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The temple feels like a tomb.
Violet’s fingers shake in Xaden’s grip, but she holds tighter anyway. If she lets go now, if she loosens even for a second, she’ll never get him back. She knew that, for certain, but still she smiled widely.
For him. For this moment. For the lie that they have more than a heartbeat together.
Her heart whispers”Don’t cry. Don’t ruin this for him. He deserves to remember you happy.”
But the ache underneath threatens to pry her forced demeanour apart “You’re losing him. Right here, right now. And you can’t stop it.”
Xaden’s face is calm, almost cold, but she sees the storm in his eyes. She wants to scream at him to fight it, to fight for her. She wants to beg him to break the world apart if it means she doesn’t have to walk out of this temple without him. But she doesn’t. She forces her smile wider, even as her throat burns.
If he sees me break, he’ll break too. And if he breaks, we’ll never let go.
The priest speaks the final words. The air stills. It should feel like forever. Instead, it feels like goodbye.
“Time,” Garrick says softly.
The word detonates inside her chest.
“No.” Her whisper shatters into the silence. “No, please. Just- just a little longer.”
Xaden’s jaw flexes. He doesn’t move. He doesn’t speak. His silence is worse than any scream.
Her thoughts spiral “Say something. Tell them no. Tell them they can’t take me. Tell them I’m yours.”
But all he does is look at her, eyes so full of love and sorrow that it feels like her ribs are splitting apart.
When Garrick reaches for her, she jerks back violently.
“Don’t touch me! I’m not leaving him!”
Imogen’s voice cracks as she joins him. “Vi, you know we don’t have a choice—”
“I DON’T CARE!” Violet’s voice rips from her throat, raw and bleeding. “I can’t! Don’t make me—don’t”
She clings to Xaden like he’s oxygen, nails digging into his skin hard enough to draw blood. Her mind is a litany of panic
“Hold on. Don’t let go. Don’t let them take him. He’s yours. He’s yours. He’s yours.”
Her screams echo as they pull her away, legs kicking, boots scraping against stone. Her throat burns, tearing with every word.
“XADEN! Don’t let them take me—please,please!”
And gods, he almost does. His body shifts, every instinct in him screaming to fight, to grab her back and run. His chest heaves, his hands twitch, his lips part. But he forces himself not to because if he moves, they both die. The plan? it would be ruined.
Don’t make this harder. Don’t make her hate you. Don’t let her see you break.
His thoughts are a razor in his skull “ I love you. I love you. I’m sorry. I love you.”
But what comes out, barely audible, is “Go. Go love, don’t look for me.”
Her body goes slack at his words The fight drains out of her limbs like someone cut the strings holding her together. Garrick and Imogen drag her down the aisle, her sobs shredding what little has left of him.
She collapses halfway, knees cracking against stone. She doesn’t care. She doesn’t even feel it. Her head drops, hair falling into her face as her body convulses with sobs. She thinks “If I stay on the floor, maybe the earth will swallow me. Maybe I won’t have to live without him.”
Xaden watches from the altar, every muscle locked in place. He is a soldier again, rigid, unyielding. But his tears betray him, slipping silently down his scarred face.
His mind screams at him “Run. Take her. Fight for her.”
But he doesn’t. He can’t. He promised her he’d keep her safe, even if it meant this.
So he stands. And he breaks. And he doesn’t move.
The doors close with a hollow finality.
And Violet’s last thought before the darkness swallows him from sight is
“I should’ve stayed. I should’ve fought. I should’ve gone with him.”