Page 243 of Fallen Stars
Sofia gave a cold laugh, shaking her head. “You always were too stubborn, Elara. You could have had everything with me. We could have ruled the darkness together—alone and content. And still you chosehim.”
“I will always choose him,” Elara hissed.
Sofia’s grin grew terrifying. “Then here’s a wedding gift for you, dear Enzo,” she crooned. “You stole someone from me.”
A shadow lunged for Isra, wrapping around her neck as she choked.
“No!” Enzo shouted, lashing sunlight out at Sofia. She hissed as it burned her, but she didn’t relinquish her hold.
“Now I’ll steal someone from you.”
The shadows yanked Isra to Sofia as she struggled, eyes wide with fear. More shadows began to wrap and coil as Elara screamed, slamming her moonlight to the ground.
Sofia’s laugh was cold. “Too slow,” she hissed. “The next time I see you both, I’ll bathe in your screams as I kill you.”
And as Elara’s moonlight flooded the forest, rushing towards Sofia, the Dark gave one last feral grin. With Isra still in her clutches, she disappeared into smoke and shadow.
Chapter Eighty-Three
Elara remained kneeling as theshadows began to dissipate from the clearing. She didn’t realise she was shaking until Enzo covered her with his shirt. She could hear Merissa sobbing faintly beyond the ringing in her ears. Leo was trying to comfort her, and Adrian was cursing as he paced and rain began to pour from the clouds.
Enzo was overheating; she could feel it in waves as he worked to bat down the flames.
Sofia had just taken the closest thing he had to a sister—that Elara had too.
Elara shook her head, squeezing her eyes shut. Sofia… It wasn’t—it couldn’t be possible. Her betrayal, it was a worse pain than the knife that Merissa had pushed through her heart, worse than the pain of her parents’ death, worse than the pain ofSofia’s own death.
But it wasn’t grief she was feeling in that moment. That pain in her chest, the lump forming and growing and stretching at her heart… It was fury.
That fury finally lent her the strength she needed to rise, liquid iron seeping through her and forcing her spine straight. She grasped Enzo’s arm, pulling him up as she continued to shake with fury.
Astra’s head was branded behind her eyes, Isra’s scream branded in her ears, and she tried to push them away as she blinked, taking in the faces of the stricken family around her.
“El, are you okay?” Merissa whispered.
Elara nodded, clenching her jaw.
“Enzo?”
Enzo let out an animalistic sound.
“Sofia—” Adrian began.
“No,” Elara snarled at Adrian. “That is not her name. Sofia died in that theatre. The person I thought was my friend is dead. Any mercy, any benevolence I feel is gone with her. Piscea is who remains.”
Elara inhaled deeply, observing the shadows around her, unsure what to trust, but knowing one absolute truth as she threaded her fingers through Enzo’s, lending her moonlight to him, willing it to cool the fire in his veins, the grief.
This was the final straw. She almost heard the tie to her humanity snap.
Elara knew in that moment, as she surveyed the group before her, that the Elara they knew was gone.
No mercy. No weakness. Not even grief.
She turned first to Merissa. “Get a message to Eli,” she commanded, her voice low enough that Ariete wouldn’t hear. “I won’t dare risk it through our ring. Send it through your mother, brother, I don’t care. Tell him to become the two-faced god he is renowned for. Tell him to be safe. And to find out where Piscea has taken Isra. Tell him to tell our sister help is coming for her. Tell your family to be safe too.”
Merissa bit her trembling bottom lip, nodding.
“What about Ophelia?” Leo asked. “She’s technically a Star on our side too. And the whole reason she came to this world was to stop Piscea. Surely she can help?”