Page 130 of Sienna Rossi: Beyond Shattered Trust

“Wh-what have you done?” Alessandra whispers.

I don’t respond as I rise to my feet.

Even now – even after it’s done, I know I made the only choice that mattered, the choice I had to, because if I hadn’t, we would have lost far more than answers.

And it reminds me of something I’ve always known, something that maybe I needed a reminder of: that the right path is rarely the easy one.

Sometimes the right path comes with trials; the right choice is hard to make; the right decision isn’t always easy to reach, but sometimes that’s the path you need to take.

It demands more, takes more, forces you to choose when there are no good options left to take, and it still expects you to stand by that decision when it’s over.

Because not everyone has the strength to make the right decision when it’s difficult.

And whether I like it or not, that’s a weight I will always choose to bear.

And yet… when it comes to the most precious thing in the world, I can’t do it. I can’t make the choice because it means having everything I could have dreamt of, and I’m afraid to lose that – lose her.

Answering to the King

Jayce

Isense Sienna running towards me, her hand wrapping around my arm, which, only now, I realise is charred and throbbing with pain. Smoke is rising from it, and my gauntlet is burning hot.

A coolness spreads from her touch as she gently brushes her hand up my arm. I flex my hand, my artefacts disappearing in a blinding glow, and I look down at my arm and stretch, feeling as the small fractures the impact of the punch had caused begin healing.

My attention falls on her arms, and I scan her over, making sure she’s ok.

“That- that was not the plan!” Alessandra shouts, storming over to me with her anger surging around her.

I look up at her and cock a brow. “Sometimes decisions have to be made, and we all know we couldn’t have held him.”

Sienna looks up at me, and then at Alessandra, who stares at me without blinking. “He’s gone, and that means we can’t ask him if there was a way to get Mama’s power back!” she snarls.

“A risk I had to take,” I say quietly as I move my arm from Sienna’s hold and bend it before stretching it.

“He isn’t wrong. We couldn’t have held him; a primordial’s magic was no match for us,” Heaven says, a sliver of disappointment in her otherwise calm voice.

“But Mama’s power-”

“It was a risk I had to take. I was not going to put anyone here in danger by letting him live.”

Sienna reaches for my arm again, this time whispering a spell, and the burning sensation begins to ease.

I’m fine, I say through the mind-link.

“And? Mama’s power saves so many lives; without her on our side, we are worse off!” Alessandra shouts, her fists clenched, her eyes burning red.

“And right here are some of the key players for the final battle, including yourself, and as harsh as it may sound, we need to be there – for that battle, more than Aunty Kiara,” I say icily.

She stills. I know my words are harsh, but they are the truth.

Sienna moves towards Alessandra, but she raises her finger, telling her without a word not to approach her. Before any of us can say anything else, someone else speaks.

“You killed him.” We turn to see a pale Katara standing there, her lips trembling as she stares at me, eyes wide with shock and disbelief.

We were so consumed by our conversation that I hadn’t even noticed her small presence, but from the horror in her eyes, she clearly witnessed it all.

“He wasn’t who he said he was,” I say quietly.