Chapter 48 Betrayal's Price
Lyra's POV
"Wait!" I scream as guards drag Stella toward the yacht's edge. "Please, she's just a child!"
Marcus holds up his hand. The guards stop, but they don't release her.
"Interesting." He studies me with ancient eyes. "You beg for the child but not the vampire. Tell me, which one matters more?"
It's a trap. Whatever I answer, someone dies.
"Both," I say. "They both matter."
"Then prove it." Marcus gestures to a silver dagger on a nearby table. "Cut your bond with Nightshade. Sever it completely. Show me your loyalty belongs to me now, and I'll spare them both."
Through our bond, I feel Kaelen's horror. Severing it would kill him—the incomplete break destroying what's left of his soul.
"Don't," Kaelen gasps. "Lyra, don't—"
"Quiet." A guard kicks him in his broken ribs. He collapses with a sound that tears my heart apart.
"The clock is ticking," Marcus says pleasantly. "Cut the bond, or I throw the child overboard. These waters are deep and cold. She won't last five minutes."
Stella's terrified eyes find mine. She's shaking, tears streaming down her face.
I reach for the dagger.
"Lyra, no!" Vivienne grabs my arm. "You don't understand what severing does—"
"I understand perfectly." I shake her off. "You made this deal. You put us here. Now live with the consequences."
Guilt crashes across her face, but I don't care. She betrayed us. Sold me to save herself.
I pick up the silver dagger. It burns my hybrid skin, but I hold tight.
Through the bond, Kaelen is screaming at me to stop. Begging. Pleading.
I raise the blade to the mark on my collarbone.
"I'm sorry," I whisper. "I love you. But I can't let them die."
The blade touches my skin—
And Stella's mark flares brilliant silver.
Power erupts from her like a supernova. The guards holding her fly backward, slamming into the yacht's walls. The one kicking Kaelen crumples, unconscious.
"I said," Stella's voice echoes with power I've never heard before, "let my family go."
She's glowing. Actually glowing with moonblood magic so pure it hurts to look at.
Marcus staggers backward. "Impossible. She's too young, too weak—"
"I'm sick, not weak." Stella walks toward him, and with each step, the yacht shudders. "And I'm really, really tired of people hurting my family."
She raises her hand, and Marcus flies across the deck, crashing into the mast hard enough to crack it.
"Stella!" I run to her. "You need to stop—this much power will kill you—"
"I know." Her silver-touched eyes meet mine, and they're filled with tears and determination. "But I can buy you time to escape. That's worth it."
"No!" I grab her shoulders. "No, we fight together or not at all, remember?"
"Then fight with me." She takes my hand. "Share your hybrid strength. Let me channel it."
Through our bond, I feel what she's planning. She wants to combine our powers—her moonblood magic with my hybrid abilities—and unleash something that's never been done before.
It might save us all.
Or it might kill us both.
"Do it," Kaelen croaks from where he's lying. "Together. Like always."
I nod. Take Stella's hand. And open our bond completely.
Power floods between us—her magic, my strength, our combined will to survive. The marks on our skin glow brighter than the yacht's searchlights.
Marcus screams orders, but his guards can't get close. The power radiating from us creates a barrier nothing can penetrate.
"Now!" Stella shouts.
We release it.
A wave of silver-gold energy explodes outward, sweeping across the yacht. Guards collapse. Weapons melt. Even the yacht's engines sputter and die.
When the light fades, Stella and I are both on our knees, exhausted.
But we're alive. And everyone else is unconscious.
Except Marcus.
He's wounded, bleeding, but still standing. And his eyes burn with hatred.
"You little—" He lunges at Stella with inhuman speed.
I'm too weak to stop him. Too drained.
But Kaelen isn't.
He appears between Marcus and Stella, moving despite his broken ribs. His hand closes around Marcus's throat.
"Touch her," Kaelen snarls, "and I'll show you why they call me the Winter Prince."
His eyes have gone full crimson. Fangs extended. For the first time since I met him, he looks like a true monster.
Marcus claws at Kaelen's grip, but it's useless. Eight hundred years of vampire strength versus a few centuries. There's no contest.
"Please," Marcus chokes. "Mercy—"
"You showed my family no mercy." Kaelen's voice is ice. "Why should I show you any?"
He squeezes.
Marcus's eyes go wide. Then lifeless.
Kaelen drops the body and immediately collapses. I catch him before he hits the deck.
"Stupid vampire," I mutter, checking his injuries. "You could barely stand."
"Had to protect you." His smile is weak. "It's what I do."
Through the bond, I feel his pain mixing with satisfaction. He finally avenged what the Blackwaters did to us.
"We need to go," Vivienne says quietly. She's been standing aside, watching everything. "Before his guards wake up."
I look at her—my former best friend who sold me out.
"Why?" I ask. "Why did you make that deal?"
"Because I thought it was the only way to save you." Tears stream down her face. "The extremists were going to kill you. Marcus promised protection if I brought you to him. I thought—I thought—"
"You thought wrong." I stand up, helping Kaelen to his feet. "You traded one monster for another."
"I'm sorry—"
"Sorry doesn't fix this." I take Stella's hand. "But we don't have time for this argument now. We need to leave before reinforcements arrive."
We find a lifeboat and lower it to the water. The journey back to shore is silent, tense.
When we finally reach land, Vivienne starts to follow us.
"No," I say. "We're done. You made your choice."
"Lyra, please—"
"You betrayed us. Endangered Stella. Nearly got Kaelen killed." My voice breaks. "I can forgive a lot of things, Vivienne. But not that."
She stops, devastated. "What do I do?"
"Figure out who you want to be. Then maybe—maybe—we can talk again." I turn away. "But not now. Not after this."
We leave her standing on the dock alone.
Three days later, we're hiding in a safehouse on the city's edge. Kaelen's ribs have healed. Stella is exhausted but alive. And I'm trying to process everything that happened.
"The extremists are still hunting us," Kaelen says, looking at news reports. "But with Marcus dead, the Blackwaters won't be funding them anymore."
"So we have a chance?"
"A small one." He takes my hand. "But we need allies. Real ones. People we can trust."
"Who's left to trust?"
Before he can answer, there's a knock on the door.
We all tense. Kaelen moves to answer it, weapon ready.
When he opens the door, my heart stops.
Standing there is Morgana, the First Vampire. And beside her—
My mother.
Elena Thorne. Who died three years ago.
Except she's not dead. She's standing right there, looking exactly as I remember.
"Hello, Lyra," she says softly. "We need to talk about what you really are."