My biggest regret was dying before I could properly explore my relationship with Sebastian.
My heart pounded and my stomach churned as I struggled against the queen’s grip.
It was useless. I was too weak.
“Please, Mother.” Sebastian’s voice broke through the darkness, and I forced myself to focus on it despite the agony running through my body. “Don’t do this.”
The sound of the queen’s steady breaths in my ear was a horrible taunt as my body sought some of that life-giving air. A low moan escaped me as everything became too much.
“No!” Sebastian roared.
The queen cackled, and the shadows lifted. Those talons loosened around my neck, and I gulped air greedily, staring into Sebastian’s wide black eyes. Torment and pain were swirling storms within them, and I focused everything I had on him.
“Let her go, Mother,” he said. “Please.”
“Beg,” the queen demanded, her voice as cold as the ice that gathered on the windowsills.
He didn’t wait a single second. Dropping to his knees, Sebastian folded his wings behind him as he held up his hands in supplication. A single tear slipped down his cheek.
“Please, Mother, don’t kill her.”
I stared into those black eyes. If I was going to die, I wanted his face to be the last one I saw.
“Not good enough, Sebastian,” the queen sang mockingly.
He tilted his head to the side, exposing his neck as he prostrated himself on the ground before her. “Please. I’ll do whatever you want, Mother. Name it, and I’ll do it. Just don’t… Please don’t kill her.”
“A favor?” The queen sounded intrigued. “What is so important about this mortal that you would offer me such a thing?”
“You gave her to me,” he said, still staring at the floor. “I’ve grown to lo-like her.”
“Youlikeher?” the queen screeched, and anger flashed in her black eyes. “She’s a human! We don’t like humans, Sebastian. We use them and then discard them like the trash they are. Have you forgotten everything I taught you?”
Queen Marguerite removed her talons from my neck and I gasped for air, only to have my breath cut off as she slammed her arm against my windpipe with the strength of her kind. My eyes bulged and my hands clawed at her.
“Please, stop,” Sebastian cried out, still on the floor. With his wings spread behind him, he looked like one of the gargoyles that stood on top of the castle. He was unmoving, even as shadows gathered all around him.
She didn’t listen.
Time seemed to slow to a crawl as the Queen of Eleyta slowly removed the life from my body. Death’s call was a loud beat in my ears as it drew nearer. Soon, I would feel its cold embrace.
“Mother! Stop!” Sebastian cried out, his voice growing softer. “Please.”
My eyes fluttered shut and my mouth slipped open as the tendrils of air that had been keeping me alive escaped. I slumped, my limbs no longer able to hold my weight, as the queen’s high-pitched voice reached my ears. She said something to Sebastian, but I couldn’t understand it. My lungs burned, and I fell into darkness just as the pressure on my neck released.