Alissa felt Eldric’s hand squeeze her shoulder; his support was the only thing keeping her grounded. She feared that with the symptoms so advanced, the girl wouldn’t stand a chance of surviving. Alissa rushed her steps to Dhalia, her eyes swollen—her little girl was now an old woman.
“I’m here, baby,” she whispered, holding the wrinkled, fragile hands of her daughter.
“I’m sorry. I’m old now, Mommy.” Every word the girl spoke broke Alissa’s heart further.
“You don’t have to apologize, honey. You will feel better soon, I promise.” Alissa’s fingers slid down the long white strands of Dhalia’s hair, remembering how gold they used to be.
Eldric knelt beside her. “Alissa, we don’t have much time. We need to move.” Without hesitating, he gently scooped Dhalia into his arms.
Watching him cradle her daughter with such tenderness felt like a punch to Alissa’s gut. She had been so consumed by the moment, by everything they had been through to get here, that she had momentarily forgotten the final sacrifice awaiting her. One last life she would have to take before this was over: Eldric’s. The pain that accompanied that thought stole the breath from her lungs. She could only hope she would have the strength to do what had to be done.
“Where’s Freyah?” Mrs. Weller asked, her voice tinged with apprehension as she glanced left and right by the door searching for the bright red-headed woman to rush into her arms.
Another stab through Alissa’s chest. She slipped Freyah’s satchel from her shoulder and handed it to her mother, her mournful eyes saying what her mouth couldn’t. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, her voice trembling.
Mrs. Weller collapsed to the floor, her scream raw and inhuman, as if a piece of her soul had died with her daughter—and in truth, it had. “What happened?” she pleaded with a voice breaking in desperation, struggling to comprehend their silence.
But Alissa didn’t have the strength to respond. Eldric stepped in to speak on her behalf.
“Unfortunately, we crossed paths with terrible people along the way,” Eldric said softly. “Your daughter was one of the most incredible people I’ve ever met, and I hope it brings some solace to know that justice has been served.” Though his words were well-intended, Eldric could never offer the comfort Lorena so desperately needed. Nothing could ever ease the pain of losing a child.
After her parents’ passing, Alissa had often heard people say that time could heal all the pain, but she never thought that was the case for the pain of loss. She knew now more than ever that time held way too much power over everyone’s lives, but healing grief was not one of them. The truth was that Mrs. Weller would never fully overcome the pain of Freyah’s absence. All Lorena could do was learn to live with the ache, to pretend that the invisible blade of grief piercing her heart was nothing more than a needle, until the day her own time to leave this life arrived.
Alissa rested her hands against Lorena’s cheeks, wishing she could stay there, comforting Freyah’s mother, but there was no time. “I promise I will explain everything later, but we need to go now. I’m sorry!”
Alissa turned to walk toward the door, only influenced by the constant ticking of the clock. The relentless reminder of time. Eldric followed behind, sprinting into the woods with the girl cradled in his arms.
The oak tree could be spotted from a distance, the only one standing amid the sea of surrounding pine trees. Ironically, it was the same tree that had brought Alissa peace so many times before, a refuge for her racing thoughts. It was right there that Thayan had resurrected Karine centuries ago. Mrs. Ilden hadexplained that they needed to break the curse in the same place it was first cast, and now they stood where it all began.
Eldric gently laid Dhalia beneath the oak tree. Though her heart still beat, she was slipping into unconsciousness. Alissa knelt beside the elderly child, resting her forehead against Dhalia’s. She could feel the girl’s life slowly slipping away. Tears slipped from her eyes onto the child’s face.
“Hang on just a little longer, baby. I love you.” She pressed her lips to the fragile fingers, praying it wasn’t too late.
When Alissa stood once again, her eyes locked on the man who was willing to sacrifice his life to save her daughter’s. Sweat dripped from his forehead, and she felt as if she could hear his heartbeat pounding in his chest. With the strength of their feelings for one another pulsing between them, their bodies crashed into a frantic embrace.
“Are you sure about this?” Her voice brushed his ear. She wouldn’t be capable of accepting his life as a sacrifice if he wasn’t doing it willingly.
“I am.” His soft smile made her heart ache. When their lips touched one final time, they cried together—for the end of his life and the end of their story.
Eldric held her face in his hands. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” she breathed, defeated.
Alissa was about to do the hardest thing she had ever had to do—end the life of someone she loved to save her daughter and her town from a fatal curse, but she couldn’t stop. Not now.
She watched Eldric lie under the tree beside her daughter, their hands entwined as one of them prepared for death. With his nod of consent, Alissa started reciting the words she had memorized, the words that would hopefully break the curse that had haunted generations.
“Oh, time, please forgive my ancestors’ foolishness. Forgive the ones who strayed from magic’s ways. Those who let selfishness dictate the rules of an entire people.”
With each new word, she felt her magic leap stronger than ever. The fibers of her power traveled freely through her body, leaving her forearms in glowing threads of white and black.
“ALISSA, STOP!”
The scream coming from behind startled her, causing the strands of magic to recoil back into her forearms. Alissa narrowed her eyes, straining to see through the darkness of the night. As her vision adjusted, she finally made out the figure of Mrs. Weller.
They hadn’t noticed it before, but she had followed them all the way to the forest after they fled with Dhalia. Mrs. Weller had witnessed everything: their kiss and the sorrow that accompanied them, Eldric lying beside the frail child, and the faint glimmers of magic emanating from Alissa. At that moment, she understood everything.
“You can’t do this, Alissa!” she urged.