Chapter 115 The Cost

Chapter 115 The Cost
Rune POV.

The healing chamber is cold. Braziers burn in each corner but don't reach the center. Marcus lies on the central table. Gray-skinned. Barely breathing. Freya stands in the corner under guard. Tears streak her face.

Logan's hand is tight in mine as we enter.

"You don't have to do this." He says one last time.

"I know."

The healer—Mira—approaches. "He has an hour, maybe less. The poison is shutting down his organs one by one."

I approach the table. Look down at Marcus. He's young. Maybe twenty-five. Dark hair like his mother's. Strong features. Wasted.

His eyes open slightly. Focus on me.

"Luna." He whispers. "Don't. Not worth... the cost."

"That's not your decision." I place my hand on his chest.

Through the touch, I feel it. Viktor's poison. Dark. Insidious. Wrapped around Marcus's heart like thorns.

"Rune." Logan's voice behind me. "Please. We'll find another way."

"There is no other way." Mira says quietly. "Oracle power is the only thing that can purge this particular poison."

I look back at Logan. See his ice-blue eyes. Wide. Desperate.

"I have to."

"Then I'm staying." Logan moves to my side. "I'm not leaving you alone through this."

I nod.

Close my eyes. Reach for the Oracle power that lives in my blood. Silver light responds immediately. Floods through my veins.

This will cost you, something whispers in my mind. Are you willing to pay?

"Yes." Aloud.

The power surges through my hand into Marcus. I feel it seeking the poison. Finding it. Beginning to purge.

But simultaneously, it reaches into my mind. Grasping.

Memories appear before my inner vision. And Oracle power begins taking them.

My mother's face. Smiling. Loving. Familiar.

I watch it blur. Features dissolving like watercolor in rain.

"No." I gasp. "Not that—"

The memory shatters. Gone completely. My mother's face. Erased. I grasp desperately for it.

Nothing left. Just blank space where her features should be.

Logan's arms are around me. I feel his horror through the bond.

"Rune, stop—" He starts.

"Can't." I manage. Still channeling power into Marcus. The poison is fighting back.

Another memory surfaces. The cottage where I grew up. Small. Wooden. Surrounded by forest.

I see it clearly for one moment.

Then the walls crumble in my mind. The forest dissolves. The entire structure disappears.

"Please." I hear myself beg. "Not everything—"

The power ignores me.

My first shift. The full moon overhead. The exhilaration. The pack celebrating.

The memory plays once. Brief. Beautiful.

Then shatters into nothing.

Logan's arms support my weight as my knees buckle. But I keep my hand on Marcus. Keep channeling.

The poison is weakening. I can feel it dying.

But the cost keeps rising.

Playing with other Omega children. Faces I can't quite see anymore. Names I'm forgetting even as I try to hold them.

Gone.

My father teaching me to fish. His laugh fading to silence. His face blurring to nothing.

Gone.

Pack gatherings around fire. Dissolving into formless shadows.

Gone.

"Almost done." Mira says. Monitoring Marcus. "The poison is nearly purged."

Almost done. Just a little more.

The power takes one final, massive pull.

Everything before age twelve disappears. Not gradually. All at once. Like a door slamming shut on my entire early childhood.

I scream.

The Oracle light flares brilliant silver. Fills the room. Blinds everyone.

Then it's gone.

I collapse. Logan catches me. Lowers us both to the floor. My hand finally breaks contact with Marcus.

"He's breathing." Mira says. "Steady. Strong. The poison is completely purged."

Through blurring vision, I see Freya rush to her son. Marcus's eyes open. Clear. Aware.

"Mother?"

Freya sobs. Clutches his hand. She looks at me. Tears streaming. "You saved him. Thank you. I don't deserve—"

"You don't." I manage. Head swimming. "But he does."

Marcus's eyes find mine. "Luna. Thank you. I won't forget this."

But I will. I'm already forgetting. The blank spaces overwhelming.

"Get them out." Logan says to the guards. "Guest quarters for Marcus. Freya remains under guard. Now."

They escort mother and son away.

Logan lifts me easily. Carries me from the healing chamber toward our quarters.

"Stay with me." He murmurs against my hair. "Don't go into the memories. Stay here, with me, present."

He gets us to our chambers. Locks the door. Lays me gently on our bed.

"Sleep. Rest. We'll deal with this when you wake."

I want to argue. Want to catalog what's lost.

But exhaustion pulls me under.