Free Web NovelChapter 73: The Choice
Thirty minutes until dawn and Morgana was explaining the mechanics of dying-to-anchor-through-mate-bonds like it was a normal Tuesday activity instead of the most insane plan we’d ever attempted.
"Clinical death must occur within ten seconds of the sealing." Her voice was clinical. Focused. "Too early and the bonds break before anchoring. Too late and the prison closes without them. The timing has to be perfect."
Perfect timing while opening a door for primordial evil and getting sealed in eternal darkness. No pressure.
"How do we die?" Thorne’s question was matter-of-fact. "Fast enough for ten-second window."
"Stopping the heart." Morgana pulled up medical equipment I didn’t want to look at. "Potassium chloride injection. Immediate cardiac arrest. Painless. Irreversible once the sealing completes."
Irreversible. Right. They’d actually be dead. Their bodies would stay dead. Only their consciousness would anchor through the bonds into the prison with me.
"And if the bonds don’t anchor?" Draven’s clinical assessment. "If the theory is wrong?"
"Then they die for nothing and you’re alone anyway." Morgana’s voice was grim. "But Cassia’s notes are clear. Mate bonds transcend physical death if the connection is strong enough. And your bonds—" She gestured to all five of us. "Your bonds are the strongest I’ve ever documented. If any bonds can anchor through death, it’s these."
If any bonds can anchor. Not will. If.
"We’re doing it." Kael’s voice was final. "Theory or not. She’s not facing this alone."
Through the remaining three bonds I felt their absolute conviction and tried not to focus on how we were betting everything on Cassia’s three-hundred-year-old notes and hope.
"Twenty minutes." Eirlys’s voice cut across the preparation. "The Root is manifesting. You will be ready."
The Root is manifesting. Right. I could feel it too—that pressing weight against reality, that vast hunger searching for the door.
Searching for me.
"Positions." Morgana directed us to a ritual circle she’d drawn. "Selene in the center. The four bonds at cardinal points. When the sealing begins, I administer the injections. They die. Their bonds anchor. You’re together in the prison."
Together in the prison. Fighting The Root forever. All five of us.
The plan sounded insane when summarized like that.
"I’m sorry." The words came out before I could stop them. "I’m sorry I got you into this. I’m sorry the oath forced me to break Kael’s bond. I’m sorry you’re all dying because I wasn’t strong enough to—" ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com
"Stop." Kael cut me off even though I couldn’t feel him through the dead bond anymore. "This isn’t your fault. The Fae manipulated this. The Root forced it. You’re just—" He had to stop. "You’re just doing what you’ve always done. Surviving. And we’re choosing to survive with you."
Survive with me. Right. Except surviving meant dying first and hoping we came back on the other side of a prison seal.
"Ten minutes." Eirlys’s voice carried command weight. "Hybrid Queen—prepare to open the door. This is direct order."
The oath flared and locked into place, and suddenly I could feel exactly what opening the door would require. Could sense the threshold I’d need to become. Could understand how my hybrid magic would bridge realities.
And it was going to hurt. A lot.
"I love you." I needed to say it one more time before everything went wrong. "All of you. Kael even though I can’t feel the bond anymore. I love you and I’m sorry and if this works—" My voice broke. "If this works we fight it together. Forever."
"Forever works." Thorne’s rough voice was certain. "Better than apart."
Better than apart. Right. Imprisoned together was victory when the alternative was imprisoned alone.
Through the windows the sky was lightening. Dawn was minutes away.
And The Root was here.
I could feel it pressing against the barriers between realities, massive and ancient and absolutely aware that I was waiting. That I was the door it needed.
The alliance had evacuated the stronghold—everyone except us and Morgana and the Fae. Empty buildings. Silent yard. Just us facing the end of everything.
"Tell me it’ll work." I needed Morgana to say it. Needed someone with actual knowledge to confirm this wasn’t just desperate hope.
"Cassia’s notes are conclusive." She pulled up the research one more time. "Mate bonds strong enough can transcend death. Anchor consciousness across dimensional barriers. Yours are—" She gestured to the bonds pulsing between us. "Yours are the strongest recorded. If any bonds can do this, it’s these."
If any bonds. Still not certainty. Still just hope wrapped in research.
"And if we’re wrong?" I had to ask. "If they die and don’t anchor?"
"Then you’re alone." She met my eyes. "And they died for nothing. But Selene—" Her voice went soft. "I’ve studied bonds for thirty years. I’ve never seen anything like yours. They’ll anchor. I’d stake my life on it."
She’d stake her life. Right. Except it wasn’t her life we were staking.
"Five minutes." Eirlys’s voice carried command weight. "Hybrid Queen—prepare to open the door. This is direct order."
The oath flared and locked into place, and suddenly I could feel exactly what opening the door would require. Could sense the threshold I’d need to become. Could understand how my hybrid magic would bridge realities.
And it was going to hurt. A lot.
My body would split metaphysically. The wolf and vampire sides pulling apart while the hybrid contradiction stretched between them. Living doorway. Conscious threshold.
I’d be aware through all of it. Feel The Root pouring through me. Experience every moment of becoming the bridge.
"I love you." I needed to say it one more time before everything went wrong. "All of you. Kael even though I can’t feel the bond anymore. I love you and I’m sorry and if this works—" My voice broke. "If this works we fight it together. Forever."
"Forever works." Thorne’s rough voice was certain. "Better than apart."
Better than apart. Right. Imprisoned together was victory when the alternative was imprisoned alone.
"Positions." Morgana directed us to points in the ritual circle. "Now."
We moved. Kael to the north even though his bond was dead. Riven to the east. Draven to the west. Thorne to the south. Me in the center.
The ritual circle glowed with ancient magic Morgana had pulled from Cassia’s research—binding patterns designed to anchor consciousness through death.
Morgana handed them syringes. Four of them. Each filled with exactly enough potassium chloride to stop a supernatural heart.
"When I give the signal." Her voice stayed steady. "Inject simultaneously. Your hearts stop. Ten seconds later the sealing completes. Your consciousness anchors through the bonds. Together inside."
Together inside. Fighting The Root for eternity. All four of them dead but present.
"I’m scared." The words came out broken. "Terrified this won’t work. That you’ll die and I’ll still be alone—"
"It’ll work." Riven’s patience wrapped through our bond. "The bonds are too strong. We’re too strong. Together we’re unstoppable."
Unstoppable. Right. Except we were about to be sealed in eternal darkness.
But at least we’d be together.
The sky outside turned gold. Dawn breaking.
And The Root broke through.
Not slowly. All at once. Reality just—tore. Like fabric ripping under impossible strain.
Through the tear came something so vast and ancient and hungry my brain couldn’t process it.
The Root. Fully manifested. Here.
"Open the door." Eirlys’s command carried absolute oath weight. "Now."
The oath compelled and I had no choice.
I reached for my hybrid magic and became the threshold.
