“If you hadn’t turned your back on her, chosen reputation over love, she would still be here. And you… you would be so much happier.”
Lafontaine slumped with a sob.
Elara nodded for Fernand to let him go.
They both stepped away, leaving Lafontaine to become what he’d always been: a miserable excuse of a person. His shoulders curved as he collapsed on himself, body heaving with wet cries.
People started to notice. The cracks of guns lessened, the cries of fury ceased, and there was stillness as they all witnessed their Souverain break.
“There’s still time,” Elara said gently. “You can make her proud.”
Lafontaine’s tremoring slowed. His sobs quieted.
“There is?” he murmured.
Elara knelt beside him, pushing even harder. Knowing he would rankle at her touch, recoil at her sympathy.
“Put an end to this,” she said. “Step down. Admit what you’ve done.”
When he lifted his chin, Elara was alarmed to find him so frail. Shadows unfurled beneath his bloodshot eyes, and he was as pale as the robes he’d armored himself in for decades. Lafontaine was no monster. He was just a man. Pathetic. Mediocre. Self-serving.
“I will,” he murmured. “Just like I put an end to your mother.”
All the air fled her lungs.
The world tipped in a sickening whirl.
“What?”
Pain pierced her core. And not from the horrific truth alone.Lafontaine’s gnarled hand gripped the syringe that he’d buried deep in her chest.
Fernand’s screams were far away.
There was only her and Lafontaine.
“Do you think I would have let anyone else have that privilege?” He leaned in and whispered, “I enjoyed slitting their throats. Your mother’s most of all.”
With that, he injected the purple liquid, and she felt every drop burn through her veins. The lights overhead brightened, brightened, brightened, until everything blazed white.
Then her soul was torn in half.
Nik was right.
She was going to die, and she couldn’t even scream.
48NIK
“NO!”
Nik watched Elara collapse into Fernand’s arms. Her body convulsed as Gaetan’s had, her teeth clenched tight enough he feared they’d shatter. Every vein in her neck and face popped as she seized against the drug. Depending on the dosage, it wouldn’t be long until she was gone forever.
“Nik!” Blai grabbed him.
He tried to shake them off only to find them wearing an unusually somber expression.
“We can’t save her now.” Blai shook the flyers they’d gathered. “But we can still help her.”
It was true. There was a chance she could survive. It had taken two doses to kill Gaetan, and Elara was strong. She could make it. Shehadto make it.
