He turned his torso slightly, revealing his back—blood-slick and punctured with a grotesque row of small ports, still slick with the residue of injections.
"Order the scientist to give me the last vials," he said, voice low and heavy with finality. "All of it. Every last drop. Then, and only then, will you have me—fully. No more fragments. No more Hades. Just me. Vassir, your first love."
My heart stopped.
He was asking me to kill him.
To erase Hades—forever.
And I saw it in his eyes.
He meant it.
He wanted the last of Hades burned out.
For me.
Or—
He raised Kael higher.
The wing tensed.
His claws extended.
"No," I gasped. "Don't—don't you dare—"
"Choose." Vassir snarled. "Prove your loyalty. Or lose the only thing left that still dares to stand between us."
Kael managed a single noise—half-choke, half-growl. His eye found mine.
And in it, I saw peace.
Resignation.
Love.
Tears fell from my eyes, unstoppable.
