Page 71 of The Sol Crown (Fractured Lights #1)

“It has to be tonight,” Luca says, voice low and calm. It grates. “There’s no better time to get her out without anyone noticing.”

I clench my teeth, but before I can speak, Trent cuts in.

“I don’t know about this,” he mutters, pacing again. “I don’t think she’d want us to do this.”

I don’t know what to think anymore. The plan, our plan, feels like it’s crumbling around me.

This was never how it was meant to go. I was never meant to…

I cut the thought off before it settles. There’s no point dwelling on what Elina has become to me.

The argument is pointless.

Nothing matters more than her.

Luca gestures toward the vial I’d tucked into the inner lining of my jacket earlier. His expression is unreadable. “It’ll just knock her out long enough for the extraction. No pain. I promise.”

My hands clench into fists, knuckles bone-white.

She’ll never forgive me for this.

I won’t deserve it anyway .

“We stick to the plan,” Luca says more quietly now.

Trent drags a hand over his face but doesn’t argue.

My heart.

Gods, if only I could carve it out.

They leave when I nod, sealing my fate with a single bob of my head.

* * *

Later, I use every ounce of sleight-of-hand training I have to slip the contents into her cocktail unnoticed. The liquid is a pale pink, just the right shade to vanish in the clemoya wine. I offer her the glass.

Everything in me screams not to do it.

To knock the glass out of her hands, sending it clattering to the floor.

But I let her take it.

I convince her to take it, to trust me.

I do it for him. For her .

I talk to fill the silence in my head. Tell her about the jeweller in Sundell. Pull out the little red velvet bag. When she sees the necklace, her face lights up, and it hurts—it physically hurts —to watch what will probably be the last bit of happiness she ever aims my way.

“It’s a sun,” I murmur. “I saw it and couldn’t not buy it for you.”

That part, at least, is true. She reminds me of the sun. Bright. Shining. She’ll burn you if you get too close. And her eyes.

Gods, her eyes.

Golden and glowing.

When she’s angry, they swirl like molten lava, and I can never look away.

Her fingers tremble as she reaches for the pendant. “It’s beautiful. Will you put it on me? ”

I nod, swallowing hard. My hands are steady, but my soul is fracturing with every breath. She lifts her hair, and I clasp the chain, the cool metal brushing my fingers.

I wait.

One heartbeat.

Two.

She sways slightly, and my stomach plummets to my boots. I feel physically ill, sweat lining my forehead and trailing down my spine.

“Elina?” I say, hoping I’m imagining things. Hoping she’s somehow immune. But it’s a wasted wish. I’ve poisoned her.

The girl who looks at me with what I think might be love in her eyes.

The girl who trusted me enough to do something tonight she never does.

And look how I repay her.

She blinks rapidly, her usually coordinated hands batting at her eyes, trying to clear her vision. “Something’s wrong,” she breathes.

I move quickly, grabbing her arms before she collapses. Her eyes meet mine, they’re wide and unfocused.

She looks so scared. It guts me.

Someone as strong as her, so fucking powerful, shouldn’t ever be afraid.

But then I see it.

The moment she figures it out.

Betrayal washes over her face.

And then she drops, with anger and sorrow in her eyes.

Her body slumps into mine, limp and weightless. Her head falls against my chest.

I lower us both to the ground, cradling her gently as though that might somehow undo what I’ve done. My throat burns. My chest is a gaping wound.

I brush the crimson hair from her face, my hand trembling .

“Please forgive me,” I whisper against her temple.

But it’s too late.

I’ve just broken a girl. A girl that I’m pretty sure I’m in love with.

The moon bears witness, silent and cold, the sun nowhere in sight as I sit with her unconscious in my arms— my arms—the ones that should have protected her.

I think I’ve just made the biggest mistake of my life.