Chapter 64 THE FINAL GOODBYE?
Damien’s fingers tighten on my shoulder despite myself. His voice is a pained, raw thing. “Selene, don’t throw us away because you’re afraid of what you could be.”
I look at them; the broken, imperfect men who love me in different ways and the love I feel for them is a kind of burning that has nothing to do with Moonfire. It sits under my ribs and aches, and for an instant I want to let it rule me.
Then the Goddess’s tears fall again, and I feel the weight of something old and inevitable pressing down.
I cannot risk you,” I say. “I can’t ask either of you to be the sacrifice that saves the rest. Not Kael. Not Damien. Not anyone.”
Kael’s grip goes slack. Damien’s jaw works, and his eyes shine as if with the same sorrow the moon is shedding. The Moonlight rains down on us in silver threads and for a brief impossible moment I want to close my eyes and be done with decisions.
But I don’t.
I bend to touch the scorched earth, feeling its warmth and its cost. The vision of the crowned me whispers in the back of my mind, "choose wisely."
I rise and meet their eyes. “I will go,” I say, voice steady but small, “and I will try to end this. But if I fail, if I become what you saw, kill me.”
The words fall like a blade into the hush.
Kael releases a sound that might be a laugh or a sob. Damien flinches as if struck. Both men stare at me as though the universe has rearranged itself around my vow.
The Moonlight thickens, weeping the weight of the world, and somewhere in the distance the gods or whatever watches over us shift, as if listening.
I don’t know which way is salvation and which is ruin. I only know I am the only one who can take the step into the Shadow Woods and try.
The forest breathes. The trees lean in.
“Come home,” the whispers say not as command this time, but as plea.
I swallow and walk toward the light.
The ruins of the battlements glow silver beneath the moon, the stones still hot from battle, the air thick with smoke and the metallic sting of blood. Everything feels too quiet now—too hollow, too final. The screams are gone. The clash of steel has faded. All that remains is the wind and the weight pressing against my ribs like a hand I cannot refuse.
I stand at the very edge of the broken wall, the forest stretched before me like an open mouth. The Shadow Woods pulse with a faint glow, calling to me the same way a wound calls to a blade. My palm rests over the mark at my chest, and the soft, painful thrum of Moonfire answers in return.
Behind me, I hear footsteps.
His footsteps.
Damien.
I don’t turn, not at first. His presence is something I’ve learned to feel without looking—dark, steady, wrapped in the cold scent of steel and pine. The air shifts around him, like even the shadows bow.
He stops just behind me. Close enough that I feel the heat of his skin even through my torn dress. Close enough that one step forward would press my back to his chest.
He doesn’t speak.
The silence stretches between us like a thin piece of glass. One wrong breath and it shatters.
Finally, he exhales. “You’re leaving.”
His voice is low, rough, filled with something I can’t bear to name.
I swallow. My throat feels scraped raw. “I have to.”
He moves until he stands beside me. The moonlight spills across his face, carving harsh lines into his jaw, softening the scar over his cheekbone. His armor is cracked and blackened with ash, his knuckles split and red. He looks like a man who’s fought death and wishes he hadn’t won.
He searches my face. “Because of the power?”
Because of the power.
Because of the prophecy.
Because if I stay, I will turn everything I love to ash.
I let out a laugh that buckles under its own weight. “Because of me, Damien.”
He flinches, a tiny muscle ticking near his jaw. “Selene—”
“Look at what I’ve done,” I whisper, motioning toward the battlefield below lit by dying fires, littered with bodies that used to breathe. “Look what happens when I lose control.”
He steps closer, anger flashing in his eyes. “You saved lives too.”
“At what cost?” I ask.
The Moonfire pulses beneath my skin, restless, hungry, impossible to ignore.
Damien reaches out. His fingertips brush my cheek, gentle despite the dirt and dried blood staining his skin. I lean into the touch before I can stop myself. Gods, I’m weak.
“You’re not alone in this,” he murmurs.
My eyes sting. “I can’t let you carry what I am.”
“I want to carry it,” he says fiercely. “I want you. Do you hear me? Not the power. Not the prophecy. You.”
My breath catches. The wind stirs between us, carrying the scent of pine and ash. Damien steps forward, closing the last inches between us, his hand sliding into my hair like he’s anchoring himself to me.
“Selene…” My name trembles out of him.
I close my eyes. “Don’t make this harder.”
He tilts my chin up, forcing me to meet his gaze. His eyes look like storm clouds cracked open—dark, furious, vulnerable. “I’m not letting you walk into that forest alone.”
“You don’t have a choice.”
His jaw tightens. “The hell I don’t.”
“If you follow me, you’ll die.”
The words come out strangled.
He stares at me, as if trying to see through my skin and into every fracture beneath. “Then I’ll die.”
A desperate sound leaves my throat. “Damien—”
“No,” he says softly. “Don’t push me away.”
“I have to.”
He presses his forehead to mine, breathing me in like he wants to memorize me. My pulse stutters. My heart aches with something too big, too sharp.
“Please,” he whispers.
The single word ruins me.
I grip his armor, pulling him down into a kiss before I can talk myself out of it.
He kisses me like he’s drowning. Like every moment he’s been alive was just waiting for this one. His hands slide to my waist, pulling me against him, and the world disappears. The moon blurs. My knees buckle.
His mouth tastes like ash and desperation and everything I’ve ever wanted.
When he pulls away, his breath is ragged.
“I love you,” he says.
I freeze.
Damien’s eyes shine determined. Confession turned weapon.
“I love you, Selene.”
He swallows hard.
“I think I’ve loved you since the moment you walked into my territory glowing like something I was never meant to touch.”
My chest caves.
Tears spill over.
“You can’t say that,” I whisper. “Not now.”
“It’s the only time that matters.”
I step back, shaking. “If I stay here another minute, I’ll choose you instead of the world.”
“Choose me,” he begs.
“I can’t.”