Chapter 21: Elena
Dario’s form flickered before me, bound in Rindais’s circle of light, his dark, strained silhouette framed by searing magic that seemed to eat away at him, piece by piece.
Rindais’s magic swept through the chamber, colliding with the fire that lived in me, before it was snuffed out.
But that sickly green magic left its mark on Dario. His form wavered, as though the very shadows he was made of were tearing him apart.
My heart twisted painfully in my chest. I could feel it breaking, shattering with every beat as I watched him struggle, helpless against the terrible magic holding him captive.
The man I had fought so hard to resist loving, the one who had pulled me from my own darkness—he was slipping away.
“Dario…” His name was a whisper, caught in my throat, torn between desperation and fear, my voice choked with emotions too vast, too raw to put into words.
His gaze lifted, his dark eyes filled with a mixture of pain and determination, and he managed to hold my gaze, even as the magic threatened to pull him under. I saw something there, something that made my heart ache with equal parts joy and sorrow—a plea, silent but unmistakable.
Run, he was telling me.Leave this place. Save yourself.
But I couldn’t leave him.
Every fiber of my being screamed against it. He had been my shadow in the darkness, my anchor in the chaos, my strength when I felt I had none.
And I loved him—oh, how deeply, how fiercely I loved him.
The realization hit me like a physical blow. This was love, raw and unyielding, a flame that burned with an intensity I had never known.
And it was a flame that I was willing to burn myself alive to protect.
Rindais’s voice echoed through the chamber, smooth and mocking, his cold gaze flicking between us with a cruel satisfaction. “You’re a fool, High Priestess,” he sneered, his lips curling in disdain. “Sacrificing yourself for a creature of shadow? For something cursed to the darkness?” His words cut through the air, sharp and venomous. “He’s nothing. And you—” His gaze settled on me, his eyes glinting with a dark, twisted desire. “You’re mine.”
The words made my skin crawl, a chill that spread down my spine, filling me with a sickening dread. His gaze was possessive, hungry, a gaze that saw me not as a person but as something to be consumed, atoolto be used until nothing remained.
“No,” I whispered, the word slipping out before I could stop it, a defiance that rose from the depths of my soul. “I don’t belong to you.”
In Dario’s eyes, I saw pain, but also… love. For me.
Even if he had never said the words to me, I knew he loved me.
There was only one way to save him. One path that would free him, that would end Rindais’s reign of terror once and for all.
And that path required sacrifice.
I felt a strange calm wash over me, a peace that went beyondfear, beyond pain. I had the power to end this, to destroy Rindais’s twisted magic, to save Dario from the curse that bound him. But it would cost me everything.
“Dario,” I murmured. “I love you.”
It felt like the magical winds howling around us quietened for a moment, as if the dark power pushing us apart had paused for a breath, and I saw the exact moment he heard me.
“Elena—” his voice was shaking, but his eyes were alight with joy.
“I wish we could’ve had more time. I’m sorry it has to be this way.”
Dario’s eyes widened with horror as he understood. “Elena,no!”
His voice broke through the silence, raw and desperate, and I could feel his fear, his anguish, as if it were my own. “Don’t—you can’t do this. Don’t… don’t throw your life away. Not for me.”
I held his gaze, my heart aching with a fierce, unyielding love that threatened to consume me whole. “Dario, listen to me.” My voice was steady, even as my heart raced. “I can’t leave you. I won’t. You’ve been with me, every step of this journey, through every dark corner, every moment of doubt. And now… I choose you.”
I could see raw, aching desperation in Dario’s eyes as he reached out to me, his fingers just barely brushing against mine before the magic pulled him back, tearing him away from me.
