Chapter 44 The Impossible Choice
ARIA'S POV
"Choose." Morgana's voice echoed through the throne room like a death sentence.
I stared at my five sisters—girls I'd grown up with, laughed with, played with as children. Elena, whose real identity had shattered everything I thought I knew. And three others: Sarah, the baker's daughter who'd taught me to braid flowers into crowns. Maya, who'd shared her lunch with me when I had none. Iris, who'd cried with me the night Marcus announced his betrayal.
All of them chained. All of them Sanguine-blessed. All of them my father's daughters.
"You have one minute," Morgana continued, her smile cruel. "Five of them die to power the Winter Feast, or all six die when we drain you together. Sebastian can save you, Aria, but only you. The rest are lost either way."
"Don't listen to her!" Elena shouted, struggling against the guards holding her. "Aria, don't you dare sacrifice yourself for us!"
But Sarah was sobbing. Maya looked terrified. Iris had gone completely pale.
They were going to die because of me. Because I'd survived when I should have been the first to fall.
Sebastian's hand found mine, squeezing tight. Through our bond, I felt his rage and helplessness warring inside him. He wanted to save all of us, but even his power had limits.
"There has to be another way," I whispered desperately.
"There isn't," Morgana said. "The Winter Feast requires death. Always has. Always will. At least this way, you get to choose who lives."
Celeste stood beside Morgana, her expression triumphant. "I told you years ago, Aria. You were always going to die. I just decided to make it profitable. Six Sanguine healers will make me richer than your father ever was."
"You sold your own stepdaughters," Sebastian snarled, his power making the walls shake. "Your husband's children."
"They were never mine," Celeste spat. "Just reminders of women he loved more than me. Getting rid of them is a pleasure."
I looked at my sisters again. At Elena, who'd protected me in secret for years. At Sarah, Maya, and Iris, who'd been hidden away just like I had, probably suffering their own betrayals and heartbreaks.
We were all victims of Celeste's jealousy. All pawns in her twisted game.
And now I had to choose which of them would die.
"Thirty seconds," Morgana announced.
"Aria, please," Sarah begged, tears streaming down her face. "I have a son. He's only three. Don't let me die without seeing him again."
My heart shattered. A son. Sarah had a child?
"I'll do it," Maya said suddenly, her voice shaking but determined. "Take me. I have no one. No family except... except you all. Let me be the sacrifice."
"No!" Iris grabbed Maya's hand. "We don't even know if Morgana is telling the truth. Maybe she'll kill all of us anyway!"
She was right. This could be a trap. Morgana had no reason to keep her word.
But what choice did I have?
Sebastian descended from his throne, and the entire court fell silent. This was the moment they'd been waiting for. Eight hundred years of tradition balanced on the edge of a knife.
He stopped in front of me, and up close, I could see the conflict raging in his ice-blue eyes. The curse that demanded blood. The man who wanted to save everyone. The lord who had to choose between love and duty.
"I'm sorry," he said, so quietly only I could hear. "For what I'm about to do, and for what I can't stop."
My blood turned to ice. "Sebastian, what—"
He grabbed my wrist and pulled me toward the ceremonial platform.
"No!" I tried to fight him, but his grip was iron. "Sebastian, please! Don't do this!"
The court erupted in approval. Finally, Lord Sebastian Thorne was going to complete the ritual. Finally, tradition would be restored.
Sebastian pushed me onto the platform where Elena had stood minutes before. His face was a mask of cold determination, nothing like the gentle man who'd held me in his chambers, who'd taught me to play chess, who'd kissed me like I was precious.
"The curse is taking over," he said, his voice hollow. "I can feel it. If I don't feed soon, I'll die. And if I die, Morgana wins everything."
"So you're choosing yourself over us?" I couldn't believe it. Couldn't accept it.
"I'm choosing you," Sebastian corrected. His hand cupped my face, and for just a moment, I saw the real him beneath the curse's control. "If I die, there's no one powerful enough to stop Morgana from killing all six of you. But if I survive, I can save your sisters after... after..."
After he drained me.
Understanding crashed through me. He was going to complete the ritual. Going to kill me to break the curse fully. And then, with the curse gone and his power restored, he'd destroy Morgana and free my sisters.
I would die. But they would live.
"There has to be another way," I begged.
"There isn't." Sebastian's thumb brushed away a tear I hadn't realized I'd shed. "I'm sorry, Aria. I thought we had more time. I thought I could find a solution. But Morgana accelerated everything, and now..."
He lowered his head toward my throat.
"Wait!" Kieran's voice rang out. Sebastian's advisor pushed through the crowd, something clutched in his hands. "My lord, I found it. The original curse text. There's a clause we missed!"
Sebastian froze, his fangs inches from my skin.
Kieran reached the platform, breathing hard. He held out an ancient scroll, the parchment yellowed with age. "The curse can be broken two ways. Death of the Sanguine bride, or—"
"Or what?" I demanded.
Kieran's eyes met mine, and I saw hope and horror warring in them.
"Or willing death of the one who cast it," he said slowly. "The blood witch who cursed Sebastian. If she dies willingly, choosing to end the curse herself, it breaks completely."
Morgana laughed. "The witch who cursed him died centuries ago, you fool. This changes nothing."
"Actually," a new voice said from the throne room entrance, "I didn't."
Every head turned.
A woman stood in the doorway. She was ancient, her hair white as snow, her face lined with centuries. But her eyes—her eyes burned with power.
"Hello, Sebastian," she said softly. "I've been waiting eight hundred years for you to figure it out."
Sebastian's face went sheet-white. "Celeste?"
My blood turned to ice. That was his sister's name. His dead twin sister.
But this woman wasn't dead. She was very much alive.
And she was smiling.