Not even now.
It is the truest thing about him.
The shield finally shatters apart. Blue light explodes outward in fractured shards of Aether before dissolving into nothing. And suddenly Teddy is no longer holding the line.
He is only a dying man trying to remain standing long enough to keep his promise—to choose her.
His knees buckle.
“No!”
Seren is moving before the word fully leaves her mouth, golden curls snapping wildly around her as she stumbles across the battlefield toward him.
Around them, the war still rages.
Dragons scream overhead.
Soldiers clash beneath collapsing stone.
Elyssara and Maireth continue tearing the heavens apart.
Black-silver shadows still spear into the skies, cutting down dragons mid-flight.
But none of it feels real anymore.
Only Teddy.
Always Teddy.
Rage flares hot and sharp in her chest.I won’t wait to be chosen forever, Teddy.That’s what she said. That’s what she told him.
It was a lie.
Because here, feeling him die beneath her hands, she would. She would wait forever for him.
And finally… Teddy falls.
“Told you,” he rasps weakly, blood spilling down his chin. “Good strategy.”
A broken sound escapes Seren’s throat. Not quite a sob. Not quite his name. Something worse. Something torn out of her.
She catches him just before he hits the ground fully, collapsing to her knees beneath the weight of him as blood immediately floods across her hands. Too warm. Too much.Gods, far too much.
“No,” she whispers again.
The word feels useless now. Small. Meaningless against the devastation in front of her.
Teddy’s body jerks weakly beneath her grip, blood spilling from his mouth as Nyrielle’s magic continues burning through him from the inside out. The smell of scorched flesh clings thickly to the air around them.
And still he’s trying to look at her.
Fuck.
Even now, he’s trying to find her face.
Around them, the war continues screaming forward. Magic fractures the sky. Men die. Weapons clash.
Seren hears none of it.
