Chapter 134 What Remains
“Stay still,” Aria said. “I can heal you. Just let me close it.”
“No.” Amanda’s hand came up and covered Aria’s. “Stop.”
“Amanda…”
“Aria.” The grip was firm. Surprisingly firm. “Stop. Please.”
“I can help you. Give me a moment and I can stabilize it.”
“Look at me,” Amanda said.
Aria lifted her head.
Amanda’s face was clear. Clearer than it had been at any point in the night. The pain was still there underneath, but it was not what showed first. What showed was the expression of someone who had been carrying something heavy for a very long time and had finally been allowed to set it down.
“I don’t want to live without Jacob,” Amanda said quietly.
Aria’s throat tightened.
“I know,” she said. “I know. But that is not a reason to stop fighting.”
“I am tired,” Amanda said. “Aria. I am so tired. He was my strength.”
“I know you are. But if you let me work I can close this. We will figure this out together.”
“I do not want you to.”
Her voice was gentle, deliberate.
“I have been fighting for as long as I can remember. To be accepted. To be appreciated. To be celebrated.”
“Amanda.” Aria’s voice shook. “Please. Just give me a moment. I can do this. I can save you.”
Amanda watched her for a long second.
“There you are,” she said softly. “You are finally letting yourself care. You see me now. That’s enough for me.”
Aria’s hand trembled where it pressed against the wound, silver light threatening to spill from her palm.
“You are my sister,” Aria said. “Half or not, that still counts. I am not letting you die on this floor.”
Amanda’s expression softened.
“We barely knew each other, I gave you countless reasons not to trust me,” she said. “And still you are crying for me.”
“I am not crying,” Aria said, though the tears were already sliding down her face. “I am trying to help. So be quiet and let me do this.”
Amanda let out a weak breath that might have been the beginning of a laugh.
“The sword was meant for me,” Aria said quickly. “You stepped in front of it. That should have been me. I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t apologize.”
“It was my fault,” Aria continued, her voice breaking. “You were standing there because of me. Because of this fight. Because I brought you into it.”
Amanda squeezed her hand once. Hard.
“Good,” she said. “You understand that. Good. Then listen to me.”
Aria shook her head.
“No. You are not dying tonight.”
“Aria.”
There was something final in the way she said her name.
Aria stopped speaking.
“Watch your back,” Amanda said quietly. “The traitor is closer than you think.”
The silver light flickered.
“Who?” Aria leaned forward immediately. “Amanda, tell me who it is.”
Amanda’s gaze stayed locked on hers, but the effort of holding it was visible now. The distance between them was widening faster than she could cross it.
“Just give me something,” Aria said desperately. “A name. A hint. Anything.”
Amanda drew in a shallow breath.
“I’m sorry for keeping it from you,” she said. “If I got to know you, you wouldn’t have agreed to do it.”
“Amanda—”
Her mouth opened again.
No sound came out.
Her eyes lost focus.
Then they closed.
Her hand slipped from Aria’s grasp.
Aria kept the silver light going.
She kept it there long after she already knew.
Long after the silence in the room changed shape and settled into something heavy and final.
The light finally faded from her hands.
The room went completely still.
Aria stayed where she was on the floor with Amanda in her arms.
She did not move.
She did not speak.
Behind her Kane’s footsteps crossed the room.
Aria heard a single sharp sound somewhere behind her.
Then silence again.
She did not turn around.
Some things did not need to be explained.
Marcus crouched beside her and rested one hand on her shoulder. He stayed there without speaking.
Devon moved closer to her other side, quiet and steady.
Kane came last.
He knelt beside her and placed a hand on her back. For a moment he said nothing.
Aria’s shoulders shook.
The tears came harder now, no longer held back by the urgency of healing or the stubborn belief that she could still fix what had already been decided.
“I barely knew her,” she said through the grief. “We just found each other.”
Kane’s hand tightened slightly against her back.
“I know,” he said quietly.
“I should have saved her,” Aria whispered. “I had the power. I had the magic. I should have been able to save her.”
“This was not yours to stop. She didn’t want to be saved.”
Aria lowered her head against Amanda’s shoulder, crying openly now.
After a moment Kane spoke again, his voice calm but firm.
“Aria. We have to go.”
She shook her head.
“Not yet.”
“Aria.”
She lifted her face slowly, tears still wet on her cheeks.
“The traitor is still out there,” Kane said. “If Amanda was right, staying here makes you a target.”
Aria looked down at Amanda one last time.
Her half sister.
Someone she had only just begun to know.
Someone who had taken a blade that was meant for her.
Her fingers closed gently around Amanda’s hand one final time before she let it go.
“I will find them,” Aria said quietly.
Her voice was steady now despite the tears still falling.
“Whoever it is. However long it takes.”
She wiped her face with the back of her hand and slowly pushed herself to her feet.
“I will find the one who did this,” she continued. “And when I do, they will answer for it.”
Kane rose beside her.
From somewhere down the corridor Leo’s voice carried through the silence, still talking with the tireless certainty of a four year old who had not yet accepted that the night had ended.
Aria closed her eyes for one brief moment.
Then she turned toward the door.