"Sileus!" A bolt of magic shot from my palm and onto Gretel, breaking her spells as I jumped aside from the tree I had been holding onto with my life. I couldn't wait any longer because the longer I did, the weaker I got.
The power slammed into me and the bottle of strength finally exploded as I lengthened out my other hand. "Inceptictum." I threw her down to the ground. Gretel didn't expect my appearance at all, believing I would be passed out just as Annabeth and Jacqueline were.
The surprise on her face just exceeded when she found me standing in front of her. I couldn't kill her with the normal spells I knew as she could break all of them but I could kill her with Death magic, only if I had enough time to bundle up that amount of strength.
"Aah, the little weak witch." She pushed herself off the ground and continued. "Increend—" The spike from her fingers faded away before it could ever reach me as she was thrown back on the ground.
Luciano injected something inside her before he snapped his head at my direction. "What the fuck are you doing? I told you to stay at the castle. I'm handling this." He shouted, his voice above a roar and his eyes blazing with anger.
I stepped back. "You can't kill her."
"I can weaken her. That's far more than enough." He growled, looking back down at Gretel who had been weakened. It was the same liquid Luciano used upon me whenever he needed to weaken me but it wasn't going to work on Gretel for long.
"Just move. I'll kill her." I breathed, standing away from them.
This was my chance.
Luciano got off her and took a few steps back. His clothes were still on and he was unharmed as he hadn't shifted, compared to the others and Ben. He must've warned him beforehand.
Gretel laid on the ground, still, for a few seconds before she started laughing. "You can't kill me and these little injections aren't going to work." She struggled with getting up but got on her feet anyway.
I only had a minute before she could use her magic against me—just a minute.
My teeth chattered together as the cold embraced me. I closed my eyes and the words made their way to my head. "Firortia Opponenim." I murmured under my breath as my hands spread out. My fingers quivered and the non-stop shaking continued as I gathered up at my strength.
When my eyes struck open, I found Gretel rather concerned than laughing. She didn't know that I had the learned the Blood magic. A vibrant, silver surge of waves emerged from my body, intertwining with particles of red that implied on blood, they clashed, creating sphere. I sucked in hard breaths and my heart ached, hammering hard against my chest and with every second passing by, the blood drained from my body, wearing me out.
It was a foreign language that I used, the words came to my mouth without a thought and even when I couldn't understand them, I knew what they were for and so did Gretel.
"No, no, no!" she yelled before she started running away from me.
The spell tore through me alas and I directed it at Gretel. She stopped right on time and the magic hit her with full force but it got too late.
"Relinio Intimortis." The forbidden words of Blood magic were her last ones and the sparkling red ball of flame struck at me and I fell on the ground, along with her.
Gretel died immediately.
It was over.
For her.
For me.
My muscles turned rigid and tears welled in my eyes. I was too stunned to even move an inch. The salty taste of blood ran across my mouth and I gagged, coughing a whole lot of blood onto the ground. Luciano ran over to me and grabbed me by my shoulders, his grasp strong.
"No, Red." He growled in my ears.
It got harder to breathe and my pulse slowed down. I managed to steal a glance at Gretel. "You need to burn her." I told him.
"No."
"Yes. She'll find a way to return if you don't." I pushed Luciano away from me. "Burn her!"
I fell hard against another tree and the magic inside me stiffened. It was Gretel's Blood magic and it was going to blow inside me in any second. I grabbed the roots of the tree, moisture escaping my mouth as I screamed out loudly with pain as it lashed onto my skin like fire. I pursued my lips together and glanced at the moon above me.
Please.
Luciano pulled out a lighter and set Gretel's body on fire before anything. The Death magic only worked if the body was set on fire, otherwise, Gretel could find another way to revive and live again. Her clothes set on flames and the fire burned every inch of her, turning her into ashes that would be scattered in the air.
Finger by finger, I turned numb and suddenly, my entire life flashed in front of me.
"I'm going to die." I said, barely a whisper.
"No, no." Luciano seized me, holding me over his lap as I fell on the ground again and again. "She's dead, her spell won't work." He assured me.
"It will." I groaned as her spell burned inside me. Tears escaped down my cheeks and warm blood flowed out of my mouth. I sucked in a few hard breaths before my hand went inside my pockets, pulling out the dagger I had bought with myself, just incase I needed to defend my self. "You need to kill me." I handed it over to Luciano but he didn't take it.
"No, no, you're fine, you'll be fine." He whispered in my ears, holding me hard and tight.
I whimpered. "No." I drove my hands into the dirt while trying to keep alive. "You've to kill me. If I die, so do you, we are bonded. Gretel wanted to end both of us and she'll succeed if you don't kill me!" My throat tightened as I swallowed down the blood and spilled the truth of us to him.
Her death wouldn't mean anything to me if we were both dead as well.
"No." He denied it all over again. "I'm not going to kill you. You're going to fine—"
"Please." My body churned with pain and I howled. "Just kill me. Please." I begged as the pain of Blood magic became unbearable. I felt what the wolf had felt a few days back, when he returned to the castle, cursed by Gretel.
"No."
"Please, please," I cried, holding his hand. "I can't let you die. This was my battle, not yours. You're supposed to live."
Gretel wanted us both dead so she did what she wanted to do. If Luciano ran the dagger inside me, her spell wouldn't affect and the mate bond wouldn't allow him to die. It was the only hope we had.
He grabbed my face with his hands and looked into my eyes for long. "And so are you. I'm not going to kill you." He was stubborn and set on his intentions but I needed to change them before my daughter was left with neither of us.
"I'm going to die, whether or not you kill me. There is nothing that can change that but you've to live, Luciano. You've to kill me. You've to live for our daughter, she needs to you, please." I grabbed the hem of his shirt and sobbed in his chest as the pain quickened, spreading through my body. "Please, just stop it. It's getting worse, just kill me." I begged through my tears.
I wanted the pain to end—for once and all.
He turned me around and grabbed the dagger he had thrown off the ground. "Fine." He kissed the top of my head and finally found the strength to agree. "You'll go down as a Queen." It was a whisper, filled with what I had always desired.
Everything in front of me was a blur. I refrained myself from screaming and buried the pain before it could take me with it. I wasn't going to die because of Gretel—not today, not ever. The image of Fiona appeared in my head as I closed my eyes and took quick breaths.
It was going to be fine.
She was going to be fine.
Everything was going to be fine.
My hands found Luciano's as he bought the tip of the dagger at my chest, right above where my thumping heart was.
"Quick, please."
Luciano took a long glance at me, his face inches away from mine and his eyes piercing at my soul for the last time.
"I'm sorry, Red. Just know that I'll always love you." His wet lips brushed against my cheeks as he kissed me hard. "I'm sorry." He repeated again and then again, believing it was his fault.
"It's okay, it's not your fault." I shook my head and sobbed. Tightening my grip around his wrist, I motioned him to go with it. "I—I love you too. Just take care of our daughter and make sure she—"
"Shh." He closed his eyes and when he opened them, they were red as his wolf took control. I knew for a fact that he could never kill me, not in his senses at least.
He placed his hand over my mouth, quieting down my cries before the he drove the dagger into me. The sharp edge of the dagger split through my skin and crossed through my racing heart, ending me before Gretel's magic did.
The pain faded and so did the whole world as I slipped into a sleep that I could never be woken up from.
The third book will be coming up in the next couple of weeks with a few new twists! It will be called Red Saving The Alpha. You can follow my Instagram (mia_kart) to know when I'd be publishing it here!
To skip the wait, you can read the complete book 3 on Patreon as well; www.patreon.com/miakerr