COMMENT
Chapter 75
*Ethan*
Kyle and Cassandra come rushing in, heaving and wounded just like me. I don’t know how much longer I can keep my wolf buried down when suddenly there is a sensation of coolness around me.
“I placed wards around you now that Evelyn isn’t hindering my magic,” Maya explains and goes back to casting the ritual on Ariella.
I hurry to her side and hold, smiling out of pure exhaustion and to make her feel hopeful. This has to work, I don’t care how many laws we are breaking by doing this. Laws be damned.
“Lilith?” I ask.
“Dead,” Cassey whimpers, “Burned alive by whatever curse is around this place.”
“We figured it must mean Evelyn abandoned her,” Kyle glances to the corner where Evelyn and Marcus’s bodies lay, “But this outcome is better.”
Ariella gasps and squeezes my hand tightly and contractions course through her. I shift her body and lay her against her, my arms around her.
She looks up at me. She doesn’t say anything but I know she’s saying ‘I’m afraid‘.
“I have you,” I say as gently and calmly as I can. “Nothing will hurt you now. The gods themselves can try.”
Not the smartest thing to say but I didn’t care. If Sol refused to help then I would tear down this place and eviscerate every last remaining relic of him.
Maya continues to chant, and a golden glow envelopes Ariella. The light hurts me bt I refuse to let go of her. I will never let go again.
“Push, Ariella, push!” the witch urges her.
Ariella screams and pushes. My body is wrought with pain through my connection with her through our bond…but it’s only a fraction of the pain she is feeling.
I let my energy flow through her. If I can mitigate whatever pain she is going through, even if a little bit, I will give everything I can.
“I can see him!” Maya exclaimed, “Keep going!”
“You can do this! Ariella!” I urge her on, giving her my power. “You can save him!”
Ariella lets out one final scream…and her cries are replaced with that of a infant.
I can barely believe my eyes; right in from me, squirming in Maya’s arms…is my son. Mine and Ariella’s son.
Maya raises the child above her head and chants in a language I don’t recognize. The light brightens and we all shield our eyes. It’s as though the very sun has settled in this chamber.
And then it’s gone.
The child is silent.
Airella and I look at Maya with concern.
“Is he..” she begins, “Did it work?”
Maya lets out a sigh and smiles. “It worked…the curse…is lifted.”
Ariella bursts into tears and reaches for the baby. Maya places him in her arms and I get a good look at our child for the first time.
He is a tiny thing but I can sense great power from him. But what makes me happy and brings a tear to my eye, is that he looks like his mother.
“He’s perfect,” Ariella says weakly.
“Just like you.” I say.
She passes him to me and I cradle him in my arms. I look at him and then her…and for the first time in my Balanced. As they should be.
life feel
as though things are perfect.
“I love you,” I hear myself say, words that I have never uttered to another living soul. But I utter it now because never have I known anything to be
more true.
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Chapter 75
Surprise in her eyes, she smiles. “I love you too.”
And then….this perfect moment…comes to an end. The light in her chest fades and Ariella begins to shake violently.
“No! NO! NO! What is happening to her!” I yell.
Cassandra rushed over, taking the baby from me as Kyle, Maya and I attended to Ariella.
Maya’s face becomes pale.
“The baby…he was born before the curse technically lifted…She’s dying.”
“No! NO!” I roar. “We did everything right! She can’t die!”
+5
I cradle her in my arms, pouring every single ounce of my power I can into her. “You can’t die, Ariella, you can’t. Our child needs you….I need you.”
Her body becomes till and her lips turn blue.
Ariella is dead.
I sob. For the first time since my mother died, I sob. I curse the goddess…I curse the sun. I curse Evelyn, I curse Marcus, I curse Lilith and everyone who has ever dared to harm my beloved.
And I curse myself for not telling her sooner…for not being what she needed sooner.
“I am sorry,” I say, “It’s not fair that this happens to you. It’s not fair that all this happened to you. You are the best person I have ever met, and you didn’t take the cruelty the world threw at you. You deserved better.”
I pull her to my chest and hug her for one last time.
A pulse of light.
I pull away from her and rub my eyes. Did I imagine that?
Another pulse. From the center of her chest. Maya’s eyes widen, as do Kyle’s and Cassadra’s.
“You see it as well?” I ask.
They nod.
Another pulse, brighter than before. Heat ripples through her body. I let her down on the ground gently, my instincts telling me to step backwards.
As soon as I do, Ariella’s body lifts into the air and shines brighter than anything before this.
“Are you doing this!” I shout at Maya.
“This isn’t me, it’s not Sol either!” Maya shouts back.
Ariella’s body shimmers and with a final burst of light, a massive, beautiful silver wolf. She floats down and is nestled gently on the temple floor.
I reach forward and touch her fur. It’s soft and warm…and more importantly, I can feel her heartbeat.
The wolf stands up and regards me curiously before shaking her mane and shifting back into Ariella. She stands there, confused, but more beautiful than ever.
I take off my jacket and cover her quickly. “Are you alright?”
“Did I…die?” she whispers.
“I don’t know…” I kiss her. “All I know is that now you’re still alive!”
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