“Surrender, princess,” a familiar voice says. “And we’ll rule together. I promise.”
I glance up to find Daegel standing a few feet away from me. He holds his dual swords, and wears his Ezkai leathers.
He’s alive.
Painfully alive.
The moment our gazes lock, I’m overcome with longing so strong it immobilizes me.
MyDaegel.
“It’s not too late,” he says. “Surrender. It doesn’t have to end like this.”
His words slice through me like a blade.
The cheers from the crowd around us overwhelm my senses.
This is not real.
An illusion.
Daegel’s dead. I killed him.
And yet…part of me longs for this. A second chance.
I look down at the blades I’m holding.
I could drop them.
I could surrender.
I could choose him.
Gods, how much I want to choose him.
My grip on the daggers loosens, and my shoulders sag. A victorious smirk blooms on his face. That’s what snaps me out of it.
The longing and grief, the guilt, is replaced by something else.
I remember all that he did. The lying, the scheming, the manipulating.
I made the choice for a reason back then.
I’m going to make it again.
In a blink of an eye, I’m back on my feet. I charge at him. He braces for impact, swinging his swords. But I’m faster.
I duck under his blade, twist past his guard, and bury mine in his side. He grunts from pain and flashes his teeth at me. “There you are. You’ll always choose power over anything else.”
His words are full of venom, and they cut through me.
I don’t give him a chance to recover. I press my second blade to his throat and slice it open.
This time, I don’t watch the life leave his dark eyes, nor do I watch him bleed out on the dusty ground.
Hands bloody, heart empty, I turn my back to him and prowl towards the forest surrounding the clearing.
As I get closer to it, the second heartbeat in me grows stronger.
