We found the antidote.
But what the hell were we supposed to do now?
I couldn’t force the emotions away to make a logical choice because there wasn’t one in this fucked up moment.
I fell to my knees as I let Devorare go, staring at them and shaking my head as the tears began to fall.
What decision am I supposed to make, if Fate already has it figured out, Dev? Tell me.
That’s not for us to know ahead of time, Alina. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.
Andrei lifted his tear-stained face to look at me. “My mom is so fucking broken inside from what Jeoffrey did to her,” he gritted out over a sob. “She is a shell of who she was, and I don’t think there’s any coming back from that. She’ll finally be at peace.”
Fuck, why did his offer to choose Lo make me feel even guiltier? How was I supposed to just accept that and let him lose both of his parents tonight? I knew how holding my mother as she died felt, and that gut-wrenching, heartbreaking feeling wasn’t something I wished on my greatest enemy, let alone one of the men I was in love with.
“Are you sure?” Drake croaked, eyes still streaming with black blood as his eyes widened in shock, lifting his gaze to meet Andrei’s own tearful one.
Andrei dropped his head to Serena’s, the tears flowing endlessly as he rocked back and forth with her held tightly in his grip. A sob wrenched its way free from my own throat.
Spitfire, I know it doesn’t feel like this is going to be okay. I know this is shit and it’s suffocating, but I need you to breathe and know that we are all in this together. We will bear the weight of the choice together and learn how to move forward together.
How are we supposed to move on from this, Lincoln? This isn’t okay. It was never supposed to end like this.
We will find a way, I promise you.
“No,” Andrei whimpered, pressing a kiss to his mom’s head. “But Lo has a better quality of life ahead of her if she gets the antidote.” His hand came up to wipe away tears that had fallen from Serena’s eyes as well. “I’m so sorry.”
She had to be able to hear us right now. Fuck. My heart hammered in my chest, and bile churned in my stomach.
My vision blurred as Drake lifted the vial to Lo’s lips before stilling and looking at Andrei one more time. “Andrei, I—”
Lo burst to life, cutting him off as she grabbed the potion from Drake and moved to stand in front of Andrei and Serena. The bottle was at Serena’s lips and falling in before any of us could even comprehend what just happened.
I couldn’t react, couldn’t speak, couldn’t even think as she crossed to the floor where Rin was crying uncontrollably. She wobbled heavily before falling to her knees and whispering, “I forgive you.”
Her head swung around to glance between us all, eyes pleading with us to understand. “I couldn’t live with the guilt,” she croaked out, eyes brimming with tears. “I couldn’t leave that choice to the people I love.”
“Fuck!” Drake screamed, speeding to grab her and hold her as she began to fall toward the floor. I crawled over to them, throwing myself around them both as the implications of her choice hit me. Sobs wracked my body as I held onto them tightly, as if I could hold us all together for the rest of time. As if I could give Lo my own life’s essence to cure her.
Lo sacrificed herself to take the damnable choice away from us all.
Taking advantage of the moment of shock, Rin broke free of Lincoln’s grasp, and without looking back, ran out of the house and left us all behind. Left Lo behind, like she was nothing at all to him.
“We still have time,” Lincoln whispered, voice thick with his own emotion.
I sat up, shaking my head at him as I muttered, “What do you mean?”
“We don’t know how long the potion takes, but he said it’s the slowest death,” he reminded us, voice cracking as he stared down at us huddled together on the floor. “So let's do something about this.”
His words hit me square in the chest, and it was like the force of an army thrummed in my heart and soul as I realized he was right. She wasn’t actually dead.
Fate hadn’t made her final move yet.
“Looks like we’re going to Carmina to hunt down a witch,” I breathed out shakily, trying to find the strength needed to follow through with this plan. Everything in me screamed that we wouldn’t get there in time, but I had to say the words out loud to try and believe them anyway. I had to for Lo. “Get up. We leave now.”
I angrily brushed the tears from my face as I pushed to my feet, trying to staunch the flow and focus on the small kernel of hope Lincoln had given to me instead.
I wouldn’t give up on her.
