He gestured to the table, where Serena pleaded with me, begging me to leave.
Any minute now, Russell. Put the damn crown on her head.
“He can crown her all he likes, but it won’t do any good.”
“I know,” I struggled to speak, my body shaking from fatigue as I fought to keep Bastian’s hand closed around the dagger. “But this will.”
I caught a glimpse of Russell, as he climbed up the other side of the altar with the Crown in his hands. He lunged forward, just barely reaching Serena as he secured the Crown onto her head. The moonlight struck the Crown, casting rays of its reflection across the room from the moment it touched the golden pearls and glimmering seashells lining the edge.
That moonlight was supposed to be the last image I would see. I was supposed to close my eyes forever to the sigh of Serena glowing with her restored power. But instead, I was still trembling with fatigue as I fought to pull the dagger closer to myself. Bastian resisted with ease, the supernatural strength in him enabling him to overpower me no matter what I did. I glanced over across the stone altar, where Russell pushed Serena aside as he scrambled to us. There was a determined look in his old eyes that made me hopeful he realized what I needed him to do. He practically jumped down the steps, colliding with Bastian’s back and reaching over him to add his hand to the dagger we both gripped. With his strength and mine combined, I began to feel the knife lower. Bastian was weakening, and his shaking arm confirmed it.
I grunted from the sting as sweat dripped into my eyes. Bastian’s breath tightened as he struggled against the two of us. The dead cool of this cavern wasn’t enough to fight the burning in my muscles. But we were almost there…Just a few more inches and I’d have the tip of this blade in my chest.
But Serena…she leapt off the altar, still wearing the Crown, and threw herself on Russell. His grip slipped almost completely from the hilt. She wrestled against him, prying his hands finger by finger from the knife, and yanked him down with her as she pulled away.
“Dammit, Serena! Stop it!” I screamed, my dry voice spent.
“I won’t let you—’’ The words hadn’t fully escaped from her lips before her shriek tore through the air as I felt a sting between my ribs.
I took one slow, long look down at my chest, where the dagger was buried deep, held in place by a hand on the hilt overpowering Bastian’s. A hand and arm with the mark of the sun. My eyes shifted up to Milo, whose eyes softened with a knowing, solemn nod. Bastian caught him with his elbow and flung him off in a rage. He staggered back, cursing us all as a light began to emanate from Serena’s crown. I looked at Milo where he crouched on the steps.
“Thanks mate,” I managed to utter as my breaths shortened and a scarlet warmth dampened my shirt.
“You’re the captain,” he said.
Serena’s screams faded into muffled silence. Bastian filled the air with a flurry of curses that sounded like jumbled slurs to me. My head felt light, and a cruel chill dominated my body as my blood leaked out. This wasn’t at all like dying in that cursed shipwreck. This was unsettling and slow. My eyes were too weak to move. I kept my focus on Milo. His eyes were full with budding tears, and they were the last thing I saw before the darkness swallowed me whole.
50
Call of the Ocean
Katrina
I’d just made it into the altar room as I screamed at the sight of Bellamy lying dead on the steps to the stone slab. Milo said he wouldn’t do it. How could he do it?
“Bellamy!” I screamed. But it was too late. Bellamy was gone. I saw the knife in his chest and his lifeless body slumped across the steps. And behind him, Serena rose up, tears soaking her face and neck, reflecting a glistening light that showered her from the Crown on her head. The frame of the Crown grew downward, spiraling and weaving itself into her hair, joining the Crown to her as if it were a part of her. Her hair flowed, bits of blue intertwining with the rest of her full, dark locks. Bellamy was dead. And Serena was a goddess again.
