Page 305 of Emylia

Tears blurred my vision. But I didn’t back away.

I couldn't.

"The best thing we can do," he said, voice breaking open, "the only thing—is to lead them away."

My stomach twisted. My heart shattered all over again.

No.

I refused to leave them behind.

I refused.

"The Western Wastelands," Maalikai said, almost choking on the words. "We'll go there. We'll draw those who hunt us into the desert. Raise an army. Sacrifice ourselves if that's what you demand of me."

My heart twisted with realization.

It wasn't just my life I was offering.

It was his too.

I would have to choose who I was willing to sacrifice.

"I can't sacrifice you," I choked out. “Not any more than I could sacrifice them."

"I'm not asking you for permission," he said roughly. "It’s my choice. And I’ve already made it. I'll follow you into the fiery depths of Nexus itself. Not even you could stop me."

At least this way—if I chose to go with him, if I chose the Wastelands and the death they promised—I could protect them. Between Maalikai’s lethal precision and my unleashed power, we were untouchable.

Or at least, I had to believe we were.

Because if I didn't... I wouldn't survive what came next.

His hand gripped mine—tight, desperate, shaking. "If you still want to sacrifice yourself for them,” Maalikai said, "thisis how you do it."

"Not by dying," he rasped. "By surviving. By staying alive long enough to pull every monster, every threat, every curse away from them.”

The Western Wastelands.

The unknown.

A death sentence.

My life for Evie’s. For Sebastian’s.

Ourlives–for them.

I closed my eyes. And guilt ripped through me like a blade.

Wild. Unforgiving.

Every instinct screamed to turn back. To fight. To die with them if I had to.

But Maalikai was right.

If I loved them—truly loved them—this was the only way.

The only hope.

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