Chapter 271 271
Aurélie POV
No.
I refuse to let this be the end.
I have my children. My mate. My unborn baby. Fabrice. My friends. My pack. A future that still belongs to me. I didn’t claw my way through hell, didn’t endure everything I have, just to let her win now. I won’t.
But the question gnaws at me all the same
Am I already too late?
A faint glimmer flashes to my left, barely visible through the murky water. The lake is dark, clouded, but calm enough that I can still make out the lakebed beneath me. Geneviève hadn’t managed to drag me as deep as she’d intended.
I still my frantic movements, forcing myself to stop thrashing. Slowly, the disturbed water settles, minerals sinking back down, clearing my vision inch by inch.
At first, I think it’s nothing just a fish, or perhaps a pale stone catching the moonlight.
Then memory slams into me.
My heart lurches violently, hope detonating in my chest.
Silver.
Untarnished. Untouched by rust. Perfect.
Bloodnight steel.
Its craftsmanship is renowned throughout the country for a reason etched to endure, forged for war, ever ready to answer its master’s call.
And now… that master is me.
Damien’s sword.
The very blade I had thrown into the lake, its presence in the Lake House once a bitter insult I couldn’t bear. Now, beneath the moon’s pale glow, it offers me its allegiance.
She thinks I’m finished. My slowing movements convince her my strength is finally giving out. Her grip loosens just slightly.
Enough.
I stretch my arm toward the sword, my body screaming as time seems to slow. Every second feels like it might be my last. My fingers strain, reaching blindly through the water, searching
Until I feel it.
Cold metal.
I manage to hook a few fingers around the hilt. With a surge of desperation and everything I have left, I seize it and drive the blade forward with all my strength.
The impact is brutal.
Geneviève jerks back violently, the force of the strike tearing her grip from me. Freedom just enough. I kick upward, breaking the surface of the lake and dragging in a desperate, ragged gasp of air.
My lungs burn as they fight to expel the water flooding them, my body begging me to cough, to stop but I can’t. There’s no time. I shove the pain aside.
Using my last breath, I grab her shoulder, using her weight to keep myself upright as my legs go frighteningly numb. Her hands clutch at her stomach, pressing uselessly against the wound that refuses to heal silver poisoning her flesh.
With a guttural grunt, I raise the sword again and plunge it into her chest.
Straight into her heart.
Poetic.
Revenge in its purest form just as she had murdered my mother.
I watch her eyes as death claims her. Hatred burns there until the very end, then flickers… and fades. The life drains from her gaze, leaving nothing behind.
When she’s finally still, I release her.
Her body slips from my grasp and disappears into the dark water below, sinking toward the lakebed. She doesn’t deserve a burial. Not even remembrance.
The sword suddenly feels impossibly heavy in my hand as the adrenaline drains away. My fingers lose their strength. I begin to sink, dragged down by exhaustion, until the blade slips free and vanishes beneath the surface.
“Sabine… Dominique…”
I try to scream.
Nothing comes out but a broken whisper.
My throat burns damaged, ruined and my voice is gone.
I feel Damien finally push through the mate link, frantic and desperate, but my mind is fogged, slipping. I can’t respond. I can barely think.
“Mum?”
Dominique hears me. Somehow. I see him rush from the deck toward the lake
“No, Dominique, stay back!” Sabine snaps, catching him and holding him in place before turning and charging into the water.
My mouth barely breaks the surface as I roll onto my back, trying to conserve what little strength I have left. My limbs feel heavy, useless.
I drag in one final breath.
Then my body betrays me.
My muscles give out, pulling me under as darkness creeps in at the edges of my vision.
And then
A hand clamps around my arm.
Strong. Unyielding.
I’m hauled upward, dragged from the lake and onto the shore. The world blurs as exhaustion crashes over me, complete and merciless.
And finally…
I let go.