Chapter 21
Beside him, young Theo stood frozen, his little fists clenched at his sides, watching the exchange with wide, sorrow–stricken eyes. Something deep in his bones told him the truth no one dared say aloud:
He would never have his mother again.
A wave of anguish surged up in his chest, and he threw a punch at Thome. “It’s all your fault! You made her go away! I don’t have a mother anymore!”
He burst into tears, his sobs shaking his whole frame.
Thorne pulled him into a silent embrace. The tears slipped down his face unnoticed, falling into Theo’s hair.
“We are all guilty,” he whispered, voice broken. “We all wronged her. And now… we have to live with it.”
They were sinners, every last one of them–marked by betrayal, bound by guilt. Selene’s words echoed again in his mind: You don’t deserve forgiveness.
On the moonlit stage of the Elawen gathering hall, Nia stood with serene poise, the moonlight catching the shimmer of her silver robes. Surrounded by noble bloodlines, she smiled with quiet grace, her voice like music as she spoke
Thorne watched from atar, his vision blurred with tears
Later that night, alone and drunk on highland mead, Thorne stumbled his way back to the Moonshade Healing Tower–the place where he had performed the sacred heart–severing rite. He slipped into the sanctum, now silent and cold. The stone slab where Selene had once lain still bore the faint sigil marks from the blood–cath circle.
He collapsed onto it, curling into himself.
She had lain here. She had trembled here.
He had watched the light leave her body.
And he had done it with his own hands.
His tears burned against the freezing stone as he whispered her name
The next day, he awoke to angry voices outside the sanctum.
“Everyone’s lost their minds!” Marina’s shrill voice rang down the corridor. “All because of that dead woman–everyone’s against me! What did I even do wrong?
Thorne froze.
“I didn’t wield the blade. That was him. I didn’t ask for her heart!” she ranted on, pacing with a communicator crystal in her palm. “And my parents? They hated her. But now she’s dead, suddenly I’m the monster”
The voice on the other end was low and amused. “Come on. You’ve got a working heart now. Isn’t that enough of a win?”
“Don’t tell me you didn’t know whose heart it was?”
A pause.
Marina scoffed. “Of course I knew. I’m not an idiot. Suddenly there was a ‘perfect donor‘? Please.”
“I just didn’t say it out loud. That’s how you keep the sympathy coming.
“She owed me anyway,” Marina added, sneering. “She lived on borrowed time.”
Chapter 21
Thorne’s world went still.
A second later, the sanctum doors burst open. He stormed into the corridor, eyes blazing Marina startled and tried to flee, but he caught her wrist.
“What. Did. You. Say?”
Her face went pale. “I–I didn’t mean–T–Thorne, you misheard-‘
“You knew,” he hissed. “You knew everything. From the beginning.”
“I didn’t!” she wailed.
You knew, and you let us kill her. ”
”
“You pretended to love me. Pretended to be helpless. You lied to us all. And I-“Thorne’s voice cracked, a bitter laugh escaping him. “T destroyed Selene for you.”
“You’re nothing but a mask,” he said coldly. “And I… I was a fool.”
Nurses came running, guards in tow. Marina took the chance to break free and flee down the corridor.
Thorne didn’t chase her.
Instead, he turned, trembling with fury and sorrow, and locked himself in his records chamber. He pulled up every moon–sigil healing scroll and lunar blood–rite report on Marina. One after another, the truth spilled out.
Her condition had been manageable.
sacre
She’d disobeyed sacred rituals, overexerted herself, and worsened her state deliberately.
She manipulated the pain. Stopped taking her heart–restoring herbs. All so she’d appear critical–so Thorne would act.
And he did.
He sacrificed Selene
He tore her soulmark from her chest, thinking he was saving someone who wanted to live.
Now he realized: Marina had wanted Selene’s life all along.
Hours later, Thorne rode through frost and dusk, reaching the ancestral hall of the Whitmoor family.
He burst into the great room–where Marina had just returned, only to be met with cold stares. Moira stood like a pillar of stone. Cedric sat rigid in the highbacked chair.
“You’re both here?” Marina sald hesitantly.
Cedric rose and slapped her. The blow cracked like thunder.
She staggered. “What are you doing?”
Cedric raised his hand again–but this time, only held out a sounds tone. He played the recording.
Her voice.
Clear. Cruel.
