Chapter 24 The Negotiation
AZRAETH'S POV
Seraphina has Celeste, and through the bond, I feel Mireya's world shattering.
"Let her go," Mireya says, her voice shaking. "Please. She has nothing to do with this."
"Oh, but she does." Seraphina presses the blade tighter against Celeste's throat. "She's your weakness. Your last connection to your human life. And I'm going to use her to destroy you."
Fifty Celestial Guards surround us. We're exhausted from fighting the Old Gods' servants. Malik's unconscious and dying. The refugees are defenseless upstairs.
We can't win this fight.
"What do you want?" I ask, already knowing the answer.
"You. Both of you. Surrender willingly, break the soul bond, and I'll let your sister live." Seraphina smiles. "Refuse, and I'll kill her right here. Then I'll kill every refugee in this cathedral. Then I'll burn the building down with everyone inside."
Through the bond, Mireya's terror crashes into me. Not for herself—for Celeste. For the refugees. For everyone who'll die if we don't surrender.
"We have until dawn to decide," Seraphina continues. "That gives you eight hours to say goodbye to your little rebellion. At sunrise, you surrender, or everyone dies."
She vanishes with Celeste and her guards, leaving us in the ruined cathedral with impossible choices.
The moment they're gone, Mireya collapses. I catch her, pulling her close as she shakes.
"We can't surrender," I say quietly. "Breaking the bond will kill us both."
"And not surrendering kills Celeste and everyone here." Her voice breaks. "How do I choose?"
"We find another way."
"There IS no other way!" She pulls back, tears streaming. "Seraphina has every advantage. She has hostages, an army, and eight hours to prepare for whatever we try. We're trapped."
Through the bond, I feel her desperation. Her guilt. She's already decided to sacrifice herself to save everyone.
I won't let that happen.
"Get some rest," I tell her. "We'll figure this out."
She doesn't believe me. Neither do I. But she's too exhausted to argue.
Hours later, she finally sleeps in the corner of our secured room. I should sleep too, but I can't. I watch her instead.
Moonlight illuminates her face—sharper cheekbones, black-flecked eyes that glow faintly even closed, shadows moving around her like living things. She's transformed so much in these weeks. Becoming powerful, dangerous, beautiful in a way that has nothing to do with conventional beauty and everything to do with raw, chaotic strength.
She's nothing like Morwenna.
Morwenna was gentle. Patient. She saw the good in everyone, even those who didn't deserve it. She tried to make peace between angels and demons, believing cooperation was possible.
She died for that belief.
Mireya is rage and fire. She doesn't try to see the good in people—she sees them exactly as they are and decides if they're worth saving or destroying. She doesn't want peace with our enemies. She wants them to burn.
For five hundred years, I waited to find Morwenna's soul again. To get back what I lost. To fix the mistake that got her killed.
But this woman isn't Morwenna's echo. She's someone entirely new.
And I'm falling in love with HER, not the memory of who she used to be.
It terrifies me.
Loving Morwenna ended with her blood on my hands, her body broken, her final words begging me to survive. I couldn't save her. I was too weak, too slow, too arrogant in believing our love made us invincible.
What if loving Mireya ends the same way?
What if I lose her too?
Through the bond, I feel her dreaming—nightmares about Celeste dying, about the refugees burning, about me trapped in the Obsidian Prison again while she's powerless to help.
I want to wake her, to tell her it'll be okay. But I don't know if that's true.
A soft knock on the door. Nyx enters, her expression grim.
"Malik's stable. Barely. He'll live, but he won't be fighting anytime soon." She sits across from me. "Az, we need to talk about surrender."
"No."
"Listen. If we surrender, Seraphina wins. But everyone else lives. The refugees, Celeste, all the demons who've gathered here." She leans forward. "Maybe that's worth it."
"And when she kills us? When she re-imprisons me and dissects Mireya? Who protects them then?"
"I will. The other warriors will. We'll find a way."
I look at Mireya sleeping. "She'd sacrifice herself in a heartbeat to save her sister. That's who she is. But I won't let her."
"Even if it means Celeste dies?"
The question hangs heavy. Through the bond, I feel Mireya's nightmares intensifying.
"I don't know," I admit. "How do I choose between the woman I love and letting innocents die?"
Nyx studies me. "You really love her. This isn't just about the bond anymore."
"No. It's not."
"Then you know what you have to do." She stands. "Give her the choice. Let her decide. Don't make the same mistake you made with Morwenna—trying to protect her from herself."
She leaves me alone with my thoughts and my fears.
Mireya wakes at dawn, her eyes finding mine immediately. Through the bond, she feels my turmoil.
"You're planning something," she says.
"We have an hour until sunrise. Until we have to decide."
She sits up, shadows coiling around her defensively. "There's nothing to decide. We surrender. We save everyone."
"That kills us both."
"Then we die." Her voice is fierce. "Better us than them."
"Mireya—"
"No! I'm not letting Celeste die because of me. I'm not letting those refugees burn. I've been powerless and useless my entire life. But this? This I can do. I can save them."
Through the bond, I feel her absolute conviction. She's already made her choice.
I have to make mine.
Before I can respond, the cathedral's wards scream a warning. Not from outside—from inside.
Someone's breached our inner sanctuary. Someone powerful enough to bypass every protection we have.
We rush to the main hall and freeze.
Standing there, radiating power that makes even the air shimmer, is a woman I've never seen before.
She looks exactly like Mireya—same face, same body—but her eyes are pure silver, and she's wearing clothes from five hundred years ago.
"Hello, Azraeth," she says with Morwenna's voice. "We need to talk."