Images of war passed behind my lids. I recalled photographs and artist depictions of the Hawkei Civil War, along with stories my parents had shared with me. I thought of the wars all our parents had fought just to get us here; the Malovian Revolution that Kallie’s parents won, along with the Miriamic Conflict that Marcus’ parents fought so hard to resolve. It was all for nothing, because war had never really ended. The wounds caused by those wars only permeated through to the next generation, so that we would keep hurting each other over and over again.
I saw myself holding Monica’s bleeding body in my arms, and I felt John force himself onto me. I heard the screams of Elves as they were slaughtered while trying to flee Forevermore. I could still smell the rotting corpses we’d found in the crypt beneath the Institute’s graveyard. I felt the agonizing invasion of inferichite as Jaymin’s spell invaded my magic in the Infernal Underground, and the crushing weight of death as my spirit was torn from my body that night. I still remembered the torturous screams of Cellblock 9 as the guards trapped us inside to torment us. Terror rocked my soul as I relived the night the Institute fell and the Warden summoned the dark gods. I recalled the devastation we’d witnessed at the Main Facility, and my heart shredded at the thought of all the lives lost there. I brought up images of the bloody battle back at the palace as my own people turned upon their brothers and sisters in arms.
I showed the Earth all of this, because if I was going to break her, I had to break her spirit— as she had done to mine.
The Earth’s resistance was futile as I forced my magic to keep going, breaking the connection apart. This was going to take some time. A deep connection like this wasn’t going to break unless I forced it to, and there was already so much strain upon it from the fight between the gods. Reality was bending. I only had to shape it to my will.
When I began breaking the connection, there was an immediate reaction. The firmament underneath me began vibrating, and cracks appeared in the ground over a mile long. Earthquakes rumbled throughout the area, and I watched as a skyscraper in the distance collapsed within Ilamanthe’s borders, crumbling to nothing as an earthquake rattled it to the ground. The lovely sunset faded as the sky turned dark, and pitch-black storm clouds thundering with lightning raged overhead. A windstorm picked up, sweeping my hair around my face. Iwatched waterspouts form on the waves in the distance, waves that were quickly forming into a tsunami.
I was doing it. I was bringing a stop to it all.
I heard more screams resonate from the city and nearly held myself back. But I kept going, because I reminded myself these people deserved better, and so did I.
I wasn’t doing this because I no longer loved Charlie. Not at all. I was destroying everythingbecauseI loved him. He was the fire within me, driving me onward, and he was the ocean inside my heart that gave me life. That fire would consume me and that ocean would drown me if I allowed it, so I was killing it, just like I’d killed my old life.
As I continued ripping apart the connection, figures materialized before me. The first was the image of a ghostly bear, so transparent I could hardly make him out in the quickening darkness. The bear transformed into a man, and my Grandpa Liwanu stood across from me, his eyes creasing in unhappiness.
“Ava, please. Think about what you’re doing,”he pleaded.
“No, Grandpa,” I hushed. A tear slipped from my eye and into the sand. “This is what needs to be done.”
The second figure was more solid. Coyote hunched down, dropping his head and approaching me with his tail between his legs. My spirit magic went so deep it touched the other realms, and they’d used it to cross the divide and come to me.
Ava, my love, I cherish you,Coyote begged.This is not the way you were to go, not what your destiny foretold. Stop this, and come be with me.
“I will not,” I whispered. Forcibly, I sent them both away, and they faded as they returned to the other side.
I’d disappointed Coyote, all the gods, and everyone in the spiritual realm who’d given me a chance. They never should’ve let me come back to Earth and return to my life. I should’vestayed in the Ancestral Lands. At least then, things would’ve been able to go on.
Or maybe I would’ve found a way to ruin it all, even in death. Who knew?
I heard a darling voice cry out, the wind calling my name as he approached from the east. What a precious thing, to hear my name fall from his tongue. Despite being furious with him, I wanted to see him… one last time.
Oberi lifted his lip, showing his fangs in a deep growl. I quickened my magic, urging it to go faster and get the job done, because I knew who was coming for me.
Charlie couldn’t stop me. To save the world, or end it. I’d never thought I’d choose to end it. I’d always sworn I’d save the day, somehow.
But there was nothing left to be saved. We all knew that. Time to let it all go. As the prophet had foretold, this was my choice alone. And I wouldn’t let Charlie take that choice away from me.
Not without a fight. And until my last breath, I was going to give him one.
Chapter Twenty-Five
CHARLIE
No one did great things without making tremendous sacrifices. I planned to be the greatest there ever was. That meant letting things go. I was willing to sacrifice my friendships, my reputation, and whatever good I still had left in me to become the ruler this world needed. It wasn’t about making a choice anymore. The only question that remained was if I was strong enough to see my plans through. I swore I wouldn’t break under the pressure, despite what it took to remain standing.
I had to lock Ava up. Not what I wanted, but what I needed. Ava didn’t understand, but she would. With enough time, she’d accept that I couldn’t lose her again and that the palace was the safest place for her. This was the right thing to do. She’d forgive me eventually.
I stood on a balcony off the throne room, listening to my soldiers demonstrate my power. The elder guard was experienced and wise, but the young guard outnumbered them at least two to one, and I knew there were some experienced soldiers who were wavering on supporting my father. My Associates had been ferrying me information for weeks, palace gossip that Cameron was a self-involved leader who cared morefor parties than making decisions that would benefit his people. He wanted the luxuries of royal life, but not the responsibility of it, and the elder guard knew that. Soon, they’d buckle under the pressure and join me. Those that didn’t, my soldiers would kill.
The revolution wouldn’t take long. By sunset, my soldiers would claim Ilamanthe and they’d have my father in chains. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with him yet. It would be unwise to let him live, as he’d always pose a threat to my command, and I blamed him for pulling me away when there was still a chance I could’ve saved my grandfather’s life. Cassiel was gone because of my father, and I wanted to punish Cameron for it.
He was still my father, though, and taking his life would be distasteful in the eyes of the public. I didn’tneedtheir trust, but this would be easier to do if I had it. I was already going to face some opposition from uprooting the line of succession. I could allow my father to live, keep him prisoner for a while until the city agreed that Cameron would’ve been a poor Emperor and nobody wanted him back on the throne. Then I’d let him go free, give him some meaningless position of ceremony within the palace to keep him busy and satisfy any whiners who still complained that I’d overthrown him.
The Elves valued power. This was a mob. I just had to prove I was more worthy than Cameron was, and they’d all fall in line.
I heard footsteps behind me. “I knew you were capable of some bad things. But I never thought you’d go this far.”
