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“No, please,” he whispered, his eyes flaring so wide that they might as well have dropped out of his head.

For once, those vacant, dark, evil eyes were smothered completely in fear as they stared at me. So much so that he was trembling with it.

“The same word my mother said,” I reminded him. “And what did you do, Heath Glen?” My eyes dropped to the man begging under my feet.

He whimpered, flinging his useless arms at me, missing every single one.

“I told you, Heath Glen, my eyes will be the last ones you’ll see before you die,” I repeated my promise from all those years ago, and before he could say another word, my blade plunged straight into his heart.

A gurgle slipped out of his mouth, pouring streams of blood, as terror wracked his eyes.

That sight snapped something in me, like a jolt of lightning spreading into every fiber of my being and setting them on fire. It consumed me in a blind haze, and I lost all sense of reality as my blade kept stabbing his flesh over and over again.

Red splattered everywhere, the sickening metallic smell misted the air, and in the back of my mind, I knew Heath Glen was dead, but I couldn’t stop. I can’t stop.

All their memories flooded into my head, their smiles, their cries, the laughter, the good, the bad, everything…

I drove the blade faster, barely feeling the ache in my shoulders as my vision turned blood.

For Mother.

For Father.

For Snow.

For Auntie Cyan

For Uncle Ron.

For Ari’s voice.

For Ella’s sanity.

For me.

It wasn’t until a familiar voice called out my name that some of the red faded. A voice so deep, like velvet on skin, whispering soothing words. Strong hands wrapped around me, the warmth so sweet that it dipped in and caressed my soul.

It made me still.

“Look at me, Bella.”

I listened, my eyes swinging to see a pair of storm-gray eyes staring at me with so much love that I felt my heart break.

Arkane.

My husband.

I hardly heard the clash of my blades falling to the ground as I leaped into his arms, holding on to him for dear strength. Arkane held me close, comforting me, and slowly, my hammering pulse weakened, and my muscles went lax.

“I’m okay,” I whispered to Arkane. “I’m okay now.”

Heath Glen lay dead on the ground, his dead eyes gaping at me.

He was gone.

Finally gone.

I kept my promise, Mamma.