Page 110 of The Cursed Chalice

Sweat runs down the side of my face. I hear nothing. Maybe he’s given up. Just as I peek out, I feel the breeze of something swinging above my head. I duck and scream. The pillar crumbles under the swipe of the sword.

I crawl behind a statue of the weeping Virgin Mary. My heart stutters, and I close my eyes. I need a plan.

“Come out, Soraya. Let’s end this now.”

I don’t want to die. There has to be another way. Where is the fucking loophole?

A tear slips down my face. This can’t be it. I can’t be killed by the man I love.

I peep to the side of the statue. Aric stands in his gold and red armor; his broadsword rests over his shoulder. His eyes are black. The man I love is not there. How do I save him? Talia? How do I save us?

“Stop fucking running, Soraya. Come out,” Aric commands.

Running…

Hecate’s words. “Sometimes freedom isn’t found in running but in standing still.”

My tears drop heavily because I know what I have to do. I press my hands to the floor and push myself up to stand.

I steady myself, holding on to the skirt of the Virgin Mary. This feels heavy. I step from behind the statue.

“There she is,” Aric says as he races toward me.

I hope this is the right decision.Please let this be the right thing to do.

I walk to him, and he stops and watches me. As I step closer, I think of all the happy times we had. The fact that he took me in.Our wedding. It may have all be for Talia, but he fell for me. He loves me.

His black eyes stare down at me, veins like dark cracks spidering from the corners of his eyes. He looks as though a demon possesses him.

With each ragged breath he takes, his golden armor rises and falls. His mouth is open like he’s starving for air.

I stand directly in front of Aric.

“I can’t win; we can’t win. So free me, Ares, free us both.” I tiptoe one hand on his neck the other on the scarred side of his face.

There’s a small thud as the sword falls to the floor.

Aric pulls me to his body, and our mouths crash together. I pour everything that I don’t get to say into this. My hands move to his head, and my fingers drive into his soft hair. His tongue teases my mouth, and I moan.

He pulls away, his forehead pressed to my head.

“I love you, Ares,” I whisper. The darkness leaves his eye; a tear runs down his face.

“Die.”

Then I feel it: pain in my stomach, the crack of something inside me. I look down and see a dagger. I feel dizzy, like I’m losing my balance. My body feels weak; I can’t…

Aric bends with me as I fall to the floor. He holds me in his arms. My eyelids grow heavy. My breath is short. I look up at Aric. His face twist confusion, his eye are dark and unfocused.

“I love you. Now until forever.” Then I’m swallowed by darkness.

Fuck, my head. Everything feels so heavy. My head lolls forward. I try to open my eyes, and they burn. My body feels like it’s not mine, like I borrowed it from someone else.

I swallow, and my throat burns like I’ve been screaming for hours.

Flashes… my fist pounding into the vault door, a heartbeat behind it. Someone’s frightened. My memory feels fragmented. What the hell happened? The last time I woke up like this, Talia…died. Dead?

It all rushes back to me. Soraya, our fight, Aphrodite. Me telling her to run.