Chapter 164
ALEXANDER
“Faye…” I managed to say before she cut in.
“You were just going to die quietly, weren’t you?” she asked.
She still stood frozen in the doorway, eyes wide, and tears already blurring her vision. She looked from me to her father, then to the healer, who instinctively lowered her head and stepped back.
“Faye,” I started again, my voice breaking before I could find the right words. “I…”
She took a slow step forward, her voice barely more than a whisper. “You said you were fine…
The crack in her tone gutted me.
“ And this… this is what you meant?”
Her voice wavered on the last word, trembling like it was the only thing holding her together. I saw the tears spill before I could say anything.
“Faye, please…” I took a step toward her, but she shook her head sharply, backing away.
The look she gave me–hurt, disbelief, betrayal–cut deeper than any blade could. Her lips parted like she wanted to speak again, but no sound came. Then she turned, her breath catching, and ran before I could reach her.
“Faye!” I called, but the effort sent pain slicing through my chest. I staggered forward, gripping the edge of the table for balance.
Before I could push past the pain and go after her, a firm hand caught my arm.
“Let her be,” her father said quietly, his tone heavy with understanding. “She needs to process this.”
I hesitated, breathing hard, torn between guilt and the instinct to follow. But his eyes…steady and sorrowful…held me still.
Slowly, I let out a shaky breath and sank back into the chair, my strength fading. The room fell silent except for the pounding of my heart.
And I just sat there, staring at the door she’d fled through, the sound of her broken voice echoing in my head.
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FAYE
I ran until I could hardly breathe, until the trees blurred past me and the ground beneath my feet felt like it was falling away. I didn’t know where I was going… only that I couldn’t stay there. I couldn’t stand the sound of their voices, the pity in their eyes, the weight of that one unbearable truth ringing in my head.
He won’t see the next morning.
The words wouldn’t stop repeating. Over and over, they struck like blades in my chest, slicing through every fragile thread of hope in me. My body ached, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t. The air tore through my throat as I stumbled deeper into the woods, branches scraping against my arms. Still, I kept running.
When my legs finally gave out, I dropped to my knees in the dirt. My palms hit the ground hard, the sting barely registering through the flood of pain that had already taken over me. I was probably shaking… my breaths ragged and uneven.
“Why?” The word fell out before I realized I’d spoken. My voice cracked, small and broken, swallowed by the stillness of the forest.
I pressed my hands harder into the earth, as if I could find some sort of strength buried beneath it. “Why would you do this?” I whispered. My throat felt raw. I hoped the goddess could hear me.
The silence pressed in around me, too heavy. My anger began to rise… hot, desperate, wild.” You gave him to me, didn’t you?” I shouted, my voice echoing through the trees. “You gave him to me, and now you’re taking him away, just like that?”
Tears burned my eyes, spilling over as my chest heaved. “Why now?” My voice cracked again, the words trembling out between gasps.
I pushed myself up from the ground, unsteady on my feet. My vision was blurred with tears, but I looked up at the sky anyway, as if I could see her–the goddess who seemed to enjoy breaking me over and over again.
“You’re cruel!” I screamed. The sound tore through me, raw and shaking. “You’re so cruel!”
The woods echoed my voice back at me, hollow and distant. Birds scattered from the trees, but I didn’t care. I screamed again, louder, until my throat burned. “What did I ever do to deserve this?” My words came out strangled. “Haven’t I done everything you asked? Haven’t I been through enough?”
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The fury inside me swelled until it broke. I threw my head back and screamed, long and hard, until my voice gave out completely. The sound carried through the forest like something wild and wounded, shattering the stillness around me.
When it ended, the silence that followed felt unbearable.
I dropped to the ground, my knees hitting the dirt again. My hands shook as I pressed them to my face, but the tears wouldn’t stop. They came harder, faster–sobs that tore through me until I couldn’t breathe.
“You can’t take him from me,” I whispered into my hands. “Please… not him. Not now. ”
The forest didn’t answer. The goddess didn’t answer. Of course she didn’t.
I looked up through the trees, blinking through tears, the fading sunlight spilling through the leaves. My voice trembled as I spoke again. “Maybe you should take me too,” I said quietly.” Because I can’t live without him… I don’t want to.”
The words broke something in me the moment they left my lips.
I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to hold in the ache, but it only grew. My body trembled as sob after sob ripped out of me, until I was gasping for air.
The wind moved through the trees above me…gentle, indifferent…carrying away my words as if they meant nothing.
And there, in the heart of the forest, I broke–crying, begging for mercy that would never come. I fell forward, curling into the dirt, my body shaking as the grief poured out of me until there was nothing left but the sound of my own quiet, broken breathing.
“Take me too…” I whispered again. And I meant it.
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