The Trinity War (Book 3 of the Trinity series)

Chapter 42

"Does anyone have anjy objections?" I asked, scanning the crowd for someone who disagreed with me. When no one said anything, I let out a sigh of relief. "Ok. Now that that's over with, here are the details of how we're mobilizing ourselves," I said. And then for the next thirty minutes, I proceeded to explain the plan in detail to my division of the army. When I was done, Gerrard and I made our way back to the drawing room to be with the others until it was time to leave.

"Nervous?" Gerrard asked me as he noted the way I couldn't sit still.

"I feel like I'm going to vomit," I said, wringing my hands together.

"It'll be okay. When everyone else is fighting, what are you going to do?" he asked.

"Elijah said that I have to kill Trey," I said. "But I can't do that," I added flatly.

"What's your plan for breaking the curse?" Gerrard asked. 

"I can't tell you. It won't work if I do. All I can say is that it has to be spontaneous," I said.

"Caley, Elijah's only orders to me were that I have to try my hardest to keep you safe," he told me. I smiled weakly at him.

"You've already tried your hardest to keep me safe, Gerrard, so you've already fulfilled your orders. There isn't anything you can do for me now," I said solemnly.

He looked at me with a serious expression on his face.

"We're both going to come out of this alive, ok?" he said sternly. 

I looked back at him, fighting the urge to cry. The truth was, I didn't know if I would come out of this alive. Because I was sure that I couldn't kill Trey, which meant that the poison in my blood would activate and be the death of me if my theory on how to break the blood oath curse backfired. It was difficult for me to come to terms with, but when Gerrard and I were coming back from Atlantis, I had a lot of time to struggle with my emotions. But I eventually accepted it.

If it meant saving all of my friends and family and loved ones, then I would gladly give up my life.

As I looked at Gerrard--the person who had been with me this whole time, the one who never let me get hurt, the one who always had my back and pulled me from the edge whenever I was getting ready to jump--I knew that I couldn't live with myself if anything happened to him. And the same feeling went for the others. If any of them got hurt in the process of saving me, I would never be able to live with that guilt. I wanted them to live out their lives like they were supposed to. If being the One meant sacrificing myself for the happiness of others, then I was willing to do that. It would be selfish of me to want to live while others suffered. So I had forced myself to accept the inevitable. I was going to die, but my family and friends would live on.

I leaned forward and put my arms around Gerrard, closing my eyes as he wrapped his strong arms around me, enveloping me in a protective embrace that would do me no good in less than an hour. 

"Thank you for being the best friend that I could have ever asked for," I whispered to him, feeling a few tears escape from my eyes. 

"This friendship isn't over yet," Gerrard replied. I pulled away from him, wiping the stray tears off my face with the back of my hand. I gave him a sad, watery smile. 

"Of course not," I lied.

His forehead creased in worry as he noticed the change in my demeanor. I looked away, unable to handle the emotions raging inside of me, and searched for a distraction. My eyes fell on Isobel and Dom, who were talking idly before they were given the cue to leave for the fight. I stood and went over to them, leaving Gerrard sitting by himself, his thoughts surely on me and the inevitability of what was to come.