Chapter 40 Aria's Choice
ARIA'S POV
"You're dead," I whispered, staring at my mother. "I watched them bury you."
"You watched them bury a body," she corrected gently. "A glamour spell, actually. Quite convincing, wasn't it?"
My legs gave out. I collapsed onto my childhood bed, the familiar quilt somehow making this nightmare worse.
"Why?" The word came out broken.
My mother—if this was really her—stood and moved to the window. She looked exactly as I remembered: kind eyes, gentle smile, the small scar on her wrist from a gardening accident.
"Because I was dying anyway," she said quietly. "The Sanguine blessing is powerful, Aria, but it comes with a cost. Every generation, it grows stronger. And the stronger it grows, the shorter the lifespan. I had maybe a year left when I made my choice."
"What choice?" I demanded, anger rising through my shock.
"To save you." She turned to face me. "Morgana found me when you were fifteen. She knew what I was, what you would become. She wanted to take you then—train you, use you, eventually sacrifice you for her spell. I couldn't let that happen."
My hands clenched into fists. "So you faked your death and abandoned me instead?"
"I made a deal with Valdis." My mother's voice cracked. "The blood witch agreed to hide you, suppress your powers, make you invisible to Morgana's detection. In exchange, I gave her my life force immediately and agreed that when you turned twenty-five—when your powers would fully manifest—you'd be entered into the Winter Feast."
The room spun. "You sold me to the vampires."
"I bought you ten years of normal life!" She moved toward me, but I flinched back. "Ten years to grow strong, to learn healing, to become someone who could survive what was coming. I knew the ritual would try to claim you. But I also knew—"
"That Sebastian might save me?" I laughed bitterly. "You gambled my life on a vampire's mercy?"
"I gambled on love." My mother's eyes shone with tears. "The Thornwell family and the Thorne vampire line were connected centuries ago. Sebastian's sister Celeste—his twin—was bonded to my ancestor. When she was executed for choosing love over tradition, it broke both bloodlines. I believed if you and Sebastian met, history would repeat itself. That he'd see in you what his sister saw in my ancestor."
"That's insane!"
"That's prophecy." She pulled out an ancient book, its pages yellowed with age. "Every Sanguine healer in our line has recorded visions. And they all saw the same thing—a Thornwell daughter bonding with the last Thorne vampire, breaking the curse, changing the vampire world forever."
I stared at the book, at pages filled with drawings that looked disturbingly like Sebastian and me.
"You manipulated everything," I breathed. "My entire life was planned."
"Your life was protected!" my mother insisted. "Do you think it was an accident that Marcus chose Vivienne? I pushed him toward her, made sure he'd betray you publicly. I needed you hurt enough to leave your stepfamily, independent enough to survive alone, strong enough to face what was coming."
"You orchestrated my humiliation." The betrayal cut deeper than any knife. "You let Celeste steal everything from me."
"I let you become a healer in the poorest part of town, where you'd develop your gifts helping people who truly needed you. Where you'd learn compassion and strength." Her voice gentled. "I'm sorry for the pain, Aria. But I needed you to be someone Sebastian could love. Someone worth breaking eight hundred years of tradition for."
I wanted to scream. To rage. To reject everything she was saying.
But a horrible part of me understood.
"The prophecy," I said slowly. "What else does it say?"
My mother hesitated. "That the Thornwell daughter and the Thorne vampire will either save all realities—or destroy them. The choice depends on whether they choose each other or choose sacrifice."
"What does that mean?"
"I don't know," she admitted. "Prophecies are tricky things. But Valdis knows. She's been manipulating events for centuries to ensure the prophecy unfolds in her favor."
"Then why are you helping her?"
"I'm not." My mother moved closer. "I'm helping you. Valdis thinks I'm her spy, feeding her information. But everything I've told her has been designed to bring you to this exact moment."
She grabbed my hands. "Listen carefully. You have seven minutes left. Valdis will keep her word—she'll let the others live if you agree to be the willing sacrifice. But that's what she wants. A Thornwell healer giving her life willingly breaks the final seal on her spell."
"Then what do I do?"
"You trust Sebastian." My mother's grip tightened. "The bond between you is stronger than Valdis knows. When you return, she'll try to force the ritual. But if you and Sebastian combine your powers through the bond—if you truly merge your life forces—you can break her spell entirely."
"That could kill us both!"
"Or it could create something new. A true Sanguine bond, like the ancient partnerships." She pulled me into a hug, and she smelled like jasmine and old books, exactly how I remembered. "I love you, Aria. I'm sorry for everything. But I'd make the same choices again to give you this chance."
Tears streamed down my face. "I don't forgive you."
"I don't expect you to," she whispered. "Just promise me you'll survive. That you'll prove the prophecy right—that love can change everything."
The portal shimmered. Time was up.
"One more thing," my mother said urgently. "The real Roslyn is in Valdis's holding dimension. Room three-seven-nine. Save her. She's the key to everything."
Then she pushed me toward the portal, and I fell through—
Back into the church, where Valdis waited with a smile.
"Well?" the blood witch asked. "Did you learn what you needed?"
I looked at Sebastian, at the desperate hope in his ancient eyes. At Morgana, still frozen in magical chains. At Celeste, Marcus, and Dante—all terrified and pathetic.
Through our bond, I felt Sebastian's love, his fear, his absolute certainty that he'd trade his life for mine in a heartbeat.
And I made my choice.
"I'll be your willing sacrifice," I said clearly. "On one condition. You answer one question truthfully first."
Valdis raised an eyebrow. "Interesting. What question?"
I met her burning gaze. "If a Sanguine healer and a cursed vampire lord combine their life forces through a bond of true love, what happens to a blood witch's spell?"
For the first time, Valdis's smile faltered.
"You can't—" she started.
"Sebastian, now!" I screamed.
He moved instantly, grabbing my hand. Our bond exploded with golden light as we pulled on every ounce of power between us.
Valdis shrieked, launching a counter-spell. But she was a fraction too slow.
Our combined power slammed into her magical circle, shattering it.
The church exploded in chaos. Morgana broke free. Dante lunged for the exit. Celeste and Marcus scrambled away from the altar.
And through it all, Sebastian and I stood together, our hands locked, power building between us like a star going nova.
"You'll destroy yourselves!" Valdis screamed.
"Maybe," I said. "But we'll take you with us."
The energy peaked. I felt Sebastian's life force merging with mine, felt eight hundred years of death meeting my healing gift, felt reality itself bending around us—
Then the church doors exploded inward.
The real Roslyn stood there, covered in blood and fury, flanked by an army of vampires I didn't recognize.
"Sorry I'm late, Uncle Sebastian," she said with a feral grin. "But I brought friends. And they're really interested in killing a blood witch."
Valdis's face went white. "The Sanguine Guard. That's impossible. They were destroyed—"
"Clearly not," said the vampire lord leading them—a woman with silver armor and eyes like molten gold. "Hello, Valdis. Remember me? You killed my wife three hundred years ago."
She smiled, and it was terrifying.
"I've been waiting a very long time for this."