Page 111 of Cursed Lifeline

All eyes swing towards the evil witch standing divinely on her throne.

“To thine own self be true,” she says. “A curse is broken when your will is stronger than the desire to remain the same,”

Unable to focus on the meaning behind her words, Celeste’s next deathly gasp for air steals the breath from my lungs, and I rush to her side. Silas holds her away from me, and I have half a mind to rip his arm clean off, but out of respect for the man who trained the woman I suddenly fear I can’t live without, I cry, “Please, if I can save her, let me help.”

He glances up at Felix, then at Ember.

“Explain yourself,” Silas demands.

She rolls her eyes. “Since neither Felix nor Esme will ever have the courage to set each other free, I guess it’ll do more harm knowing the cure than withholding it. If it’s ever Esme’s will to be changed, and Felix chooses to change her, the curse will be broken.”

“Bullshit,” Felix shouts as Silas places Celeste gently in my arms. I look up at him with a thankful heart. He nods down at me, handing more than her body over to my safekeeping. He’s handed me her life. Her soul. Knowing so, my next breath lodges in my damned, unworthy chest.

“Don’t let me regret this,” he says sternly.

“No,” Felix demands, stomping to my side. “Don’t make her one of us. Don’t bring her into a life that…”

“I have no life if she dies,” I hiss out as deranged tears fall from my eyes. “I’ve walked the earth for three fucking centuries feeling dead inside, yet meeting her, she’s made me feel alive,” I cry as I look down and see Celeste’s eyes rolling shut.

Her breathing slows.

Her body’s trembling starts to subside.

I’m losing her.

She has no loophole like Esme.

She has no promise of a future.

A damned eternity is better than nothing, I decide, as I lay her gently in my lap, pull my dagger from my hip, and slice open my palm. Forcing her mouth open, I bring my hand to her mouth, but before it reaches her lips, Felix grips it harshly.

“She’ll never forgive you,” he warns. “This is against her will.”

“Is it,” I ask as I yank my hand free and hold it above her mouth. “Or is it against yours?”

Flexing my palm, my blood begins to drip and splashes promisingly against Celeste’s chest. Her eyes open wide, and hunger fills her stare. With her last ounce of strength, she yanks my hand to her mouth and starts to drink. As my blood steals her soul, her strength returns, and she bites into my palm, drawing more poison into her damned heart, which will turn her into the undead for eternity.

Ecstasy floods my veins. A euphoric high makes my vision blur. I close my eyes, embracing my choice, until Felix grabs my shoulders and pulls me away quickly.

“That’s enough,” he warns. “She’ll bleed you dry.”

My vision returns as a feral scream rings through the throne room.

Attempting to stand on shaky legs, Felix helps me to my feet as we all turn, and I yell, “Kitten, no!”

But no one, not even the undead, can stop a fledgling after they’ve just been born. Faster than any of us can mist, Celeste flashes to Esme’s side and holds her hostage in a tight grip. Ember’s sinister laugh rings through the room as she fades out of sight and a scene we’ve all desperately tried to prevent unfolds before us.

Trembling, shaking, unable to hold back her thirst, Celeste restrains Esme and pulls her head to the side. The slayer struggles against the fledgling’s vicious grip and cries out for Felix, who rushes forward.

“I’m sorry,” Celeste growls as she does the unthinkable and sinks her teeth into her first kill, completing the ritual needed to make her one of us.

Felix and the watchers rush the dais as I glance around the throne room in disbelief.

Evangeline is gone.

But even more mysterious is the fact that Viktor is missing, too.

Thirty Eight

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