Chapter 36 Lyanna's Choice

Chapter 36 Lyanna's Choice
POV: Lyanna

I'm drowning.

That's what it feels like coming back to consciousness. Like I'm underwater and someone's pulling me toward the surface but the pressure keeps pushing me back down. My lungs burn. My eyes won't open. Everything is darkness and weight and the feeling that I'm being crushed from all sides.

The drugs. Matthias gave me something to keep me docile. To keep me from fighting while he drained my blood for the ritual. The chemicals are still flooding through my body, making everything slow and heavy and wrong.

Hands grab my wrists. Strong hands. Desperate hands.

Damon.

He's breaking the magical bindings that hold me in place. The symbols tattooed onto my skin are burning as they dissolve but at least the pressure lifts. At least I can breathe again.

What's happening, I gasp. My voice sounds like it belongs to someone else. Weak. Broken. Like I've been screaming for hours and only now I'm hearing it.

Everything is falling apart, Damon says. His voice is urgent and scared. Come on, we have to get out of here. Now

He pulls me to my feet but my legs don't want to work. The drugs are still in my system. The ritual magic is still weakening me. Everything is fuzzy and disconnected and I can't think straight. The world spins when I try to stand.

He drags me toward the chamber entrance. His grip on my arm is tight. Not hurting. Just desperate. Like he's afraid I'll slip away if he doesn't hold on.

But I stop moving.

I stop because I see her.

Aria is fighting in the center of the chamber. Her body glows with light that shouldn't be possible. Golden and blue spiraling together, dancing around each other. She's become something more than human. Something ancient and powerful and absolutely terrifying.

And she's destroying everything.

The walls are cracking. Deep cracks spreading across the stone like spiderwebs. Dust falls like rain. The magical bindings on the other suspended wolves shatter one by one. They collapse to the ground free and gasping and alive. Their chains are broken. Their consciousness is returning. Matthias's hold on them is shattering.

All because my sister came to save them.

All because she never gave up.

All because she became something impossible to stop.

The realization hits like ice water poured over my head.

How much blood is on my hands, I whisper. The question comes out before I can stop it. It escapes like a confession.

What are you talking about, Damon says. He's trying to pull me again. Trying to drag me toward safety. We don't have time for this, Lyanna. Come on—

But I'm not moving. I can't move. I'm staring at the destruction I helped create. The wolves that are being freed because I didn't have the courage to stop Matthias. The sister I betrayed standing in the center of a storm of magic she created to protect people she doesn't even know. People she has no obligation to save.

People like me.

This is my fault, I say. The words come out hollow. All of this. Everything. I need to—

Damon grabs my arm harder. Not cruel. Just desperate. You need to live, he says. His voice breaks. Please. Just live. That's all I need. For you to live

I look at him. Really look at him for the first time since he broke me free. At the man who betrayed Aria for power. At the man who chose ambition over love. At the man who's now risking everything to save me from the consequences of choices we both made.

He loves her still. I can see it in every line of his face. After everything. After the betrayal and the lies and the Council. After choosing the wrong side. He still looks at my sister like she's the only person in the world that matters.

That's why he's here. Not for himself. Not even for redemption really. He's here for her.

For the chance to undo one small part of what he destroyed.

For the chance to save someone she loves. Even though that someone is me. Even though he hates me for what I've done to her.

He's here because love doesn't just stop. It doesn't turn off when you make bad choices. It just keeps burning underneath everything else.

I meet his eyes and I understand what I need to do.

I pull my arm free from him.

Not to run away.

To run toward.

Damon reaches for me but he understands. He sees it on my face. The moment I stop trying to save myself and start trying to save her instead. The moment I choose differently.

He doesn't try to hold me back. He just watches. Like he's saying goodbye. Like he knows where I'm going and what it might cost.

I don't ask for permission. I don't look back. I don't give myself time to reconsider or change my mind.

I just start running toward the center of the ritual chamber where Aria is fighting.

Where Matthias is fighting.

Where the magic is strongest and the danger is greatest and the light is so bright I can barely see.

Toward my sister.

Toward redemption or death.

Toward the choice I should have made all along.