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I pull back too late. Staring down at her, I’m unable to glance away from the smile on her cold lips. The single tear that slides down her cheek breaks me into a million pieces. I hold her limp, lifeless body in my arms.
My heart shatters into a million pieces.
Our deal is done.
I lost myself in my desire for her, and because of that, I sealed her fate with a kiss.
A kiss that never allowed me to tell her the words I meant to. Words that I longed to tell her. Words that I know she could never return, for she could never feel the same for a creature such as myself. Yet, she died, never knowing how fully I loved her.
How fully I love her still.
Gently, I lay her back on my pillows. I take in her gentle beauty for a long moment. Then, I storm from the room. Anger fills me as I know I will need to deliver her body at some point. But I can’t, not yet. Not now.
I make my way toward the front of my empty palace. My steps echo as I storm through the halls. I’m nearly there when I notice an open door. That to Hazel’s studio. Unable to stop myself, I move toward in. Stepping into the small room, my heart aches as I glance about it before my eyes settle on the canvas in the middle of the room.
The portrait of me that she first made sits there.
Only she’s added to it. No longer am I alone on the canvas. Next to me stands Hazel. Smiling and shining brightly, just as she did in life.
It is a stunning portrait of us.
Moving toward it, I search each brush stroke, seeking out the small parts of herself that she poured into this painting. I feel it, then. Her love for me.
My heart pangs as everything else fades away.
Then, I turn on my heel. I hurry toward the inky doors that will take me to Knax. I know what I must do.
I am going to do whatever I must to get her soul back.
Even if that means I must defy all of the Underworld itself.
Even if must go against the Fates themselves.
