"Where?" Still not meeting my gaze, her voice barely a whisper, fragile as spun glass.
"Los Angeles."
Her eyes snap to mine, and the flash of fear I see there guts me like a blade. "Why? And for how long?"
I curse myself for what I'm about to do. For the pain I'm about to cause. I never should have come back to Boston. Never should have dragged her back into this nightmare.
The silence stretches between us, heavy with everything I don't want to say. Everything I have to say.
"Forever." The word falls like a stone, heavy with finality. The taste of it is bitter on my tongue, like ash and regret. I watch it hit her, watch the color drain from her face, watch her entire body beginning to tremble.
She starts shaking her head. "No."
"Red—"
"No." She moves toward me."You're not going back."
The determination in her voice, even as it shakes, nearly breaks my resolve.
"I have to." The words scrape my throat raw. "It's the only way to protect you. To protect all of you."
"Protect us?" Her laugh is hollow, brittle as ice about to crack. "By running back to them? By letting them win?"
"By giving them what they want." I reach for her, but she steps back, and the rejection feels like a physical blow, a knife between my ribs. “I’ve talked to my father. He promised that if I go back, if I do what they want, they'll leave you alone. All of you. They'll stop destroying everything you love."
"No." Tears spill down her cheeks. "No, you can't. You can't let them control you like this."
"Red—"
"We'll figure something else out." She grabs my shirt, fingers twisting in the fabric with desperate strength. "We always do. Just... please. Please don't leave."
The desperation in her voice shatters what's left of my heart. I cup her face in my hands, feeling her tremble beneath my touch. "I love you." My voice cracks, breaking on the weight of emotion. "God, there are no words to describe how much. That's why I have to do this."
She shakes her head harder, auburn waves whipping around her face. "No. No, I won't let you sacrifice yourself for me."
"It's not just for you." I press my forehead to hers, breathing her in, committing to memory the scent that's become home to me. "It's for Emma, Amanda, and Brian. For everyone they're hurting because of me. Because I was selfish enough to think I could escape my legacy."
A sob tears from her throat, the sound ripping through me like shrapnel. "Please," she whispers against my chest. "Please don't do this."
I hold her closer, memorizing the feel of her in my arms. Because this is it. This is the last time I'll ever hold her like this. The last time I'll breathe in the scent of her hair or feel her heart beating against mine.
"I'm so sorry." The words are inadequate, meaningless in the face of what I'm doing to her. "I never meant for any of this to happen."
She clings to me harder, as if she can keep me here through sheer force of will. And God, how I wish she could. How I wish there was another way.
But there isn't. There never was.
Because this is what it means to be a true Saint. To sacrifice everything you love for the greater good. To protect those you care about by letting them go.
Even if it kills you in the process.
"Ares, please don't—"
My voice cracks. “They won't stop, Red. Not until I go back. Not until their heir returns to the empire where he belongs."
I meet her eyes, watching as understanding begins to dawn. "Every person you care about will pay the price for my rebellion. Their dreams, their livelihoods—all of it gone. And it will be my fault. Our fault."
Her hands fall from my shirt, and I watch the realization wash over her face like a shadow. "He's doing all this... just to control you?"
