And now…My heart cracked.Little rose…
“Please don’t do this.” It came out in a whisper, my voice failing me.
So many lifetimes. So much sacrifice. So much pain.
But nothing amounted to this, to watching her skin change… hearing her breath rattle… seeing her soul wither…
My pulse refused to beat. “No.” It left my lips on a choked sound. “No, Aflora.No.” I whispered a spell, my mind latching onto her final strands, my soul refusing to release her. “No!”
I yanked her back, my magical hold slipping as she fought me, her spirit moving on without my permission.
“No!” I shouted again, desperate now.
Too many lifetimes.
This couldn’t be the end.
This couldn’t be it.
I’d loved her for what felt like eons of an existence, our souls tied in a way few others would ever understand. I’d bitten her. She was mine. I would keep her. She couldn’t leave me. That wasn’t how this worked.
“This isn’t supposed to happen!” I raged at her. “I gave up everything for you! Why wouldn’t you let me give you this?” I would have been her sacrifice. I would have died at her feet if it meant hearing her breathe once more.
My grasp on her soul slipped again, and I grabbed at the air, my fingers going through her. My spell was waning. Dying. Just like her. Just like my heart. Just like my own fucking soul.
Zakkai whispered some sort of incantation next to me, his attempt to bring her back bolstering my hope for a split second of time.
Until her final gasp graced my ears.
A sound I would never forget.
A sound that would follow me to my grave.
A sound that told me I’d failed.
“Eight lifetimes,” I whispered, my head falling to her chest as her pulse slowed to a silent beat.
I love you.Her words blew across my mind, her soul kissing my cheek as she escaped my last attempt to hold on to her.
I’ll always be with you, Shade. Watching from above. I will forever love you.Something soft and feathery fell across my hand.
A rose petal.
Graced by her magic, her Earth Fae touch… her final goodbye.
My little rose. My sweet, beautiful Aflora. Taken by this world. This unfair, cruel, wretched existence.
There was no coming back from this.
No more tricks of time.
No more plays up my sleeve.
This was it.
Just me… my Aflora… and her final kiss of a rose petal on my wrist.
He’s won, I realized.Constantine… has won.
