Bound in Blood (Broken Bloodlines Book 3)
Bound in Blood: Chapter 59

“Ophelia, no!” I roar, but she cannot hear me. Even if she could, she would pay me no heed, for this is who she is. Who she was always going to be. The one who sacrificed herself to save the world—a world that will never even know her name.

She falls forward, and I drop to my knees with her, cradling her in my arms. Then I hear his voice in her head, and it sends a chill down my spine. Instinctively, I know who it is, although I have never heard him speak before—so very few have. The first fallen angel tells her that her debt is paid.

I will pay your debt. I will serve at your side for eternity! I implore him, but he is unreachable to me, locked away in the deepest recesses of his kingdom in the netherworld once more.

The wraith disappears, vanishing like a breath on the wind. And now she is gone too.

The depth of my pain is so intense it is impossible to feel it—for if I experience even a fraction, I will surely shatter into a million fragments of myself and scatter amongst the four winds. Although perhaps that would be a far less cruel fate than a world without her in it. I crush her to my chest and brush her hair back from her forehead, waiting for her loss to eviscerate me. Waiting for the severing of our bond to slice my soul into shards of glass that tear through every fiber of my body. Waiting to become nothing.

The sound of bodies crashing noisily through the woods breaks the silence. A second later, Axl, Xavier, and Malachi burst into the clearing and are on the ground beside us, the magic securing the silver chains gone without Giorgios or the wraith to hold it in place. They silently implore me for an answer I do not have.

“Take me instead!” Axl screams toward the heavens. “Just bring her back.” Then he turns his attention to me, his eyes wild. “Deals can be made with Death, right? I’ve heard you say it. So make him a fucking deal, Alexandros. Bring her back to us.”

I drop my head, knowing I have let them all down. I wish I could, only it was not Death who came for Ophelia, but Lucifer himself.

“Lucifer?” Malachi says on a sob. “You’re telling me the fucking devil has our girl?”

“No, for if he did, I would follow her to the netherworld and take her back from him. The devil does not take pure souls; he sets them free.”

I look up to the dark sky, and the twinkling stars seem to mock me as my heart disintegrates into a billion particles of stardust. Perhaps that is the only way I can truly be with her. I will simply lie here with her in my arms until the end of time itself. Until everything turns to dust.

“Alexandros!” Xavier’s pained cry rings in my ears now. “Do something!”

I rest my forehead against hers. Her skin is still warm. How I long to feel her soft breath on my face. What is the use in being the protector of man if I cannot protect the one human I was born to love? I place my hand over her heart, and it does not beat, but her blood still flows gently through her veins. My fangs protract. My heart rate spikes, jolting me back to life. What if I could …?

“Do it,” Axl says, not needing to read my mind.