Rudolph shook his head, but he didn't sound as sure of himself as before. "I can't. It's against the rules."
"Screw your rules!" Ben replied. "Screw your rules a thousand times! We're dying here! Can't you see that?"
"I'll never see my husband and our daughter again, if the Hermessi win," Vita cried out. "But Vesta… She still has a chance to say goodbye. Dammit, Rudolph, enough with the friggin' regulations. You've picked the worst time for that!"
Still, Rudolph didn't immediately oblige.
I felt compelled to touch his hand, demanding that his gaze meet mine. "Please, Rudolph," I whispered. "This might be it for us."
He glanced over his shoulder at Malleus and the others. To my surprise, they all gave him a brief nod—even Sidyan, the most reluctant among them. Rudolph touched my crystal casing and pushed it out into the main pathway of the sanctuary, almost effortlessly. The thing was twice his size, yet he had absolutely no trouble with it. Perhaps it was one of the perks of being a Reaper.
I followed him, speechless, as my life-chain jingled, most of it black and rotten. He brought us closer to the doorway, so I could look out and see Zeriel. My breath was cut short at the sight of him standing below, his head tilted back as he shouted for the Reapers to let him see me.
"Come on! Show her to me!" he roared. "Vesta! Get them to reveal you! Please! I need… I need to see you!"
"Rudolph, please," I whispered.
He snapped his fingers. Suddenly, I had to have become visible, because Zeriel went silent and gawking. "Vesta… Vesta!" he managed. "Baby! I'm here!"
"What are you doing here, you fool?" I called out, crying. Well, I thought I was crying, but it was my body doing the hard part. Tears rolled down my cheeks, my amber-glowing cheeks, and it tore me apart to see myself like this. To be unable to touch Zeriel. To hold him. To lose myself in him, one last time.
Zeriel chuckled, but I knew he was keeping his misery to himself, not wanting me to see him in any way broken. "Where else would I be when my betrothed is up there, unable to leave?"
"You could've saved yourself!" I said.
He shook his head. "I'm beyond saving if I'm not with you."
"Oh, Zeriel. You're breaking my heart."
"I think you broke mine first the moment you stomped into my life. And I let you. Hell, I smiled and welcomed the destruction, with arms wide open. But it's been the sweetest of mayhems! I wouldn't take anything back."
I laughed softly, inwardly relieved to see him like this. I doubted I would've been able to keep it together, had he revealed exactly how he felt about this situation. We both knew we were screwed six ways from Sunday, yet we were both able to look at each other and smile.
"Maybe Taeral will save us," I said. "Maybe we'll one day look back on this and laugh."
"I hope so," he replied, the glow fading from his blue eyes. "And if we die here, today or tomorrow or whenever, I just want you to know… I love you, Vesta. More than anything. More than life itself."
"Clearly more than life itself, since he's here. The suicidal fool," Rudolph muttered behind me. I shushed him and shifted focus back to my beloved.
"I love you, Tritone King," I shouted. "To the moon and back, and beyond, even!"
"It's been a fun ride, don't you think?" he shot back, grinning.
Yes, it had been an incredible ride. A breathtaking adventure. We'd fought for our lives more times than we could count, yet, if we could both go back, we would've done it again. Over and over, until the end of time.
"Perhaps we'll meet up in the afterlife," I said.
"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. I honestly doubt death can keep us apart," he replied.
The earth rumbled beneath the sanctuary. It shook and knocked Zeriel back. I sucked in a breath, but he sprang back up, dusting himself off. Earthquakes rippled across the entire area, making the woods shiver and the grassy clearing crack like a broken eggshell.
"Are you okay?" I asked him.
There was no need to ask what was going on. The whole planet was reacting to the increasing levels of energy emanated by the sanctuaries. I wasn't sure whether it was the local Hermessi's doing or just a natural phenomenon. It didn't even matter anymore, if I were to be honest.
"It's getting closer," Zeriel said, his brow furrowed as he looked up at me.
"I'd rather you were up here, but whatever's powering the sanctuary won't let you come," I replied.
"If I die looking at you, it's cool," he said in an undertone, but I could still hear him.
Now more than ever, I wanted Taeral to win this. If I'd lost hope earlier, it was coming back with a vengeance. My very soul swelled, suddenly too big for the sanctuary—or at least, that was how I felt.
"And if we don't die, we'll spend the rest of our lives together, like you promised," I said. "You're not getting rid of me that easily."
He smiled. "I sure hope not."
How many hours did we have left? How long until the ritual would destroy us all? My last link was half black now, and I could feel an emptiness gnawing its way through my chest, itching to snap my life-chain loose.
If this was goodbye, then it was the best goodbye I'd get, and it was better than no goodbye at all. "I'll see you again soon," I whispered, hoping the words would turn into a prayer that the universe might listen to.
Hoping that, one way or another, this wasn't the last time I'd see Zeriel.
Taeral
It had all come down to this.
I was on the ground, and it shook and broke apart beneath me. Thieron was twenty yards away, and Brendel was coming for me. She couldn't kill me, but, dammit, she could inflict enough damage to put me out of commission for days, if not months.
