Page 237 of Season Warriors & Wolves

They felt the wind shift, horrifying power filling the space.

Prayers of fear left Adriatian lips.

Praises of awe hummed from the Solaryans and Hanaians.

Worry etched in Olympian faces—worry for their queen.

And sounds of surrender clapped when Isjordians dropped all their weapons and went down to a knee, all facing her.

But they didn’t see what I saw. They didn’t see my wife fail to lock back her magic. They all saw her fist hit the ground over and over, willing and shouting for her power to lock back inside her seal, but didn’t understand the sentencing Snow had issued herself.

Not yet, but they soon did.

When skies rolled with liquid thunder and heavy, thick rain, hail and lightning poured over us, hitting the battlefield aimlessly—uncontrollably—over those that had already surrendered. Killing and injuring everyone, including our people and allies.

Her shoulders rose fast, the ground beneath her feet turning into cool, cold molten lava that was starting to slowly spread all over.

“Love.”

She didn’t answer. Her attention turned toward the Isjordian forces.

“Snow.”

Her hand began lifting up in their direction, a ball of white power glowing at her fingertips.

“Snowlin!” I called one last time, walking toward her.

Her head snapped in my direction, and her eyes peeled from power for a moment, revealing golden defeat despite her victory. Realisation coated them with tears.

The seal had opened. She could not control it.

Darkness enshrouded us again, but she stood there, inside the blackest pit of my most haunting fears, glowing like the southern star. Her eyes drew shut when my magic grazed her, stripping off the glow of thunder to reveal her skin again. To reveal my love haunted by so much.

The way she looked at me. She didn't need to spell it for me to see her goodbye. Wrapped in the divine and, for the first time, she had not looked so human and fragile to me. She cried, tears glowing against her skin.

“We did it,” I said, reaching to hold her, but she slipped from my hands like she had promised to never do. Backing away, afraid of what she could do to me.

It was the first time I felt the burn of her magic, so did my darkness, it began crackling, dowsing and faltering. I was not enough to contain her. And I couldn’t…I couldn’t do it for much longer.

She lifted her dagger up from the ground and held it in her hand for a moment. Only to let me know of her next move. Her lips parted open to speak but couldn’t, so she mouthed the words to me. All the next lives.

No.

She clutched the dagger with both hands and aimed the tip of its blade to her heart.

No.

My bones barely bared the weight I forced on them when I pushed toward her. “I’ll do it. Wait, wait! I will do it! Please, let me do it.”

Her hand lowered a little and she slowly nodded, her chest shaking with cries.

My love.

My sweet love.

I collapsed before her, shaking entirely. My heart slowing, my breathing slowing. Not one part of me wanted to live without her.

“I’ll do it,” I muttered to myself as if it would convince me of what I was about to do. “I’ll do it.” Her figure blurred behind tears and her face dropped when sobs ripped out of my throat. I willed more magic out of me—the most I had ever allowed to pour out. No more a stain of death—now death itself.