“I can’t stay here,” she half sobbed. “I have to get away from you all.”
“Blue, please. You can fight this. Just look at me. You can stop it from taking over again, I know you can.”
But she shook her head, more tears flowing down her cheeks, carving tracks through the blood and ash staining her face and a growl of pain left me as I stepped forward and she stepped back.
“Please,” she whispered, holding up her hand to ward me off. “Please stay away, I don’t want to hurt you. Oh god…oh god, what have I done? All those people…” She fisted her hands in her hair, a noise of anguish leaving her and I shot forward, not caring what she asked of me, I wasn’t going to leave her alone. She needed me more than she ever had in her life.
I held her against me as she came apart, sobbing against my chest and clinging onto me as I wrapped her in my arms and tried to figure out what to do.
“We’ll run. We’ll go somewhere far away together, okay?” I offered, but she drew back, taking in a shuddering breath as she stopped herself from crying.
“No,” she said, the ring of a queen in her voice. “I have to go alone. If I hurt you, I’ll never forgive myself.”
“Blue,” I growled, as her green eyes filled with so much darkness, they almost seemed black. “Please.” I grabbed her hand, trying to hold onto her as she continued to back up and the shadows seemed to thicken around her.
“I have to go,” she said.
“I’m not saying goodbye to you and you’re not going anywhere,” I demanded. “You’ll have to summon the stars themselves to keep me away from you.”
As if in answer to my words, a meteor tore across the sky, a fallen star leaving a trail of glittering fire in its wake as it streaked over our heads towards the mountains and collided with the side of one, sending a tremor rocking out through the earth.
I inhaled in shock. “What now? The sky is falling too?” I looked down at Darcy, finding her backing further and further away from me, an apology in her eyes.
“The monster is waking up,” she said, her voice breaking and I looked down to find she’d bound my legs in shadows with the beast’s power, tethered to the earth itself as I lurched forward and was yanked back by their strength.
“Wait,” I gasped in terror as she turned, shifting into the huge black Shadow Beast and howling mournfully to the night.
“Darcy!” I bellowed, my throat ripping raw. I knew I was going to lose her in the next moment and I couldn’t stand it. “Meet me tomorrow at dawn where the meteor struck!” I cried after her in desperation as she took off in the direction of the mountains, and I wasn’t sure she’d even heard me.
I released a roar of anger, yanking against the shadows again and again, fighting to get free, my heart cleaving in two at the idea of us being torn apart.
I wouldn’t let her go. I would follow her to the edges of the Earth, I’d follow her to the moon if I had to.
I used every ounce of Vampire strength I had left in me to rip the shadows off of my legs then looked to the mountains, my mate already long lost.
“Blue!” I yelled, panic potent within me.
I was about to shoot after her when my gaze moved to Lavinia among the last remnants of the battle.
I shivered as the stars seemed to lean closer, whispering among each other as they watched their playthings put on a show for them. I was so tired of being worn down, so tired of losing everything whenever I believed it was finally mine for good. I’d had to look into my Elysian Mate’s eyes and watch her silver rings fade right in front of me, I’d seen her heart shatter the moment she realised what that beast had made her do and if this broke her, I’d break too.
I felt so exhausted fighting for a life the stars seemed determined to steal from us. Were they ever planning to just let us be? Or would life be one loss after the other?
“Are you happy now?!” I yelled at the stars. “Are we tortured enough for you yet?!”
It took all the strength I had to stay standing, my gaze falling from our shining makers and my thoughts shifting onto Lavinia again, a decision solidifying in my mind. She was the one who’d done this to Darcy. She was the creator of the curse so I would rip the answer to breaking it from her worthless lips.
I took a shuddering breath then shot forward with a surge of speed, tearing back to where the last of the rebels were retreating into The Burrows, knowing what I had to do even if the stars defied me time and again. Because yes, I was tired, but I was not defeated. I would not submit to this fate even when it broke every bone in my body and tried to force my back to bend. I would fight for another destiny, I would build one from the fabric of the sky if I had to.