His Dark Moon, Her Sacrifice

Chapter 8

Leontis had raced there the moment word reached him, his face a storm of panic, shock, and anger.

Ismerie closed her eyes against the ache tearing through her and said flatly, "Come back in three days for the ward."

Her brothers helped her back to the Faith's private observatory. She was still raw and bleeding from the lash, too weak to draw a single line of protection.

After weighing every cost, she swallowed a draught that would burn through her own life force and locked herself away to pray and cast the rite alone.

*****

Three days passed in silence.

When she opened the door, she was as pale as parchment, her steps unsteady, barely able to stand. She had not closed her eyes for seventy-two hours, sustained only by sheer will.

A few paces on, she saw Leontis waiting by the threshold. His eyes were rimmed red, swollen with exhaustion. He had not left that spot for three days.

The moment he saw her, he strode forward and pulled her into his arms so tightly it felt as though he meant to press her into his very bones.

Ismerie had no strength left to push him away. She swallowed the bitter taste in her throat and whispered, her voice rough and thin, "Have you brought the papers?"

Leontis's jaw set hard, his gaze fierce and unyielding.

"I will not sign them. I want that child... and I will never let you go."

Her breath caught, as though thousands of needles had driven straight into her heart. Tears blurred her vision, and she gave a faint, broken smile.

"You once told me yourself... no one can have everything."

She had no more time, no more life left to spend fighting this endless tug-of-war. She held out the folded star ward.

"Let Aveline wear this always, close to her skin. The child will be born safe."

Leontis reached for it, then he heard her quiet, lifeless words.

"When the child is born, we are even. No more ties."

His hand froze in midair. For a long moment, he stood motionless.

Finally, he took the ward.

"I will take it to her first, and I will come back for you. Ismerie, I carry the weight of my family and my name, but my love for you has never been a lie." He turned and walked away quickly.

Agony tore through her, as though her very soul had been split in two. The Star-Bond Curse coiled tighter, wave after wave of searing pain.

She could no longer tell how much of his words were true and how much was only comfort.

Voices she had heard before echoed in her mind.

"He drove all night across the city just to find her favorite pastries."

"When people said she was not good enough for him, he went straight to Chairman Valerius Corvath and asked that she be made his ward, to raise her standing."

"Everyone can see how much he cares for her."

Bit by bit, those words gnawed at her heart without end. Her vision blurred with gray mist, thick with grief and a future she could no longer reach.

A rush of copper filled her throat, and she could not stop it. Blood spilled from her lips, and she fell backward.

The last thing she saw was Leontis' back, growing smaller and smaller, never once turning around.

She woke to sharp, biting pain. Her brothers stood around her bed, their faces etched with worry.

She stared blankly for a long moment, then whispered, "How long?"

"Two full days," the eldest brother answered urgently. "Sister... what has happened to you?"

She had never told anyone of the curse or of the price she had paid for the ward.

She remained silent for a while before asking softly, "Has anyone come for me?"

They exchanged glances, then shook their heads. Ismerie remembered his promise to return.

The last spark of light in her eyes died, leaving only hollow numbness.

He had broken his word again.

She should have known.

Yet her heart still ached.

She drew a slow breath and said, "I will go to the Chairman myself. I will ask him to dissolve this union."

Outside the Chairman's Office at Corporate Headquarters, Ismerie stood before the closed doors and spoke clearly.

"I am Ismerie Thornecroft of the Faith's Observatory. I ask the Chairman to grant me a release from my marriage to Leontis Thornecroft." She knelt on the cold stone floor until her knees swelled and bruised, hour after hour.

At last, the Chairman's aide stepped out, his face grave.

"Miss Thornecroft, the Chairman is overwhelmed with matters of state and business. He asks that you return home."

Ismerie's fingers curled tightly. She remembered when she had first chosen Leontis.

The Chairman had opposed them, and everyone had said the marriage would fail.

But the Leontis of those days had smiled, bright and certain.

"If he forbids it... I will give up every share, every claim. I will take you far away. We will see the northern snows, the western sunsets... only us."

The memory wrapped around her heart like thorns.

She bowed her head until her forehead touched the floor.

"I will not rise until he sees me."

The aide sighed and went back inside.

Slowly, a fine rain began to fall, soft at first, then sharp and cold, piercing through her clothes to the bone.

Weakened and spent, she knelt for a full day and night until her vision swam and she slumped forward.

The rain fell harder.

The aide held an umbrella over her and said gently, "My lady, why do you do this to yourself? Men of standing always have more than one. Bear it, and life will go on."

Ismerie gave a faint, sad smile through her soaked hair. She could have lived in quiet solitude.

But Leontis had once given her a love so bright and warm that it had been hers alone. He was not wholly evil.

Only, he had sworn to give her only himself.

Then a familiar figure strode down the corridor.

Leontis...

Her heart leaped.

She thought he had come to stop her, to take her away.

Instead, he walked straight past her, knelt before the Chairman's door, and spoke clearly, "I, Leontis Thornecroft, ask the Chairman to grant the child Aveline Briarholt carries a hereditary stake in the Thornecroft holdings, to secure the future of our line."