Aflora’s lifestrands circled my wrists, the invisible power one I could feel more than see. “She’s here,” I said, talking to no one and everyone.
But no one replied.
Shade had his forehead pressed to her chest, his shoulders hunched in agony at her loss.
Kolstov and Zephyrus were behind him, watching with expressions of horror mingled with pain.
They were in shock.
“She’s here!” I repeated, my voice strained as I tried futilely to grab their focus. But they were lost to their grief, seeing her body frozen and not breathing, her heart no longer beating.
I growled in annoyance, not ready to give up.
But I felt Aflora pulsing through the Dark Source web, the last vestiges of her strength urging me to release it.
It’s my choice,she seemed to be saying. Let me go, Zakkai. Please… let me go.
My chest ached, my mind unwilling to comprehend what had just happened, how quickly I’d lost my mate.
Sacrifice wasn’t supposed to be like this.
Sacrifice was about growth, perseverance, power.
It wasn’t about death. It wasn’t about giving up the cords of life to the Dark Source. But Constantine had forced that trial upon her, making her choose.
And she’d chosen herself.
Like a true queen, putting everyone else before herself.
All of the Midnight Fae knew. They’d all felt her decision, her sacrifice, her putting our love and lives over her own.
I felt them weeping, sensed the Dark Source breaking from the loss of a powerful royal, an ideal candidate to rule.
And I sensed Constantine’s victory over it all, his malicious laughter as he watched her perish inside that dark void… alone… without her mates.
Aflora,I breathed, her soul slipping through my fingers, the spell Shade had uttered disappearing into the wind.
She’d kissed his hand with a rose petal.
Just as she whispered her love into my mind.
I’m okay, she told me. It’s okay… to let me go… to let me be free, to lead the fae to life. I’ll watch you all from above. I’ll see you from the stars.
My knees gave out, tears blurring my vision as a bright light blinked above her, twinkling like a little sun.
My star.
My little star.
My sweet, beautiful star.
Aflora…She’d been my other half for so long, that I wasn’t sure how I’d survive without her.
This was so much worse than cutting off our bond all those years ago. So much worse than all the pain Constantine and the Elders had inflicted on my life and being. So much worse than my own ascension and the pain of taking on the Source Architect role.
This was like having a million stars combust inside me, leaving only one above to guide me and watch over me for an eternity of solitary.
Because there would be no other Aflora.