AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It makes you strong.”
I can’t hide my surprise when Zoey speaks.
“And you’re okay with this plan?” Saint asks Zoey, looking at us as though we’ve both gone mad.
“He doesn’t deserve my compassion, but he has it.”
“Why? He abused you!” Saint shouts, enraged. “Treated you like dirt.”
“I abused myself,” she argues calmly. “I could have left at any time, but I didn’t because I loved him. I always will, and like Willow, I can’t stand back and watch him die.”
“I don’t understand this!” Saint’s statement is filled with hate and confusion, and I can relate because I feel it too.
“I don’t either, but maybe one day, I will. I just know we have to go. Now. But the choice is yours.”
Saint looks at me with nothing but fire as he mulls over everything he’s just heard. None of this makes sense, but it never has. Falling in love with Saint shouldn’t have happened, but it did. Nor was becoming a fierce fighter because of what I’ve endured. But everything has happened for a reason.
Meeting Alek resulted in many deaths, one of which was my stepfather. If I hadn’t met him, Kenny would still be alive, and a small part of me would still be cowering in fear. Everything has happened for a reason, and I suppose for every action there is a consequence.
Oscar’s despicable actions have resulted in the consequences he’s about to face. If he doesn’t, it almost feels as if his actions will go unpunished, and I can’t live with that. As for Alek, his actions have led to him losing a kingdom, and those actions were falling in love with me.
Nothing will ever,everexcuse what he did, but letting him die will be a permanent smudge on my soul. It will eat away at me forever. My father may be gone, but I know what he’d want me to do. And for Saint, the consequence of letting Oscar live will be his self-hate, which will eventually lose him to the darkness for good.
The bad guys can’t win. And if we walk away now, that’s what’ll happen.
“Count me in.” Zoey and I may be at war with one another, but it seems we can fight together when it means saving something we believe in.
“Me too,” Ingrid says with a firm nod from behind Zoey.
Max and Sara have parked their car behind our van, watching with interest. Pavel exits the driver’s side and walks toward Max. He winds down the window, and I can only guess that Pavel’s explained what’s going on. Sara’s eyes widen as I know this is crazy, but when she nods once, hinting she too is with me, I realize this is something we all have to do.
Pavel walks over to us, blowing on his cold hands as it’s begun to snow once again. He doesn’t say anything. He simply stands off to the side, awaiting Saint’s response.
Flecks of snow have stuck to his lashes as he stands unbending, stewing over everything I’ve said. I wish we had more time, but we’ve never had that—only fleeting moments to make life-changing decisions.
“We could have lived a happy, normal life. You could have had your happily ever after.”
I smile, but it’s bittersweet. “I will. As long as we’re together, I will get my fairy-tale ending.”
“And if we’re not?” he questions, walking toward me slowly.
“Then I will enjoy whatever ending is destined for us.” He flinches at such dire thoughts. “No one knows their fate, but this is us taking it by the balls and making it ours.”
I wait with bated breath as he gently places a warm palm on my cheek. His touch instantly thaws my chill. “I was ruined from the first moment I met you. You were never my prisoner…I was yours. I still am.”
I nestle into him, the connection exactly what I need.
“If we do this, I can’t promise you forever.” He runs his thumb along the apple of my cheek, eyes boring into me, stressing the direness of our decision. There are no guarantees we will survive this unscathed.
Placing my hand over his, I squeeze softly. “Well then, I’ll settle for now because I’d rather have all of you than half of you, which is what you will be if you let him live.”
“Is that the same for you if you let him die?” he counters, referring to Alek rather than Oscar, but the sentiment is the same.
I ponder his question because it isn’t as clear-cut as that. “In some ways, I suppose that it is.”
The decision is now up to Saint. He knows how I feel. Whatever choice he makes, he has to make it soon. I hope he makes the right one.
With snow falling around us, setting a somewhat magical backdrop, Saint lowers his lips to mine and kisses me softly. I melt into his mouth, into him because he completes me. Just as quickly as he kisses me, though, he pulls away, and I instantly miss his touch. But what he says next has another fire stoking within.
