Maya's POV
Even Marcus looked uncertain now, his hand still extended but his confidence shaken.
"Everyone I touch turns to ash," I whispered, looking around at the destruction. "Everyone I love betrays me. Everything I try to protect gets destroyed." My eyes found the brothers. "Maybe you were right to try to execute me. Maybe the world would be better if I was just... gone."
"Don't say that," Karl's voice was rough with emotion. "Maya, please, don't say that."
But it was true, wasn't it? My mother had died because of me. My father had become a monster because of me. The brothers had been forced into a bond they never wanted because of me. Seraphina had been denied what was promised to her because of me.
And now, standing in a square full of bodies I'd created, I finally understood. I
