Page 68 of Charmed, I'm Sure

She cries harder. “You don’t understand…”

“But…I do.”

“What…” She tilts her head back, her eyes scanning my face.

“I know all about your family curse and what started it.”

“How…how can you know?”

“The how isn’t important right now. I know how to break the curse. If you break the curse…it won’t take you or me.” Her eyes flick back and forth rapidly as my voice cracks. “You have to sacrifice Nyx. It’s the only way.”

Her scream rips through the air, shattering the last of the barrier. The raw, wounded sound causes my wolf to howl inside my mind, pleads with me to take her pain away.

“No.” She shakes her head violently, hair whipping against her face. “No, I won’t—don’t you dare ask me to—”

“It’s not me asking,” I whisper, forehead pressed against hers, trying to anchor her. “It’s him. It’s always been him. He’s known since the moment he was gifted to you and he looked into your eyes. The same eyes he loved all those years ago. He didn’t want to believe it, didn’t want to hope.”

She sucks in a sob. “How can you know all this? He doesn’t even talk to you.”

I give her a sad smile. “You aren’t the only one who was gifted visions lately. Nyx knew that one day your powers would manifest and it would be just like hers.”

She shakes her head again slowly, as if she can’t believe me. “Like whose?”

I tilt my head. “You know who. You saw it in the drawing, even if you wanted to deny it and claim it was something I did. But, deep down, you knew. We are the reincarnation of Ivora and Elias. We are, in fact, destined to break the curse. But, if we fail? It will only happen again and again. Until one version of us finally takes the leap.”

The fog thickens, her power fighting, denying, breaking against itself. “I can’t! He’s—he’s my best friend, Miles. My only constant. The only one who never turned their back on me.”

“I know.” My tears fall into her hair. “I wish I could take this burden for you. I wish I could give you some differentanswer. But, I can’t.”

Her sobs turn into broken pleas. “Please, don’t ask me to do this. I’ll give anything else.”

As if summoned, Nyx’s voice floats through the magic, softer than I’ve ever heard it. “Bells you’ve always had me, and I’ve been honored to have these years with you. You are so much like her, but in so many ways you aren’t. But, it’s time. Time to set the course of fate back to where it was supposed to always be. Where you finally get everything I’ve always wanted for you. It’s time to let me go.”

“I can’t Nyx. It’s not fair. Don’t ask me to do this, please.” The last word is broken as she sobs harder.

He walks over to where we are kneeling, ducking his head under my arm, and climbing into my lap. He nuzzles his head under her chin, her tears immediately wetting his black fur. She wraps her arms around him, squeezing him to her. It’s in this moment that all I can see is a broken little girl who wants to be loved. Who needed someone to sit with her, and fate gave it to her in the form of a snarky fox with stars across his fur. But it’s more than that. I also see the familiar who was scorned by the one person who was supposed to be his, finally having that person in Bellamy.

All I want to do is wrap my arms around both of them, hold them tight, and tell them they both were given to each other because they both needed the same thing.

“Please don’t leave me,” she whispers against his ear.

“You have to let me go. You have to live, for me. I’ll always be with you, even if it’s only in your dreams. Fate can’t keep me from you there. Anytime you need me, just call for me and I’ll come.”

“How am I supposed to…” she whimpered, tears streaming down her face. “Live without you?”

His eyes flick up to mine, winking with a nod of his head. “You have this big, goofy dog boy over here now. He isn’t half bad if you can get past the hugs and invasion of personal space.”

She huffs out a laugh.

"Weaver, I..." she wailed, and I could feel her pain, a raw,bitter taste that flooded my senses. “I willingly give you my familiar.”

Nyx sighs, as if he’s waited for the moment for too long. He purrs, fading already, the bond unraveling like starlight. “I’ll always love you Bellamy. See you very soon. Take care of her Dog Boy, I’ll be watching.” He fades out completely, his sullen eyes the last thing I see as he stares into her green ones.

And then—silence.

The fog collapses. The trees right themselves and the noises of the forest come back as the magic fades. Bellamy screams into my chest, clinging to me as if holding me will stitch her familiar back together or maybe her heart.

The clouds clear in the sky, the fog fades out of existence, and the world feels lighter. But I feel it, even I sense it. The hollow where Nyx used to be. I can’t imagine the profound loss she’s experiencing right now.